In-Store Recycling - A Consumer Perspective

Sammanfattning: The aim of the thesis is to study how a segment of Generation Y perceives in-store recycling, a service coined by the authors of this thesis. In-store recycling is a service many fast fashion retailers have begun offering by placing collecting boxes for clothes that consumers wish to be recycled or re-used and in return consumers are rewarded with a voucher to buy new clothes at a discount. To achieve the thesis’s aim a two-part framework is presented. The first framework begins with an introduction into the interrelationship between consumption and waste from a consumer perspective. Thereafter theories and literature that focus on the field of textile recycling is introduced with focus on fast fashion and disposal behavior. The second framework consists of two psychological concepts: moral obligation and cognitive dissonance. Furthermore to enable a deep insight in the consumers’ perspective of in-store recycling a multiple method approach was used. A pre-study in form of observations was followed by the main method of qualitative interviews with ten students at the Service Management program at Lund University. Thereafter two supporting-methods were conducted; interview with Phd candidate Emma Samsioe and unstructured interviews with attendees of a waste prevention seminar hosted by Lund University. The findings of the thesis was the importance of convenience, habit and moral obligation in understanding consumers’ perception, attitude, and behavior on in-store recycling. An interesting conclusion that can be drawn from the empirical findings is that in-store recycling is perceived to be a solution to a symptom (increased textile waste) and not a solution to the real problem (increased levels of consumption). The thesis gives insight into how a particular segment of Generation Y views a reward based in-store recycling service, and will therefore contain valuable information for parties in both the field of retail and waste management.