Page 40 - Plastics News July 2019

FeAtures

Awareness Of Product Transformation Increases Recycling

When consumers are reminded of the products that their recyclables can be turned into they are more likely
to recycle

plastic bottle becomes a jacket, aluminum can the participants placed their scrap sheets of paper into
A a bicycle. When consumers are reminded of the the recycling bin or the trash can before leaving the room.
products that their recyclables can be turned into they
are more likely to recycle, according to researchers at "We found that the people who were shown ads that
Penn State and Boston College. "Recycling rates in the detailed product transformation were significantly more
United States are too low," likely to recycle their scrap sheets of paper than the
said Karen Winterich, professor people who were shown the control recycling message
of marketing and a Frank and that did not make transformation salient," said Winterich.
Mary Smeal Research Fellow, "Interestingly, there was no difference in recycling rates
Smeal College of Business, Penn between the groups who saw ads about products being
State. "For example, in 2015, turned into different products versus those showing
only 25 percent of waste was products being turned into the same kinds of products."
recycled. Our research suggests In another study, the team placed signage above the
that recycling rates can improve recycling center in a university residence hall offering
if consumers are exposed to only information about what types of recyclables were
signage and messaging that shows recyclables are accepted. On another floor of the same dormitory, they
transformed into new products. We hope to change the posted signage demonstrating not only what types of
conversation from 'Where does this go?' as consumers recyclables were accepted but also what products the
question whether an item is recyclable to "What can recyclables could be made into. After a period of time,
this make?' with consumers automatically thinking about the researchers sorted and weighed all of the materials in
products made from the material they recycle." According the bins. They found that on the product transformation
to Winterich, the definition of a recyclable is an object salience floor, more than 51 percent of the material
with a future use, yet many of us still view recyclable headed to the landfill was recyclable, whereas nearly 63
material as trash. "We may put it in the recycling bin, percent of the material in the control floor's landfill bin
but in essence, we think of it as garbage," said Winterich. could have been recycled.
"We don't think about it as something of value that has a "When the poster had information not just about what to
future use." put in the bins, but also about what can come out, we

Winterich and her colleagues conducted a series of studies saw a decrease in the amounts of recyclables in the trash
in which they examined how product transformation and an increase in recycling," said Winterich.
salience -- thinking about recyclables turning into new In a third study, the team examined the effects of different
products -- influences recycling. The results of these messaging on pre-football game tailgaters at a large U.S.
studies appear in print on July 1 in the Journal of university. Student liaisons walked around the tailgate area
Marketing. In one study, the team gave participants half and shared one of two different messages with tailgaters.
sheets of scrap paper on which to doodle so they could
"clear their minds." Next, the researchers showed the
participants a series of advertisements. Some of the
advertisements merely encouraged recycling. Others
featured products being recycled into the same types of
products -- for example, a plastic bottle being transformed
into a new plastic bottle. Still others featured products
being recycled into entirely new products -- for example, a
plastic bottle being transformed into a jacket. At the end
of the session, the researchers recorded whether or not

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