This article uses a systems-thinking framework to analyze Puerto Rico’s solid waste system. Our findings were based on 36 semi-structured interviews from stakeholders that work within the solid waste system. Interviewees represented businesses, advocacy organizations, a university, and government agencies, including municipal, central, and federal government. This research is unique because it focuses on a case study using a historical lens to explore the policies and stakeholder dynamics that shape a system’s behavior, where the behavior is in reference to the flows of discarded materials either entering the circular economy or the island’s waste disposal facilities. Through our research, we found that Puerto Rico’s overall solid waste system is stalled within a balancing feedback loop where policies and dynamics have taken place that have created resistance to efforts to improve the current situation. In our discussion, we reflect on the policies and stakeholder dynamics that have caused this balancing feedback loop and make recommendations to better support a reinforcing feedback loop that will lead to changes to achieve Puerto Rico’s solid waste disposal and recycling plans and goals required to foster a circular economy. This study can inform future policy making and institutional coordination efforts within Puerto Rico and abroad.

Purpose: This study aims to test how waste disposal behaviors can be changed such as higher recycling diversion and lower contamination rates using signage and messaging techniques at public outdoor waste receptacles on a university campus. Design/methodology/approach: The experiment took place at five public outdoor receptacle stations, each with a landfill and recycling receptacle, which were located in highly trafficked areas on the University of Florida campus. The study consisted of three phases, each lasting for three weeks. During phase one, no signage and messaging were introduced; during phase two, negative and concrete messaging was placed on signs that stood above the two receptacles; and during phase three, positive and abstract messaging was placed above the receptacles. Waste audits were conducted by separating and weighing the waste. Findings: With signage and messaging implementation, the recycling diversion rates increased and contamination in the recycling receptacles decreased. However, there was not a consistent decrease in contamination in the landfill receptacles. The study also showed that the negative and concrete messaging was more effective at both increasing diversion rates and decreasing contamination rates at the recycling receptacles. Practical implications: Waste managers on university campuses need to address the purpose and type of messaging being used at waste receptacles to maximize behavior and/or education outcomes. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first time waste disposal behaviors have been analyzed and experimented on at public outdoor receptacles on a university campus.

This study contributes to the literature on impacts experienced by stakeholders from a government reorganization. This research uses the case study of Puerto Rico, which underwent a central government reorganization in 2018. Thirty-five interviews were conducted with participants who worked in the solid waste sector. Immediately after the government reorganization, territorial government employees were more likely to be absent and the quality of work declined, which we call “government ghosting.” As a result, stakeholders outside of the central government stepped into roles and responsibilities and, in many cases, were negatively affected.