How to Get Those Recycling Boxes Out: a Randomised Controlled Trial of a Door-to-Door Recycling Service, 2008

'Rediscovering the Civic and Achieving Better Outcomes in Public Policy' is an ESRC Ventures research programme funded by ESRC with co-funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government and the North West Improvement and Efficiency Network. The project aimed to find out the most effective means to encourage active citizenship. The project uses innovative experimental methods including randomised controlled trials and design experiments as well as survey re-analysis to understand the civic-outcome link.<br> <br> The data available under this study comprise the results of a randomised controlled trial testing whether doorstep canvassing can raise participation in pavement-side recycling. The trial was conducted in Old Trafford and Gorse Hill, Greater Manchester in March - October 2008. Recycling participation rates for 6,580 households were measured by observing bin set out rates over a three week period. Half of the streets in the area were randomly assigned to receive an intervention to encourage recycling. All households on these streets were visited by canvassers who were trained to promote and encourage recycling. Half of the streets were placed in a control group and received no special attention. Recycling participation rates for all households were measured after the intervention to see if the intervention had been effective in raising participation rates. <br> <br> Further information can be found on the <a href="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-177-25-0002/read/reports" title="Rediscovering the Civic and Achieving Better Outcomes in Public Policy">Rediscovering the Civic and Achieving Better Outcomes in Public Policy</a> ESRC Award web page.<br> <br> A later study conducted under the same project is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 6973, <i>How Pledging Can Make a Difference to Charitable Giving: a Randomised Controlled Trial of a Book Donation Campaign, 2010</i>.<br> <br>