Some psychological aspects of recycling: The structure of conservation satisfactions

Abstract

This article focuses on intrinsic satisfactions derived from the recycling of household solid waste materials. Data from 107 respondents to a mail-back questionnaire were subjected to factor analysis and analysis of variance. The results indicate that people derive a series of separate and distinct satisfactions from both recycling and reusing materials. The satisfactions were quite specific, involving, for example, frugality and participation. These findings suggest that our understanding of why people bother to conserve resources may be improved by investigating the personal satisfactions derived from environmental stewardship behavior.