What unsustainable behavior needs to change:

Despite the positive impact recycling may have on our environment and existing legislation to foster it, over the last decade, the volume of municipal waste has surprisingly increased, with low recycling rates and lower quality of waste (accuracy/cleanliness). Although this can partially be due to inefficient waste collection systems; more needs to be addressed in order to improve an individual’s recycling and sorting behaviour. Like other sectors, recycling rates in the UK-higher education sector, record a declining recycling rate. This data is concerning especially considering that universities continue to produce high levels of waste per year. 

Given the role that universities play to educate the youth and to complement current socio-eco efforts to increase awareness, thus the impact of different waste recycling interventions on a university site was explored.

The Green Nudge:

A vast body of literature on pro-social behaviour suggests that the presence of “eye images” positively influences human cooperation, primarily driven by concerns about reputation rather than mere attention to written or verbal instructions. While informational campaigns have generally been effective in promoting recycling participation, individuals often rely on quick, intuitive decisions and are prone to errors.

In order to better understand the direct connection between subtle observability cues and the activation of motivation to adhere to social norms, researchers conducted a field experiment. They analysed recycling behaviour under two conditions: one utilising “eye images” alone and the other combining eye images with existing written instructions. Data from these treatments were compared with a control group that received no intervention.

The result: The findings indicate that the combination of eye images with written instructions reduced recycling errors, consequently decreasing waste sent to incinerators or landfills. Conversely, the presence of eye images alone had a detrimental effect on recycling rates, leading to increased errors. These results suggest that rather than relying solely on reputational effects, the presence of eye images enhances individuals‘ attention, thereby motivating them to correctly dispose of waste.

What unsustainable behavior needs to change:

Changes in hospital practice due to COVID-19 led to new ways of working, particularly with respect to personal protective equipment and hand hygiene. Notably the use of gloves became the (most frequented) method during the pandemic. As the world returns to a new “normal” post-pandemic, there has been a shift to return to typical pre-pandemic infection control practices, with less emphasis on glove use and more on standardised hand washing and alcohol gel use.

However, it has been observed that the previous guidelines during the height of COVID-19 are still being adhered to in audits, demonstrating an overuse of gloves. In a study conducted by the Change Lab researchers, it was identified that one of the main failures in hand hygiene compliance was the use of gloves as an alternative to hand hygiene compliance (HHC); rather than not washing/gelling hands before or after patient contact.

The Green Nudge:

Because of this the Change Lab study team hosted co-design sessions with ward staff and infection control teams. They wanted to design and develop nudges encouraging hospital staff to return to basics of hand hygiene compliance: using alcohol gels and standardised hand washing; with one of the nudges focusing on the negative environmental impact of glove overuse. 

The green nudge was a co-designed sticker, a visual prime placed on the glove dispenser boxes to prompt hand hygiene compliance and minimise overuse of gloves, where appropriate. The green nudge reads “Under the sea is where gloves will be… so if you can, wash your hands instead” with an image of a turtle to represent the environment.

The result: Post-intervention, there was a statistically significant increase of 11% in HHC post-intervention. As was evident, this green nudge was a key part of a co-designed, behaviourally informed visual prime intervention effective at increasing the level of HHC at the Change Lab study site. The research team is currently scaling the 3 nudges across more hospital sites and looking at ways to contribute to the NHS Trust’s Green Plan. 

What unsustainable behavior needs to change:

We love the variety of food available worldwide, despite inflated and rising prices. We get to enjoy meats our grandparents couldn’t. On the opposite hand, having diverse food choices contributes to enormous carbon emissions and clashes with sustainable climate goals. Hence, why shifting to eco-friendly diets matters.

Changing diets isn’t easy. Instead of strict rules or higher prices, researchers use subtle nudges to gently guide us toward better choices without being overbearing or controlling. However, using these nudges on a wide scale is tough. Sometimes, it raises concerns about whether people are aware they’re being “nudged” to change. Especially with personal choices like diets, some argue it’s not right to push people on what to eat.

The Green Nudge:

To address these challenges, a novel approach in behavioural science, known as “nudge+”, can empower individuals to reflect on their choices and encourage meaningful shifts towards more environmentally friendly behaviours. A nudge+ is a combination of a nudge with an encouragement to think. This modification to the nudge allows people to reflect on their choices and decide whether they want to follow a certain nudge or not.

Designed in this way, a nudge+ makes behaviour change more legitimate, ethical and effective. In a recent publication in “Nature Sustainability”, the authors experimented with 3,074 UK participants to validate their proposition that human agency enhances the effectiveness of behaviour change tools.

Four nudge+ interventions were used: Two combined “the green default” or “carbon-labelled” nudge with transparent information disclosure. The other two nudges partially integrated the „think“ aspect with the green default; allowing pledges before or after defaulting to the green menu. The nudge+ primarily prompted a pledge without deep menu deliberation. Once committed to eco-friendly eating, it automatically directed individuals to the green menu, simplifying their intention execution.

The result: All interventions effectively increased intentions to choose sustainable foods. Notably, the most effective results were achieved by promoting reflection on dietary preferences before guiding individuals towards greener diet choices. The addition of a pledge before implementing the default nudge, as seen in the nudge+ approach, led to a 40% reduction in emissions resulting from intended meal selections.