10.2190/5P46-8H2N-41JR-C2EJ 5P468H2N41JRC2EJ 5 Waste Receptacle Designs as Interventions for Litter Control 145 160 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 5P468H2N41JRC2EJ.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=5P468H2N41JRC2EJ 2 E. Scott Geller William S. Brasted Millard F. Mann Department of Psychology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University <p>Two experiments in an indoor shopping mall examined relationships between trash-receptacle design and litter-disposal behaviors. For the first study, the trash deposited in six trash receptacles was weighed three times a week for forty-one weeks. For the intervention two of the standard shopping-mall receptacles were replaced with two obtrusive receptacles that were shaped like birds and conveyed an antilitter prompt. The ABABA design showed the bird cans to attract substantially more litter than the unobtrusive receptacles (e.g., an overall weekly average of 15.05 lbs. per bird can vs. 9.34 lbs. per regular can). Litter counts showed markedly less litter in the vicinity of the bird receptacles.</p><p>For the second experiment the litter items in three ash trays were systematically dichotomized (and counted) as appropriate or inappropriate disposals on forty-eight consecutive days. A direct relationship between ash tray-trash can proximity and the frequency of appropriate ash-tray disposals was consistently found. For example, daily averages of 22.19 appropriate and 2.64 inappropriate disposals were obtained with a special receptacle containing separate areas for ash-tray and trash-can litter; whereas these means were 3.17 appropriate versus 16.33 inappropriate disposals for an ash tray that was located more than 100 ft. from a trash can.</p> P. 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Joyner, The Use of Stimulus Control Over Littering in a Natural Setting, paper presented at the meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, New Orleans, 1976. E. S. Geller, M. Mann and W. Brasted, Trash Can Design: A Determinant of Litter-Related Behavior, Symposium presentation at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, 1977. J. S. Brehm, <i>A Theory of Psychological Reactance</i>, Academic Press, New York, 1966. J. W. Reich and J. L. Robertson, Reactance and Norm Appeal in Antilittering Messages, unpublished manuscript, Arizona State University, 1976. (Available from John W. Reich, Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85281.) M. Mann, W. Brasted, and E. S. Geller, Limiting Conditions of Facilitating Litter Control, paper presented at the meeting of the Virginia Academy of Sciences, Petersburg, 1977.