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Understanding and Influencing Cognitive and Practical Motivators and Barriers Underlying Reusable Cup Usage

University of British Columbia. AMS Sustainability; University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning

Introduction No study to date has fully captured the factors that underlie the user experience of reusable cups. Hence, given the inefficacy of past initiatives, we conducted two studies: Study 1 endeavours to identify the motivators and barriers to using reusable cups, and Study 2 tests the effectiveness of three possible interventions. Research Question What are the motivators and barriers to using reusable cups? Methods Study 1 asked 111 participants why they used or didn’t use reusable cups, with pre-identified reasons in multiple-choice format and an open-ended text entry option for entering reasons that were not covered in the multiple choices. Study 2 tested three variations of a cup-share program that address barriers and motivators from Study 1. Results In study 1, we found that the most reported benefits were reducing environmental impacts and avoiding paying $0.25 single-use cup fees, while forgetfulness and not wanting to carry around a reusable cup were the most reported barriers. In study 2, data from 257 participants showed no significant increase in program support, likeliness to use the program, and likeliness to return cups—although high support was seen across all the programs. Recommendations Our research suggests that UBC should consider taking steps beyond raising awareness of disposable cup waste and the positive effects of using personal mugs. UBC should conduct a pilot study with increased access to pick-up and drop-off sites. When devising the pilot study, UBC should consider increasing transparency about the cleaning process and avoiding terms such as “shared” that carry connotations of contamination. We also recommend maintaining a deposit system for reusable cups to encourage individuals to return the cups. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Report

eng

2024-07-30

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88752

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/