Improving Waste Separation in Public Spaces – A Field Study from Austrian Cities

Abstract

Improving waste separation is fundamental to promoting a more sustainable and circular economy. While waste separation in private households is already widely established, it is often neglected in public spaces such as parks or public squares despite high recovery potential (e.g. of single-use packaging from to-go consumption). Hence, particularly with respect to the public sphere, there is a lack of specific knowledge about separation behaviour and separation performance. In order to fill this knowledge gap, field trials were designed and carried out in an interdisciplinary collaboration effort (cooperation of industrial design, social sciences, waste management) to investigate public separation behaviour and resource potential. Additionally, a novel improvement measure was tested in the form of a “recyclables guidance system”. The test setups were implemented at four public test locations in two Austrian cities. The results showed that by installing a centralized waste separation station, about 17% of public waste was collected separately and 20% of recyclables were correctly disposed of in the test areas. The implementation of a guidance system resulted in a slight overall improvement in separation performance (total recyclables collection rate +4.6%) and thus shows potential as a cost-effective measure for future applications. The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of waste separation behaviour and have practical implications for promoting more sustainable waste management practices in public spaces.