The UrbanWaste project explored public waste – an under-researched stream – through an interdisciplinary approach combining waste management, social sciences, and design. It revealed untapped recycling potential in public bins (up to 69% recyclables found) and a discrepancy between a high social norm of waste separation at home and low social norm in public. Key factors for participation in public source separation include bin location, accessibility, design, perceived responsibility, and available cognitive resources. Evaluations in Vienna and Krems showed that people do separate waste to some extent when bins are provided (in field trials 17% of waste was separated) and that “recyclables forwarding” signs can increase engagement. Combining separated collection with automated sorting could increase material recovery from 4% to 43% in Vienna. Project results were disseminated through stakeholder workshops and academic and non-academic publications including a public project exhibition.
