Promoting Residential Recycling: An Alternative Policy Based on a Recycling Reward System

This paper analyzes a reward system that uses a club good to promote recycling. In particular, we examine a context of incomplete information in which the administrator is unable to observe the resident’s attitude towards recycling. The results suggest that despite the lack of information, the administrator is able to induce all types of residents to recycle when the reward is sufficiently high. Furthermore, we show that education programs, technologies that help to reduce the residential recycling cost and penalties for garbage dumping are complementary tools that could also promote recycling.