Building on Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, it can be expected that youths are exposed to recycling activities and information, and are rewarded for such good habits and they will feel good doing it. Thus, the likelihood of recycling and encouraging others to do so is also high. Moreover, if youths see that the Malaysian government is serious about recycling issues and campaigns, they will feel and think that they should be concerned about it too.

In a family, the mother is the first person who can be considered as the model at home, especially in recycling. As such, youths tend to follow their mothers’ good habits in practicing cleanliness through recycling.

1.1.  Cleanliness and Recycling

Cleanliness is essential to any religion. The Islamic concept of cleanliness consists of two aspects: physical and spiritual. As far as physical cleanliness is concerned, it is related to the human body and the environment. Hence, it is important for human beings to have clean souls and to lead a clean lifestyle.

In general, recycling is defined as a process through which used materials are collected, processed, and remanufactured and reused [13]. Recycling has been an important aspect of an effective and efficient solid waste management system. Recycling indirectly contributes to environmental cleanliness as the process of recycling household wastes promotes organization in the human lifestyle. A clean environment can be achieved by mass recycling efforts among the public. 

The most common forms of recycling household waste are associated with materials such as paper, plastics, glass and metal. In 1978, the plastic bottle was introduced nationwide and consumers have increasingly embraced plastic packaging, making plastics among the largest household waste material [14]. The burial of waste is not a solution due to environmental consequences. Thus, widespread recycling of waste is of crucial importance.

The benefits of recycling are not limited to the environment but also its impact on citizens. Waste management is one of the fastest developing industries and has created job opportunities and economic savings. In Asia, solid waste generation and management are becoming a major social and environmental issue due to the rapid economic growth and urbanization. The generation of waste gradually increases every year but recycling keeps on moving forward by increasing the percentage of total waste being recycled [15]. However, the rate at which waste is generated is higher than the amount it is recovered. Hence, recycling remains today an important global issue. The onus is on the individuals, may they be males or females, or of different ethnicities to recycle in helping to clean the environment and to experience healthy living. Therefore, it is postulated that there is a positive relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior (H1).

1.2.  Gender and Recycling

Many studies find that women tend to show more concern about environmental issues, especially those related to household-oriented issues than men who are more concerned with the community/society-oriented pro-environmental behavior [5-9]. Zelezny, Chua and Aldrich report a higher environmental behavior for women than for men [9]. In Hong Kong female adolescents score higher than males in terms of issues pertaining to the environmental concern [6]. Specifically, Mutang and Haron find a slightly higher percentage of females who recycle than males [7]. This is because recycling is part of domestic chores, and that they should be undertaken by females, especially in the Asian countries. Malaysia is no exception. Females are labeled as homemakers and most of the house works are entrusted to them. Hence, we postulate that gender moderates the relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior. Specifically, H2 states that females recycle more than males.

1.3.  Ethnicity and Recycling

Malaysia being a multi-racial country encourages its populace to recycle waste products as the government has launched recycling campaigns several times. Unfortunately, not much change has taken place. Studies by Meen-Chee and Narayanan find that in Penang, the Chinese tend to recycle more than the Malays [10]. Most of the city dwellers in Penang are Chinese and they do not want their city to be dirty. This could be the reason the Chinese recycle more than the Malays. The Indians and the Malays think that it is the responsibility of the Penang Municipal Council, not theirs. On the contrary, Mutang and Haron find that Malays tend to recycle more than either the Indians or the Chinese [7]. Such findings are like Omran’s findings on the recycling of solid wastes [8]. On a similar note, this study predicts that the difference among the Malays, Indians and Chinese in their recycling behaviors and ethnicity moderates the relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior. Specifically, it is hypothesized that Malays tend to recycle more than either the Chinese or the Indians (H3).

1.4.  Gender and Ethnicity on Recycling

An added value to this study is the interaction effect of the moderators: gender and ethnicity. Since there is no study to date that has come up with the interaction effect of gender and ethnicity, this study postulates that different gender and different ethnicity have different effects on the recycling behavior. Such an interaction effect leads to H4: gender and ethnicity moderate the relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior. This is because the different races have their own beliefs, cultures and traditions in relation to recycling. Malays, for sure, expect their females to do the recycling based on their duty as housewives and the expectations of the family is that the mothers doe all the domestic work from dawn to late night. The responsibility on recycling is given to the females especially the mothers. Following their mothers’ practice, female youths tend to recycle more than male youths.

1.5.  Hypotheses of the Study

Based on the theoretical framework of the study, the following hypotheses are formulated:

H1: There is a positive relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior among youths.

H2: Gender moderates the relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior.

H3: Ethnicity moderates the relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior.

H4: Gender and ethnicity moderate the relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior.

2.       METHODOLOGY

The study employs the quantitative research design using the survey questionnaire as its instrument for data collection. A total of 303 respondents are used in the analysis of the study. The study was conducted in October 2015 among youths in Kuala Lumpur using the simple random sampling technique.

Cleanliness-related is measured against 10 items using a 5-point Likert scale where 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=slightly agree, 4=agree, and 5=strongly agree. The example of such items is “Recycling is important to maintain cleanliness”. The items are found to be reliable with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.871. Similarly, the recycling behavior is also measured using a 5-point Likert scale where 1=strongly disagree, 2=disagree, 3=slightly agree, 4=agree, and 5=strongly agree. The recycling behavior scale is also reliable with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.931. The items include “I separate the recycle waste at the designated place”.

The collected data are analyzed using a General Linear Model for ANOVA to measure the gender and ethnicity interaction effect while controlling the relationship between cleanliness-related issues and the recycling behavior.

3.       FINDINGS