Recycling and the Economics of Warm Glow

Dr Raul Barreto, Senior Economics Lecturer, University of Adelaide explains how the old Container Deposit Legislation, or CDL developed in the 1970's is now redundant due to what economists call 'warm glow'. Dr Barreto explains that the desire to do the right thing, provides a stronger incentive than a refundable deposit on beverage containers (CDL). When CDL exists along side kurbside recycling systems, the two different initiatives then start to compete.