Policy instruments and cultural currents shaping recycling behaviours: A systematic review

Recycling policies are now widely adopted; however, jurisdictions that implement similar instruments may report markedly different outcomes. This heterogeneity suggests that effectiveness depends not only on policy design and infrastructure, but also on the sociocultural conditions into which these instruments are introduced. However, most previous reviews have examined policy levers and cultural factors in isolation. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to synthesise global evidence on how waste-policy instruments interact with sociocultural forces to shape recycling behaviours and outcomes. To achieve this, we conducted a systematic literature review following the PRISMA guidelines, encompassing 32 academic articles and six grey-literature sources from over 24 countries across, covering the period 2006–2024. Our analysis shows that legislation alone is insufficient; effective waste-policy instruments require clear accountability for operations and financing, enforceable regulations, and adaptation to local political and sociocultural contexts. This is illustrated by the contrasting experiences of Canada and Malaysia’s EPR models. We also found that EPR can galvanise community identity when local actors are meaningfully involved; that DRS effectiveness depends on reducing logistical and social frictions; that PAYT encourages sorting at source (as in Belgium) but performs best when recycling is convenient, profitable, and supported by investment in basic waste-management infrastructure; and that landfill bans, while signalling strong societal commitment to circularity, deliver highly variable results depending on cultural legitimacy, social cohesion, and the surrounding policy ecosystem. Together, these findings show the need to move beyond generic legislation-only interventions toward context-sensitive policies calibrated to local sociocultural and infrastructural realities.