Scottish students call for more recycling points on university campuses

A series of interventions carried out at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow has highlighted key factors that could significantly improve recycling on the move in Scotland.

Led by the environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful, the No Lectures: Sort It, Recycle It campaign – funded by Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) – ran over an eight-week period. The initiative tested various interventions to encourage students to reflect on their recycling and waste disposal choices and to understand their motivations for recycling.

As part of the campaign, Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) were installed and customized promotional materials were displayed on banners, bollards and bus shelters. In collaboration with the non-profit organization Every Can Counts, an art installation made of cans was also created.

Behavioral data was collected from more than 300 students through surveys and questionnaires before and during the campaign.

To obtain more detailed information, focus groups were also conducted to analyze student responses, including promotional materials and campaign messages, focusing on what messages were effective and what would encourage them to reconsider their actions.

The results of these focus groups revealed that many students were unsure about how to recycle certain items, such as cans, aerosols, batteries, and pizza packaging. Fifty-seven percent of students cited the lack of separate bins as an obstacle to recycling while away from home, and 40% indicated that the messages on the bins are confusing, making it difficult to know where to recycle.

With the campaign now concluded, Keep Scotland Beautiful shared its key findings, highlighting students’ motivations for recycling. Half of respondents mentioned that an incentive would encourage them to recycle more, while 65% indicated that more recycling points would increase recycling on the move.

Other motivating factors included increased awareness of what happens to recycling once it leaves the site, the issuance of fines to those who do not recycle, and better communication about the environmental consequences of not recycling.