Why do recycling interventions fail? A systematic literature review

Global municipal solid waste generation is increasing from 2.1 billion tons in 2023 to 3.8 billion tons by 2050, making effective household interventions critical for sustainable waste management. However, household recycling rates remain disappointingly low despite decades of intervention efforts. This systematic literature review shifts focus from individual recycling behavior to recycling interventions themselves, examining why interventions fail rather than why people do not recycle. Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched Scopus and Web of Science, ultimately including 64 studies from 31 countries representing over 90,000 participants. We analyzed intervention types, effectiveness measurement approaches, and barriers using the macro-meso-micro framework. Results reveal a critical disconnect between intervention design and effectiveness: 71% of interventions rely on communication campaigns despite persistent evidence of the knowledge-behavior gap, while only 12.5% achieved high effectiveness (>50% improvement). Concerning patterns emerged, with 19% of studies showing declining effects over time, indicating fundamental sustainability challenges. Barrier analysis identified 150 constraints, with meso and micro-level barriers dominating. Geographic concentration in developed economies raises critical questions about applicability to developing regions where waste management challenges are most acute. These findings demonstrate that effective recycling interventions require multi-level approaches simultaneously addressing infrastructure, implementation quality and behavioral dimensions.