Visual Prompts or Volunteer Models: An Experiment in Recycling

Zi Yin Lin, Xiao Wang, Chang Jun Li, Micheil P. R. Gordon and Marie K. Harder
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Zi Yin Lin: Sustainable Behaviour Research Group, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Xiao Wang: Sustainable Behaviour Research Group, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Chang Jun Li: Sustainable Behaviour Research Group, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Micheil P. R. Gordon: Sustainable Behaviour Research Group, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China
Marie K. Harder: Sustainable Behaviour Research Group, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 5, 1-16

Abstract: Successful long-term programs for urban residential food waste sorting are very rare, despite the established urgent need for them in cities for waste reduction, pollution reduction and circular resource economy reasons. This study meets recent calls to bridge policy makers and academics, and calls for more thorough analysis of operational work in terms of behavioral determinants, to move the fields on. It takes a key operational element of a recently reported successful food waste sorting program—manning of the new bins by volunteers—and considers the behavioral determinants involved in order to design a more scalable and cheaper alternative—the use of brightly colored covers with flower designs on three sides of the bin. The two interventions were tested in a medium-scale, real-life experimental set-up that showed that they had statistically similar results: high effective capture rates of 32%–34%, with low contamination rates. The success, low cost and simple implementation of the latter suggests it should be considered for large-scale use. Candidate behavioral determinants are prompts, emotion and knowledge for the yellow bin intervention, and for the volunteer intervention they are additionally social influence, modeling, role clarification, and moderators of messenger type and interpersonal or tailored messaging.

Keywords: food waste; behavior change; recycling; urban; determinants; bin covers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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