Using Behavioural Insights to Promote Food Waste Recycling in Urban Households—Evidence From a Longitudinal Field Experiment

Promoting pro-environmental behaviour amongst urban dwellers is one of today's greatest sustainability challenges. The aim of this study is to test whether an information intervention, designed based on theories from environmental psychology and behavioural economics, can be effective in promot...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Noah Linder, Therese Lindahl, Sara Borgström
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00352/full
_version_ 1819083595259576320
author Noah Linder
Therese Lindahl
Therese Lindahl
Sara Borgström
author_facet Noah Linder
Therese Lindahl
Therese Lindahl
Sara Borgström
author_sort Noah Linder
collection DOAJ
description Promoting pro-environmental behaviour amongst urban dwellers is one of today's greatest sustainability challenges. The aim of this study is to test whether an information intervention, designed based on theories from environmental psychology and behavioural economics, can be effective in promoting recycling of food waste in an urban area. To this end we developed and evaluated an information leaflet, mainly guided by insights from nudging and community-based social marketing. The effect of the intervention was estimated through a natural field experiment in Hökarängen, a suburb of Stockholm city, Sweden, and was evaluated using a difference-in-difference analysis. The results indicate a statistically significant increase in food waste recycled compared to a control group in the research area. The data analysed was on the weight of food waste collected from sorting stations in the research area, and the collection period stretched for almost 2 years, allowing us to study the short- and long term effects of the intervention. Although the immediate positive effect of the leaflet seems to have attenuated over time, results show that there was a significant difference between the control and the treatment group, even 8 months after the leaflet was distributed. Insights from this study can be used to guide development of similar pro-environmental behaviour interventions for other urban areas in Sweden and abroad, improving chances of reaching environmental policy goals.
first_indexed 2024-12-21T20:35:04Z
format Article
id doaj.art-a8d8b933cbc644ee8a033654488d5ffa
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1664-1078
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-21T20:35:04Z
publishDate 2018-03-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Psychology
spelling doaj.art-a8d8b933cbc644ee8a033654488d5ffa2022-12-21T18:51:07ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-03-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.00352296663Using Behavioural Insights to Promote Food Waste Recycling in Urban Households—Evidence From a Longitudinal Field ExperimentNoah Linder0Therese Lindahl1Therese Lindahl2Sara Borgström3Environmental Psychology, Department of Building, Energy, and Environmental Engineering, University of Gävle, Gävle, SwedenThe Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, SwedenStockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, SwedenSustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, SwedenPromoting pro-environmental behaviour amongst urban dwellers is one of today's greatest sustainability challenges. The aim of this study is to test whether an information intervention, designed based on theories from environmental psychology and behavioural economics, can be effective in promoting recycling of food waste in an urban area. To this end we developed and evaluated an information leaflet, mainly guided by insights from nudging and community-based social marketing. The effect of the intervention was estimated through a natural field experiment in Hökarängen, a suburb of Stockholm city, Sweden, and was evaluated using a difference-in-difference analysis. The results indicate a statistically significant increase in food waste recycled compared to a control group in the research area. The data analysed was on the weight of food waste collected from sorting stations in the research area, and the collection period stretched for almost 2 years, allowing us to study the short- and long term effects of the intervention. Although the immediate positive effect of the leaflet seems to have attenuated over time, results show that there was a significant difference between the control and the treatment group, even 8 months after the leaflet was distributed. Insights from this study can be used to guide development of similar pro-environmental behaviour interventions for other urban areas in Sweden and abroad, improving chances of reaching environmental policy goals.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00352/fullpro-environmental behaviournudgingcommunity-based social marketingfood waste recyclingnatural field experimentlongitudinal
spellingShingle Noah Linder
Therese Lindahl
Therese Lindahl
Sara Borgström
Using Behavioural Insights to Promote Food Waste Recycling in Urban Households—Evidence From a Longitudinal Field Experiment
Frontiers in Psychology
pro-environmental behaviour
nudging
community-based social marketing
food waste recycling
natural field experiment
longitudinal
title Using Behavioural Insights to Promote Food Waste Recycling in Urban Households—Evidence From a Longitudinal Field Experiment
title_full Using Behavioural Insights to Promote Food Waste Recycling in Urban Households—Evidence From a Longitudinal Field Experiment
title_fullStr Using Behavioural Insights to Promote Food Waste Recycling in Urban Households—Evidence From a Longitudinal Field Experiment
title_full_unstemmed Using Behavioural Insights to Promote Food Waste Recycling in Urban Households—Evidence From a Longitudinal Field Experiment
title_short Using Behavioural Insights to Promote Food Waste Recycling in Urban Households—Evidence From a Longitudinal Field Experiment
title_sort using behavioural insights to promote food waste recycling in urban households evidence from a longitudinal field experiment
topic pro-environmental behaviour
nudging
community-based social marketing
food waste recycling
natural field experiment
longitudinal
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00352/full
work_keys_str_mv AT noahlinder usingbehaviouralinsightstopromotefoodwasterecyclinginurbanhouseholdsevidencefromalongitudinalfieldexperiment
AT thereselindahl usingbehaviouralinsightstopromotefoodwasterecyclinginurbanhouseholdsevidencefromalongitudinalfieldexperiment
AT thereselindahl usingbehaviouralinsightstopromotefoodwasterecyclinginurbanhouseholdsevidencefromalongitudinalfieldexperiment
AT saraborgstrom usingbehaviouralinsightstopromotefoodwasterecyclinginurbanhouseholdsevidencefromalongitudinalfieldexperiment