Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Promoting the use of reusable coffee cups through environmental messaging, the provision of alternatives and financial incentives

Poortinga, Wouter ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6926-8545 and Whitaker, Louise 2018. Promoting the use of reusable coffee cups through environmental messaging, the provision of alternatives and financial incentives. Sustainability 10 (3) , 873. 10.3390/su10030873

[thumbnail of sustainability-10-00873.pdf]
Preview
PDF - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (538kB) | Preview

Abstract

It is estimated that 2.5–10 bn disposable coffee cups are used every year in the U.K. Most of these cups end up in landfill or as litter, as the majority of poly-coated paper cups are not recyclable or not recycled. Here, we report on a field experiment that was conducted at twelve university and business sites to examine whether the use of reusable cups can be promoted through easily implementable measures. The study found that both environmental messaging and the provision of alternatives increased the use of reusable cups. While a charge on disposable cups increased their use as well, a discount on reusable cups did not. The effects for the individual measures were modest, but additive, meaning that the greatest behavioural change was achieved with a combination of measures. None of the measures negatively impacted the total number of hot drink sales. One university continued with the charge after the experiment had finished and distributed more reusable cups for free among their students. This boosted the use of reusable cups up to 33.7% across three cafés. This shows that a charge in combination with the provision of alternatives can increase the use of reusable cups substantially in the long term

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Architecture
Psychology
Publisher: MDPI
ISSN: 2071-1050
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 19 March 2018
Date of Acceptance: 16 March 2018
Last Modified: 02 May 2023 12:04
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/109996

Citation Data

Cited 35 times in Scopus. View in Scopus. Powered By Scopus® Data

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics