Situational and personal determinants of waste control practices in northern Mexico: a study of reuse and recycling behaviors Victor Corral-Verdugo Department of Psychology, University of Sonora, Sonora, Mexico Received 1 June 2002; accepted 1 September 2002 Abstract Waste management practices of 200 northern Mexicans were studied by directly observing what they did with used objects (aluminum, clothes, steel, paper, cardboard and newspaper) they had separated for reuse and recycling purposes. Adult and young people living in low, middle and high socioeconomic-strata zones of a city participated in this study. Their demographic information (age, gender, income, schooling level) was obtained and situational factors such as size of household, availability of recycling services, spaces for storing objects, type of communication media used, among others, were registered. Psychological factors such as environmental beliefs, environmental knowledge and conservation motives were also investigated. Few correlations were found within instances of reuse and recycling practices, implying that particular conservation practices are determined by different personal and situational factors. Regression analyses revealed that although most of these factors were situational, some psychological variables */especially conservation motives */significantly influenced the reuse and recycling of individuals. Recommendations for encouraging conservation practices in the studied community (and similar contexts) are presented. # 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Waste segregation/management; Reuse; Recycling; Environmental psychology; Communication media; Situational factors E-mail address: corral@rtn.uson.mx (V. Corral-Verdugo). Resources, Conservation and Recycling 39 (2003) 265  /281 www.elsevier.com/locate/resconrec 0921-3449/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0921-3449(03)00032-6