Fostering Sustainable Behavior by Doug McKenzie-Mohr

Author:Doug McKenzie-Mohr
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: BUS094000, book
ISBN: 9781550924626
Publisher: New Society Publishers
Published: 2011-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

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These and other studies support the notion that to be effective, a prompt should be delivered as close in space and time as possible to the target behavior. Accordingly, place prompts to turn off lights on or beside the light switch by the exit. Similarly, prompts to purchase products that contain recycled content should be on the store shelf directly in front of the product.

PROMPTS AND SOURCE REDUCTION

Several initiatives to encourage source reduction are demonstrating just how effective prompts can be in promoting sustainable behavior.

The Minnesota Office of Waste Management has designed a program entitled SMART (Saving Money And Reducing Trash) that provides communities with various educational materials for shoppers. One element of this program is the “shelf talker.” Shelf talkers are prompts that identify products that reduce waste and save money. Similarly, the Central States Education Center in Champaign, Illinois uses posters, flyers and shelf labels to indicate products that are environmentally friendly.13 This program identifies items that either are recyclable locally, have less packaging, or are “safer-earth” products (e.g., non-toxic cleaners). Affixing 700 long-term labels throughout a store takes several hours, considerably less time than it takes to adjust the 17,000 price labels that, on average, are changed weekly. Analysis of supermarket store inventory suggests that the use of these prompts has shifted purchases to recyclable containers. The impact upon the purchase of “least-waste packages” and “safer earth products” has not yet been determined.14

In Seattle, Washington, a “Get in the Loop, Buy Recycled” campaign has been operating for several years.15 Like the other initiatives, this program utilized shelf talkers that identify products with recycled content. The program was advertised through television, radio and newspaper advertisements by both the King County Commission for Marketing Recyclable Materials and participating retailers. In the year that it was initially launched, 850 retailers in western Washington state participated. Relative to the month preceding the initial launch of the campaign, sales of recycled-content products increased nearly 30%.16 Sales of specific product categories have shown even more dramatic increases. For example, sales of recycled-content paper products have increased by 74%.

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