Managing waste behavior by manipulating the normative appeal of trash bins: Lessons from an urban field experiment

• Littering is a problem in many human societies. In this study, 9 individual street bins were manipulated on a central street in the city of Gävle, Sweden. The aim was to explore if changing the appearance of the bins, thereby manipulating the different types of social norms they signal, can increase the amount of trash they collect and mitigate littering. A field experiment tested the effectiveness of two alternatives to the conventional grey street bin; one bin foliated with pictures drawn by school children containing a normative anti-littering message (explicit norm), and one bright orange salient bin (implicit norm). Observed behavioral data was collected, and both the weight and volume of trash in the bins were measured each day for a period of one month. The results showed a tendency for the salient orange bin to increase trash collection compared to other bins; an effect most tangible towards the end of the weeks. The biggest effect was, however, that the explicitly normative bin reduced trash collection overall. These results provide lessons on how the appearance of bins can influence trash collection, potentially resulting in both desirable and undesirable outcomes.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Tillämpad psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Applied Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Design

Littering

Norms

Physical environment

Pro-environmental behavior

Saliency

Psychology

Psykologi

Hållbar stadsutveckling

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)