A recycling awareness scale for primary school students: Scale development and reliability study

The primary aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to assess the awareness levels of third and fourth-grade primary school students regarding recycling. In today's world, increasing population, industrialization, changes in consumption habits, and lifestyle transformations have significantly deepened environmental issues. Among these, the solid waste problem stands out as a direct threat to environmental sustainability. Recycling practices provide multifaceted benefits such as conservation of natural resources, energy savings, economic gains, and waste reduction. In this context, it is of great importance to measure and improve individuals' awareness of recycling from an early age. The study was designed using the general survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. The study sample comprised 700 primary school students enrolled in four different schools located in the Central Black Sea Region of Türkiye. Initially, a pilot study was carried out with 40 students, after which the main study was conducted with the participation of 700 students. During the scale development process, an extensive review of the relevant literature was undertaken. Expert evaluations were obtained to ensure content validity, an item pool was generated, and a draft version of the scale was constructed. Based on the findings of the pilot study, the "Recycling Awareness Scale," consisting of 30 items and designed as a 5-point Likert-type instrument, was finalized. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted to analyze the data. As a result of the EFA, 7 items with item-total correlations below .30 were removed from the scale. Additionally, 12 more items with communalities below .30 were excluded. The repeated EFA revealed a two-factor structure. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value was .80, and the Bartlett's Test of Sphericity was significant (χ²=1149.22; p<.001), indicating that the sample size was suitable for factor analysis. The first factor, named "Behavior," consisted of 5 items and explained 32.20% of the total variance. The second factor, named "Knowledge," also comprised 5 items and explained 14.06% of the variance. Altogether, the two-factor model explained 46.26% of the total variance. The factor loadings of the items under each sub-dimension were .50 or higher. To evaluate the reliability of the scale, internal consistency analyses were performed, and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was found to be high (.95). Additionally, construct validity of the scale was confirmed. Accordingly, the developed "Recycling Awareness Scale" is considered a valid and reliable tool for measuring primary school students' awareness toward recycling. In the final phase, to assess the applicability of the scale and gather descriptive statistics, it was administered to an additional 100 students. For each item, mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentage values were calculated. Descriptive data showed that students generally demonstrated a positive behaviors toward recycling. Particularly in the "Knowledge" dimension, item means ranged between 4.30 and 4.70, indicating that students possessed sufficient knowledge about the definition, environmental impact, and economic benefits of recycling. In conclusion, the developed "Recycling Awareness Scale" has the potential to effectively measure the recycling awareness levels of primary school students. Considering the limited number of scale development studies focused on environmental education and recycling at the primary school level in Türkiye, this scale is expected to contribute to the literature and guide educational policies.