Behaviorally designed letters providing information on recycling and waste collection were delivered to 4,800 households The Project and small businesses from the city of Trelew, in the In a randomized controlled trial, we sent letters Argentinean Patagonia. This and magnetic calendars with different messages to approximately 4,800 recipients in Trelew, cost-effective and scalable 90% corresponding to households and 10% to communication intervention small businesses. The waste management system doubled waste separation in Trelew relies on source separation into two categories: recyclables and residual. Only middle rate to over 30%. and high-income neighborhoods participated in this intervention as they produce comparatively more waste. In these areas daily collection of waste is destined for the local landfill. Recyclables are collected only once a week and sent to the separation plant. In principle, if only recyclables The Argentinean Municipality of Trelew is an arrive at the plant on the designated day, then excellent example of the dual potential and classification is quick and efficient and recovery challenges in moving towards a more circular high. In practice, recyclables are mixed with residual economy in the developing world. With a system waste, and hardly anything can be recovered. of differentiated curbside collection and a waste The project started in November 2018 with a separation plant to process the recyclables, the survey to a small sample of households on attitudes city has all the necessary infrastructure in place. and behaviors towards waste management. Based However, only a mere 3% of waste is recovered on this information, as well as on insights from through recycling, with the remainder rapidly the behavioral sciences, and an active debate and filling up the local landfill. validation with local authorities, we designed letters and materials with the goals of i) improving The role of consumers is central to the waste source separation into the two waste categories, management system. By separating their waste at recyclables and residuals, and ii) increasing the source, they avoid contamination of recyclable recyclables disposal only on the day they are due. material by food waste and other non-recyclables. We then randomly allocated 400 street blocks This simple action preserves the material value and to control and treatment groups and distributed substantially improves the working conditions in information materials (letters and calendars) in the waste separation plant. There, workers March 2019 to almost 5,000 households and currently have to sift through mixed and at times, businesses from the selected blocks. Two weeks hazardous waste to extract recyclables, which in after the distribution, we collected the waste of 899 turn further hampers the plant’s ability to increase randomly selected participants. For each bag from a recovery rates. total of 3.5 tons of garbage collected, we measured To address these issues, the Municipality of its weight, volume, and waste classification. Trelew, the German Development Institute, and Additionally, we conducted short surveys with the World Bank joined forces to apply behavioral 2,700 households focusing on waste separation insights to improve consumer waste separation. practices over the weeks following the intervention. The Results Recycling behavior improved. Simple, salient, and motivating letters succeeded in incentivizing waste separation and disposal on the correct collection day. Concretely, the intervention doubled the waste separation from 17% of participants in the control street blocks to 31% in treatment blocks, two weeks after the distribution of the materials. All messages and instruments worked similarly well, and between 3 to 6 weeks after, over 80% of surveyed participants stated they had kept the material. The intervention was cost-effective. Our main result was achieved at a cost of 55 USD cents per participant, on average. The costs stand against the economic benefits of reduced pressure on the landfill, increased revenue from the sale of recyclables, potential ecological benefits from reduced pollution, and social benefits from improved working conditions in the separation plant. Informed design was essential. Key to the intervention’s success was to analyze the barriers to households’ target behavior thoroughly. The initial survey revealed that families who already separated found it challenging to remember the day of recyclable collection. It also showed several entry points for motivating non-separating households to take up the practice. This knowledge enabled us to design our interventions in a targeted and effective manner. Collaboration made the intervention possible and effective. The design and implementation of the project would not have been possible without close cooperation between the involved institutions and the local government. This ownership allowed us to firmly embed the intervention in the context, improve the chances of uptake and scaling, and increase capacity within the local government. The intervention has the potential for sustained results. Behavioral interventions often struggle with the question of the long-term sustainability of effects. Therefore, we will collect data again in September 2019 to see whether the effects persist and whether different messages and materials incentivize different behaviors. Furthermore, there is vast potential for scale by including and motivating non-separating households and businesses. We thus aim to develop new interventions to reach this population as well. Policy Implications Understanding the context and carefully assessing awareness as a constraint to these behaviors, barriers through an exhaustive diagnosis is central and design effective communication materials to the design of cost-effective interventions that that delivered simplified information on the aim to modify behaviors. Furthermore, clear, salient, recycling process and the fundamental role of and simple communications from programs households in it. and policies should be designed to target these Clear, salient, and simple These communications main barriers faced by the intended audience. communications from programs could be complemented with dissemination efforts to further and policies should be designed to showcase the desired behaviors Our thorough diagnosis target the main barriers faced by of consumers in a more salient and validation work manner. For example, by included reviewing the the intended audience. targeting limited attention relevant literature, collecting (colored collection trucks, bins, and analyzing a household survey, and consulting and bags), providing timely feedback (marking or citizens, local authorities, and experts. Only then not collecting wrongly disposed bags), or harnessing we were able to select clear target behaviors of the social aspect (showing role models and separating and disposing of, identify the lack of celebrities recycling). About eMBeD The Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD), the World Bank’s behavioral science team in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice, works closely with project teams, governments, and other partners to diagnose, design, and evaluate behaviorally informed interventions. By collaborating with a worldwide network of scientists and practitioners, the eMBeD team provides answers to important economic and social questions, and contributes to the global effort to eliminate poverty and enhance equity. Stay Connected eMBeD@worldbank.org #embed_wb worldbank.org/embed bit.ly/eMBeDNews Last Update: August 14th, 2019