Summary and conclusions

Kommunikation som styringsmiddel til affaldsforebyggelse i husholdninger - En kortlægning af barrierer og muligheder

Background and purpose

Waste is a waste of resources, yet the quantity of waste continues to rise. In 2006, each Dane produced 613 kg in average. Of these 335 kg derived from domestic waste incl. packaging waste, 110 kg from garden waste and 137 kg from bulky waste.

During the last ten years, waste prevention has been a continuous focus area in Denmark; studies have been completed, reports have been made and conferences and workshops have been held. The documentation of these initiatives point to the need for an increased effort.

Waste prevention includes all activities that lead to a reduction in the formation of waste or that make the waste less dangerous. In the EU’s Waste Hierarchy – that prioritises waste management methods according to environmental impact – waste prevention is ranked as the best measure for the environment.

This is why The Danish Environmental Protection Agency has wanted to have barriers and opportunities mapped out by using communication as a controlling means to waste prevention in households.

The study

The methodical approach to the project has been a combination of desk research, workshop including a project group and telephone interviews with 25 citizens.

In the desk research both national and international inspirations and conclusions have been included.

Half way through the process, a workshop was held with a group of different specialists. This gave us the opportunity to collect more data, as well as to cross check data already collected.

25 semi-structured telephone interviews have been completed. The purpose of these was to interview citizens to find out what waste- and purchasing habits Danes have. At the same time, it was examined which conditions are able to influence behaviour. Each interview took approx. 30-45 minutes.

This study was done by Operate A/S.

Main conclusion and project results

The survey indicates that it is necessary to do something to prevent waste formation and that it is necessary to involve the population in this task.

According to the telephone interviews there is a big unexploited potential in encouraging waste prevention through an informational effort: citizens are motivated, but they lack knowledge in order to convert attitude into action – both knowledge on how to act and background knowledge about the consequences of their own behaviour.

Foreign experiences show that it is possible to reach an effect through preventive measures. Further, these experiences are useful inspiration for measures to be taken in Denmark.

All three constituent parts of the research – workshop, desk research and interviews – point to the fact that a cohesive effort that combines information, structural initiatives and a collaboration between authorities, retailers, producers and organisations will have the biggest effect, just as experience shows that a change in behaviour calls for a long-term and versatile effort. Especially in this case where the target group is a big and heterogeneous mass – and where a number of barriers must be overcome – a wide focus and a long-term effort will be necessary. Children are considered a special target group and special attention must be paid to them.

It is recommended that a national information campaign is carried out, which will create a massive pressure. The campaign should include as many parties as possible – not least retailers and municipalities,– which is recommended on the basis of both desk research, interviews and workshop. Furthermore, NGO’s, schools, day care centres, housing associations, incineration plants and waste companies should also be incorporated in the campaign.

According to the survey, the following focuses hold a potential for making the population prevent more waste: food waste, make visible invisible waste, reuse, sharing schemes (e.g. your car) and leasing, composting, catalogues and junk mail plus repairs.

The research concludes that the most suitable form of appeal in the campaign will be a combination of objectivity (including good advice for everyday life, information on climate- and environmental impact and facts and figures) and humour (e.g. visual illustrations of hidden waste).

As far as the professional argumentation for waste prevention is concerned, it is the pull on resources prior to consumption that is the most important issue, not disposal. For ordinary citizens this is cause for reflection. People do not know that production is a bigger environmental load than waste management. Invisible waste is literally invisible to many people.

Argumentation should also include personal economic benefits, as the report concludes that price and potential savings is a big influence on whether or not people transform attitude into action.

The report also concludes that the messages of the campaign must live up to a minimum of three demands: 1) the receiver must be able to see the purpose and benefits. 2) The receiver must be able to see that each individual can contribute. 3) The receiver should feel that the effort is part of a shared undertaking. Furthermore, the messages should take as their starting point those arenas that are included in people’s lives. E.g. “what do you do in your kitchen?”, “What do you do in your garden?” and so on. Finally, the report concludes that it is important that both figures and images (both linguistic and visual) are included in thinking about the creation of messages.

According to both the specialists participating in the workshop and different surveys, there is good reason to include recycling in the informational effort on waste prevention. It remains important, however, to communicate that waste prevention is better than recycling.

On basis of the desk research and dialogue with both respondents from the interviews and specialists from the workshop, the following five pieces of advice are the most important to communicate to the people:

Focus on intelligent consumption
Buy products with a long life expectancy
Recycle as much as you can
Use products again - and again
Consume wisely

The report shows the necessity of employing a variety of different channels of communication to reach the entire population with the message of preventing waste creation. Television would be a desirable option, as it remains by far people’s preferred channel of communication.