I am looking for information on the effectiveness of sticker prompts at promoting environmentally sustainable behaviors, such as recycling, energy and water conservation, waste reduction, etc. I have found several studies on prompts, but all investigating large, poster-sized prompts.
Thank you,
Amanda Kilburn
St. Thomas University
BA IV, Honours Psychology
Effectiveness of Prompts at Promoting Sustainable Behaviors?
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Sydney Water has distributed 'tap tags' to just over 1,400 households in the Sydney (Australia) Metro area following a detailed landscape assessment that determined irrigation duration and frequency rates tailored for each individual landscape. We are just about to commence behavioural surveys to determine what participants think of this approach and to find some alternatives (magnets for refrigerators have been one suggestion so far). Nothing on the research has been published as yet but feel free to contact me over the Christmas period - when we are expecting to have completed the behavioural research on program participants.
Andre Boerema
Water Conservation and Recycling
P 612 9350 6485
F 612 9350 5942
Hi there:
Speaking as a consumer, one of the more challenging day to day situations to deal with is the "can this be recycled" question (our program has limits on certain plastics and such). There is always the risk, at least in my mind, that a wrong decision on my part could have impact on the acceptability of a whole load of materials. I will be interested to learn more about your research as I believe a clear, simple sticker or magnet that could be attached to the wall, recycling bin or other surface would be very useful for these and other purposes. Not a scientific response, but definitely a plea for simplifying this weekly conundrum. I wonder how just an admonition to do something (such s "Remember to RECYCLE" in large letters or whatever) would be very useful, if the actual steps to get there are not clear or available. Sort of the concept of the "teachable moment" of childrearing.
--zj
Amanda,
Consider contacting the Green Dot (http://www.gruener-punkt.de/THE_GREEN_DOT.50+B6Jkw9MQ.0.html) and Blue Angel (http://www.blauer-engel.de/englisch/navigation/body_blauer_engel.htm
I don't know, but if you do a little googling er...research on WEEE, you may find the answer. European Union has spent a lot of time thinking about how to keep electronics out of trash bins. They developed a symbol. I am sure since they were a bunch of high level govt. people they had SOME basis for thinking it was effective, and there is probably a paper if you search for - WEEE, sitcker effectiveness - WEEE, consumer awareness stuff like that. Here is the symbol that is going on electronic items in EU countries. http://www.zvei.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Technik_Umwelt/Elektro_Elektronikaltgeraete/
Arbeitspapiere_gesetz-Regel/EN50419_WEEE_2.jpg If you are looking at doing a similar program you might want to adopt this symbol since there is a lot of effort going into educating consumers and making this symbol recognizable.
In my city the recycling bin has embossed symbols inside the lid of those things that you can put in and those things you shouldn't, which is point of disposal prompt. The problem seems to be that many people do not want to (or cannot) differentiate between different types of recyclables from the same family, eg. different types of paper and different types of plastic. In both these families some are recyclable and some are not so the process gets contaminated. From time to time the city send someone out on a bicycle on collection day to check what people are putting in the recycling bin. If the contents are contaminated the bin is not collected on that day and a note is left for the householder reminding them about what should be left out of the bin. The city and surrounding others have regular Sunday collection points for hazardous waste to lessen the temptation to put it in the bin. I think this would work better if it could be collected at the same time as other rubbish in a separate hazardous waste collection which could be linked with the prompts in the recycling bin lid.
Peta
We conducted a pilot to assess the impact of motivational stickers placed on free oil collection containers to increase used oil recycling behavior. During the pilot, 2,944 15-quart oil storage containers were given away at auto parts stores in Los Angeles County that collect used oil from the public. Half of the containers were affixed with a newly created "Take the Last Step" marketing slogan, and the other half were affixed with the standard "Recycle Used Oil" CIWMB sticker. The stores that distributed free oil collection containers with the "Last Step" sticker had a 22% increase in the volume of used oil collected during the quarter immediately following the intervention. In comparison, stores that distributed collection containers with the standard sticker had a 6% increase in used oil collected and stores that did not distribute any oil collection containers had no increase. "The energy challenge facing California is real. Every Californian needs to take immediate action to reduce energy consumption. For a list of simple ways you can reduce demand and cut your energy costs, see our Web-site at http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/."
Dana Stokes
California Integrated Waste Management Board
1001 I Street Sacramento, CA 95812-4025
(916) 341-6447
[email protected]
Those are really encouraging results, Dana. How many stores distributed the containers (that's your real unit of measure, not the containers themselves). Were the stores comparable in other ways (socioeconomic class of the community or other variables that might influence usage patterns?) We'd like to do something similar on coasters used at lake shore dining facilities and public awareness of Lake Michigan conservation issues (we're not to specific actions yet!).
Linda Wilson
Manager, Audience Research and Evaluation
John G. Shedd Aquarium
Chicago, IL 60605
312 692 3261
[email protected]
Hotchkiss used stickers on the light switches and post-its on computers that were left on. These were used in conjunction with a series of other messages: energy use postings in the dormitories, a speaker on energy efficiency for the student body, reminder announcements in one campus daily news sheets, student auditorium. We know that our campus electricity use was reduced. However we have no way of separating out the stickers impact from other measures.
Cristin Rich
Environmental Consultant