Modeling participation in residential recycling programs

A dynamic iteration model, similar to models introduced by Heckathorn [1-3] is developed and applied to residential recycling programs. The model simulates the iterative decision choices of individuals in a group who have an opportunity to participate in an action. In turn, each actor 'becomes ego' and chooses his behavior at three different levels, based on the payoffs resulting from these choices and the current behavior of the other factors. 'Ego' can choose to participate in the action, influence others to participate in the action, and/or influence others not to influence still others to participate in the action. The model is used to simulate a number of residential recycling scenarios, including groups that produce only personal benefits, groups producing collective goods but with no social interaction, and groups producing collective goods with social interaction. Group heterogeneity is found to be necessary in most cases to obtain reasonable results.