Exploring factors that affect public acceptance of establishing an urban environmental education and recycling center

The reduction of waste amounts, mainly Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), has not been successful in many parts of Southern Europe, including Greece. Looking ahead, much more needs to be done and Circular Economy (CE) can address this challenge. Nowadays, emerged from the growing interest to boost ‘green’ growth in EU, CE and, by extension, waste management – an inherent element of CE – are issues that have become one of the EU's and Greece's main policy priorities. In accelerating the transition towards CE, the present study focuses on building environmental awareness. Upon the latter, the establishment of the first Environmental Education and Recycling Center in Greece is illustrated here as a best practice, in an attempt to explore the factors affecting acceptance to establish an additional center in Megara Municipality, close to Athens. Based on the above, a quantitative survey was carried out collecting questionnaires from 209 respondents. Although not completely representative of total population, the sample offers a good basis in order to study the factors that influence environmental awareness. Statistical analysis indicates how the establishment of an Environmental Education and Recycling Center in Megara depends on the (i) demographic profile data (age, monthly income, employment status), (ii) environmental consciousness, (iii) recycling habits and (iv) financial incentives. The empirical findings of this study also show that acceptance levels will increase with emphasis on the local development, by improving urban infrastructure and creating new jobs. Finally, according to the questioned sample, the old Megara Railway Station (OSE) is considered the appropriate area for the proposed Environmental Education and Recycling Center.