Cause analysis of low collection rate of Chinese waste paper

As waste paper is gradually becoming an important material in paper making with the calling for promoting a sustainable society, waste paper reuse comes to be an important issue nowadays. The collection rate is an index to measure the effectiveness of the domestic collection of waste paper resources used for recycling. Countries likes Germany, Korean, Japan, lead in this field. However, the Chinese collection rate is very low compared with these developed countries. This paper tries to figure out the real reasons behind such phenomenon by analyzing a case of Xishui County in Central China based on a series of field research and interviews. It is found that the recycling behaviours of households are driven by money, and the main reason for none-recycling is the inconvenience of the recycling service and facilities. Also it appears that age is significantly correlated with recycling frequency, and old people tend to more actively engage in paper recycling. Subsequently, related plans are proposed and finally evaluated.