Promoting Paper Recycling on a University Campus

E. Scott Geller
Jeanne L. Chaffee
Richard E. Ingram

---

DOI: 10.2190/E2LM-JNTV-NBJ6-ETJF

Abstract

Behavioral effects of an individual and a group reinforcement contingency for encouraging paper recycling were compared. During a Raffle condition residents of university dormitories were given a lottery coupon upon delivering at least one sheet of paper to a designated collection room. In contrast, a Contest contingency provided $15 for the treasury of the dormitory whose residents collected the most paper in a week. During the Raffle and Contest contingencies, nearly twice as much paper was delivered to the collection centers at designated times than during Baseline. The greatest number of paper deliveries was consistently made during the Raffle contingency, although nearly twice as many deliveries were made during the Contest condition as during Baseline. The Procedures and results implied that community programs for recycling solid waste materials would be practical, economical, and efficacious.

---

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.