An Instrument to Measure the Recycling Attitudes and Beliefs of Undergraduate Students at a Large Northeastern University

The results of this study of 168 first year university students are consistent with the literature and emphasized the strong motivating factor of social norms. Four characteristics of recyclers are identified using a 23-item measurement instrument--sorting, location, importance and social norms--which account for 29.7%, 14.0%, 8.9% and 7.1% of the variance explained respectively. The evidence of the influence of the social norm on attitudes and behavior is a valuable tool in helping motivate students to recycle and to have pro-recycling attitudes. Appended are: (1) 23-item Likert scale online survey; and (2) 5 data tables. (Contains 7 tables.)