Practical Rural Recycling: Intersections of Municipalities, Providers, and Residents in Rural Oklahoma, USA
| dc.contributor.author | Melcher, Sarah | |
| dc.contributor.author | Person, Angela | |
| dc.contributor.author | Randy Peppler | |
| dc.contributor.author | Bittner, Gabrielle | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-10T13:55:19Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-10T13:55:19Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2019 | |
| dc.description | Do the recycling programs that residents are willing to participate in align with the programs that are currently available in rural communities? To answer this question, we have taken a three-pronged approach. First, we investigated barriers to recycling in rural communities located in central and south-central Oklahoma, USA. To do this, we interviewed three city managers and two recycling company managers about the challenges they face when implementing and maintaining recycling programs in rural communities, and analyzed the interview transcripts to glean insight regarding the eagerness of municipalities and companies to provide particular recycling services to their communities, as well as the challenges and benefits associated with each system. Second, we surveyed residents in the study area regarding their willingness to engage in different recycling practices and analyzed the aggregate responses. Third, we compared the results of the survey with the themes that emerged from the interviews, to determine whether the recycling systems available to rural communities were well-suited to residents’ desires and the communities’ needs. The results of our analysis reveal several different strategies for improving rural recycling and therefore rural sustainability efforts. These strategies include applying simple, physical solutions to existing recycling systems; adjusting education campaigns regarding single-stream collection to highlight local variability in materials collected; direct reuse of material by the community; and collection of single waste types to promote local industry. | |
| dc.description.notes | About: This undergraduate research project was led by Sarah Melcher, under the direction of Dr. Randy Peppler and Dr. Angela Person, as part of their Environmental Sustainability Working Group from 2018-2019. Ethics Review: The study was approved by the University of Oklahoma Institutional Review Board (#9426). Acknowledgements: Thanks to the University of Oklahoma Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability for providing financial support for this research. Additional thanks to Dr. Laurel Smith for her insights and guidance, and to the interviewees for their time and expertise. | |
| dc.description.peerreview | No | |
| dc.identifier.bibliographicCitation | Melcher, S. M., Person, A. M., Peppler, R. A., & Bittner, G. T. (2019). Practical rural recycling: Intersections of municipalities, providers, and residents in rural Oklahoma, USA [Undergraduate research project]. SHAREOK: University of Oklahoma. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://shareok.org//handle/11244/342768 | |
| dc.language | en_US | |
| dc.rights | Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International | |
| dc.subject | Recycling | |
| dc.subject | Waste Management | |
| dc.subject | Oklahoma | |
| dc.subject | Distributed Recycling | |
| dc.subject | Rural Sustainability | |
| dc.subject | Rural Recycling | |
| dc.title | Practical Rural Recycling: Intersections of Municipalities, Providers, and Residents in Rural Oklahoma, USA | |
| dc.type | Working Paper | |
| ou.group | College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences::Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability |