Julia Chiado, Lex Savanh, Joy Shang & Brooke Stroosma

ENVIR 250

Its All In the Signs: The Effect of Signage Detail on Composting Accuracy

Abstract

Like other large state universities, the University of Washington faces the challenge of educating
students on correct waste sorting behaviors. Signage plays a large role in this, especially when
one considers how many facilities and waste disposal sites there are on campus. To assess the
effectiveness of different sign types on composting behaviors, observations of composting
accuracy rates were collected from five waste disposal sites on campus. Four types of signs
were observed, including stickers, posters, signs with physical objects, and video installations
(ordered from the least amount of detail to highest). Signs with physical items had the highest
accuracy rate of 81% for compost items put in compost, while bins with stickers had the lowest
accuracy rate at 53%. Video installations were expected to yield the highest accuracy rate due
to their high level of detail, but fell below posters with physical items and reached accuracy rate
of 68%.

Introduction

With approximately 50,000 students enrolled at the University of Washingtons Seattle campus,
it is the largest college in the state of Washington (Biggest). As with all facilities housing a
significant number of people, managing waste is a crucial factor in ensuring the aesthetic quality
and functional capabilities of the space. Furthermore, it has become increasingly important to
handle these large quantities of waste responsibly as anthropogenic climate change, pollution,
and land use have become more of a concern throughout the world. Indeed, we are witnessing
a global trend to introduce additional bins for sorting waste, such as for recycling and compost,
including at the University of Washington. By doing so, these facilities hope to reduce the
amount of material being added to landfills and instead to repurpose it for other uses, such as
being made into plastic pellets or fertilizer.

That being said, often times it is up to users to sort their waste into the correct bins. This means
that the amount of recyclable and compostable materials that actually can be repurposed is
entirely reliant on how accurately users dispose their waste. As user behavior has such a direct
impact on how beneficial these additional bins actually are, several studies have been
conducted on the accuracy of waste sorting in different conditions. For instance, researchers
studied the waste disposal behavior of 180 employees at the Technical University of Denmark.
The researchers found that 67% of the waste produced was food waste, meaning that more
than half of the waste being produced was compostable (Essonanawe et al, 2015). However, of
the residual waste bin, 24% was missorted food waste, indicating that a significant number of
users either didnt care or didnt know how to correctly sort their waste. Similarly, a study
conducted in two Swedish apartment buildings found that 42% of material in the mixed waste
bin was biodegradable (Ordonez et al, 2015). Despite this less than ideal accuracy rate, surveys
filled out by residents of the apartment indicated that they considered waste sorting important
and that it was good for the environment.

The results from these studies indicate that despite the well meaning intentions of users, there
is pattern that a high percentage of compostable waste is being sorted into non-compost waste
bins. As such, we were interested in studying what facility managers could do in order to
encourage more accurate composting on the part of users. In particular, we decided to focus on
the different types of signs accompanying waste bins at the University of Washington. As signs
are the most apparent - if not the only - evidence of waste education on campus, it was the most
logical tool to study. We decided to focus our research on compost in particular since students
are more likely to be unfamiliar with it before attending the university, as opposed to recycling
which is fairly common. In addition, from our preliminary observations we noticed that students
dispose of more compostable items than recyclable items and studying compost would allow us
to gather more data, especially given our limited time frame.

For our study we decided to compare whether the different types of signs on campus were
correlated with different composting accuracy rates. Indeed, the University of Washington has
multiple types of signage, ranging from a mere text label to interactive displays. The four types
of signs we decided to study are the following, ranging from the lowest level of detail to the
highest level of detail: stickers, posters, physical items, and video. The stickers were small
labels that would be stuck on the top of bins. The posters were the size of a typical sheet of
printer paper and had pictures of at least 4 items on them. The physical items had a collection of
real items in a see-through bin. Finally, video had an interactive screen that would tell students
where they should dispose of the exact item they were holding.

Example of stickers signage. Example of posters signage.

 Example of physical items signage. Example of video signage.

We hypothesized that the signage types with the highest level of detail would correspond with
the highest accuracy rate. This is because we assumed that the more information students were
given on where to dispose of their items, the more likely they were to compost correctly. As
such, we predicted that the video signage type would have the highest accuracy rate, physical
items would be less accurate than video, posters would be less accurate than physical items,
and stickers would be the least accurate.

Predicted results of the hypothesis is supported: Predicted results of hypothesis is not supported:

Methods

Variables
For this experiment the controlled variable among the different types of signage was the sticker
group. This signage was chosen for the control group because it had the least amount of detail
among the different comparison groups. Every other group substantially increased in detail of
signage based off the benchmark group (control). While there were waste bins with only a
written label on them, these were in locations that differed greatly from our other observation
sites so we deemed that we could not use them as an accurate comparison.

Design
The experiment was set up for two different locations on University of Washingtons campus for
sampling of each signage type. The locations were picked for their usage and activity level. All
locations include, Suzzallo Caf, By George Caf, HUB Dining Area, Local Point, and Odegaard
Library. These locations are all areas where students go to study and eat. They are all large
areas that typically have high traffic during the weekdays.

The samples were observed between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm on weekdays. This time range was
chosen because it is the typical time period for lunch. Observations were taken over a one hour
span. There are 1 to 2 passing periods that happen during each hour, allowing for periods of
heavy traffic and yielding more observations.

Comparison Groups/Sites
Our four comparison groups included:
Stickers: Suzzallo Cafe, By George Cafe (control group)
Posters: Suzzallo Cafe, By George Cafe
Physical items: HUB Dining Area, By George Cafe
Video: Local Point, Odegaard

Sampling Procedures and Data Collection

Continuous behavioral sampling for one hour was used for each observation. Four observations
were taken at each site for the four different comparison groups. In order to observe the
compost disposal behavior of UW students composting accuracy, the three following behaviors
were recorded: compost item put in compost bin, compost item put in non-compost bin, and
non-compost item put in compost bin. The recordings were done on a data chart, with tally
marks for each different behavior with we then compiled into a spreadsheet.

Results

Signage Compost item put in Compost item put in Non-compost item put
type compost non-compost in compost
Stickers 53% 45% 2%
Posters 61% 32% 7%
Physical
items 81% 17% 2%
Video 68% 31% 1%
Compost are items that are biodegradable and food waste. Items are biodegradable when they
are made with organic fibers or other biodegradable materials. Most, if not, all containers and
packaging bought through HFS dining halls and cafes are compostable, including utensils.

Non-Compost were items that were either meant to be put into the recycle or landfill. These
items are usually plastics, metals, and paper. An example of compost being put in the compost
is if we saw a brown compostable container containing leftover food put into the compost bins.

Compost items put in non-compost is when we observed compostables put into the recycling or
landfill bin. An example of non-compost being put into the compost bins is when we observed
plastic bottles or aluminium cans disposed into the compost bins.
The disposal rate was calculated by dividing the number of items in each category by the total
number of items of that signage type.

Data
From the data we collected, we observed that stickers had the lowest disposal rates of compost
items being put into the compost bins at 53% . This resulted in highest disposal rate of compost
being put into non-compost at 45%. Physical item signage had the highest disposal rates of
compost being put into compost at 81% and the lowest disposal rate of compost items put into
non-compost at 17%. Video and Poster signage had little variation but still showed a trend of
increased disposal rates for compost in compost containers and decreased disposal rates of
compost in non-compost.
Discussion

After considering the results of our observation analysis, we can conclude that our hypothesis --
that composting accuracy would increase with increased level of detail in signs -- was mostly
correct. From our results, we found that as detail of signage increased, the percentage of
compost items put in the compost bin increased and the percentage of compost put in the
non-compost bins decreased. This is true for all the types of signage, except for the video
displays, which had a higher level of detail, yet its accuracy rate was lower than that of physical
item signage. This result was intriguing to us, and we observed some interesting behaviors of
students interacting with the video signage. For example, at Odegaard, we found that a majority
of students would avoid the bins below the video display altogether and opt for a different set of
bins just a few feet away. Additionally, those that approached the video display werent throwing
anything away at all -- they were simply interested in the projection and wanted to learn more.
There were some other interesting qualitative observations made of individuals reactions as
they approached the bins with simple posters above them. In most cases, students would stand
over the bins for a few seconds trying to decide which was the most appropriate, then get
flustered and throw everything into the landfill/trash bin. It was rare that a student would take the
time to fully read the posters and then make an accurate choice -- if the student threw their
compost item in the compost bin, it seemed like they knew what they were doing without the
signs.

If we were to conduct this study again, we would attempt to mitigate variability within the
different composting environments. For example, we conducted observations at five different
locations, some of which were dining halls, others which were libraries or different sized eating
areas. This variability may have affected our results and the composting behaviors of students.
In the future, we would consider using the same location and instead changing the type of
signage above the same set of bins in order to determine behavioral changes.

Waste diversion and proper sorting are extremely important, especially to an institution such as
the University of Washington. Beyond the benefits of simply reducing waste, accurate disposal
of waste also saves money: the UW saved more than $1.7 million by recycling, composting and
reuse in 2016 (UW Recycling). We believe that the results of our study could be useful to UW
Recycling as they look at what types of signage are the most effective -- perhaps efforts could
be made to put up more signs with physical items and video installations could be re-assessed.
The technology and educational value of the video is fantastic, but perhaps it isnt being utilized
in the most efficient way. Future research delving into the effectiveness of different kinds video
installations would be interesting and beneficial. This research could build off of the study done
in Shanghai which identified personal interaction strategies as being the most effective for
promoting accurate waste disposal (Dai, Y.C., et al, 2016). Perhaps the video installations could
become more interactive, or serve more as an educational tool than a sign.
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