Research objectives

Attention towards policies aiming to prevent environmental deterioration has grown. The European New Circular Economy Action Plan to devote substantial Covid-19 recovery resources to achieve climate-neutrality by 2050 contemplates the enhancement of waste management systems to recover, reuse or recycle materials (EC, 2020). In Catalonia, according to the last statistics from the Agencia de Residus de Catalunya, the amount of municipal waste recovered is about 38% (ARC, 2019). This is far from the target of the new Waste Directive (2018/852) to increase to a minimum of 65% by weight preparation for re-use and recycling of municipal waste by 2035.

The waste collection system is a municipal responsibility. In Catalonia it is mainly articulated by means of kerbside containers, including mixed and selective collection bins, or by a door-to-door collection system, although other strategies such as pneumatic collection or the return of packages to point of sales have also been implemented in certain municipalities or areas. Apart from that, there is a network of binging points (“deixalleries”, in Catalan) where citizens can also deposit their waste. Regarding packaging waste, it is managed by an Extended Product Responsibility Scheme (EPRS) articulated via a Green Dot (following the European Directive 94/62/EC, amended by Directive 2018/852, and the National Packaging Waste Act 11/97) and managed by Ecoembes (for paper and light packaging) and Ecovidrio (for glass packaging). These organizations collect the money from the packaging producers and distribute it among the municipalities to defray the cost of the separate collection. The rest of the cost of the collection service is paid through municipal taxes.

The efficacy and efficiency of waste management systems to recover, treat and recycle materials, critically depends on citizens' engagement. In the context of COVID-19, the daily lives of citizens, their consumption patterns, and, with these, their recycling behaviour, have dramatically changed, forcing public authorities and waste operators to rapidly adapt their systems and procedures (ACR+, 2020). This project aims to analyse the changes that recent events such as the COVID-19 crises, the later economic downturn and social attitudinal changes have induced in Catalan households' waste generation and recycling behaviour, the factors that have had a contribution or affected these changes, and the environmental implications of these changes.

The main objectives of the proposed research are:

  1. Analysing the waste generation and recycling trends in Catalan municipalities prior to the disruption of COVID-19 and afterwards, and translating these results into carbon footprint emissions, in order to analyse the contribution of the experienced changes in citizens’ behaviour on climate change.
  2. Analysing the factors that affect citizens' waste separation and recycling habits and the changes these have experienced recently. These comprise changes in: a) Consumption patterns and waste generation, b) Attitudes towards recycling; c) Incentives and experienced (in)convenience of recycling d) Public information regarding the process and relevance of recycling.
  3. Distilling the insights that can be gained from the changes that households' waste recycling has experienced. Analysing the changes that have the potential to last and the learnings that can be obtained to enhance waste management policies in the longer term whilst linking them with the potential to reduce climate change emissions.

 

Stages of research

Phase 1. Literature and secondary data gathering

  • Compiling existing studies on consumption patterns, waste generation, waste composition and recycling rates and public data on consumption patterns, waste generation, and waste composition in Catalonia before and after COVID-19.
  • Translating the changes into CO2 emissions by applying Life Cycle Assessment methodology and using the prior experience and models developed by the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change of ESCI-UPF.

Phase 2: Gathering information regarding Households' behavior

  • Gathering data regarding changes in consumption patterns, leading to changes in the composition of waste and the fractions to be managed in Catalan households (including the need to manage medical waste). 
  • Gathering data regarding changes in the societal and individual values, citizens' motivation and attitudes that foster recycling behaviour. 
  • Gathering data regarding changes in the incentives, perceived opportunities and experienced (in)convenience of recycling associated with the specific features of the Catalan selective waste collection system. 
  • Gathering data regarding the impact of the amount of information that the public has regarding the procedures to be followed to manage waste and regarding the relevance of recycling.

Phase 3: Analysis of results

The analysis of the results of the previous phases will be performed with the aim to: 1) identify distinctive groups of citizens depending on their recycling behaviour and socio demographic characteristics,  2) synthesize the interrelation between the factors that explain recycling behaviour by reducing the dimensionality of data to fewer explanatory dimensions; 3) explain and quantify the dependencies between recycling behaviour and factors such as the sociodemographic characteristics, attitudes towards the environment perceived inconvenience of the recycling mechanism, perceived social pressures, etc. 

Phase 4: Conclusions and Dissemination

The conclusions will aim to provide specific policy recommendations to enhance waste collection mechanisms. We will consider potential recommendations regarding changes in the waste collection and recycling mechanisms, the existing incentives to recycle or the information provided to the public.

Phase 5: Internationalization

While the project will be centred on the analysis of waste behaviour and management changes experienced in the Catalan territory. However, it is the aim of the project to reach an international audience and develop into research that can be presented in competitive international calls.