Photo by Anera
Proper household waste sorting, when practiced at scale, delivers significant sustainability benefits. This is especially true for the separation of organic waste, which generates substantial methane emissions if left to co-mingle with other waste streams. Yet global compliance with sorting programs remains low, particularly in the Global South. To address this challenge, we evaluate an at-source sorting program developed through a co-production partnership between a Lebanese municipal government, a social enterprise, and citizens. The program monitors the quality of household sorting while boosting knowledge of how to sort through personalized feedback messages. Sorting quality improved by 0.24 stars out of 5 after two months, and by 2.4 stars among households that opted to remain in the program after a year. These gains were driven by improved separation of organic waste. Households assigned to the program were also three times more likely to engage in broader sustainability efforts, like entering a ‘green’ raffle. However, results faded after the program’s end, and treated households were less likely to volunteer for future environmental initiatives.
Testing theories of civic engagement and co-production in a Global South setting, we argue that a combination of monitoring and knowledge can improve the quality of at-source waste sorting. Our experimental results are driven by positive effects on the sorting of organic waste—the most critical waste stream for mitigating methane emissions. Moreover, once mechanisms of civic engagement are activated, we find that participation in other low-cost environmental initiatives becomes more feasible. At the same time, our results point to two potential drawbacks: civic fatigue and moral self-licensing, whereby engagement in one demanding green behavior (like waste sorting) may reduce motivation to participate in others. These findings suggest that policymakers should focus citizens’ limited cognitive and behavioral bandwidth on high-priority environmental actions. Our study contributes evidence that citizens in these more challenging, non-WEIRD settings can be mobilized to sort waste at source through co-production strategies with minimal investments in infrastructure—even in the absence of financial incentives, punitive enforcement, or strong central state institutions. With Salma Mousa and Trevor Incierti.
Funded by: Hicham Alaoui Foundation, Award Amount: 13,500 USD.
Related Papers:
Mousa, Salma, Kristen Kao, and Trevor Incerti. Under Review. “Boosting Civic Behaviors: Experimental Evidence from a Lebanese Recycling Program.” Working paper available upon request.
Related Presentations:
Kao, K. (2023). “Encouraging Citizens to Take Action for the Climate: RCT Evidence from Lebanon,” Paper by Salma Mousa, Trevor Incerti, and Kristen Kao, Presenter, Design: Conjoint, Field Experiments, and Beyond, American Political Science Association Annual Meeting, August 31 – September 3.
Yale University (2022) and UCLA (2023) Comparative Politics Workshops
