IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ris/cigewp/2008_006.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Private Affluence Versus Public Squalor: Atittudes Towards Recycling Domestic Waste

Author

Listed:
  • Daniela Wilks

    (Universidade Portucalense)

Abstract

There has been, in recent years, substantial debate over environmental issues in the media and in schools, and one can by now assume the existence of at least minimal awareness on the part of the general public. One important aspect of the debate concerns the recycling of domestic waste, and European countries are expected to comply with European directives on this matter. However, there remains everywhere a mismatch between assumed public awareness and actual practice. This is certainly the case in Portugal where indicators show that levels of public participation in locally sponsored recycling initiatives are low. Given their higher levels of education, one might assume that university students show more awareness of environmental problems and are accordingly more active in contributing to solving them. In order to study the attitudes of Portuguese students towards recycling a questionnaire survey was conducted with a sample of 600 students in Portuguese universities. Data thus gathered so far seems to indicate that the majority of students are generally aware of the public importance of recycling and practice this in their private lives. Results are analysed in the light of the concept of social capital, and the paper theorises a connection between the levels of public participation in recycling and the prevalence (or not) of social capital in Portuguese society. It concludes by suggesting the most cost efficient allocation of resources to increase participation rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniela Wilks, 2008. "Private Affluence Versus Public Squalor: Atittudes Towards Recycling Domestic Waste," Working Papers 6/2008, Universidade Portucalense, Centro de Investigação em Gestão e Economia (CIGE).
  • Handle: RePEc:ris:cigewp:2008_006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://wwwa.uportu.pt/Siaa/Investigacao/WP_6_2008.pdf
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hall, Peter A., 1999. "Social Capital in Britain," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 29(3), pages 417-461, June.
    2. Walter McMahon, 1998. "Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of the Social Benefits of Lifelong Learnings," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(3), pages 309-346.
    3. R. Quentin Grafton & Stephen Knowles, 2002. "Social Capital and National Environmental Performance: A Cross-sectional Analysis," Economics and Environment Network Working Papers 0206, Australian National University, Economics and Environment Network.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Fiorino, 2011. "Explaining national environmental performance: approaches, evidence, and implications," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 44(4), pages 367-389, November.
    2. Natalia Letki, 2008. "Does Diversity Erode Social Cohesion? Social Capital and Race in British Neighbourhoods," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 56(1), pages 99-126, March.
    3. Sriya Iyer & Michael Kitson & Bernard Toh, 2005. "Social capital, economic growth and regional development," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(8), pages 1015-1040.
    4. repec:lic:licosd:37916 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Andronis, Lazaros & Maredza, Mandy & Petrou, Stavros, 2019. "Measuring, valuing and including forgone childhood education and leisure time costs in economic evaluation: Methods, challenges and the way forward," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 237(C), pages 1-1.
    6. repec:gig:chaktu:v:40:y:2011:i:2:p:135-163 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Alvin Etang, 2008. "Modelling the Effects of Socio-Economic Characteristics on Survey Trust: Empirical Evidence from Cameroon," Working Papers 0808, University of Otago, Department of Economics, revised Oct 2008.
    8. Lauren M. McLaren & Vanessa A. Baird, 2006. "Of Time and Causality: A Simple Test of the Requirement of Social Capital in Making Democracy Work in Italy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 54(4), pages 889-897, December.
    9. Charles Pattie & Patrick Seyd & Paul Whiteley, 2003. "Citizenship and Civic Engagement: Attitudes and Behaviour in Britain," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 51(3), pages 443-468, October.
    10. Munasib, Abdul B.A. & Jordan, Jeffrey L., 2011. "The Effect of Social Capital on the Choice to Use Sustainable Agricultural Practices," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(2), pages 213-227, May.
    11. Boopen SEETANAH & viraiyan teeroovengadum, 2017. "Higher Education and Economic Growth: Evidence from Africa," Proceedings of Economics and Finance Conferences 4807254, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    12. Yanjie Bian & Mingsong Hao & Yaojun Li, 2018. "Social Networks and Subjective Well-Being: A Comparison of Australia, Britain, and China," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(8), pages 2489-2508, December.
    13. Abdoulaye Diop & Yaojun Li & Majed Mohammmed H. A. Al-Ansari & Kien T. Le, 2017. "Social Capital and Citizens’ Attitudes towards Migrant Workers," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(1), pages 66-79.
    14. Alvin Etang Ndip & David Fielding & Stephen Knowles, 2007. "Survey Trust, Experimental Trust and ROSCA Membership in Rural Cameroon," Working Papers 0713, University of Otago, Department of Economics, revised Nov 2007.
    15. Junfeng Jiang & Peigang Wang, 2022. "Which Generation is More Likely to Participate in Society? A Longitudinal Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 209-229, July.
    16. Mohan, John & Twigg, Liz & Barnard, Steve & Jones, Kelvyn, 2005. "Social capital, geography and health: a small-area analysis for England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(6), pages 1267-1283, March.
    17. Jones, Randall E. & Saunders, Glen & Balogh, Suzy, 2005. "An Economic Evaluation of a Pest Management Control Program: "Outfox the Fox"," Research Reports 42653, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries Research Economists.
    18. Ryan, Paul., 2003. "Lifelong learning : potential and constraints with special reference to policies in the United Kingdom and Europe," ILO Working Papers 994096163402676, International Labour Organization.
    19. Pierdzioch, Christian & Emrich, Eike, 2014. "Internet und die Bindung Ehrenamtlicher am Beispiel des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes," Working Papers of the European Institute for Socioeconomics 5, European Institute for Socioeconomics (EIS), Saarbrücken.
    20. Abdoulaye Diop & Yaojun Li & Majed Mohammmed H. A. Al-Ansari & Kien T. Le, 2017. "Social Capital and Citizens’ Attitudes towards Migrant Workers," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 5(1), pages 66-79.
    21. Terrence Casey, 2004. "Social Capital and Regional Economies in Britain," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 52(1), pages 96-117, March.
    22. Ville, Simon, 2004. "Social Capital: An Insight Revealed or a Concept Too Many?," Economics Working Papers wp04-05, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    PRIVATE AFFLUENCE; PUBLIC SQUALOR; RECYCLING; DOMESTIC WASTE;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ris:cigewp:2008_006. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Luis Pacheco The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Luis Pacheco to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ciupopt.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.