I have been assigned with writing a policy brief for a diagnostic project on the behavioral drivers for sustainable waste management in Nigeria. The task is to adapt the technical report into a brief that appeals to a wider policy audience and effectively communicates the primary insights. For this, I am having to synthesize the report and conduct additional research to validate some of the findings in the report.
Through this process, I have learned a great deal about the behavioral science aspect of sustainable waste management. Circular economy is a topic I have explored in the past and been very fascinated by. However, I have studied these topics mainly from climate and emissions lens. To think of sustainable waste management as process driven by cognitive and behavioral enablers is new and extremely insightful.
Something that struck out to me was the importance of ease and fun in nudging behaviors. Individuals have limited time and mental bandwidth to engage in new behaviors. In order to make nudges effective, evidence suggests that making the process easy can yield successful results. For example, an intervention in the UK used GIS mapping to locate geographic areas with the most amount of litter, and then placed waste and recycling bins in those areas. Another way to make it easy for people to follow certain instructions is by providing it at the right time. This is why several trash bins have sorting instructions pasted on them. This way, people don’t need to put in the added effort of remembering instructions that they may have read elsewhere.
Another powerful behavioral lever is the element of fun! An intervention in the UK used uniquely designed and colorful trashcans that lit up and played music every time someone threw trash in (video linked below). Gamifying the process of sorting and recycling through rewards and challenges is another way to make sustainable behaviors fun and engaging.
Working on this project has really helped me think about the importance of behavioral science in climate and sustainability topics. This is a lens that I will continue to apply across projects!
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