Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Vermont Journal of Environmental Law

Publication Date

2022

ISSN

1936-4253

Page Number

319

Keywords

recycling, deposits, environment

Disciplines

Environmental Law | Law

Abstract

States can foster recycling of waste materials through a variety of policies. The majority of the states have recycling laws for waste products such as glass, plastic, cans, and paper. These laws vary in terms of stringency. The hierarchy we developed orders the laws as follows: laws that make recycling mandatory, laws that require the provision of recycling opportunities, laws that require the development of a recycling plan, and laws that specify a recycling goal. Based on national recycling data with over 400,000 observations, we find that the amount of recycling households undertake increases with the degree of stringency of the legal structure. Other legal recycling initiatives consist of laws that have established deposit policies, which a minority of states have done. Deposit policies establish financial incentives to promote recycling. States with deposit policies exhibit higher recycling rates for glass, plastic, and cans than states that have not enacted such laws. The higher recycling rates, for paper in the bottle deposit states, may reflect a broader impact of deposit policies on households’ recycling behavior for products not covered by the deposits.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.