Abstract
This between-subjects experiment manipulated the proximity of a waste bin relative to a recycling bin and the presence of information about why and how to rinse recyclables. After completing a yogurt taste test, 272 undergraduate students disposed of their plastic tasting cups in either a waste bin or a recycling bin. Binary logistic regression showed use of the recycling bin roughly tripled when the waste bin was made less convenient by moving it away from the tasting area (p < .001, Nagelkerke R2 = 0.54). Univariate ANOVA showed the contamination level of recycled items was lower when an informational prompt indicated how clean recyclables need to be (p < .001, η2p = 0.08), but not when it indicated why rinsing is important. These findings showcase how manipulating the physical environment can be a powerful tool to steer behavior and how tailored information can complement physical changes to promote proenvironmental actions.
Highlights
Most current environmental problems are related to human behavior, and environmental sustainability requires behavioral changes (Steffen et al, 2015; Steg and Vlek, 2009)
What happens if the waste bin is made less immediately accessible relative to the recycling bin? Such a scenario would deviate from typical bin ar rangements and might encourage recycling by disrupting environmental factors that automatically cue habitual non-recycling (Verplanken and Wood, 2006)
We addressed the second research question and Hypotheses 2 and 3 by analyzing the contamination level of cups in the recycling bin when the waste bin was moved behind the partition (n = 145)
Summary
Most current environmental problems are related to human behavior, and environmental sustainability requires behavioral changes (Steffen et al, 2015; Steg and Vlek, 2009). Research has shown the use of recycling bins increases when the bins are made more immediately accessible at the point of behavioral decision (DiGiacomo et al, 2018; Miller et al, 2016), often by placing them adjacent to waste bins (Zhang et al, 2016). Moving the waste bin away from the point of behavioral decision may encourage people to recycle, but it may backfire if the recycling contamination rate increases (De Young et al, 1995; DiGiacomo et al, 2018). This is a known issue in Singapore, where we conducted this research. Personal communication, 2 March 2019), so if people in Singapore wish to recycle effectively, they must first clean their recyclables
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