Make Waste Fun Again! A Gamification Approach to Recycling

There is a recognised need to improve recycling rates. One current issue is that knowledge and incentives to recycle are sometimes lacking. Mechanisms of gamification can be used to motivate and engage people to recycle, but this has not been thoroughly explored to date. To address this issue, four focus groups were conducted to bridge the gap between gamification and recycling behaviour. Results from these focus groups showed that functional solutions are preferred and that gamification can preferably be implemented digitally to bridge the gap between behaviour and knowledge. Feedback, awards, achievements, collaborative and competitive elements, as well as supplementary functions are gamified mechanisms that can be used for this purpose. This study contributes to the understanding and implementation of gamification for use in waste management and to influence positive recycling behaviour.

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