www.recoi lpro ject .eu

D3.2 - Best methods guiding principles based on survey and workshop data

F A C T O R S O C I A L O c t o b e r 2 0 1 3

NAME OF THE DOCUMENT 2 WWW.RECOILPROJECT.EU

PROMOTION OF USED COOKING OIL RECYCLING

FOR SUSTAINABLE BIODIESEL PRODUCTION (RecOil)

RecOil aims to increase sustainable biodiesel production and its local market intake by enhancing household used

cooking oil collection and transformation. It assesses the “UCO to biodiesel” chain best practices, through a household

survey, the industry expertise, the local authorities’ cooperation, and a review of the legal and market barriers and

opportunities. The information gathered will integrate an online decision-making guide: a tool to assist stakeholders in

developing an UCO-to-biodiesel supply chain adjusted to local specifications. Pilot projects in promotion, collection,

transformation and commercialization of UCO/biodiesel will be carried out according to the best practices identified.

These projects will be living labs helping to validate the feasibility of these good practices but also showcasing and

spreading the project’s results in a way that the achievements can be used to promote similar initiatives in other

regions and by other entities. Promotional campaigns and communication tasks will be developed to guarantee

stakeholders’ involvement and to increase public interest about UCO recycling, motivating a behavioral change among

citizens.

RecOil is supported by the European Commission within the frame of the Intelligent Energy for Europe Programme.

Nº CONTRACT IEE/11/091/SI2.616369

DELIVERABLE WP3 –D3.2

WP Leader

AUTHOR(s)

Factor Social, Consultoria em Psicossociologia e Ambiente, Lda.

Dalila Antunes, Cláudia Rodrigues

DISSEMINATION LEVEL Public

STATUS

DATE

Version 1

20/10/2013

The sole responsibility for the content of this [webpage, publication etc.] lies with the authors. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the European Union. Neither the EACI nor the European Commission are

responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction ...........................................................................................................................5

2. The Container ........................................................................................................................5

3. Communication Messages ......................................................................................................7

3.1 Information about the UCO Collection System ..........................................................................8

3.2 Information about the UCO Collection Benefits ..................................................................... 10

4. Communication Media ......................................................................................................... 12

4.1 Awareness Campaigns (procedures and benefits) ................................................................... 12

4.2 Information on location of containers .................................................................................... 13

4.3 Information materials/tools ................................................................................................... 14

5. Communication Timeline ...................................................................................................... 15

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1. Introduction

WP3 Conclusions - Tips for Pilot Project

This document aims to present main conclusions from Work Package 3 in a way they can be

used to support the definition of Pilot Projects’ intervention and communication strategies.

Thus it will provide guiding principles which can be used to guide the implementation of the

best collection method chosen and its promotion and communication for the general public

and for the pilot projects development. These are aimed to strengthen the facilitative

factors, weaken the behavioural barriers and effectively involve the families in the project

development. These principles will be explained and motivated with references to the

surveys, experts' feedback and experiences collected in WP2, to ensure that they are

presented in a credible and convincing way.

In order to provide usefull support to pilot projects, the tips for intervention will be divided

into the following topics:

• THE CONTAINER

• COMMUNICATION MESSAGES

• COMMUNICATION MEDIA

• COMMUNICATION TIMELINE

2. The Container

Main tips for container are the following:

• Facilities on which you throw a container with the oil inside is prefered to those on

which you need pouring the oil into.

This cue comes from workshops. It was referred by participants they would feel confident on

asking their child to go and throw a plastic bottle into the container but not to open the oil

bottle and pour the oil into the container as if children are too young they would make it a

mess. Even for an adult it would increase the chances of getting himself/herself dirty.

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Moreover, containers where the oil is poured are also more often reported as dirty, and

making recycling not attractive to.

• In any case, if you go for the latter option make sure you provide a separate content

for recicling the containners near to the oil recycling facility.

Looking for literature on recycling it is understood people are more prone to recycle if they

can fit it into other activities (instead going out for recycling do it at the same time you’re

throwing out your garbage, or going shopping, or going to work), and making it effortless. In

order to do this with a pouring container you still end up with the oil bottle in your hand,

and need to get rid of it. That is why we propose you to have a separate container for bottles

nearby.

• Preferably place your container near other waste disposal/recycling facilities

This tip is related with the previous ones. The goal is to connect oil recycling with other

recycling activities on people minds; especially if the municipality already shows a high rate

of recycling. The survey showed that when asking people about motives and barriers to

recycling UCO and other materials, answers were quite similar. So if we use similar,

integrated and common system for UCO and other recycling materials it would be more

accessible to people minds and easier to attach to already existing habits.

• Disposal facilities are preferred to be on public spaces

The survey results show people prefer to dispose the oil on public space, even to door-to-

door collection systems. Maybe because they already recycle other materials, and in this

way they also avoid systems that they need to agree a specific time for collecting oil (in case

of some pouring systems that promote door-to-door collection).

• Prefer busy places or places with high visibility for safety and maintenance reasons

Both these tips are related to previous ones, and were also raised up at workshops, in the

sense it was referred that containers need to a) be seen by people, b) be included on existing

habits/routes and c) be at safe places (because people will not go to places that may be

perceived as not save, to prevent vandalism, and to promote fast action if incidents occur

such as fire).

• If you start a system with few containers, prefer places on neighbourhoods that have

families with children

Children have been pointed out as relevant for the system on two moments. On one hand it

was referred that households with children do more frequently fry food than households

without children, so it is expected to have more oil to dispose (or at least more often). On

another hand, children experience recycling awareness more often than adults on school

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programs and will make families more prone to recycling. So if you’ll start with few

containers neighbourhoods with children are probably best spots to be succeeded on oil

collection than neighbourhoods without children.

• Whatever the system, you need to keep disposal facilities well managed (enough

maintenance to keep it clean and bellow capacity limit, and solve any problem really

fast 24 h preferably)

This information came up during workshops. People refer they become annoyed when they

go to recycle and see things in a mess (dirty, overcapacity or if there is an impossibility to

deliver the recycling materials). They become frustrated. They feel a lack of control, they do

not identify with it and they feel disengaged. It is if they are doing their part but the

remaining actors, who asked them to engage on recycling, just don’t care. In this way,

negative feeling will have an impact on people lowering their will to keep recycling.

• Try to provide a Common Image for oil disposal facilities within the country (ex. use

of the same colour for the disposal facilities)

At several workshops in different countries came out that it would be easier if there was a

common image of the oil container, probably based also on previous recycling experiences

with other materials. In fact considering it psychologically it can be an advantage. Seeing the

same object many times increases its awareness and accessibility to people’s mind, thus it

will increase the frequency people will remember to recycle UCO.

• Provide information at the facility about WHAT to deliver (used cooking oil may be

mixed with butter or oils from cans food) and HOW to deliver; preferably using

images

On the first time someone uses the container, some questions may cross their minds: can I

throw a plastic bottle inside or should I pour the oil into it? Can I throw a glass bottle inside?

So information on what to put inside the container and how to dispose it will be important.

Images should be preferred considering small children or elderly people that cannot read.

This is a best practice used on other recycling systems and should also be considered on UCO

collection points.

3. Communication Messages

Communication Messages may be divided into communication about the system and

communication about benefits, both considering the literature review that informed survey

and workshop results.

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Survey showed people consider important to have access to both types of information, as

shown on the following picture taken from Survey report; as well as to know about

environmental benefits and UCO final destination.

3.1 Information about the UCO Collection System

• Information on system

• Inform people about location of the system (how it looks like) and its

surroundings (where it is placed, using references around it)

It is quite obvious that after keeping UCO people will need to dispose it on a container. But

in order to do that they have to know where the container is. If people are not aware of

where to dispose it they will not keep UCO. So it is important to inform people where the

disposal container is and how it looks like.

• Prefer images to words

• Prefer photos to maps

Both these tips come from literature. On one hand it is known that people are not willing to

spend time reading, and it is not attractive to them. On another hand a picture or diagram

takes less time to be apprehended and it is easier to recall on future situations.

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Moreover research also demonstrates that some people experience difficulties on reading

maps, but usually remind landmarks. Hence photographs of the surrounding space of the

UCO container or diagrams pinpointing landmarks as well-known stores or facilities should

be used to inform people about the UCO containers’ location.

• Information on procedures

• Emphasise how practical and easy it is to recycle oil

Survey results show people are more prone to recycle UCO if they think it is practical and

easy to do it. Hence messages should emphasise how easy and practical it is.

• Grant people they can put all the cooking oil on recycling container (even if

they used it too many times or if they used it to fry fish, or it has a lot of food

waste inside – it is still good enough)

The concept of oil quality for a cooker and for biodiesel producer is quite different, and at

their homes cookers are only aware of their own quality concept. So one may think the oil is

too used or too dirty for being recycled and is not useful anymore. Nonetheless as biodiesel

producers notice it is not probable that people in their homes use oil as much as restaurants.

And if restaurants’ UCO is good enough for biodiesel production also is home cooking UCO.

This information mainly come out on team discussions and should be emphasise so people

can make confident they can send all their UCO for recycling.

• How to keep it and reuse it

• leave it on the frying pan – can be used specially on Greece and

Portugal; reuse a glass container – all countries; reuse a plastic

container – Spain and Portugal;

• advise for containers between 1 and 2 litters (accordingly with use)

When talking about how easy and practical it is to recycle, it can be useful to provide some

insights on how to do it. Knowing how people that already recycle do it may be the best way

to induce others to recycle, so we selected the most common practices on keeping UCO.

Noticing that people can reuse UCO for cooking several times before throw it away may also

be an advantage.

• How to deliver it (should be really easy)

Focus on easy deliver should also be made salient to reduce stereotypes of dirtiness or

complexity (that were sometimes brought out during workshops). Show a well-dressed

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person throwing a UCO bottle into a container as keeping his/her own way can be a good

way to do it making people aware they can dispose UCO at any time.

3.2 Information about the UCO Collection Benefits

• Information on environmental benefits should focus on ‘please, do not throw it to

sewage’(you may joint efforts with water treatment companies on this):

• Prevent sewage contamination with oil

• Prevent water pollution and its costs

Most people say they recycle for environmental reasons and to prevent pollution (see

picture below extracted from survey results). Thereafter environmental reasons for recycling

shell be made explicit, and preferably relating to individual behaviour.

Survey results also show that people that do not recycle UCO mainly throw it on sewage (see

picture below, extracted from the survey report). Thereafter the negative impact of such

action should be focused while at the same time the alternative UCO recycling behavior is

provided.

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• Emphasise information about UCO uses

• Emphasise how oil will be used, by whom and the benefits of it (focus on

what is the benefit for the community – e.g. emphasise donation of

reprocessed oil to municipalities and its use for running municipalities’ buses)

• Do not lie, only mention what is real

Contrasting with negative impacts of throwing UCO into sewages, showing the value of UCO

as raw material for other products such as biodiesel or soap may be highlighted. It is

important for people to know exactly the destination of the UCO they provide so they can

identify themselves with it. Giving wrong information about UCO destination can become a

problem if people have identified themselves contributing to something that they later

discover is not happening. Such situation will make people stop UCO recycling and influence

others on a negative way.

• Be careful on providing benefits to people. If you pay them (with money or other

benefits you will need to keep it indefinitely, if you withdraw the benefit people will

stop recycling).

Providing benefits to recyclers was an issue that rise during workshops. Nonetheless the

research shows that on similar recycling situations, when reward is withdraw people feel

deception and stop recycling for long periods if not for ever. Thus systems should avoid

providing benefits in exchange of recycling. If you think on doing it try to make people aware

this benefit will only be available for a short period or for some of the recycling people (e.g.

the first 10 or the top 3 recyclers – if the system provides a way to control it).

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• If you advertise savings on water treatment you should either tell people what you

are doing with the money you are now saving, or decrease municipal taxes

Even though the system should not pay to people directly, people seem to be more prone to

change behaviour if they see some benefit they can identify with. And people do not identify

themselves with working for free for the benefit of a private company. Some people do

mention they will not recycle because in the end they are working for someone to profit

with their own work.

So if people are contributing for a company to make profit with their action (the company

that produces biodiesel and sells it, or the water company that will save money by having

less water contamination), they expect that benefit to be shared somehow as it results from

their action as well. Disseminating information about how many litters of biodiesel are given

to the municipality to run school buses or how the saved money on water treatment is being

invested will make people feel their effort is being given back some way (by benefiting the

community).

4. Communication Media

4.1 Awareness Campaigns (procedures and benefits) • Preferably communicate by TV

• Can also use radio and newspapers

Survey results show that TV followed by radio and newspapers is the most preferred media

for communication, as presented on the following picture extracted from the survey report.

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• Fairs or events open to the public

• Market days - have a team on the market raising awareness to housewives and

solving doubts directly, specially works well if you have a facility for oil collection on

the market

During workshops fairs and markets were also referred as methods that have proven to be

successful, especially if useful material as funnels are provided to people and if UCO

containers are available at the event area.

• Schools engagement can be an asset

When reviewing literature about recycling both research and practice show many actions

engaging children on recycling activities. Children seem to be a good communication channel

with families as well as facilitators of recycling behaviours. Thus they can be an asset on

disseminating UCO recycling.

4.2 Information on location of containers

• Door-to-door (using flyers with photos of the container and the surroundings, avoid

maps)

• Local newspaper or local newsletter (prefer photos, if you use maps make sure you

include image of reference points,e.g. logo of the supermarket near the container…)

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People need to know where containers are before leaving home with UCO. They might

remembering seeing a container on a street but may not recall exactly which street was it.

So people should receive information on their home about UCO recycling containers,

especially those living nearby (research shows that 250m distance radius), as people living

further away will argue they do not recycle because they do not have a container nearby

(the most common reason for not recycling accordingly with survey results as the following

picture taken from survey report shows).

It is probable that people will not throw UCO at the moment they receive that information,

so it is better if the information provided comes in an attractive object that may be kept (e.g.

magnetic banner).

4.3 Information materials/tools

• Can provide useful devices with recycling message/logo:

• funnels or other materials for filtering the oil

• Avoid giving containners for storaging UCO at home as people usually do not

recycle if they do not have one or when the one they have becomes damaged

People tend to perform better on remembering than on recalling tasks. Recall depends on

information being accessible to memory on itself which mainly happens if we remember it

often. Providing tools easy associated with UCO recycling (such as funnels with a logo) that

may be available on visible places and seen often will make people remember UCO recycling

often thus it will make the action more easily recalled at the time it is needed to be

performed and enhancing UCO recycling.

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5. Communication Timeline

• Do not advertise the system if it is not working yet, only after it is tested and is

running properly (so people do not become disappointed and stop recycling)

Starting a campaign at a moment at which containers are not yet managed or discharged or

drained, will lead to situations of dirty and overloaded containers passing a bad image of the

recycling company as well as an aversion to oil recycling (as happened with other recycling

systems). Thus you should make sure everything is ready and tested before start advertising

the system.

• Campaign should be regular and last in time – so the behaviour of recycling oil can

become an habit

Old behaviors take time to change, and new behaviors take time to become habits. So it is important

to make sure that people are often remembered about UCO recycling so recall can become a reality

and new UCO recycling behavior becomes a habit.

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PROMOTION OF USED COOKING OIL RECYCLING FOR SUSTAINABLE PROMOTION OF USED COOKING OIL RECYCLING FOR SUSTAINABLE PROMOTION OF USED COOKING OIL RECYCLING FOR SUSTAINABLE PROMOTION OF USED COOKING OIL RECYCLING FOR SUSTAINABLE

BIODIESEL PRODUCTION (RecOil)BIODIESEL PRODUCTION (RecOil)BIODIESEL PRODUCTION (RecOil)BIODIESEL PRODUCTION (RecOil)

Coordinator: Coordinator: Coordinator: Coordinator: Orlando Paraiba - ENA (Agencia de Energia e Ambiente a Arrábida)

T +351 265 546 194 E orlando.paraiba@ena.com.pt

RecOil Partnership RecOil Partnership RecOil Partnership RecOil Partnership Energy and Environment Agency of Arrábida (Project Coordinator) Factor Social

Technical University of Crete, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Systems Lab

Local Energy Agency Province of Cosenza

Energy Management Agency Province of Cádiz

Regional Energy Agency for Barreiro, Moita, Montijo and Alcochete

ElinBiofuels S.A.

Energy, Transport, Agriculture SRL

Municipality of Castrolibero

European Biomass Industry Association

Agro Business Park.

Nº CONTRACT IEE/11/091/SI2.616369 DELIVERABLE WP3 – D3.1

AUTHOR(s) Factor Social, Lda.

Dalila Antunes, Rui Carvalho, Cláudia Rodrigues

DISSEMINATION LEVEL Public

STATUS Version 1 - Draft to be reviewed

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