Abstract
Direct measurements were taken of residential food waste sorting in a sample from over 5000 communities (5 million households) assigned to a pilot program delivered by government branches in Shanghai which relied on an information strategy for implementation. The results are compared to a population of N = 36 similar communities (36,000 households) assigned to a different program which involved considerable personal interaction. The results show that the information–based program communities did not noticeably sort their waste, whereas those given personal interaction approaches were very successful, with purity rates of 95%(8) and extra costs of about 50 RMB (8 USD) per household. This is a rare direct comparison of two different programs at such large scales, 6–36 months after launch, and suggests that personal interaction approaches should be considered by policy makers. Qualitative key informant interviews yielded data on each program's activities, which provide suggestions for further studies of the underlying behaviour change determinants involved.
Highlights
In this paper we would like to challenge the notion that provision of information alone in a non-personal manner has a significant effect on pro-environmental behaviour change
Recycling rates reported in other countries usually assume minimal contamination, which is often true for dry recyclables like plastic bottles and cans, whereas our preliminary studies showed that contamination rates were often 35e65% for food waste
These results support the findings in this paper, in that the intended interpersonal aspects of the nongovernmental organization (NGO) program we found to be a major difference to the government program were found in that study to be key actual contributors to its success
Summary
In this paper we would like to challenge the notion that provision of information alone in a non-personal manner has a significant effect on pro-environmental behaviour change. We compare food waste source-separation results of a sample from 5075 communities (containing circa 5 million households) in Shanghai which used a standard government information campaign to those of communities which used more personal interactions. Official figures for waste in 2013 indicated that 51% is landfilled, and 23% incinerated, with only around 16% recycled or composted (Shanghai Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, 2014). This waste generation is expected to keep growing annually due to the urbanization program in China which aims to bring more people to the cities, as well as due to high economic growth (Liu and Wu, 2011), resulting in more landfill and incineration facilities (Hoornweg et al, 2005). In order to reduce these problems, Shanghai Municipality in 2010 proposed a 5% annual reduction target for waste treated by incineration and landfill, and set up infrastructures such as new pilot collection systems and facilities to support the diversion of food waste from residential waste
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