Factors Affecting Household Recycling Behaviour in Townhouses in Pretoria, South Africa

Municipalities worldwide are under increasing pressure to reduce the amount of solid waste ending up in landfills. One way of doing so is to increase household participation in recycling. Although existing research identifies several factors affecting household recycling behaviour, South Africa poses a unique situation with regard to attitudinal and spatial factors. Socio-political transformation arguably causes many South Africans to be less concerned about the environment, while increasing living costs and fear of crime drive many households into smaller enclosed housing developments, especially townhouses, where several factors may impact recycling behaviour. Using the Theory of Planned Behaviour, this paper examines the effect of three factors on household recycling in townhouses, including ‘attitude’ (about recycling), ‘subjective norm’ (peer pressure), and ‘perceived behaviour control’ (ability to recycle). A survey of 300 households using selfadministered questionnaires was conducted in Equestria, an enclosed middle-income residential estate in Pretoria-east consisting of 13 different sub-estates, most of which are typical townhouse complexes. Both recyclers and non-recyclers showed positive attitudes toward recycling and felt peer-pressure to recycle. Non-recyclers, however, felt significantly less able to recycle. Most recyclers as well as non-recyclers indicated that various different interventions toward increasing recycling within townhouses may well cause them to recycle more, most notably a system where recycling companies collect recyclables from collection points inside the complex.