SUSTAINABLE LIVING, STRONGER TIES: CAN PLACEMAKING CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESSFUL RESIDENTIAL RECYCLING?

Abstract

There has been an increased societal interest in the issue of sustainability and recycling in Singapore. This has resulted in many government initiatives, but so far none has managed to effect a great and sustainable change to domestic recycling rates. Although Singapore’s national recycling rate is among the highest in the world (60%) (National Environment Agency, 2023i), second only to Germany (65%) (German Environment Agency, 2023), this number is misleading. The national recycling rate is the sum of domestic and non-domestic waste recycling. Non-domestic recycling has had a steady recycling rate of 70%. Domestic recycling is consistently low, only 20% (Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment Singapore, 2023), compared to Germany’s 67% (German Environment Agency, 2023). The significant gap between non-domestic and domestic recycling rates is due to the difficulty of regulating domestic recycling. Non-domestic recycling is regulated under the National Public Health Act (National Environment Agency, 2023h), while domestic recycling is not mandatory. In this paper, we analyse the barriers that keep people from recycling regularly in their household, in the context of the Theory of Planned Behaviour. We conduct a survey in two neighbourhoods, a mature and a non-mature neighbourhood, where we test for behaviour, intention, and barriers. We hypothesise that recycling rates could be increased by following a placemaking approach, focusing on community empowerment and cultivating individual motivations. Overall, we find that where the intention to recycle appears weak, it has the potential to be reinforced through placemaking initiatives. When there is a strong intention to recycle, people do not recycle because of a value-action gap (Barr, 2006). There is the potential to narrow this gap through placemaking. We believe that there is potential for collective and individual empowerment within the community, building the capacity for future changes, thereby creating more sustainable and liveable cities through placemaking.