An Overview Of Our Solution
Levels of stress in the country are high. Climate change is not often a contributor. Recycling rates are too low; there are geographical gaps that pull this average down. A subset of the population is being missed due to lack of efforts in making pro-environmental behavior feasible and a priority. Implementing recycling initiatives in low socioeconomic status communities could be done by increasing accessibility and incentives. This initiative involves increasing accessibility to recycling in community spaces and individual households by providing receptacles tailored to the population. It also includes increasing incentives by providing electronic coupons for high-needs items. This initiative would link community resources with recycling. I propose an initial pilot study, followed by implementation in all cities below the national poverty level.
- Population Impacted: 97,386 people (population of Flint, MI)
- Continent: North America
Last name
Organization type
Context Analysis
There are high rates of stress in America. Factors that impact stress are: financial/work, health, social, crime, and more recently political [1]. Climate change does not make this list. People with good intentions are kept from pro-social behaviors to attend to their basic needs. Low-SES communities do not argue the perils of climate change, but they don’t have the resources to devote to reduction efforts. Americans generate millions of tons of trash. Recycling rates are too low, and there are geographical gaps. More affluent cities, with the means to promote recycling behavior, see it. Large, well-marked receptacles with environmental information on them do well in cities where there are highly utilized public places and public that aren’t distracted by unfulfilled basic needs. Low-SES communities lack safe spaces and must prioritize issues of food, shelter, and safety. We are missing a subset of the population by not making pro-environmental behavior feasible and a priority.
Describe the technical solution you wanted the target audience to adopt
Implement recycling initiatives in low socioeconomic status communities through accessibility and incentives.
Type of intervention
Describe your behavioral intervention
Community spaces would have large, well-marked recycling receptacles. These would be marked with basic educational content, appropriate to literacy rates. Households would be issued a recycling bin. Individuals would have to Register their bin online. All bins would be linked to an address and cell phone number or email. Each Community would be rewarded for amount of recycling collected per month. Waste Removal/Recycling services will weigh trucks each trash day and record weights. Weights would be tallied and reported online. Statistics each Community’s recycling would promote healthy competition. Rewards for Communities with the highest rates/weights of recycling would include Coupons/Vouchers for food and clothing, discounts on utilities (electric, gas, water), free transportation services, etc. There are programs already in place in most communities that provide similar services. This initiative would link those resources with the recycling services. Households would receive incentives for number of times they use their bins. Each time a household reached 10 uses, they would be sent an electronic coupon via text/email
As needed, please explain the type of intervention in more detail
See above.
Describe your implementation
Communities will be delineated by voting districts. This initiative would entail the creation of a website to log and track recycling behaviors by community. The creation of a tracking system for individual households in each community would be required to determine individual incentives. This initiative proposes to implement initially in the city of Flint, Michigan. This is a population with unparalleled crime, poverty, and crises (i.e., Flint Water Crisis). This is also a population with dedicated assistance services and community members who are dynamic, creative, and receptive to ideas that promote the wellbeing of all.
External connections
This initiative would require the cooperation of local Waste Management/Recycling companies, as well as community-based resource centers such as grocery stores, retailers, public transportation and/or programs such as Rides for Wellness and YourRide.
Who adopted the desired behaviors and to what degree?
This initiative has not been implemented yet; however, the following results are proposed:Community results would include total weight of recycling per Community (voting district) per month. Data would be presented via the new website.
Individual results would be tracked and communicated with individual households to provide updates on earned incentives.
A review of progress would be beneficial at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months to identify barriers, look for patterns in behavior change, and solicit feedback from key stakeholders.
How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?
Pending implementation and impact.
What were some of the resulting co-benefits?
Pending implementation and co-benefits. Proposed benefits include increased recycling, improved social needs met in high-need populations, green (paperless) processes, promotion of voting districts potentially impacting voter turn out in traditionally diverse and underrepresented populations.
Sustainability
Funds would be necessary to provide communities and households with recycling receptacles. Reliance on community partners would be necessary for participation in coupon/voucher incentives. Any funds received from this entry would be utilized to cover these start-up costs.
Return on investment
Pending implementation.
How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?
The implementation challenges faced in Flint, Michigan, would likely be ones to expect from other low SES, urban settings, and would therefore provide some preliminary information on how to implement in cities across the country. The next goal would be to implement in at least one low SES city per state; with the ultimate goal of full implementation in all cities with poverty levels below the national average.
Partnering with the Environmental Protection Agency on their data collection and tracking would be highly valuable to determine if this initiative produced a statistically significant change in amount of waste versus recycling produced in the country.