Zero Waste Football: Behavioral Changes
ZeroWasteBehavorial (click PDF)
Fall 2011
Team members: Katie Kraus, Anna McMillen, Heidi Mitter, Chad O’Connor
Zero Waste Football is an initiative to convert all of the products used at Scott Stadium to either compostable or recyclable materials in an effort to send zero waste to landfills. Specifically our group was tasked with figuring out the best way to encourage people to physically recycle and compost, which could then be implemented at football games. We focused on people’s behavior in general rather than on focusing on the behavior of football fans. We went about this by creating an online survey to figure out people’s preferences, and we created a prototype of a sign influenced by the survey responses. In addition we conducted an experiment at the Pavilion XI to see how effective our signage was. From the survey we found that most people knew what to compost but not what to recycle. Further, most people felt they recycled only moderately. In the experiment, we found that including both specific images of recyclable and compostable materials used, as well as having text on a sign is most effective. However, we also found that to be optimally effective, the venue would need to have substantial recyclable and compostable materials as well as proper receptacles for each.