Despite some modest progress over the past two decades, Canada's waste diversion efforts remain wanting: according to the Canadian government, only 27 per cent of the country's waste is recycled, composted or otherwise diverted from disposal. In 2022, 26.6 million tonnes of solid waste wound up in landfills or was incinerated - an 11 per cent increase from 2002.
Canada lags far behind recycling rates in other countries, particularly the United Kingdom and especially in Wales, where household recycling rates approach 70 per cent.
A new Concordia study suggests that a number of factors influence household recycling rates. Examples include culture, income, education, population density and how often garbage is collected.
The study, published in the journal Waste Management, was conducted by doctoral students Jonathan Wilansky, from the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, and Kailun Cao, from the Department of Economics. The researchers examined data and policies from 297 council districts across England and Wales to see which policy combinations were associated with the highest household recycling rates.
"We found that less frequent garbage collection coupled with weekly food waste collection and free yard waste collection correlated with higher recycling rates," Wilansky says. "That surprised us at first, but it makes sense: hanging on to waste for two or three weeks becomes burdensome, so people are motivated to recycle and compost to get rid of it. We get more recycling and fewer garbage trucks on the road.
"Of course, this only works if you have reliable and convenient recycling and composting systems," he adds.
"We found that less frequent garbage collection coupled with weekly food waste collection and free yard waste collection correlated with higher recycling rates," says Jonathan Wilansky, left, with Kailun Cao. Council-level data
Wilansky and Cao gathered detailed information from municipal websites on a range of factors. They considered collection frequency for residual waste and recyclables, whether councils required residents to sort materials, and whether food and yard waste were collected. They also looked at whether these services were free.
The researchers paired their findings with 2021 census data on income, education, age, housing type, household composition, unemployment and language spoken at home. Then they used regression modelling to isolate the effects of policy and demographics on recycling rates.
Their analysis showed that districts that collected garbage once every three weeks or more had significantly higher recycling rates. The researchers note that how frequently recycling was picked up had no significant effect, nor did requiring residents to sort recyclable material into multiple bins. This indicates that the convenience of a single recycling bin may not matter to recycling habits as much as once thought.
Districts that combined weekly food waste collection, free yard waste collection and garbage collection every three weeks had median recycling levels of around 61 per cent.
There were also some striking demographic findings: age, median income and the proportion of apartment dwellers were not significant predictors of recycling habits. However, areas with higher levels of education were associated with higher recycling rates.
Districts with higher unemployment, single-person households and student populations recycled less often. Areas with higher population density were also associated with lower recycling rates.
Culture and commitment matter
Welsh government policy - which encourages recycling through programs and education - was credited with outperforming English districts, where recycling gains seem to have plateaued. The researchers say this suggests clear national targets and culture influence recycling outcomes.
They recommend that governments optimize limited resources by focusing recycling awareness programs on communities where rates are lowest and implementing the policy mix that yields the highest recycling rates. However, the researchers warn that surpassing recycling targets and reaching future ones will require more ambitious programs and commitment.
Wilansky says the study has important lessons for Canada: the principal reason the team chose to study UK recycling was the availability of publicly accessible data, which most Canadian districts lack.
"Our recycling levels are nowhere near the UK's, but our paper shows that simple, quick changes to the existing infrastructure can lead to significant improvements."
Read the cited paper: "A comparison of municipal waste collection policies to optimize recycling rates: Evidence from England and Wales"
