The psychology behind our recycling habits and 7-Eleven have teamed up to help you recycle your coffee cup and rescue it from landfill.

Australians tend to think recycling is pretty important, and every year we diligently wheel millions of tonnes of waste out to the kerb in our bright yellow-lidded bins.


ut there's always room to improve. A report published by Planet Ark in 2016 suggested that although nine out of 10 Australians think recycling their household waste is a good thing to do, 10 per cent of our population either doesn't care or can't be bothered.

Considering the average person generates about two tonnes of waste each year, it adds up to quite a lot of landfill. So how do we convince the remaining 2.4 million people to get on board?

Dr Remi Trudel, an associate professor in marketing at Boston University in the US, is currently working on a theory to explain what drives people to make the decision to recycle or not.

"I really think the best way to get people to change is to understand their behaviour and then design things so they change without even knowing it. You have to nudge people into doing it rather than forcing them to do it," he says.

People are remarkably fickle

Dr Trudel’s research suggests that when an object loses its original shape — for example, if a water bottle is crumpled or a piece of paper is torn — we’re less likely to recycle it. However, if the crushed packaging shows a brand we like, we're more likely to make the effort.

"We found that the more a product leaves its prototypical form, the less useful it's perceived to be. People make the connection in their head unconsciously that uselessness is related to trash. It’s been wired into our heads since we were young, and so we act on it," he explains.

Data shows we're more likely to recycle items bearing brands we like, and less likely to recycle items with brands we don't.

Dr Remi Trudel, Associate professor in marketing at Boston University

"Consumers buy things to signal who they are, and signal things about themselves," he says.

"With everyday products, like Coca Cola, I know people who drink that instead of Pepsi, form an association to the brand that becomes tied to themselves. Once that happens, they're far less likely to throw it in the trash. When strong brands are tied to our identities, we're far more likely to recycle."

Mood is also surprisingly significant. For example, we're more likely to recycle on sunny days, but if our favourite footy team loses, we’ll probably throw our water bottles away in disgust.

Guilt is both a blessing and a curse

"People feel guilty when they over-consume or trash things they shouldn't, but the level of guilt has to be higher than the degree of pride you get from recycling. You get good emotions from recycling, but it's often not enough to overcome laziness," he says.

While guilt can be a powerful motivator in
getting people to wheel out their bins, a
side-effect is that it can lead to people
being overzealous, and diligently sending
off the wrong types of objects.

According to Dr Trevor Thornton, a
lecturer in waste management from
Deakin University in Melbourne, it also
means a huge amount of household
material being redirected to landfill.

"You can have a bin full of what you think
are recyclables, but if some of it is in
plastic bags or some of it is contaminated,
it all goes to landfill," he tells

"Probably one of the most common mistakes is putting recycling in plastic bags. When it goes to a recycling facility, there’s generally a combination of hand sorting and mechanical sorting, and generally they’re so busy they don't have time to open all the plastic bags. It all just gets put straight into the rubbish stream, even though the householder thinks they’re doing the right thing."

The trouble with plastic bags is that because they're so light, they end up finding their way into the paperstream at most recycling plants. Once it’s in the pulper, plastic bags can ruin the whole lot.

So how do we make people care

There are two parts to this problem. First, how do we convince the remaining 10 per cent of the population to get their act into gear? Second, how do we help the well-meaning 90 per cent to make better choices?

Dr Trudel thinks better packaging will make a huge difference in terms of getting people on board.

"I think you can design packages that increase recycling behaviour. Big companies and manufacturers need to understand the impact it has," he says.

"If we start changing things to make recycling more automatic, I think we'll be in good shape. A lot of people do the right thing, and understanding human behaviour will help move the needle for the rest." Meanwhile, Dr Thornton suggests there's two ways we could improve household recycling rates.

"First, we could just have a bin and we put everything into it and it goes to a facility where it's sorted completely, but that’s a long-term sort of process. Or second, I think an ideal system would be that each household has a little compost bin, a small recycling bin and a small waste bin," he says.

The other key is to look for opportunities where we can start closing the loop by reusing things we already have or buying things made from recycled products — both as households and as a society.

FIND OUT how many cups of coffee you could be recycling EVEry year

How many cups of coffee do you drink every day?

How many days per week do you drink coffee?

How many weeks per year do you drink coffee?


Over one billion cups end up in landfill each year because they are not recycled. That’s why 7-Eleven has joined forces with Simply Cups to establish cup recycling in Australia. Save your cups by placing them in a Simply Cups bin at any participating 7-Eleven #cuprescue.