Improving Waste Sorting Behavior in Communal Spaces Through Design Intervention

This study investigates whether affordance-driven bin design can improve waste sorting behavior in low-engagement communal spaces. Grounded in the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Hartson’s User Action Framework, we derived three intervention types (Attention, Instantly Recognizable, and Goal Visualization) and evaluated them in a field study on the third floor of Building 49, S University. Disposal cases report observational outcomes. Under the Attention intervention, 17 disposal cases were recorded, and one case was sorted correctly. After applying unified iconography and color connectivity in the Instantly Recognizable stage, 279 disposal cases were recorded: 111 of 163 recyclable cases were sorted correctly (68%). Disposable cup sorting improved from 0 of 2 cup cases in Attention to 22 of 39 cup cases in Instantly Recognizable. Constraint and alternative interventions produced further gains: constraint designs increased sorting to approximately 82 percent for observed recyclable cases under that condition, and a dedicated liquid-only bin yielded an overall success rate of 78 percent and a 97 percent success rate for disposable cups (31 of 32). The results indicate that attention-capturing cues must be paired with clear, low-effort informational affordances, and that alternatives or constraints are effective for changing entrenched habits. The study is exploratory and limited to a single site. Future work should replicate the model across other sites and independently test the induction element.