Why do students not recycle more waste in appropriate facilities in the public areas of Stirling University Campus? “A Case Study on Waste Management” Imran Butt Abstract Purpose/aim: The aim of the research is to investigate the recycling and littering behaviour of students of the University of Stirling and also suggest a way to implement recycling facilities in university campus. Design/methodology/approach: This is a pilot study using semi structured interviews to observe the students view, and to supplement this with pilot ethnographic observation through which it build-ups picture of the determinants of recycling and littering conduct among the students in a public area of Stirling university campus. Findings: The results from the interviews with open-ended questions regarding the behaviour of littering and understandings of recycling have first filtered into descriptive codes and then processed into analytical codes in order to evaluate the major determinants of the subject. The two participants have commonly referred some factors that can be helpful in promoting the idea of recycling. These factors include the awareness of rate of environmental degradation, importance of environmental sustainability, awareness of recycling, regulations and contribution of individual or people in the process of waste management. Furthermore, the findings have also put forward the flaws present in the facilities of disposal of waste. Research challenges and implications: The limited nature of the data may restrict the generalized outcome to different area and settings. The self‐report‐based measures received in this investigation may prompt a social allure inclination in the outcomes gave by the respondents. Table of Content……………………………………………………………………………..…….…………………….……02 Introduction………………………….………………………………………………………………..... 04 Research Design………………….………..…..…..…………………………….………….……….. 04 Data Analysis……………………………………………….…….……………..………….............. 09 Findings……………………….………………………..…..……………………………….……………. 10 Coding and Analysis…….……………………………………………………….……….……...….. 11 Pilot Ethnographic Observation………..…………………………….……………..……..…… 14 Conclusion……………………..…………………………………………………………………………. 19 Challenges……………………..………………………………………………………………………….. 19 Limitations and Recommendations……………………………………….….……………... 20 References……………………………..…………………………………………………………….….. 20 Appendices…………………………………….…………………………………………..………….. 22 Introduction: Recycling is the procedure of separating, collecting and remanufacturing waste or used items into new material. The recycling procedure includes a progression of venture to deliver new items. Recycling broadens the life and value of something that has just filled its underlying need by delivering something that is useable. Recycling has a considerable measure of advantages and significance to people as well as particularly to our planet. The pilot study was intended to investigate students recycling and littering behaviours, attitude and knowledge about waste disposal and recycling, in the public area of university of Stirling campus conducting an interviews and observation. Research design: Pilot study This report is based on small scale pilot study. Pilot scale studies can be seen as practices for resulting full-scale trials. They can enable researcher to tweak later bigger examinations and in addition investigate issues identified with venture administration and spending plan. Pilot studies allow testing of examining techniques, member enlistment, intervention content, delivery strategies, information collection, and investigation (Prescott & Soekn, 1989) Table 1. Reasons for conducting pilot studies • Developing and testing adequacy of research instruments • Assessing the feasibility of a (full- scale) study/survey • Designing a research protocol • Assessing whether the research protocol is realistic and workable • Establishing whether the sampling frame and technique are effective • Identifying logistical problems which might occur using proposed methods • Estimating variability in outcomes to help determining sample size • Collecting preliminary data • Developing a research question and research plan Objective and scope of the research: The data gathered from the survey was assessed to investigate following areas: What are student’s attitudes and knowledge about the well-being of the environment, waste and recycling? Are there differences between male and female students concerning their attitude and self-reported behavior toward waste and recycling? Methodological assumption: Methodological assumptions are concerned with how the researcher can go about finding out whatever researcher believes can be known, based on prior epistemological assumptions (Hammell 2002). Methodological assumption within any research is important to recognize the challenges within your research e.g. To find the appropriate participant who can answer in an honest and candid manner, to be assured that the participants have all experienced the same or similar phenomenon of the study and participants have a sincere interest in participating in your research. The assumptions of this report are as follows: The responses from the participants are truthful and objectively correct. The participants have their own experience of recycling procedures. The responses from the participants are adequate and processed with precision during the coding and analysis procedure. The findings can give a general perception of students’ littering behavior and the environmental sustainability. The open-ended questions are designed in a way that they cover all the aspect of the subject. Data collection: Recall that the main purpose of this research was to design of information and/or communication aiming at improving recycling practices by exploring the self-expressing views and perceptions of the participants. The method used in this report is based on semi-structured interviews, as it is important to focus on particular aspect of theory. For this research, interviewees are students who could provide required information in term of recycling practices at University of Stirling. The main feature of an interview is to facilitate the interviewees to share their perspectives, stories and experience regarding student’s behaviour towards recycling waste in the university campus. Semi-structured interview was interesting and challenging due to the reason that degree structured interview was applied in order to make sure that I was able to access or generate that evidence which I wanted in my report. The interview procedures, encompassing all procedures from 1) designing the interview questions and developing the interview guides, to 2) the process of the interviewing itself transcribed, analysed and give them coded into descriptive an analytical code. The idea of using semi structured interview came up because of interviewer allow informants the freedom to express interviewees view in their own term, also it can provide reliable and easy to analyze. At the same time, it also has some limitation, as open-ended questions are difficult to analyze, and as a result of their agenda you might get surprising views by taking semi-structured interviews Another approach and method that has been used to analyzed for this report is pilot ethnographic observation (visual inspection). For this research, of the students at the different areas in the university to survey the student’s actual behavior towards recycling and littering contribution. This approach was conducted to confirm the contributions of existing recycling facilities (such as bin location and signage/prompts) in the visited sites. It is recognized that observation could have been conducted initially and then used to construct questions to fill in the gaps from what was observed. However, observation within this study is used to generalise findings upwards away from these individual cases towards a broader set of students, where speculations can be made regarding specific behaviours and actions. Interview procedure: Qualitative interviews have been categorized in a variety of ways, with many contemporary texts loosely differentiating qualitative interviews as unstructured, semi-structured and structured. As explain above in this paper, we have focused on semi-structured format. The below picture highlights the interview process: The unstructured interview is conducted in conjunction with the collection of observational data, whereas semi-structured interviews are often the sole data source (only one source) for a qualitative research project. They are generally organized around a set of predetermined open-ended questions, with other questions emerging from the dialogue between interviewer and interviewee. Significantly, I would interview the people whose behavior I observed to trying to understand their recent behavior, but it wasn’t possible for me because, it would be inclusive for unacceptable due to the method has been used. Design interview question: Designing a questionnaire requires sufficient study of similar topics to decide on the specific questionnaire structure, approaches, and wording to be used, according to the research objectives. It took a few weeks to carefully design the entire questionnaire using the Webropol web survey system. The quality of questions and selections throughout the questionnaire design influence the results of the research; therefore, a great deal of effort has been made in designing the questionnaire. Pilot study is one of the most vital steps before field work can be start to semi structure interview within the university students. According to Oppenheim (1992), no matter how well designs your interview questionnaires are, it must be design and developed to maturity after many abortive test flights as Order of questions and approached within research: The semi-structure interview was made up on four parts utilizing the pilot approach: General question about knowledge and opinion on waste and recycling started off the interview in a relatively relaxed way. For example, “your thoughts about environmental degradation”, “raise voice against environmental degradation”, “technique of recycling” and “your contribution” appendix 2. The main goal of this part was to gain broad picture of how many students are aware of some general issues about recycling and related topics and what extent they are concerned about the environment and the well-being of the university. In the second part, more specific questions were asked in accordance with the pilot approach. Three questions were asked concerning their knowledge of and participation according to observation in the littering and recycling system in university campus. Respondents were asked whether they know what material can be recycle, their thoughts on littering and their contribution towards recycling of waste, as shown in appendix 2. The primary assumption of these questions was that are students knows the littering handling system in university of Stirling campus. The third part asked interviewee to see the awareness about the current recycling system and possible way to improve it. For example, they were asked “know why there have been negligence regarding the appropriate recycling of wastes?” and “how do we motivate students to participate in campus recycling”. The objective of this part was to find more solutions to improve and participate other students to take part in recycling system in the campus area to raise awareness on better recycling participation and even sustainable development. The final part was about respondent’s overall opinion by asking will you recycle waste in appropriate facilities in the public area of the university? Data analysis: Qualitative data analysis ideally occurs concurrently with data collecting so that investigators can generate an emerging understanding about research questions, which in turn informs both the sampling and the questions being asked. A commonly used approach relies on using codes from a code-book for tagging segments of text and then sorting text segments with similar content into separate categories for a final distillation into major theme. (miles M, Huberman A. 1994) The collected data was inductively analysed without pre-defined themes in order to convey the meanings of the participants’ views in a logical and coherent format. Although no distinct themes were generated prior to data collection and analysis, findings from existing studies on recycling behaviour including the researcher’s epistemological perspective may bias the identification of themes. In order to identify the emerging themes from the data, the interview transcripts were read through many times for a better understanding of the data and familiarisation. As a result, thematic analysis, was performed using manually coding- instead of, a qualitative data analysis software package NVIVO, Atlas.ti, MAXQDA, QDA Minoer etc... In this approach, the transcripts’ contents were categorised and labels were assigned to the emerging themes (categories). For ease of data analysis and synthesis however, the data descriptive and analytical procedure was informed by Ritchie et al.’s recommendations which included data management (for example data preparation, data labelling, and data itemizing/sorting), abstraction, and interpretation. Consistent with the paradigm used, qualitative content analysis is applied in this study from the perspective of student’s behaviour (Sarantakos 2005), which means using the etic or from outside (from the perspective of observer) approach to view the behaviour of students towards recycling behaviour. Findings The participants that could provide appropriate data to achieve the research goal from semi structured interview were purposefully selected and conducted from different areas from the university of Stirling campus. A total of 2 semi-structure face to face interviews were conducted in person and guided by the interview protocol that was designed for the interview as seen in appendix 1. As before an interview take place, respondents should be informed about the study details and given assurance about ethical principles, such as anonymity and confidentiality. The average time for the one-on- one interview was about 17 minutes and covered aspect of littering and recycling behaviour of university students. The intention was to understand recycling behaviour as well as participants views on waste management practise in university campus. Both interview sessions were digitally recorded following the participant active consent and manually transcribe. The reason for using recording instead of taking notes was because note taking will take a lot of time and recourses. Note taking may add some irrelevant information or may difficult to translate the actual wording. Recycling and littering attitude: Respondent voice; The summary of each respondents following the appendix 2. (actual name has been changed) due to ethical issue: John is a male respondent who is 26-year old, international student studying English literature. Mary is a female respondent who is 30-yeare old, international student studying Master of Science. Coding and Analysis: The research has been conducted by using semi-structured interviewing technique with the help of open-ended question so that the participants can freely express their views upon the research topic. The open ended questions are dissimilar to their counterparts as these are mainly used in qualitative research topics where the researcher is unfamiliar with the responses of the interviewees (Teddie & Tashakkori, 2009). The participants were asked about the perception of preservation of environment through methods of recycling of waste and their own contribution in waste management. The responses were gathered upon every question, and on the basis of the correlation between the responses from the participants, the common themes and codes were generated in order to analyse the patterns associated with the data. Appendix 2, which contains all the transcribed responses was analysed manually. The common meanings and repetitive words were assembled in the form of 8 descriptive codes and then further processed into 6 analytical codes with relevant definitions. These codes are formulated into two tables in which one table defines descriptive codes and other table defines analytical codes. Colourful arrows are presented to order to describe the linkage between both codes shown in next page. Descriptive Codes Decline of our environment/ It’s happening/ Generation/Lot of things are happening Important for people/take care of environment/living in Scotland/We should take care of our environment/They deal this issue carelessly/Important to raise awareness/Once you ruin this planet you ruin it forever/I should care more/Try to promote Cut down of producing waste/ Very much promoted/ Food waste/Certain wastes can be recycled/A lot of material can be recycled/I am aware of recycling/I try to encourage my family to recycle The technique/Advertised/ People don’t care/They can’t spare their time for waste management/Students are in a hurry/They don’t pay attention People need extrinsic motivation/Visual emphasis/Educate them about recycling Contributed/ Hypocritical/ It’s hard to do I will try to do regularly/ I segregated/Put in different bins/I felt very good/ Contribute/ I need to do it more/Fear of being judged/ I always do It is done a lot here in Scotland/ I think it’s a very good thing/ Littering is not good Put it in a bin or a bag/proactive/Campus would rather try you to recycle/ Confuse to put in bins Fines/Penalise/ Fined/Legal action/Police officers/ Need to stop at some point/Complain Analytical Code Definition Rate of Environmental degradation The rate of environmental degradation defines that how fast our environment is deteriorating due to the increase in pollution, resources decline and destruction of habitat. It refers to the wakeup call which includes the time factor involve in degradation process that how fast it is degrading. Environmental sustainability importance It refers to the promotion of the importance of environmental sustainability among the people so that they can contribute in recycling. This includes use of renewable resources, less waste production and proper waste recycling procedures. Awareness of Recycling Vs Lack of Awareness The personal understandings of recycling procedures to unawareness of the term are fall under this analytical code. Participants have shown their own knowledge upon the subject and also emphasized the importance of spreading awareness regarding the recycling of waste. Contribution in waste management: Self Vs Collective This analytical code defines the framework of self initiative and collective initiative to implement proper waste management either at home or at college. The participants have portrayed their own way of contribution in waste management and also given a picture that proper implementation of waste management can only be started from one own self. Facilities for disposing of waste Refers to the issues related to the facilities available for recycling such as proper placement of bins in proximity with proper direction embossed on it along with clear messages. Regulations Regulations defines penalty or fine if the person is caught littering on street or any place instead of bin. Participants have stated that this can be helpful in order to reduce littering and pollution. From the above analytical codes derived from the 8 descriptive codes, it has been observed that the attitude towards recycling of waste is directly proportional to the significance of environmental sustainability in people’s minds. Both participants have clearly indicated that the environmental degradation is evident and the rate of its decline is faster than expected. The people should be having proper understanding of this subject in order to preserve their planet for future generation. The other factor on which the participants have emphasized is the awareness of recycling. The terms recycling, waste management, source reduction or energy efficiency are all have the common roots to the idea of eco-efficiency. This phenomenon is derived from the same philosophies which state that we should use fewer resources in order to manufacture new products or produce more from less. The basic concept of recycling is based on reverse logistics in which the used products again transported back to the original manufacturer in order to produce new similar product (Waste Watch, 1998). According to the participants’ responses, it has been observed that proper concept of waste management should be taught to promote awareness of recycling and proper regulations should also be imposed with its strict implementation so that people should know the importance of recycling and the consequences if it is not practiced. The facilities should be provided with appropriate directions and guidance printed on them such as separate bins for plastics waste, paper waste, biodegradable waste or metal waste, so that the chances of error would be minimum. However, both participants have agreed on a same point that the driving force for contributing in waste management and recycling procedures comes from the self initiative of the person. The person should be able to act accordingly and follow the procedures so that the waste can be segregated and be recycled easily. This type of behaviour is driven by the psychological factors such as intrinsic motivation, societal pressure, self awareness of preservation of environment and internal satisfaction of doing something good which can contribute to save the planet. Pilot ethnographic observation: Ethnographic observation is a type of qualitative research method which not only includes participants’ observation, but also covers ethnography, pilot ethnography and research work in the field. This is the second method which has been used in this report called pilot ethnographic observation, which has been done on a small scale. The purpose of including ethnographical observation along with the semi-structured interviews is to improve the reliability of the research and obtain in-depth perception of the attitudes of students regarding littering and usage of recycling bins situated in the canteen. However, the procedure of conducting ethnographic observation may vary from pure observation to the active participation of the researcher (Caines, 2010). But in this report, the ethnographic observation was performed only to observe the behaviour of the student regarding the littering and recycling of their waste without any active participation. Below is the table showing date, venue, and duration along with the timeline of the activities observed: S.No. Attributes DESCRIPTION 1 Date 2/17/2017 2 Place/ Location The observation took place at littering hotspot at university’s canteen; sitting in front of the bin 3 Duration Lunch time, 1:15 to 1:45 4 Role My role was to observe people about their recycling and littering behaviour. I purchased a burger and a water bottle and sat facing the bin, so I can observe participants’ actual behaviour. 5 Time: 1:25 My first observer was female, she separated plastic bottle into plastic recycle bin and burger and chip wrapper (made with paper) into general waste. See pic.1 6 Time: 1:30 One male went to the bin he saw that there is a metal bin, he was about to through his metal can into metal bin, but suddenly he put its metal can into general waste. 7 Time: 1:31 One female has put all her waste into one single chip bag and put it in a general waste. 8 Time: 1:33 Two old females were separated all their metal, plastic and paper waste in recycle bins. 9 Time: 1:33 Three females had put paper cup into plastic bin, straw and can into general waste. - there was metal bin available 10 Time: 1:35 Three old males separated 3 paper cup, plastic bottle and sandwich paper in plastic bin and food waste in general waste. 11 Time: 1:36 One female and male were conversing and walking through and put all waste in general waste 12 Time: 1:38 Three females while conversing with male friend were standing in front of the bin and very carefully separated all their waste 13 Time: 1:44 One male and female came in a hurry and put all waste in general bin. 14 Time: 1:45 While I was observing during the last minute of lunch break, I saw somebody has left full irn blue bottle on the floor. See pic.2 Picture 1: According to me, as we can see left side bin, which says plastic, however the logos are for plastic and paper-written; plastic. I believe that make people confuse and they separated plastics only in plastic bin and paper, burger wrapper, pizza box etc. into the general waste. Picture 2: Someone just left his/her half filled bottom on the ground without disposing in the bin. During the ethnographic observation, it has become evident that students have used to deposit their waste in general waste bin usually. This can point out to their attitude towards the concept of recycling. In serial # 6, 7, and 9 shows that the students were having no interest (1) in having their wastes to be recycled or to be deposited on proper bins. In serial # 14, someone did not even bother (1) to put his/her half filled bottle in the waste bin; he/she just left it on floor. These all students had shown careless attitude (1) and intentionally deposited their waste in general waste bin or even littered on floor. However, it has been also observed in serial # 5 that a female student became confused (2) on putting her paper waste either in plastic labelled bin or in general waste bin, finally she wrongly deposited (2) her paper waste in bin such as general waste bin (see picture 1). Similar situation was observed in serial # 6, when a male student put his metal can on general bin with puzzlement (2). Simultaneously, in serial # 11 and 13, those students who were in hurry (3) or busy (3) in talking had shown no interest in recycle bins as they put all of their waste in general bin accidentally (3) or unintentionally (3). But in serial # 8, 10 and 12, the students had appropriately segregated (4) and deposited their wastes on appropriate recycle bins (4) which show that they all have awareness of recycling (4). S.no Descriptive Codes Analytical Code Definition 1 No interest/Did not even bother/Careless attitude Lack of self contribution in recycling Refers to the inner self which drives a person to adopt recycling attitude. Those persons who ignore the importance of environmental sustainability cannot adopt recycling 2 Confused/Wrongly deposited/Puzzlement Recycling facilities Refers to the problems related to the recycling bins which should have proper signage and labelling so that people can easily follow the instructions embossed on them 3 In hurry /Busy/Accidentally /Unintentionally Situational factor The situational factors involve lack of time to segregate, provision of recycling bins, diversion of mind or lack of focus. Such as students try to avoid segregating their waste just to save time. Or the bins are located far from their reach. 4 Appropriately segregated/Appropriate recycle bins/awareness of recycling Awareness of recycling Refers to those students who have accurately deposited their wastes in appropriate bins. The awareness of recycling includes the proper understanding of benefits of recycling, consequences of poor waste management and aftermath of environmental degradation. Overall pilot observational behaviour: The research behavioral observations conducted in 30 minutes session, observed a total 18 people depositing waste items across the site in bin. The overwhelming majority of people put their rubbish in a general waste. Despite this, majority of people were depositing waste items on the recycling bin. The majority of items littered were food, drink, metal can and plastic bottles though paper items were the single biggest contributor by numbers included tissues, paper bag, chips cup, burger wrapper paper, food bag, paper food container, pizza boxes etc. Who littering: When analyzing littering by age and gender. More under 30 then any other age group, and men and women were equally likely to litter. People who were standing or walking through the canteen were more likely to litter. Who recycling: Over 30 year olds were the biggest recyclers among the age groups, under 30 were slightly bigger that recycled the most. People who were sitting and eating were more likely to recycle. Example: majority of people were sitting who recycled compared to less likely standing and walking. How they are littering: One thing that I mentioned is if they have plastic bag or a chips bag or any other big container they put everything in that and put them in general waste. How they are recycling: I found few people were very much conscious about recycling their waste as they went to the bin and put every single item on right bin Conclusion: The study clearly established that preventing and minimizing the littering behaviour of people can be achieved successfully through proper counselling and promoting environmental sustainability concept. The study has also indicated the other methods to promote recycling practice and stopping people to litter such as through strict rules and regulations, through spreading of awareness of recycling with its benefits, through availability of proper facilities for recycling with clear signage and through educating people about the dire consequences that can be raised if proper measure are not taken to promote recycling practices. The major finding through ethnographic observation clearly conclude that habit of breaking laws or not following the guidelines are the always present in human nature. The recycling facilities were provided by the campus but still students were not following them. This is only because of lack of proper counselling and ungainly character of the students. However, the university should arrange proper sessions for presentations and seminars in order to promote recycling procedures to discourage littering behaviour. Challenges: There were some challenges that appeared at the time of conducting the research; these challenges were related to the interviewing sessions, ethnographic observation, collection, compilation and analysis of data. Some of the prominent challenges are as follows: The persuasion of participants and make them believe that their real identity will be kept anonymous and confidential was the first challenge of the research. The selection of the place where the interview was conducted. The recording equipment was not working at the time of the interview then replaced. The ethnographic observation was also considered as a challenge because it was purposely planned that the students should not know that somebody is observing them. The sorting of descriptive codes from the recorded interviews. Defining the analytical codes properly was also become a challenge during the analysis. Limitations and Recommendations: As this research is a pilot project which contains only two participants in semi-structured interview so that the generalisation is not possible and cannot be termed as the perception of larger audience. However, large sample may lead to more generalized result and can be more authentic. The research does not include participants from different demographic backgrounds and ethnicities. So that the research cannot be valid upon perception of different ethnic and demographic backgrounds. However, more diversified audience can result in more variable findings with diversified responses as diversification is important in researches that can provide means of comparing data with overall population (Lee, 2008). The research has only been conducted in University of Stirling and does not support the other students’ perception from different universities with different surroundings and facilities. It is recommended that same type of research should also be conducted in different universities in order to obtain diversified results. References: Prescott, P. A., and Soeken, K. L. (1989). The potential uses of pilot work. NursingResearch,38: 60-62. Crotty, M. (2003): The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspectives in the Research Process, 3rd edition, 10. Wellington, J. (2000) Educational Research: Contemporary Issues and Practical Approaches. London: Continuum Adams W, McIlvain H, Lacy N et al. Primary care for elderly people: why do doctors find it so hard?Gerontologist2002;42(6):835-42. Miles M, Huberman A. An Expanded Sourcebook: Qualitative data annlissis, 2nd edn. Thousond Oaks, calefornia: Sage 1994 SilvermanD. Interpreting qualitative dat: methods for analyzing talk, text and interaction. 2nd edn. London: sage 2001 Sarantakos, S. (2005), Social Research, 3rd edn, Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Teddie, C. & Tashakkori, A., 2009. Foundations of mixed methods research. London Waste Watch (1998) Waste Today An Overview of waste management in the UK. WasteWatch: London Caines, K. (2010). Ethnography. In N. Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of research design (pp. 431-434). Lee, E.B. (2008). Environmental Attitudes and Information Sources Among African American College Students. The Journal of Environmental Education, 40(1), 29- 42. Appendices: Appendix 1: Interview Schedule Hello, thank you for your time and taking part in this interview. So, the aim of this interview is to find out about student’s behaviour towards recycling and littering within the campus, and the reason that I am asked you is because you are a student and I want to find out your own thoughts of littering and recycling behaviour within the campus. And now, I am not expecting you to interview for very long. Probably, it will only take about 10 minuets for 10 questions. Also, I just need to check out a few things with you before you get started. I know that you are already agreed to take part in the interview, but I just want to check is that still ok with you? And if you want to stop it or you want to take a break you can. If I asked you a question and you don’t want to answer, please feel free and tell me- “I don’t want to talk” that’s absolutely fine for me Furthermore, all your personal information will be keep secret and will only be check by myself and my module tutor. Do you have any questions for me, before we started? Before we look into the questioning, may I asked you your personal details? NAME: AGE: NATIONALITY: COURSE: YEAR: General: What are your thoughts about environmental degradation? Why is it important to raise voice against environment degradation? What is your perception about the technique of recycling? Did you ever contribute towards recycling of wastes till date? Specific Do you know what material can be recycle? What are your thoughts on littering? How it can be avoidable? Have you ever contributed towards the recycling of wastes when you are in the public areas of your university? Awareness: Do you know why there have been negligence regarding the appropriate recycling of wastes? How do We Motivate Students to Participate in Campus Recycling? Overall: Will you recycle wastes in appropriate facilities in the public areas of the University? Appendix 2: Transcribed Responses RESPONSE DESCRIPTIVE ANALYTICAL QUESTION-1 What are your thoughts about environmental degradation? JOHN: Environmental degradation! Umm...basically, like a decade a decline of our environment. ummm…. It’s happening regardless of people thinking it is or it isn’t and a lot of people I think I don’t know that they’re taking for granted what we do and when we litter when we don’t recycle so... sad! MARY: Ummm… I think that it’s important for people to... try and take care of the environment, and umm… especially when you know we are living in such beautiful country here Scotland Decline of our environment/ It’s happening/Sad Important for people/take care of environment/living in Scotland Rate of Environmental degradation Environmental sustainability importance Environmental sustainability importance QUESTION-2 Why is it important to raise voice against environment degradation? JOHN: It’s important to raise awareness because it might not happen to us—like our generation—but it’s going to happen to our children and our children’s children; before you know it doesn’t seem like we have a lot of things are happening, but it will happen quite suddenly at some point and then there will be no turning back and once you ruin this planet you ruin it forever. MARY: Ahmmm.. because it’s you know umm ummm its very important that we do take care of our environment that its remains very nice place to live but it also cuts down on waste and you know where they waste dumping and things like that were hurt environment. Important to raise awareness/Generation /Lot of things are happening/Once you ruin this planet you ruin it forever We should take care of our environment/Cut down of producing waste/Waste dumping hurt environment Rate of Environmental degradation Environmental sustainability importance Environmental sustainability importance Awareness of Recycling Contribution in waste management (Collective) QUESTION-3 What is your perception about the technique of recycling? JOHN: The technique is that… I think a lot of it is because it’s not being advertised the right way and we all say we want to recycle—you put it in a bin and you put it in a bag, then you take it over here and there, but I think they can do more to make people proactive about recycling so the technique there is fine but it’s not catching on. MARY: Ummm.. let’s see, what my perception is that you can tell that it is done a lot here in Scotland more so than where I am from and I think it’s a very good thing. The technique/Advertised/ Put it in a bin or a bag/proactive It is done a lot here in Scotland/ I think it’s a very good thing Lack of Awareness of recycling Facilities for disposing of waste Contribution in waste management (Collective) QUESTION-4 Did you ever contribute towards recycling of wastes till date? JOHN: I have contributed and I have not contributed so I don’t wanna be hypocritical and I don’t wanna be seem like, “Ohh I’m perfect.” I am definitely not. it’s just, it’s something that is hard to do I will try to do regularly. MARY: Yes. I have I used to live ummm in a little village in Scotland where they very much promoted recycling. even food waste and I took this home to do it every single day I segregated all of it put it in different bins and I felt very good doing it Contributed/ Hypocritical/ It’s hard to do I will try to do regularly Very much promoted/ Food waste/I segregated/Put in different bins/I felt very good Contribution in waste management (Self) Awareness of recycling Awareness of recycling Contribution in waste management (Self) QUESTION-5 Do you know what material can be recycle? JOHN: Plastics, certain papers and materials, Glass…certain waste can be recycled and actually the list can go on and there is something that I am forgetting but there are a lot of items, lot of materials that can be recycled. MARY: Yes paper, plastic, metal, glass and food waste Certain wastes can be recycled/A lot of material can be recycled A lot of material can be recycled Awareness of Recycling Awareness of Recycling QUESTION-6 What are your thoughts on littering? How it can be avoidable? JOHN: Well, it used to be that if you litter you get fined, you know? You would see legal action but I don’t think enough people, mainly police officers, enforce that, so people get away with that. That’s part of the big reason why and its need to stop at some point because then they complain later on that all of the cities are dirty or a park it too littered with trash. You contribute at it at some way and some point or another. MARY: Umm well I think that a lot of places have fines in place to that they warn people if they litter that they will fine you I have penalise you somehow and that’s good because littering not very good thing to do yeah... Find/Legal action/Police officers/ Need to stop at some point/Contribute/ Complain Fines/Penalise/Littering is not good Regulations Contribution in waste management (Self) Regulations Contribution in waste management (Collective) QUESTION-7 Have you ever contributed towards the recycling of wastes when you are in the public areas of your university? JOHN: I do. Sometimes I feel the need to do it more. Sometimes, I fear that I will be judged for it, but I try. It can be confusing at times but I like that it’s apparent that the campus would rather you try to recycle than just throwing waste in whatever receptacle is around. MARY: Yes, I always do I umm sometimes I am not being a little confuse to put which bin on just a few items umm but I always do I always try to put I need to do it more/Fear of being judged/Campus would rather you try to recycle I always do/Confuse to put in bins Contribution in waste management (Self) Facilities for disposing of waste Contribution for waste management (Self) Facilities for disposing of waste QUESTION-8 Do you know why there have been negligence regarding the appropriate recycling of wastes? JOHN: For some people, and I’m guilty of this too, they just don’t care. It’s like they can’t spare those extra few seconds to decide if something should be recycled and sure some are in a hurry or whatnot. MARY: I think that some students are in a hurry and it’s so maybe they are just because there in a hurry they don’t pay attention. They deal this issue carelessly and so they just dump their waste in a litter waste that’s what I think but not sure People don’t care/They can’t spare their time for waste management Students are in a hurry/They don’t pay attention/They deal this issue carelessly Lack of Awareness of Recycling Lack of Awareness of Recycling Environmental sustainability importance QUESTION-9 How do we Motivate Students To Participate In Campus Recycling? JOHN: Most people I think need some extrinsic motivation to do that. Like, put some visual emphasis of how important it can be, and what more people can do. People love reward systems. MARY: Hhhh I think may be some you know visual fliers or something put up to educate them more on what happens if you don’t recycle, where it goes and things like landfilled and how they really damage the environment may be if people realise this more or they saw more pictures and what happen if they didn’t recycle more waste that would may be motivate some people. People need extrinsic motivation/Visual emphasis/How important it can be/People love reward system Educate them about recycling/How they really damage the environment/Motivate some people Lack of awareness of recycling Environmental sustainability importance Lack of awareness of recycling Environmental sustainability importance QUESTION-10 Will you recycle wastes in appropriate facilities in the public areas of the University JOHN: I always at least try, unless I just don’t care, which is terrible because I know why I should do and I should care more. I’m aware of the effects of recycling, but I still don’t do it enough. MARY: Yes, actually when I go home I try to encourage my family to recycle more because it is promoted as much there but coming from here and getting used to doing it I go home and I try to promote there by telling them that this is the best possible way to nourish our surroundings. I just don’t care/I should do it/I should care more/I am aware of recycling I try to encourage my family to recycle/Try to promote Environmental sustainability importance Awareness of recycling Awareness of recycling Environmental sustainability importance Appendix 3: Pictures of recycle bins placed all over the campus 12