Extinction Rebellion. Greta Thunberg. Student climate strikes. It seems everywhere we look people are demanding action on climate change. Google’s search data confirms it, with searches for ‘climate change’ increased five-fold since the beginning of April, largely due to the Extinction Rebellion campaign. People are changing their habits, reducing their plastic waste, and thinking about their impact on the environment. And it’s not just citizens – here at WRAP, we have seen industry demand for positive action on fashion, food, and plastics.
It is a great time to galvanise public demand for change, and to focus on how we can best support citizens to make those changes. For local authorities, there is growing opportunity to influence the way people behave within their communities – and especially, to make an impact on household recycling rates.
We have done a lot of work at WRAP to test the best ways of encouraging household recycling, examining messaging and delivery which are most likely to resonate with people. We have found that social norming is a brilliant way to do this. Social norms are invisible rules that exist in society, and which most people are reluctant to break. For example, in the UK, we are known for adhering to the rules of queuing, and the majority of people will stand in line dutifully without questioning it. It is not written anywhere, it is not law, but it is a social behaviour that we all conform to. These social norms can also be used to encourage people into better recycling behaviours. For example, if you believe your neighbours are recycling in the right way – you are more likely to do it yourself.
We have recently adopted this approach in our communication campaign Recycle Now, with a simple change to our messaging. All of our materials now use the normative messaging ‘X location recycles’ e.g. ‘Banbury recycles’, accompanied by the ‘recycling swoosh’ logo. This messaging encourages the notion that recycling is the normal and accepted thing to do – and that everyone is doing it.
We have had great feedback from hundreds of local authorities across England who are now using this approach in their communications with citizens, and we are excited about the progress being made. People and communities are demanding that we change ‘business as usual’ and reduce our impact on the environment. It’s our mission to support you in helping citizens to achieve nationwide recycling targets, and we are optimistic that they are within our reach.
If you are interested in finding out more about our normative messaging approach, visit Recycle Now. If you have any feedback, questions or comments about it - we would love to hear from you. You can contact us any time at lasupport@wrap.org.uk.
