Normalising Recycling Behaviour: social marketing and other approaches

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Normalising Recycling Behavioursocial marketing
and other approaches

• Dr Christine ThomasSenior Research Fellow
  Integrated Waste Systems research group

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Presentation overview

• What are key approaches to influencing behaviour
• Nudge, social marketing and normalisation
• Using social marketing to change recycling
  behaviour
• Recycle for Hampshire case study

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Key Approaches to Influencing Behaviour

• Nudge..
• Think.
• Shove.

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Nudge

• Nudge one of many Social Marketing approaches
• Focus on making sustainable behaviours
  attractive and easy
• but allows them to opt out of this behaviour
• Don't seek to engage or influence peoples values
  and attitudes

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Think

• Deliberative engagement approach
• Informing and educating individuals and
  communities
• Influence values and attitudes

• Helping people to understand the need for change

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Shove

• Legislative approach focused on restricting the
  choices that an individual person can make in
  relation to a range of different potential
  behaviours

• Compulsion or a penalty drives the shift in
  behaviour
• Often government generates the shove

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Nudge, think and shove

• These approaches depend on each other and need to
  work together
• Shove can provide the framework and often the
  impetus for nudge to happen
• Think can legitimise and enhance trust in both
  nudge and shove
• Think can build legitimacy and political
  capital for shove

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Nudge, social marketing and normalisation

• How can nudging change behaviour beyond an
  intervention?
• if the nudge no longer exists the person is
  likely to revert to the less sustainable
  behaviour
• New behaviour needs to become habitual and
  normalised
• Social marketing aims to normalise the preferred
  behaviour

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Normalisation of recycling

• social normalisation is a social process in
  which behaviours become accepted as mainstream
  and regarded as normal and everyday what most
  other people do

• Feedback can be effective in promoting social
  norms by letting people know that others are
  doing it visible recycling containers can also
  contribute to this

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Key features of a Social Marketing approach to
influencing behaviour
sets behavioural goals
uses consumer research and pre-testing to identify barriers and benefits
segments the audience and targets different groups
aims to encourage normalisation of new behaviours
aims to remove barriers - making it easier to adopt new behaviours
thinks beyond communications but communicates effectively
uses prompts and incentives
builds commitment and focuses on enhancing the activities benefits
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Recycle for Hampshire campaign

• In 2004, Hampshire was stuck at an average
  level of recycling
• Concluded that communication alone was not enough
  to generate change
• Adopted Community-based social marketing approach
  to encourage residents to recycle more and reduce
  their waste

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Recycle for Hampshire
Campaign approach included

• setting clear goals and targets
• monitoring and evaluation
• consumer research and market segmentation
• removing barriers
• introducing pledges

• range of communications and prompts including
  face-to-face
• aiming to encourage normalisation
• setting their own house in order

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Outcomes one year on

• Participation improved overall
• Recycling rate increased by 20
• Communications increased levels of awareness

• Doorstepping worked well in getting those
  recycling a little to do more

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• Communications increased levels of awareness

• But didnt reach low and non-recyclers
• 61 of non and 29 of low recyclers were not
  aware of any communications or information on
  recycling
• And more people considered recycling a normal
  activity that most households engage in

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Normalisation of recycling in Hampshire
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So, did work?

• How much did things change as a result of the
  campaign and how much due to national trends?
• Results demonstrate local effectiveness
• But nationally recycling was becoming more and
  more a mainstream activity
• In 1999 less than 3 of all local authorities
  were recycling more than 20 of household waste
  in 2008 more than 96 were

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What more can we do to influence recycling
behaviour and should we?

• Can we use social normalisation to further
  influence those who dont yet recycle?
• Or do we need other approaches such as financial
  incentives or shove?
• Does recycling normalisation encourage or create
  a barrier to further pro-environmental behaviour?

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Thank you for listening Any questions or
comments?
contact details c.i.thomas_at_open.ac.uk