Lifestyles and recycling: Living environments, social changes and facilities in a densely populated city

In recent years, more researchers, environmentalists, and designers have recognised that waste recycling is a key direction in environmental protection. However, waste recycling is still unsatisfactorily implemented in many modern cities, in particular those with a dense population. One of the key reasons is that community and household participation in waste recycling is still limited due to difficulties caused by particular living environments and lifestyles of modern cities. Borrowing a case study in Hong Kong, this paper attempts to review and discuss the limitations and constraints of waste recycling in this densely populated city. According to the empirical studies in two districts of Hong Kong, the paper further discusses how the particular living environments and social changes affect community and household participation in waste recycling. Based on the findings, the paper identifies some concerns in facility design as well as provision for promoting community and household participation in waste recycling, and further expects to provide inspiration for other cities to improve their recycling practice.