A Cost/Benefit Analysis of the University of Wisconsin - Marshfield/Wood County Campus Recycling Program An Environmental class Project Daniel J. Burkhart, Todd Witt, Tyler Gruen, and Malcolm Gold

Outline of Class Project Choose a topic: Campus recycling Determine research question that can be answered within a semester with limited funding. Determine an appropriate Cost-Benefit Analysis plan Collect data and give recommendations

Campus Recycling Background Building and land is owned and maintained by the City of Marshfield and Wood County (UW M/WC Commission) City and State statues require recycling of comingled products and paper separately City has an existing contract with Veolia, which includes campus

Research Question What component of the recycling program is malleable? – Number and type of dumpsters – Campus receptacles – Campus awareness We chose to focus on campus receptacles

Campus Receptacles Attributes of interest – Count: the number of recycling containers on campus (10, 20, 30) – Consistent: style and color among recycling containers are consistent (0, 1) – Classroom: recycling containers are in each classroom (0, 1)

Survey We utilized a dual-choice conjoint analysis Survey design – Choose one of three options – After the decision, determine whether the preferred option is better than the current situation.

Survey

Survey Descriptive Statistics AgeNPercent 21 and under and over Total149 AffiliationNPercent Current Student Employee Potential Student Total149

Conditional Logit Estimates VariableEstimate Odds-Ratio p-value Count Student x Count Additional Effect Consistent Student x Consistent Additional Effect Classroom Student x Classroom Additional Effect Price Student x Price Additional Effect Pseudo R Number of Observations 5940

Policy Recommendation Replace recycling containers so that they are consistent on campus. – Average student benefit$7.31 – Average student cost$3.12 – Entire Campus benefit$7,931 – Entire Campus cost$1,950