Encouraging sustainable clothing disposal: consumers’ social recycling motivations in Turkey

Abstract

Nowadays, textile waste arising from increasing clothing production, consumption, and disposal activities has led to environmental, social, and economic sustainability problems. Encouraging sustainable clothing disposal methods that extend the useful life of products is an effective way to deal with textile waste. One of the most sustainable clothing disposal methods is social recycling, which entails giving away unused products by allowing other consumers to obtain them for free. Thus, this study aims to investigate the motivations affecting the consumers’ social recycling behaviors in Turkey. In this context, online and offline surveys were conducted on 478 participants and analyzed utilizing structural equation modeling. The findings show that altruism, the warm glow of giving, and social benefits influenced social recycling behavior, while environmentalism had no effect. These results support the social exchange theory which proposes that both other-oriented and self-serving motivations affect behavior. One of the most crucial findings of the study is that the warm glow of giving has a mediating effect between altruism and social recycling behavior. This research is also important in terms of revealing that women engage in more social recycling behavior than men. The findings have important implications for practitioners and researchers interested in sustainable clothing disposal.