My colleagues at Waste & Recycling News have been having fun reporting on a study that says consumers may use blue recycling bins as a rationale to use more resources. The latest story, by correspondent Chris Gigley, is headlined "Update: Recycling bins may prompt additional waste, researcher says." Gigley writes about two experiments that researchers Jesse R. Catlin and Yitong Wang tried on students and staffers at the University of California-Irvine, In both cases, they found that the presence of a recycling bin made people more likely to use more resources -- in these cases, paper. "We found that people anticipate feeling less guilt when throwing paper away in a recycling bin," Catlin said. According to the story, the researchers are considering examining whether the same behavior applies to other recyclables, such as plastic water bottles.
Do recycling bins prompt more waste?
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