Title:
WHY DON'T PEOPLE RECYCLE- A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND INDIA

Authors:
Dhruv Kumar and Sahil Armaan Kumar

Abstract:
In this day and age where the amount of waste in the world is increasing each day, we as a civilization need to adopt sustainable practices. Though we have always been recycling old products to utilize in a different manner, recycling of waste was only introduced first in Switzerland in 1991. Since then, some countries have adopted and implemented schemes that have majorly reduced the waste accumulation while some countries have not. This research paper is a comparative study between the United States of America and India. By taking a total survey of 80 citizens- 40 from India and 40 from the US- this research tries to compare the attitudes and the involvement of waste (paper, food, biodegradable, and non-biodegradable waste) recycling in the population in both countries. Further, the sample size was divided into teenagers and adults to compare the attitude and level of participation between the two age groups.
The results of the study concluded that Americans participate more in recycling and have a more positive attitude towards waste disposal and preserving the environment compared to Indians. Adults take part in household chores and recycling more than teenagers in both countries. 92.5% of the people surveyed believed they had a positive attitude towards environmental conservation. The leading question of the research was whether people would recycle if they saw a friend or colleague doing it. This proves that people are influenced by their peers and would recycle to show others that they recycle rather than for the act of recycling itself. From the data accumulated there seems to be a balanced response from respondents of both countries. 75% of respondents in both countries accept that they would recycle if they saw someone else do it. This proves our hypothesis that people will recycle irrespective of their country as long as people around them are recycling, showing the role of social influence and conformity in society. One of the findings to increase the scope of recycling was found to be incentivizing the population. 65% of the population agreed an incentive such as small sums of money for every returned glass bottle, or recycling of waste in bulk will increase the participation.