Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Sharlet Rafacz, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Kate Martini, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Susan Schneider, Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Cynthia Pietras, Ph.D.

Keywords

Humor, informational, loss-frame, recycling, signage

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), within Michigan alone, the municipal solid waste that has been collected in landfills contains approximately 31.5 million dollars in mixed paper and 18.8 million dollars in plastics (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2016). One important aspect of recycling awareness is the impact that recycling has on the world. Whereas products like paper and plastic are accepted in recycling programs, any lined paper products (e.g., soda cups and to-go hot cups) are typically not accepted and therefore go to a landfill. Recent technology that can separate the lining from the paper, however, enables paper-lined products to be recycled. With this change being so new, people may not be aware of their ability to now recycle this product. As such, it is important that the design of the recycling bin and any messaging placed near the bin optimizes the recycling of these lined cups. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of bin design, directional signage, and motivational messaging on the number of lined cups being recycled at two cafes on the Western Michigan University campus. One of the motivational messages was humor-based, and the other was a loss-frame message, the latter of which is well-supported in the literature. The specialized bins and different messages were introduced using an ABABCDBCD reversal design to experimentally evaluate the efficacy of these interventions. A secondary café was also utilized to replicate the most effective messaging component from the primary café. This was done using an ADAD design. Results indicated that multifunctional bins with directional signage resulted in approximately one-third of cups being recycled, with increases to nearly one-half of cups with the addition of motivational messaging. Further research is needed to confirm these results across more settings, but the data indicate that the multi-functional stations with directional and motivational messaging may substantially decrease the number of cups ending up in landfills.

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