Landfill Or Recycle? Pro-Environmental Receptacle Labeling Increases Recycling Contamination

While aggregate recycling rates in developed countries have plateaued in recent years, the contamination rate of recycling streams due to consumers incorrectly recycling items that cannot be recycled has grown rapidly. We propose that this problem may be partially due to persuasive messages, such as pro-environmental labeling on bins, that encourage recycling, but may lack guidance on how to do so accurately. For example, a number of public garbage receptacles across the United States are labeled "Landfill" instead of "Trash," encouraging recycling by making the negative impact of garbage more salient. However, this labeling may also lead consumers to incorrectly "recycle" items that cannot be recycled (i.e., overinclusive recycling). Two field studies suggest that pro-environmental receptacle labeling can lead to overinclusive recycling, and a controlled experiment provides preliminary process evidence involving anticipated emotion from trashing versus recycling. Research opportunities and public policy implications for pro-environmental messaging are discussed.