City University of Hong Kong Designing Hong Kong Internship Program Research Result Announcement Improving Recycling in Hong Kong: Think in the Other Way 1 15 April 2014 Co-hosted by The project team of "Idea Incubator at CityU - Discovery and Innovation through Experiments in Public Policy" ( ) Designing Hong Kong With the assistance of Campus Development and Facilities Office (CDFO) Under POL3000 Professional Internship, The Department of Public Policy

Agenda  Policy Background – Waste Management in HK  Features  Concept Behind the Research & Interventions  Interventions  Implementation & Measurement  Research Result  Recommendations 2

Waste Management Policy In HK  Use financial disincentives to change behavior  Plastic shopping bag levy (2005~)  MSW charging pilot scheme (2014~)  May cause aversive side-effects

Non-woven Environmental Bags

Features

1. ‘Nudging’  ‘Nudging’ – A way to change people’s behavior by using simple and easy interventions  A way to alter people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008)  Use of norms  Information provisions

1. ‘Nudging’  Employed by both US and UK Government  UK Cabinet Office  Behavioral Insights Team, a.k.a. ‘Nudge Unit’  Applies insights from academic research in behavioural economics and psychology to public policy and services

2. Experimental Method  Common in science and medical research  Rare in public policy studies in HK  Survey  Comparative studies  Low validity  Causal relation between the policy initiative and outcome can be examined  Overt Behavior is observed

Concept Behind the Research & Interventions

We Believe  Hong Kong people are aware of the importance of waste recycling. They have proper knowledge and sense on waste separation.  Hong Kong people are willing to do something good to society. They are willing to do recycling spontaneously.

But why people dump recyclables into garbage bins? 1. They simply don’t know the location of the recycle bins 2. They are unconscious about the environmental consequences of their automatic behavior at the time they dispose their garbage

How can we ‘nudge’ people? 1. Tell you the location of recycle bins 2. Remind you to think before you dispose your rubbish

Intervention 13

Interventions  Street Sign  Provide information of the direction and distance 14

Interventions  Posters with negative information  Stop sign reminding people not to throw the recyclables into garbage bin 15

Implementation & Measurement 16

Implementation  Implementation period: 11:00a.m.11/3/2014 – 11:00a.m.25/3/2014  Week 1 (11:00a.m. 11/3 – 11:00a.m. 18/3):  Control period  Week 2 (11:00a.m. 18/3 – 11:00a.m. 25/3):  Intervention 17

Measurement  Measurement Time:  Monday to Friday, at 11:30 and 18:00  Saturday, at 11:30  Targets  The weight of 1. Total domestic waste 2. Total recyclables 3. Aluminum cans in recycle bins 4. Plastic bottles in recycle bins 5. Waste paper in recycle bins  The numbers of 1. Aluminum cans in recycle bins 2. Plastic bottles in recycle bins 18

Research Result 19

Result Domestic Waste (g) Total Recyclable s (g) Recycled Paper (g) Recycle d Metal (g) Aluminum Cans (items) Recycle d Plastic (g) Plastic Bottle (items) Recycle Rate* Week1 (Control) % Week2 (Intervention ) % *Recycling rate formula: [Total Recyclables/(Domestic Waste + Total Recyclables)] x 100% 20

 The amount of total recyclables increased by 22.98% 21

 The numbers of aluminum cans increased by 34% while that of plastic bottles increased by almost 20%. 22

 The recycle rate increased by almost 30% 23

Recommendation 24

Recommendations 1. Application in Street 2. Application in Closed-gate Area 3. Change Customers’ Behaviors 4. Future Research 25 University Concourse Street Shopping Mall

Application in Street  Since the interventions are set alongside the university concourse which emulating the parallel street in reality, it is suggested that the garbage bins and recycle bins can be placed alternately on the same side of a straight road  Hence, the interventions can be applied: 1) A street sign demonstrating the direction of the recycle bin 2) A picture with negatively-framed slogan 3) A stop sign reminding people not to throw the recyclables into the garbage bin 26

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Application in Closed-gate Areas  Any closed gate areas such as shopping malls  The setting of the interventions is quite similar to a shopping mall with people move, stay and rest within a closed area  It is suggested that the recycle bins can be placed alternately with the garbage bins within certain distance on the same floor 28

Change Customers’ Behaviors  Some contaminated recyclables were found in the recycle bins such as used tissue was put inside a plastic bottle  It is suggested the shopping mall can provide a simple guideline to the customers  For example, a foam-board demonstrating the photos of contaminated recyclables can be placed next to the recycle bins 29

Future Research  The research can contribute to future research  Significances of the research: 1) It found that Hong Kong people are willing to do recycle by providing simple information to them such as the distance (in steps) between the garbage bin and recycle bin 2) The simple setting of the research can be imitated by other research groups easily E.g. others can aim at finding something different from ours such as the optimal distance between the garbage bin and recycle bin which is accepted by people 30

Thank you 31