Big Boys Don’t Litter
In 2020, Hubbub polling found that over a third of 16–25-year-olds had admitted to littering in the past month and that men were twice as likely to litter as women.
Seeking deeper insights into this, our 2021 ‘Big Boys Don’t Litter’ research delved into what motivates young men, why they litter and how best to communicate with them effectively on this issue, as traditional communication campaigns didn’t seem to be cutting through.
Thanks to the support of Coca Cola Europacific Partners and Burger King UK, we conducted in-depth interviews with 40 young men in 2021. This research provided a snapshot view of young men’s attitudes and behaviours around littering and culminated in the creation of a set of principles and approach for future environmentally focussed campaigns targeted towards young men.
Our approach
In January and February of 2021, we began our research into the high rates of littering amongst young men in the UK. Using Zoom, we hosted a series of 1-hour interviews with forty young men, aged 16-25.
We mixed the sessions up, and our interviews comprised a combination of solo and friendship pair interviews, featuring 1 interviewer and 2 interviewees. We focussed on building rapport and trust with the interviewees, so they felt comfortable to provide honest responses about their personal behaviours and attitudes towards littering.
We partnered up with a recruitment agency for this project, to ensure we heard from a diverse group of young men, representing the UK population. This allowed us to gather insights from individuals of different ages and working status’ to jobs, ethnicities, income levels, and locations.
Through our interviews we spoke with young men with a spectrum of attitudes to litter, from those who claimed to have never littered to those who admitted frequent littering.
The impact
Our key findings:
1. Most young men don’t litter intentionally, but many consider ‘tidy littering’ acceptable
“You want to do the right thing, but the bins are always full. Leaving rubbish next to a bin is probably best.”
2. Many young men don’t understand the effects of littering
“I don’t understand how my litter in a park could end up in the ocean.”
3. Group dynamics strongly influence behaviours
“If the entire group is littering, you’re going to conform to that”
4. Young men don’t pay attention to anti-littering messaging
“I’ve not seen anything online to do with littering.”
How can we talk to them about it?
Use humour rather than finger wagging, e.g. like our Ballot Bins
Favour male role models delivering messages over brands/authority figures
Show that even well-intended behaviours (e.g. tidy littering) can have bad outcomes
Tap into group dynamics by creating fun content they’ll want to share with friends
Get involved
Want to delve into the insights further? Read our Big Boys Don’t Litter report here.
Curious to find out more about our Ballot Bins? Read about our viral cigarette litter bin here, proven to cut cigarette litter by up to 73%. (Ellipsis Earth, 2021)
