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According to a study examining 93 Hungarian municipalities, making recycling more convenient may increase the collection of recyclable materials without necessarily reducing overall waste generation.
Researchers Zalán Márk Maró and József Ráti, working on a joint study by Corvinus University of Budapest and Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), analyzed municipal data from 2012 to 2023. Their findings appeared in the September 2026 issue of Environmental Challenges.
The researchers compared municipalities offering door-to-door collection through separate bins for paper and plastic with those providing only general municipal waste collection.
During the pandemic, municipalities with separate recycling systems recorded an average of 11.76 kilograms more separately collected waste per resident annually.
The additional amount reached 12.13 kilograms per person in Budapest, 12.45 kilograms in Pécs and 12.22 kilograms in Debrecen. The corresponding figures were 11.71 kilograms in Miskolc, 11.81 kilograms in Szeged and 12.15 kilograms in Győr.
Mixed municipal waste volumes, however, did not decline significantly in statistical terms. The researchers said this suggests that some additional recyclable waste may have been generated alongside existing waste rather than diverted from mixed collection.
One possible explanation is a cognitive bias: When recycling becomes easier, people may perceive the environmental consequences of consumption and waste generation as less significant. That perception could partly encourage additional consumption, the researchers suggested.
“Making separate waste collection more convenient may initially seem like an obvious environmental benefit, but it can also unintentionally encourage overconsumption. That is why recycling systems should be complemented by communication measures and behavioural incentives to ensure that the total amount of waste actually decreases,” said Maró, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor at Corvinus.
The researchers proposed complementing recycling services with measures aimed at preventing waste. These could include collection fees linked to the amount of waste generated, restrictions on single-use packaging and targeted public information campaigns.
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