Day 35 - Pavlovian trash theory

I was reading about the psychology of buying, and I found this simple, yet profound, statement:

“Behavior ---> consequences ---> behavior is more or less likely to be repeated.”

I was thinking how this applies to our attitudes about creating post-consumer waste, and how there are hardly ever any consequences or rewards. Perhaps if we had to pay for trash removal by the pound, we’d be more careful how much we produced.

MallMom’s parents have just such an arrangement. When they moved to a new development down South, they had to pay an arm and a leg for curbside trash pickup. Now, I don’t want to say my parents are cheap… so I won’t. But they opted to drive their trash to the dump as needed, instead. This has some surprisingly good consequences. Because, while they never bothered to recycle before, now that they get paid by the pound for recycling glass, plastics and newspaper, they’re avid recyclers. And what they get paid for their recyclables almost completely offsets the cost of paying per bag for non-recyclable trash disposal. Double motivation!

My own community just started a program where recyclables are weighed, and families earn coupons from local businesses per “weight points.” I haven’t yet cashed in my points, but there seem to be some fairly good options. I know this program has convinced at least one family on my block who hadn’t been recyclers to get on the bandwagon.

But there are many on my block who often have two full trash cans out twice a week. So that means they’ve been motivated to recycle, but not to cut down on the volume of their post-consumer waste.

Maybe we need some more negative reinforcement. How about starting a “trash fund,” and collect ten bucks for every bag that won’t fit in the can. You can donate that money to an ecological preservation fund, or use it to plant trees. Those are consequences everyone can live with.

Tip for Day 35 – Carry a mug in your car for fill-ups at your favorite café.