Abstract for ESEH 2007.
This paper examines how and why recycling systems for aluminum cans in Norway and the US have achieved highly different results. I will argue that successful recycling systems requires both infrastructure and consumer participation. One of the strategies for increasing this participation has been information campaigns on teaching consumers to recycle. When aluminum cans were introduced in the US in the 1950s and 1960s, the industry-organized deposit systems fell by the wayside. Disposable containers became a massive litter problem. The industry-funded organization Keep America Beautiful (KAB) tried to change consumer littering behavior through informational campaigns. At the same time, KAB actively opposed a nationwide deposit system.
The result was that recycling rates never reached the levels glass bottles previously had achieved. In contrast, when aluminum cans were introduced in Norway in 1996, the government demanded a nationwide recycling system with high recycling rates. Business interests established the consortium Resirk to ensure this. Using the history of these two contrasting systems, their business strategies and promotional materials, this paper examines the strategies for teaching consumers how to recycle. In Norway, the deposit on beverage containers served as a financial incentive to recycle. Although the message in the Norwegian information campaigns had many similarities to KAB’s, KAB did not have the financial component added by deposit systems. By understanding what has made some of these strategies more successful than others, it is also possible to say something about why consumers recycle.