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Behavior Change, Education & Action: Utilizing Proven Strategies to Increase Recycling

R3-Recycling and Organics Conference

MassRecycle March 30, 2015

Who We Are

Create clean, beautiful public places

Reduce waste and increase recycling

Generate positive impact on local economy

Inspire generations of environmental stewards

Our Strong Network with a Shared Purpose

• 1,200 affiliates and partners

• Partnerships with nearly 25 regional and state recycling organizations

• 7 million volunteers

KAB Behavior Change System

Integrated Approach

5 Step Management Process

4 Behavior Strategies

Created by Behavior Scientists and Experts

Field-Tested

What Works: Different Types of Recycling

Note: Meta analysis of recycling studies, combined across three types of programs. N=41 public, N=52 curbside, N=18 central collection. Osbaldiston & Schott (2012)

America Recycles Campaign

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Activation

PSA Campaign

America Recycles Day

Recycling @ Work

Recycle-Bowl

Colleges

RecycleMania

Give and Go

Infrastructure/Knowledge Sharing

Recycling On-The-Go

Research/Sharing BMPs

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Our Goal: Increase Recycling Participation

Environmental Behavior Change Strategies

–Commitment

–Competition

–Removing Barriers

–Communication

Commitment Research and Strategies

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Literature Research Recommendations: Strategies: •Norm Messaging •Commitment •Communication

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America Recycles Day Commitment

• Verbal or written agreements

• Short and long term change

• Be positive and specific

America Recycles Day Commitment Impact

• Response rate: 10% • Report knowing more: 32% • Report more committed to at: 34% • Encourage others: 32%

Pledge Impact (survey conducted 2013)

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Recycle-Bowl Metrics and Impact

•3% start a recycling program •55% saw increase in recycling participation •10% higher recycling rate than non-participants

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Removing Barriers

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KAB litter research (2009): •12% of public spaces had recycling

bins Based on survey results: •41% hold indefinitely • 37% pass 1-3 trash cans •18% pass 4-6 trash cans

Q: How far would you hold a recyclable before disposing of it?

Recycling Infrastructure Research/Best Practices

• Public Space Infrastructure Grants – Placed over 30,000 bins

• Best Practices – Ten Tips For Public Space Recycling – www.americarecyclesday.org

• New Research – bin design, decal and placement

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Recycling@Work Research

Objectives:

• Test the impact of recycling and trash

bin configurations on recycling in

the workplace.

•Metrics

- Increase recycling

- Reduce trash in the recycling bins

- Reduce recyclables in the trash bins

Partners

Paper Still Prevelant in Offices

Breakdown of Waste Stream in a Typical Office Building by Type*

*Great Forest average waste audit results

Opportunity to Make a Difference

•5.6 million commercial buildings in the U.S.

•Total over 87 billion square feet

Source: The Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), EIA

Participating Office Buildings

San Diego

Houston

Atlanta

Boston

Four Set-ups Tested

1) Little trash bin with desk sized recycling bin

2) Equal size trash and recycling bins

3) Recycling bin only

4) Information only

Common Area Bins and Signage

Data Collection

• 6-months in field

• 34 Offices

• 400+employees

• Pre-post survey

• 200+ waste audits

Conclusion: Little Trash Most Successful

– Increased correct disposals

– Decreased recyclables in the trash from 29% to 13%

–Decreased recycling bin contamination by 20%

Recommendations and Resources

1. Make recycling easy

2. Use effective placement

3. Be consistent

Fact sheet and other resources

http://recycling@work.org

National Recycling PSA Campaign

Increase recycling participation by creating strong passion and reason to believe in recycling

The Challenge

Unemotional brand

The recycling brand feels “old school” and needs to be modernized

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Lack of access or inconvenience

While access has grown, many people cite lack of access in their community and inconvenience as barriers to consistent recycling

Lack of awareness or understanding

Confusion around what, where, and how to recycle

Lack of motivation

Curbside programs are offered to approx. 70% of communities, but only half participate

Strategic Territories

Five creatively driven strategic territories:

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Key Insight - Give your garbage another life.

Integrated Campaign

Mobile ◦ Social ◦ Outdoor ◦ Partnership ◦ TV ◦ Online ◦ Radio

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Tracking Awareness and Attitudes

Baseline Survey Results conducted week of July 1, 2013

• Online survey of adults 18 – 64 years old

• Series of questions

• Top line results: 62% of recyclers are not “Avid Recyclers”

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% YES

I am an avid recycler: I recycle nearly everything and will go out of my way to do so.

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I am a middle-of-the-road recycler: I make an effort to recycle, but I usually won’t go too far beyond what is convenient.

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I am a sometime recycler: I recycle the easy stuff, but I don’t make too much of an effort.

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Donated Media

TV

OOH

Radio

Digital

Print PR

$65.4 M

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Neuro Methodology

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Summary of Measures and Primary Metrics During Ad Viewing

WHOLE HEAD EEG

SIMULTANEOUS

EYE-TRACKING

COMPOSITE SCORE: NEUROLOGICAL EFFECTIVENESS

ATTENTION CAPTURE

EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT

MEMORY ACTIVATION

PRIMARY NEUROMETRICS COMPUTED SEC-BY-SEC FROM

EEG DATA WHILE VIEWING AN AD:

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Metrics are normed to a 10-point scale Individual Key Metrics (as estimates of the population) are significant at a 95% confidence level of +/- 0.2 (an overall difference of 0.4 between scores to conclude statistical significance).

Solid Topline Performance

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JOURNEY STADIUM PSA MEDIAN

OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS

6.3 6.5 6.3

EMOTIONAL

ENGAGEMENT 6.5 6.4 6.4

MEMORY ACTIVATION

6.2 6.9 6.2

At a topline level, the original recycling PSAs scored at or above the median for key neurometrics for all prior PSAs tested.

Individual Key Metrics (as estimates of the population) are significant at a 95% confidence level of +/- 0.2 (an overall difference of 0.4 to conclude statistical significance).

From July – September 2014, the average pounds of household recycling per household were higher compared to the same time period in 2013.

Source: City of Austin

Average pounds of recycling per household

Austin Recycling Rates

TV ad: Smile

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TV ad: Superhero

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Conclusions

•Behavioral strategies can make a difference

•Proven through research, testing and evaluation

•No silver bullet

• Identify and overcome barriers, be positive, be consistent

Resources

• America Recycles Day - http://americarecyclesday.org/

• Public Space Infrastructure BMPs

• Recycle-Bowl - http://www.recycle-bowl.org/

• Recycling @Work - http://recycle@work.org

• National PSA Campaign - www.iwanttoberecycled.org

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For more info contact:

bpulley@kab.org