1 UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI DI FERRARA Dipartimento di Economia e management Corso di laurea magistrale in “Economia, mercati e management” 1 Behavioural attitudes towards Waste prevention and recycling Paola Farinelli, Susanna Mancinelli, Massimiliano Mazzanti and Francesco Nicolli

The macro issue: Urban waste generation and landfilling in the EU-27: trends Note: Figures from are data from Eurostat. Figures from are projections. BMW = biodegradable municipal waste. Source: EEA (2007). Still no decoupling

EU 27: MSW generated (Kg per capita) and major relevant policies Policies focused on recovery and recycling

Waste generation growth rate between 1995/2009. EEA countries

Context Socio-economics characteristics of both households and municipalities matters, as well as the role played by population density, urban concentration, size and wealth of households (Mazzanti & Zoboli, ERE, 2009). However, relatively less attention has been paid, up to now, to the role of behavioural aspects in households decisions towards waste prevention and recycling Università degli studi di Ferrara 5

6 Ecological Economics 2006 Behavioural attitudes towards water saving? Evidence from a study of environmental actions Andrew Gilg,, Stewart Barr Ecological Economics 2014 Waste prevention and social preferences: the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations Grazia Cecere, Susanna Mancinelli, Massimiliano Mazzanti W. Kip Viscusi & Joel Huber & Jason Bell, Promoting Recycling: Private Values, Social Norms, and Economic Incentives American Economic Review EU study US study

AIM Motives which induce people to engage in pro-social behaviour may go beyond purely economic rewards The present work employs a survey administered to 640 Italian households in 2014 (representativeness at National level) to study how consumers cluster in term of waste performances (generation and recycling) and motivations (Intrinsic and Extrinsic) Università degli studi di Ferrara 7

TYPE OF MOTIVATIONS Standard economic theory is based on pure extrinsic motivations. However, individual show pro-social behaviour which goes beyond self interest and egoism. Change in paradigm from Homo Oeconomicus to Oeconomicus Maturus (Frey,1997), which is driven by a more complex system of motivations. Università degli studi di Ferrara8

TYPE OF MOTIVATIONS Intrinsic Motivations come from ‘within people’s attitude’ (e.g. pure altruism, good self-image, or Andreoni ‘warm glow’) Extrinsic Motivations come from ‘outside the person’ (e.g. material rewards, such as tax incentives, peer pressure or social approval) For conceptual background Cecere et al (2014), Ecol Econ Università degli studi di Ferrara9

MAIN HYPOTHESIS Recycling activities are driven both by extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, but we expect extrinsic to play a more relevant role (both in term of economic incentives and social approval). Waste prevention behaviour is mainly driven by intrinsic motivations (social approval, for instance, is expected to have a lower effect because minimisation behaviour are often more difficult to observe) Università degli studi di Ferrara10

EMPIRICAL STEPS STEP 1: Factor analysis to synthetize survey data around 4 main concepts: INTRINSIC MOTIVATION EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION RECYCLING BEHAVIOUR PREVENTION BEHAVIOUR STEP 2: Cluster Analysis to see how households can be grouped according to these four dimensions Università degli studi di Ferrara11

1. FACTOR ANALYSIS outcome Università degli studi di Ferrara12 Factors (latent elements)Questions Intrinsic Motivations Purchase of products with low packaging information about environmental problems Do you buy products from Green producers / Labels Participation to Environmental association Extrinsic Motivations Concerns for own wasting food Quantity Recycled with respect to neighbours Support economic incentives for recycling Attitudes towards people who do not recycle

13 FactorsQuestions sorting waste (separation of waste being collected) Separated Collection (Paper) Separated Collection (Glass) Separated Collection (Aluminium) Separated Collection (Plastic) Separated Collection (Organic) Have you increased your share of sep coll in the last 5 years Recycling of specific materialsSeparated Collection (Pharmaceutical prod) Separated Collection (WEE) Separated Collection (other hazardous prod) Prevention/reduction actionsComposting Refill: Water Refill: Detergent Refill: Wine Refill: Oil Increased Prevention behavior% food waste through timeVariation production of Glass Variation production of Plastic Variation production of Paper Policy insight: behavioral actions are correlated May change case by case

2. Cluster analysis Cluster 1 – “Motivated Recyclers” Cluster 2– “Extrinsically motivated” Cluster 3 – “Relatively Intrinsically motivated” Cluster 4 – “Environmentalists” Cluster 5 – “Reputationally motivated (mixed intrinsic)” Cluster 6 – “Non environmentalists” Socio-demographic features differ across clusters Here negative values mean better behavior and motivations

CONCLUSIONS and further research Waste management and waste prevention policies may target heterogeneous groups Motivations and actions are correlated Waste behavior clusters appear relevant and often clearly identified – levers of behavioral change may be adapted and diverse Economic instruments may be insufficient for waste prevention (….voluntereeing may decrease if payments are introduced) Issue: how to link economic incentives and intrinsic drivers (case to case analysis is needed) Università degli studi di Ferrara15

Open to collaborations! Further research Cluster on sub samples (robustness) Econometric analysis of how waste behavior is influenced by (i) motivations (ii) policies On when and why Recycling and waste prevention are complements