Drones say nagging people increases bad waste habits

Conventional wisdom says that if you want people to adopt new habits, you need to hit them with ongoing educational campaigns until you start to see some changes in their behaviour.

But a recent study on littering flies in the face of the usual way of doing things and suggests that campaigns encouraging people to use public bins actually increase the amount of littering.

Using drones to fly over Bournemouth, researchers at environmental charity Ellipsis Earth watched how people behaved after reading local government messaging on the importance of good waste habits.

The study concluded that negative and accusatory campaigns actually led to a 10% increase in the amount of littering.

But it’s not all bad news, more positive attempts at encouraging the city’s pedestrians to put their rubbish where it belongs saw a 79% reduction in people dropping litter on the street.

Why don’t people like being told what to do?

The study – funded by fast-food restaurant chain McDonald’s in collaboration with environmental charity Hubbub – revealed a fascinating example of reactance.

Reactance is a natural psychological defence in humans when we feel someone is attempting to compel us to do something or remove freedoms.

People crave autonomy and don’t like to be criticised or spoken to like they’re a child.

You might have heard of reverse psychology, which plays on reactance to get someone to do the opposite of what you’re urging them to do (the opposite thing being that which you actually want them to do).

So what does work?

The drones were able to identify littering hotspots and allowed researchers to place bins strategically, making it more convenient for people to use them.

For example, a lot of cigarette butts were discovered at a railway crossing, which suggested people take the opportunity to light up while waiting for the barrier to open. A lot of late-night, booze-fuelled litter was also discovered.

But instead of wagging fingers and moaning at people to do what they’re told, Hubbub decided to make it fun for people to do their bit for the local environment.

Out went the standard black public bins and in came more brightly-coloured containers, which reduced litter in Bournemouth Lower Gardens by 89%. Glow-in-the-dark bins also slashed the amount of dropped glass bottles and aluminium cans by 88%.

Passersby were even invited to answer questions in a social-media-style poll, placing their cigarette butts in receptacles to submit their opinion. This clever bin cleared up smoking-related litter by 73%.

 

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A post shared by H U B B U B (@hellohubbub)

To further tackle late-night littering, Hubbub launched the world’s first-ever Disco Bin, which lights up and plays music.

Say hello to the world's first… DISCO BIN!🕺💃

(It's like a normal bin, but with more ABBA)@EllipsisEarth data showed people were #littering on Boscombe beach at night, so we created the musical #DiscoBin. It resulted in a 42% litter reduction in the vicinity! pic.twitter.com/QqKie3Xjlb

— Hubbub (@hubbubUK) October 1, 2021

Hubbub chief executive Trewin Restorick told MRW, “This is game-changing for the way brands, the food and hospitality industry and local authorities across the country tackle litter.

“The results are conclusive: the key to reducing litter is to get localised data and use positive and playful messaging. Traditional methods don’t work. Negative messaging doesn’t work.”

SunSkips is committed to keeping on the cutting edge of waste management technology and employing the latest innovations in our work across Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.