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_J. Environ. Psychol_. 58, 77–85 (2018) Information displays to aid waste separation are relatively inexpensive, but designing them effectively is crucial. Little is known about how
different forms of displaying information can enhance attention and guide individuals to deposit their rubbish in the right place. David Wu at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and
colleagues ran three behavioural experiments in the lab in order to test participants’ sorting effectiveness — how well they could match an item to the appropriate bin. They used
motion-tracking technology and a large touchscreen to measure the speed and accuracy of participants sorting items into bins. They found that using colour pictures and, to a lesser extent,
black and white pictures or icons, instead of text alone, in addition to positioning the signs consistently across bins, improve sorting performance. In particular, positioning icons
consistently can increase sorting accuracy by about 10%. In contrast, showing both allowed and prohibited items in the same signage can lead to confusion, error or slower understanding.
AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Nature Sustainability https://www.nature.com/natsustain Aiora Zabala Authors * Aiora Zabala View author publications You can also search for
this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Aiora Zabala. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Zabala, A.
Confusing disposal information. _Nat Sustain_ 1, 532 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0161-6 Download citation * Published: 15 October 2018 * Issue Date: October 2018 * DOI:
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