Hur påverkas nedskräpningsbeteende? Positiva och negativa budskap mot fimpnedskräpning

Sammanfattning: Various research and initiatives are being done to decrease the amount of litter in our environment. The most common type of litter found in our parks, cities and on our beaches is plastic, where cigarette butts are one of the most common subcategories. To be able to take effective measures against such a hazardous problem as this, one must look to the source of it – in this case human littering behaviour. A starting point for this study was that measures must be tested to know just how effective they are on human behaviour. After reviewing previous research on the subject, a randomized experimental method was designed through which the effectiveness of written behavioural prompts that urged people not to litter their cigarette butts was investigated. This was done by designing one type of sign with a positively worded prompt and one type with a negatively worded prompt and testing their impact on the deposition of cigarette butts at several bus stops in Lund city. The experiment showed a statistically significant negative effect from prompting on the amount of cigarette litter. The evaluative tone of the prompts showed to be of somewhat importance, with a slightly stronger effect by the negatively worded prompt, but the result was not statistically significant. Finally, the deposition of cigarette butts had a subtle correlation with the overall degree of litter at the bus stops, which supports the idea that by acknowledging littering behaviour in the surroundings it spreads and causes more littering. A conclusion can be drawn that randomised experiments such as the one carried out in this thesis can provide important evidence on what works in combating littering.