Understanding NTNU's students' and employees' recycling behaviour based on intervention strategies by applying a comprehensive psychological model

One of the solutions for the environmental problem of waste is proper waste separation by individuals. This Master’s Thesis discusses the psychological variables of individuals’ waste separation behaviour. Building on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, Norm-activation Model, Habits and the Comprehensive Action Determination Model, a questionnaire was created paying close attention to the intervention strategies implemented by the project group ‘Klimafot Avfall’ at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology to find out whether pre-designed interventions had an effect on psychological determinants for the recycling behaviour of employees and students. The data was collected in two rounds, before the intervention and after a three month pilot period with implemented interventions with a sample of 1269 students and employees. The results show that there was a change in waste separation behaviour after the intervention and intentions, social norms, personal norms, perceived behavioural control and habits also changed after the intervention period. All intervention elements were perceived by the participants; however, two of them had the strongest effect on participants: New waste stations and Removal of buckets from the office