Itīs an age-old question about recycling. What motivates us
more to do it -- morality, economics or emotions?
The National Recycling Coalition wrestles with that issue
all the time, and now theyīre pursing the emotion part of that
equation with a campaign to convert "sometimes" recyclers into
"always" recyclers. The theory behind the campaign, which the
NRC said is based on extensive consumer research, is that the
"sometimes" recyclers need more emotional reasons to recycle
more extensively. The "always" recyclers, the NRCīs thinking
goes, already have all the emotional motivation they need.
Attendees at NRCīs own annual conference debated the merits of
such an approach.
Itīs good that the NRC is trying hard to find new ways to
motivate individuals and businesses to recycle, and do so in a
positive way. But my first thought with this tack is that it
is awfully hard to change peopleīs emotions when it comes to
their habits.
Weīre bombarded constantly with negative news and imagery
about the effects of bad nutrition. But scare tactics about
diabetes or being a social pariah for being overweight isnīt
changing our growing trend toward obesity.
The climate, so to speak, has been even worse for smokers,
and that is a considerable change in the past 40 years in
America. But legislation probably more than emotion is
responsible for that. And smoking still is pretty popular with
young people who have grown up in the anti-cigarette
environment.
And as much as advocates might not want to acknowledge it,
recycling isnīt likely ever going to be in the same emotional
league as those two habits. Most of us feel good when we
recycle, just like we feel good when we give to charity. But
for most of us, that good feeling just doesnīt have an
enormously high ceiling. People that are "always" recyclers
are not the norm, at least today. Their motivations are
personal, unique and probably arrived at on their own.
Whatever change will come in recycling habits likely will
continue to come slowly, because thatīs usually the pace of
social and personal change. And it likely will come from a
combination of drivers -- emotional, economic, ethical, legal.
In another words, thereīs no quick fix.
Allan Gerlat is editor of
Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in
the Inbox archive.
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