Assessing the Performance of Solid Waste Recycling Programs Over Time

• Author: Richard C. Feiock,Lesley Graham Kalan
• Published date: 01 March 2001
• DOI: 10.1177/02750740122064811
• Date: 01 March 2001
• Subject Matter: Articles

ARPA/March2001Feiock,Kalan/ASSESSINGRECYCLING PROGRAMS

ASSESSING THE PERFORMANCE

OF SOLID WASTE RECYCLING

PROGRAMS OVER TIME

RICHARD C. FEIOCK

Florida State University

LESLEY GRAHAM KALAN

Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense

This article examines variation in the success of solid waste recyclingprograms in Florida based on the

administrative design of recycling programs, state-level incentives and constraints, economic

resources, and citizens’ environmental support. After describing trends in solid waste programs and

recycling success in Florida counties from1991 through 1996, the authors estimate a model to explain

variation in the success of recycling as indicated by recycling rates. The empirical analysis applies

pooled cross-sectional time-series techniques. The results demonstrate that economic resources have

greatersignificance to program success than do either administrative design or environmentalsupport.

The authors discuss the implications of this finding for both the study and practice of local solid waste

management. In conclusion, they highlight the need for futureresearch to examine interactions among

economic resources,citizen attitudes, and administrative factors to identify the contexts in which partic-

ular programmatic design factors are likely to be most effective.

Tremendous scholarly attention has been directed to the adoption and perfor-

mance of local government wasterecycling programs. One question that has gener-

ated considerable debate is: What factors account for the success of local programs

in collecting recyclables? Much of this debate centers on the extent to which the

characteristics of local recycling programs, as opposed to exogenous forces, such

as state policies, economic conditions, and popular support for environmentalism,

account for the effectiveness of programs in some communities and not others

(Feiock & West, 1996; Folz, 1999; Folz & Hazlett, 1991).

Empirical studies have yielded contradictory answers to this question. Several

conceptual and methodological limitations of extant research may account for

these divergent results. First, extant research has relied principally on cross-

sectional analysis that compares measures of recycling success, such as participa-

tion rates, across jurisdictions at a single point in time. Although this cross-sectional

AUTHORS’NOTE: An earlier version of this article was presented at the annual meeting of the South-

eastern Conference for Public Administration, January 1999.

Initial Submission: July 8, 1999

Accepted: June 9, 2000

AMERICAN REVIEW OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION,Vol. 31 No. 1, March 2001 22-32

© 2001 Sage Publications, Inc.

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