Getting people to recycle isn’t always easy. The bottled beverages we buy at the supermarket often require a small deposit that we can get back by recycling the bottle, but often, we just don’t.
Researchers from the University of British Columbia tested the idea of giving people returning bottles a small chance of winning a big cash prize instead of a 10-cent deposit return. The result was that people recycled 47% more bottles.
Changing how we reward recycling made a big difference. When given a choice between a guaranteed return and a possible large reward, many chose the lottery option. When people were randomly assigned to one type of reward or the other, those in the lottery group brought in almost three bottles for every two returned by the other group.
This isn’t a new idea. Norway has a recycling lottery, and their bottle return rate is close to 100 percent. The way it works there is there are reverse vending machines in grocery stores all over the country. The revenues generated by the machines is split in four ways: 34.5% of the gross revenue goes to the Red Cross; 35% goes to the people who bring in their bottles in the form of winnings in the lottery; 9.75% goes to the stores for managing the machines and the lottery; and 10.75% goes to the operating company of the Recycling Lottery.
The Canadian experiments demonstrate that a recycling lottery could be effective in more places than Norway. However, it shouldn’t completely replace the guaranteed refund option, since some people depend on it for income.
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How lottery-style bottle returns could transform recycling
Photo, posted July 9, 2011, courtesy of Mr.TinMD via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio
