Key takeaways:
- Many Americans say they recycle to protect the environment, but they are far less likely to say they engage in other environmentally friendly behaviors – such as carpooling – for environmental reasons.
- Many Americans say they regularly engage in these behaviors, but they are more likely to be motivated by financial savings than by environmental causes.
Americans engage in all sorts of green behaviors, from recycling to carpooling to shopping secondhand. A new Pew Research Center survey asked Americans why they do these things.
Almost all Americans engage in at least one of the environmentally friendly behaviors we asked about. But except for when it comes to recycling, helping the environment is not their main reason for doing so.
The survey asked about the following environmentally friendly actions: turning off the lights when no one is home, recycling, limiting home water use, buying clothes or other goods secondhand, and carpooling. The most common behavior is turning off the lights when not in use: Almost all Americans (95%) say they do this regularly.
Far fewer, but still more than half, say they regularly limit their home water use (55%) and about half say they regularly buy secondhand (48%).
A minority of Americans (38%) say they routinely carpool or limit their driving.
Americans are more likely to say they do these things to save money than to help the environment.
Among those who say they regularly do each of these, majorities report that saving money is a major motivator. For example, 78% say they turn off the lights to save money and 76% say they shop secondhand for this reason.
No more than around four-in-ten say they carpool, turn off lights or buy secondhand clothes to help the environment. Somewhat more (51%) say they regularly limit water use for this reason.
Why do Americans recycle?
Two-thirds of U.S. adults say they regularly recycle. We asked this group what factors motivate them to do so.
Most Americans who report regular recycling say a major reason they do it is because it helps the environment (76%).
Fewer, but still about half (54%), say they regularly recycle because it is easy. About one-in-five say a major reason they regularly recycle is because it is required where they live.
(The survey did not ask about saving money as a motivation since most recycling does not save or earn money.)
