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INTRODUCTION

Waste minimisation. Waste reduction. Recycling. Reusing. Composting.

All important concepts and all widely understood by those involved in the waste management industry. However, the vast majority of the population does not work within the industry and tends to view it as a rather pungent and unsavoury area that is best not thought of for fear that such unpleasant imagery as putrid rubbish dumps and smoke-belching chimneys should taint the day. Thus those concepts mentioned above are at best understood in only the vaguest of terms by the average member of the public.

"Recycling - well, my daughter's been telling me that her teacher said it was important…"

So while all those who read the following report will undoubtedly be familiar with all the terminology and concepts used, it must be remembered that this is an investigation into how to make such issues as relevant to the average person as it is to the average waste manager. Thus, this document reports public reaction to the topics raised, and is intended to highlight potential issues that may be of concern when attempting to communicate with members of the public. Whilst some of the attitudes expressed might seem naïve, selfish or even shocking, it should always be kept in mind that this is not a criticism of the public, the waste industry, manufacturers, retailers or governmental bodies. Instead it is an objective look at what people believe about waste matters, what influences those beliefs and how they might be addressed.

Essentially a report on a series of qualitative discussion groups that Prescient carried out nationwide during the summer of 2000, in the following pages you will find an explanation of the research methodology, a guide to the cultural factors that are currently influencing attitudes towards waste, an explanation of those attitudes and recommendations for working to overcome the obstacles and to communicating with the public in the most effective means possible.

BACKGROUND

The National Waste Awareness Initiative (NWAI) is a body dedicated to communicating waste issues to the general public. It is currently working on a 3-4 year program that is designed to increase public awareness of waste issues, encourage dialogue about waste matters and to prompt action.

The Initiative aims to encourage people to adopt more responsible attitudes towards waste and to deal with it in ways that are more sustainable, eg. reduce it (at source), reuse it, recycle it, or dispose of it safely if no other alternative exists.

The initial impetus for the campaign came from the County Surveyor's Society, (CSS), who, together with a number of other organisations in 1998, recognised the need for a national waste awareness campaign. Most local authorities were attempting to reduce waste volumes, encouraging recycling and engaging the public in debates about managing waste long term. In the absence of a national waste strategy and an authorised body to whom local authorities could go for independent information, difficulties were experienced in creating a meaningful campaign, especially with limited resources. This lead to the idea of pooling resources to develop an umbrella campaign that could be adapted by each partner to suit their own needs - thus the NWAI was initiated.

A Steering Group made up of nearly 50 public, private and voluntary sector organisations was formed in 1999 and together with the backing of a wider and much larger group of supporters has been working hard to develop the campaign. This piece of research is a significant step towards the development of the NWAI.

Research Objectives

The ultimate objective is as follows:

To research, devise and test a series of campaign themes and messages that will be most effective in delivering changes in public attitudes to and awareness of waste.

This of course involves a number of sub-goals along the way. Specifically these include investigating the following key areas:

Awareness Potential

• The ability of the campaign themes to intrude and be noticed in a world where every company, every charity and every issue is attempting to grab the average consumer's attention in any way it can

Understanding

• How well the key action and awareness messages are delivered by the campaign themes: are they lost in exciting, visual displays or do the audience come away knowing what they are being told?

Response

• How people might respond to such messages, whether they would be likely to respond to them at all and what might motivate them to respond in the first place

Ongoing Benefits

• The possibility of inspiring ongoing action, commitment, awareness and local research into waste matters even after the initial campaign has finished

Motivating Evidence

• Responses to facts and messages regarding waste issues - which prove to be the most motivating?

Pitfalls

• To ascertain where possible negative aspects and barriers exist to allow avoidance of these if possible

Visuals

• Which visual styles would prove to be the most effective means of presenting the campaign themes?

Research Methodology

The research consisted of 24 nation-wide qualitative focus groups carried out with members of the general public.

What is Qualitative Research?

Whereas quantitative research is concerned with figures and statistics, qualitative research is more concerned with what people think - their attitudes, beliefs and motivations. Whilst quantitative work is more focussed on 'how many?', qualitative research tends to ask the questions 'why?' and 'how?'.

The procedure is usually much the same for focus-groups on any given subject, from dog-food to dotComs. Essentially it involves one moderator sitting down with 8-9 members of the public and discussing the issue at hand. Respondents for the groups are found by professional recruitment companies. These companies are dedicated to recruiting discussion group members who fit the specified criteria (in terms of sex, age and 'greenness' as appropriate) via telephone, door to door or high-street methods.

Using a variety of techniques, including projective and creative exercises, as well as the discussion of stimulus material, attitudes towards any given subject can be examined in depth during these groups. Thus it is a useful tool for exploring comprehension, motivation, barriers and potential reactions to change.

Not only does this process allow us to explore the rational beliefs connected with a subject, but it also allows investigation of those attitudes that are more irrational, yet just as important when it comes to influencing behaviour.

Another significant advantage of qualitative research is that it allows us to present members of the target audience with visual materials and to elicit immediate reactions. This aspect of the methodology means that it is exceptionally useful when it comes to interpreting how a campaign might be received by an audience.

As can be understood from this explanation of the research process, this is not a statistical piece of work - there is no quantification of opinions expressed and attitudes taken. The findings detailed in this report are based on what was learned through these discussions, bringing together the thoughts, beliefs and reactions of a large number of individuals and presenting them as a cohesive understanding of the attitudes towards the issues under investigation. At no point is there any assumption that this is statistically significant - it is a project based entirely on how people react, what their attitudes are and how this is likely to affect future actions.

A Two-Stage Operation

Figure 1 : The Two-Stage Research Process

As can be seen in Figure 1, the research process was split into 2 sections to allow the maximum amount of insight and understanding of attitudes towards the themes.

The initial stage was an in-depth investigation into waste awareness in general, including exploration of:

• The terminology used to discuss the issues
• Understanding of the waste process
• The importance of waste and surrounding themes in comparison with other environmental concerns
• Attitudes towards waste management and minimisation
• Opinions on and awareness of past and current campaigns, both on local and national levels (including testing reactions to existing campaign materials)

From this we were able to identify the key issues surrounding the topic and detect any prominent themes, influences and imagery that arose.

With this knowledge in hand, Prescient was able to inform the creative development of a potential campaign. This allowed the opportunity to design work that would address the common themes and concerns that came to light throughout the discussions. Using understanding of what had worked well in previous campaigns, what imagery was associated with the issues and what aspects of the whole subject tend to be most motivating, a series of creative concepts were designed that endeavoured to involve all aspects of our learnings so far.

In the second stage of the research, the 12 groups were able to examine these concepts and comment on specific likes and dislikes, as well as other aspects such as the credibility and relevance of the creative work. Similarly, reactions to other features of a potential campaign were explored such as the straplines, the messages and the motivating facts which might be used in a campaign. Through this second stage we were able to examine in depth the ways in which advertising and imagery are reacted to, invaluable information for any future campaign.

Research Structure

Figure 2 : Stage One Research

Figure 3 : Stage Two Research

A spread of sex and age was ensured throughout the country. As can be seen, locations visited ranged from Southern England to Scotland, areas being chosen to reflect as wide as possible a variety of local waste concerns (such as rapidly diminishing landfill space) and schemes (eg. kerbside schemes where the local authorities will collect recyclable material from individuals' houses weekly or bi­weekly).

Additionally, a mixture of rural and urban environments was used so as to cover as many different environments as possible. This was informed through pilot research carried out in East Anglia in 1999, which suggested that responses from those in rural areas are quite different from those espoused by individuals living in urban environments.

Each individual involved in the discussion groups was split into one of three attitudinal categories, depending on their answers to a pre-screening questionnaire used during recruitment. Thus they were classified as being either 'dark green', 'light green' or 'non-green' according to their levels of environmental awareness and activity.

Adults were usually in groups of 8, whilst the younger groups consisted of 4-6 individuals, usually present in friendship pairs.

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