India and its litter dilemma: A messy Reality
Studies in Social Psychology
Sem 6
Overview
Problem Brief
It is important to understand why people litter, as well as how to encourage people not to litter.
Laziness and carelessness have bred a culture of habitual littering. Carelessness has made people throw rubbish anywhere without thinking about the consequences of their actions. People believe that their individual actions will not harm society as a whole.
Why we choose this ?
Strong Anti-Littering sentiments don’t often translate into action
Awareness, Convenience, Social Norms, and education are shaping littering behaviors in India.
Understanding the root cause of why people litter and develop targeted strategies to promote a cleaner, more responsible behavior in public spaces.
Littering is a big problem
Littering is a problem that affects safety and physiological needs primarily.
and without fixing these it becomes difficult to progress up the pyramid as a society.
littering leads to pollution that contaminates food, water, or air, it threatens basic survival needs.
Litter can create hazardous environments.
Clean environments contribute to community well-being. Persistent littering can make people feel disconnected or neglected,
Maslow’s Pyramid of Hierarchy
Concept Map
Littering
in Public
Spaces
Community
Policies and Infrastructure
Education
Family
Individual
Cultural norms
Physical and Emotional Well-Being
Psychology and Behavior
Moving away from “one piece of trash doesn’t matter.”
Changing Mindsets
Teaching kids why littering is bad and how to stop it.
Schools
Informational posters in public spaces
Posters & Signs
Fun sessions to learn about waste management
Workshops
Kids and teenagers inspiring their families and friends
Youth Engagement
Adults showing good habits (e.g., throwing trash in bins)
Role Modeling
Teaching kids how to separate recyclable and non-recyclable waste
Waste Sorting
Conversations about taking care of the environment
Family Talks
Families joining clean-up drives or planting trees
Participating Together
Knowing how littering affects nature and others
Awareness
Always throwing trash in a bin, no matter what
Actions
Being an example for friends and strangers
Inspiring Others
Politely reminding others not to litter
Speaking Up
No garbage means safer roads and sidewalks for walking and playing
Safety
Neat surroundings make people feel good
Happiness
A litter-free space promotes better health and well-being
Clean Environment
Feeling conflicted when one’s actions (littering) don’t align with their values (caring for the environment)
Cognitive Dissonance
Making littering unacceptable in the community
Social Norms
Influential people encouraging cleanliness
Local Leader’s Role
Groups coming together to clean the area
Clean-Up Drives
Enough trash bins in parks, streets, and public spaces
Public Facilities
Events to teach people about the harms of littering
Awareness Campaigns
Cameras or other systems to catch and prevent littering
Monitoring
Bins for recycling plastics, paper, etc.
Recycling Options
Bins placed where people can easily find them
Accessible Trash Bins
Fines or rules against littering
Laws & Penalties
Regular trash pickup services
Waste Collection
Seeing others litter or clean up affects one’s behavior
Witness Influence
How established behaviors influence if people litter or not
Habits & Routines
The belief that no one is watching, increasing the likelihood of littering
Perceived Anonymity
Guilt or shame can deter littering, while pride can motivate cleanliness
Emotional Reactions
Everyone feels responsible for keeping places clean
Shared Responsibility
Thinking, “It’s my job to keep this place clean.”
Accountability
Feeling proud of clean neighborhoods and cities
Community pride
Values
Learning
Influence
Actions
Well-Being
Behavior
Engagement
Systems
Visual representations of information that show the relationship between ideas or concepts.
Iceberg Model
Littering in Public Spaces despite dustbins being present.
Do not want to take the extra effort to walk till the dustbin.
Reluctant to carry trash with them and dispose later when there is no dustbin available .
Events
People are so desensitized to the litter on the road that they consider it to be normal.
People share an attitude of neglect within the community where no one steps to address the problem allowing waste to accumulate.
Adding to the pile of garbage and also feeling less accountable for their actions as others are also contributing to the behavior.
Behavioral Pattern
Lack of proper infrastructure (insufficient trash bins, irregular waste collection).
Weak enforcement of anti-littering laws.
Limited education about the impact of littering on the environment.
Structures
Belief that "one piece of trash won’t make a difference."
Assumption that someone else (e.g., cleaners) will take care of it.
Lack of accountability or environmental consciousness.
Cultural norms that normalize littering in public spaces.
Mental Models
Social Ecosystem Model
survival rather than waste disposal)
management systems)
awareness and practice)
not hold up
if family does not follow it
BIO ECOSYSTEM
POLLUTION
SEASONAL FACTORS
NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS
FAMILY-SCHOOL DYNAMIC
SOCIAL
MEDIA
INTERACTION
Cultural Attitudes
Socioeconomic Conditions
(Cause pollution affects public health)
MACRO SYSTEM
MESO SYSTEM
Individual Characteristcis
EXOSYSTEM
MICROSYSTEM
(Overflowing garbage leads to environmental degradation in public health and also aesthetes)
(Monsoon season aggravates littering problem due to water logging and stagnant water)
(create awareness and instill a sense of responsibility)
(A general attitude of disregarding public spaces as shared property)
(People from economically weaker sections focusing on
Habitual Carelessness
Government Systems
Lack of proper Infrastructure
Weak Law enforcement
Workplace Policies
(Lack of dustbins, irregular waste collection system)
(Inadequate enforcement of anti-littering laws, with
(Organizations that do not promote )
(Lack of proper
waste
(Values taught in school do
(Disconnect between
(Parents who litter setting an example)
(Friends who casually litter)
Family Influence
Peer Influence
Explains human behavior by considering how different layers of the environment interact with an individual.
5 Why Framework
Behavior: Individuals believe it’s someone else’s job to clean up after them.
The root cause is the psychological detachment and diminished sense of personal responsibility caused by anonymity, which reduces social pressure and accountability.
Why is there little emphasis on individual accountability?
Societal and educational systems fail to teach them.
Why do they see maintaining public spaces as the government’s responsibility?
Public spaces are perceived as communal, not tied to personal responsibility.
Why do they think public services are responsible for cleanliness?
They view maintaining public spaces as a government-provided service.
Why do individuals believe it’s someone else’s job to clean up after them?
Because they think city workers, handle cleanliness
Concept Map Insights
Bins and Garbage Collection Aren’t Often
People Copy What They See
Psychology Plays a Role in Littering
Educating Children Assists in the Longer Term
Communities Need to Work Together
Rules and Penalties Require Strong Execution
KEY TAKEWAY
Littering isn’t just about having enough bins. People are more likely to keep spaces clean when they are held accountable, see positive examples, and develop good habits as children. Communities, education, and enforcement all play a role in creating lasting change.
Iceberg Insights
Lack of accountability to keep their own country clean
People’s behavior is shaped by what they see around them.
Real change requires fixing deeper issues.
Weak infrastructure and rules make littering worse.
Deep-rooted beliefs make people less responsible.
KEY TAKEWAY
Littering isn’t just about waste—it’s about of habits, mindsets, and systems. If we want to see cleaner spaces, we must first change the way we think about responsibility and collective action.
Social Ecosystem Model Insights
Behavior is shaped by multiple environmental factors
Lack of enforcement of rules and fines
Social norms play a crucial role
Institutions and infrastructure shape behavior
Economic conditions affect decision-making
A gap between knowledge and real-life behavior.
KEY TAKEWAY
The Social Ecosystem Model shows that people's actions are shaped by many factors, not just personal choices.
To create real change, we need to do more than just raise awareness—we must also improve rules, social attitudes, infrastructure, and the environment around them.
Research Goal
Through the project we aim to understand the behaviours and thought process of people who litter in public spaces and what motivates them to do so. We intend to gather data from various methods like surveys, interviews experiments and so on try to develop a possible design intervention.
Research Questions
1.What is the psychological impact of witnessing others litter on an individual's own littering behavior.
2.Why is littering widely perceived as a socially acceptable behavior despite being legally recognized as an offense?
Research Plans
Research Question
What is the psychological impact of witnessing others litter on an individual's own littering behavior.
Why is littering widely perceived as a socially acceptable behavior despite being legally recognized as an offense?
Method
Survey
taking a survey to understand where people stand on certain behaviours and what they do in certain situations.
Generative Toolkit
designing a toolkit that aims at understanding why people do what they do, getting to the root cause.
Research Plan
Making them detach from the sitauation to get answers.
Analyzing the root cause of the behaviour with them
Coming up with solutions for that particular behaviour.
Making them detach from the sitauation to get answers.
Analyzing the root cause of the behaviour with them
Coming up with solutions for that particular behaviour.
What action did you take?
Confront (45.9%)
Ignore (54.1%)
After Confronting, How did the person react?
Ignored (70%)
Agreed (30%)
A total of 95.3% people were uncomfortable when they saw it happen.
I felt bad for contributing or not doing anything (16.5%)
It bothered me to see trash accumulating (34.1%)
I found it unpleasant and disturbing (44.7%)
I didn’t feel anything in particular (4.7%)
What emotions did you feel when you saw someone litter?
Why do you think people throw their trash in public places?
Top reasons given:
Laziness
Lack of trash bins
Lack of awareness
Indifference towards public spaces
"It’s already dirty, so one more piece of trash won’t matter."
No fear of punishment
Survey Data & Insights
Generative Design Toolkit
We designed a Generative Toolkit to understand the social psychology behind littering behavior by analyzing beliefs, emotions, and decision-making in specific real life scenarios. It helped us uncover deep psychological insights that surveys and interviews did not reveal. Our Generative toolkit is a combination of Scenario based and Role-play toolkit. There were a total of 15 participants.
Name: Ramesh Yadav Age: 35
Occupation: Paan and Cigarette Stall Owner
Location: A crowded marketplace
Education: Studied till 5th grade,
Family: Lives in a one-room house with his family
Short-Tempered
Indifferent to Cleanliness
Traditional Mindset
Gets into arguments with other vendors over space and customers.
Complains about the mess in the surrounding but he himself actively litters
Personality & Traits
Challenges
Name: Jatin Gupta
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Location: Pune City
Rebellious & Cynical
Deliberate littering in front of signs.
Intelligent
Personality & Traits
A cry for attention
Lack of direction in life
Vulnerable to bad influence
Challenges
Name: Amit Desai Age: 38
Occupation: Accountant works in a firm
Location: commutes to work by train
Family: Married and has one child
Convenience Driven
Fatigue and Stress
Passive Awareness
Personality & Traits
Commute causes stress
Unhealthy work life balance
Difficult to maintain fitness
Challenges
Amit
Littering is a habit for him, driven by convenience and social influence. He discards waste anywhere without considering its impact.
Traits
Jatin
Disregards rules and conventions, may litter as a form of protest or to appear "cool" or "edgy." Might see anti-littering campaigns as authority figures telling him what to do.
Traits
Traits
He discards trash irresponsibly, for him convenience is more important than cleanliness. It is a pattern behavior.
Ramesh
Amit stood by the door of the train while munching on a packet of chips. After finishing the packet he ___________
Folds the packet and puts it in his bag to discard it later.
Lets it slip out of his hand blending into the mess on the floor.
Checks around if he can find a way to dispose trash efficiently
Jatin is in a park where he see’s an anti littering sign. Looking at that he opened a candy packet and __________
Puts the candy packet in his pocket.
Walks till the dustbin and disposes the packet there.
Flicks the wrapper with his fingers and throws the wrapper near the sign.
Ramesh sat behind his paan stall while cutting beetle leaves. After finishing he collected the waste and ____ ___________
Threw it on the ground next to a growing pile of wrappers near his shop.
Collects it in a bag to dispose it off later in the common market dustbin.
Keeps a dustbin in his stall so that the place remains clean.
What are the possible punishments that you would give them:
USER:
OPTION:
Emotions YOU would want to make them experience:
Why did you select this option:
What is the generative toolkit ??
Name: Ramesh Yadav Age: 35
Occupation: Paan and Cigarette Stall Owner
Location: A crowded marketplace
Education: Studied till 5th grade,
Family: Lives in a one-room house with his family
Short-Tempered
Indifferent to Cleanliness
Traditional Mindset
Gets into arguments with other vendors over space and customers.
Complains about the mess in the surrounding but he himself actively litters
Personality & Traits
Challenges
Name: Jatin Gupta
Age: 17
Occupation: Student
Location: Pune City
Rebellious & Cynical
Deliberate littering in front of signs.
Intelligent
Personality & Traits
A cry for attention
Lack of direction in life
Vulnerable to bad influence
Challenges
Name: Amit Desai Age: 38
Occupation: Accountant works in a firm
Location: commutes to work by train
Family: Married and has one child
Convenience Driven
Fatigue and Stress
Passive Awareness
Personality & Traits
Commute causes stress
Unhealthy work life balance
Difficult to maintain fitness
Challenges
Step 1
Cards with Personas of Active litterers
Read the personas and know the person.
Purpose
To make the participant aware that the person is an active litterer so that there is a clear perception in the participants mind.
To make them understand the different aspects and the interactions of the persons life.
Traits
He discards trash irresponsibly, for him convenience is more important than cleanliness. It is a pattern behavior.
Ramesh
Jatin
Disregards rules and conventions, may litter as a form of protest or to appear "cool" or "edgy." Might see anti-littering campaigns as authority figures telling him what to do.
Traits
Amit
Littering is a habit for him, driven by convenience and social influence. He discards waste anywhere without considering its impact.
Traits
Step 2
Cards with Traits of each Individual
Read the traits of the person.
Purpose
To make the participants understand the persons behavioral patterns.
Amit stood by the door of the train while munching on a packet of chips. After finishing the packet he ___________
Folds the packet and puts it in his bag to discard it later.
Lets it slip out of his hand blending into the mess on the floor.
Checks around if he can find a way to dispose trash efficiently
Jatin is in a park where he see’s an anti littering sign. Looking at that he opened a candy packet and __________
Puts the candy packet in his pocket.
Walks till the dustbin and disposes the packet there.
Flicks the wrapper with his fingers and throws the wrapper near the sign.
Ramesh sat behind his paan stall while cutting beetle leaves. After finishing he collected the waste and ____ ___________
Threw it on the ground next to a growing pile of wrappers near his shop.
Collects it in a bag to dispose it off later in the common market dustbin.
Keeps a dustbin in his stall so that the place remains clean.
Step 3
Cards with Incomplete Situation and Options
Read the situation and complete one of the options given below (2 ethical options, 1 unethical option)
Purpose
To make the participants think from the persons shoes further provoking them to analyzing the persons thought process on deeper levels based on past knowledge.
USER:
OPTION:
Emotions YOU would want to make them experience:
Why did you select this option:
What are the possible punishments that you would give them:
It was followed up with a worksheet exploring their reasoning, emotional reactions, and punishment ideation
How did the toolkit help us ?
Gathered and examined answers to find trends in behavioral motivations, emotional triggers, and rationalizations about littering.
Identified psychological drivers behind ethical and unethical choices.
Helped design strategies that leverage social pressure, emotional triggers, and accountability mechanisms to influence behavior.
Extracted key insights to form potential design interventions for behavior change.
What they said
I will keep complaining about the mess, but it's not my job to keep it clean. Let the sweepers do it.
“
Littering is a habit which he has, and due to that, knowingly or unknowingly, he will continue to throw the chips packet until he is willingly ready to change himself.
“
I would not want to be ruled by anyone. It's cool to break rules.
“
If there’s no bin right in front of me, I’m not going to go looking for one. Who has the time?
“
Since it is a habit, it will happen unconsciously. I won't take much effort to find a bin and all.
“
Why should I follow rules that don’t benefit me? It’s just trash, not a crime.
“
Guilt
Remorse
Uncool
Regret
Pride (initially, but then realization)
Awareness
Responsible
Sense of irresponsibility
Embarrassment
Thoughtful
Feeling of shame
Social
responsibility
Care for the environment
Disgust
Feeling of inconvenience
What We Wish Litterers Felt
What they said
Emotion Bubbles
Inhibiting Pressures
(Discourage littering)
Social Factors
(Cultural norms, enforcement, peer influence)
Individual Factors
(Personal habits, awareness, convenience)
Promoting Pressures
(Encourage littering)
Pressure from authorities (CCTV, fines, mandatory clean-ups)
Public shaming (social media exposure, mocking reels)
Fear of losing reputation (shop losing customers)
Seeing others litter
(normalization)
Lack of trash bins or infrastructure
No strict rules or enforcement
Habitual
littering
Convenience
(no trash bin nearby)
Lack of awareness/responsibility
Rebellion (doing the opposite of expected)
Potential fines or punishments
Guilt & embarrassment if caught
Awareness about hygiene & environment
Fear of social disapproval
Pressure Map
Insights of the generative toolkit
How Might We
HMW create a cultural shift where littering is seen as unacceptable?
HMW leverage social influence to discourage littering?
HMW create positive reinforcement systems (rather than just fines) for keeping public spaces clean?
HMW design interventions that trigger guilt or pride to promote cleanliness?
Ritual Ideations 1
Location: Schools targeting younger children.
Act of gratitude
Every time someone throws trash in the dustbins, they say a positive affirmation like “I contribute to a cleaner world!”.
A sensor-based bin could play an encouraging sound or show a fun animation when trash is disposed of properly.
Impact
Habit formation from an early age.
Converting the idea of proper waste disposal from an unpleasant notion to a responsible one
Making the children sensitized towards littering.
Shortcomings of this idea
It will take years to start seeing the results of this ritual
Ritual Ideations 2
Location: On the pavement dustbins
Sport of Disposing Trash
sensor based dustbins where people aim and throw their trash. It will be attached with a small screen where the score and fun sound will be played every time when the trash goes into the dustbin. The score keeps increasing with every trash disposed. Gamification will increase engagement with the dustbin.
Impact
Giving the users a fun way to dispose trash.
Provoking them to think about proper waste disposal.
Making them feel good about their actions through positive affirmations encouraging them to continue proper waste disposal.
Shortcomings of this idea
This engages the user but does little to change behaviour for long term.
Final Solution
Using Compliance for behavior change
Location: Places where frequent littering happens. i.e markets/malls/parks/railway stations
Sensor based camera synced to a screen nearby, in visible line of sight of everyone.
Trash falling on the ground is the trigger which sets the screen into action.
Live feed of the litterer is played on the screen with a warning to pick up the trash to make the photo go away.
On successful completion of task, they are validated by sound effects on clapping.
Impact
Catching users off-guard and putting them in the spot light.
Making them feel embarrassed for their actions in front of other people.
Give them time to do the right thing.
Positively validate their actions to encourage them not to litter.
Our Target Behaviour
Making the litterer change behavior of nonchalantly littering using the concept of social influence and compliance.
Once the deed they do is shown publicly, the first reaction is being shocked, tey would be embarrassed to be exposed to the world like that and would be quick to undo what they have done. Social INfluence on the litterer happens through the crowd at the market, this leads to him complying to change that situation.
Attitude Formation
• The affective component of an attitude is the way a person feels toward the object, person, or situation. This ritual makes the litterer feel embarrassed.
• The behavior component of an attitude is the action that a person takes in regard to the person, object, or situation. The ritual makes the litterer pick up the trash and throw it in the dustbin.
• Finally, the cognitive component of an attitude is the way a person thinks about himself or herself, an object, or a situation. These thoughts, or cognitions, include beliefs and ideas about the focus of the attitude. Being broadcasted will have surprised him and they would be ashamed publicly. This would make them be very conscious in the future,
Attitude Formation through Direct Contract ,Direct Instruction and Observational Learnings
Storyboard
1
5
6
3
2
4
Before and after Scenario
Desired Outcomes
To inculcate a sense of shame whenever a person litters of a feeling of guilt when they think of doing so.
Habit and attitude formation through punishment and reinforcement.
Make more cautious and sensitized towards littering in the future.
The Ritual
Live broadcasting of people who litter to instill a sense of social embarrassment. People would be put in the spotlight when their video is being displayed and that would make them socially conscious. This in turn will make them comply to the instruction quicker. Just one example of someone will change the behaviours of so many other people at the same time because of fear of the same thing happeneing to them.
Belief
People consider it to be normal to have litter on the road and don not think it is their responsibility.
Behavior
Throwing trash in places where it already exists, normalizing the mess and no one to confront them.
Emotion
People feel indifferent and continue to be careless about littering.
Plan of Implementation
Finding the Right Spots
We will set this up in places where people litter the most, like markets, malls, parks, and railway stations. First, we will observe how and why people litter in these areas.
Installing the System
We will install sensor-based cameras that sense when a person drops garbage. These cameras will be linked to large screens around them. If a person litters, their live footage will be displayed on the screen with a request to clean up the garbage. When they do, a sound of applause will be heard as a reward.
Testing & Improving
We will first pilot this in one place and observe how the people respond. If necessary, we will tweak it, such as by changing the message, screen duration, or sensor sensitivity, to improve its effectiveness.
Scaling the Project
If the system is successful, we will partner with local authorities, shopping malls, and environmental organizations to expand it to other locations. We will also seek funding from green brands to help and expand the project.
Monitoring the Impact
We will see whether littering decreases with time and learn how to improve it even more, such as including small incentives for proper trash disposal.
We aim to get individuals to be aware of their actions, take responsibility, and make throwing garbage into bins a pleasant and rewarding practice!
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Litter Watch
Join the fight against litter in your community!
Screens
This app is to support the concept of our campaign, we use this to engage the public and at the same time teach people who were not at the location through the experience of someone else.
video clips of people who failed to comply with the instruction when their video was taken are uploaded here to reach a video audience to maintain the same emotion of social influence.
Limitations
What if there is more than one person littering at the same time
the screen will split into 2 and show both their clips
What if the person does not comply
we share their clip to our app, as more people engage with it the more viral people get(for thw wrong reason).
What if people learn the camera’s location and find loophole
Switching places every two weeks adds the surprise element to our ritual. you will never know where we go next
If our PM is not ashamed to pick litter, so shouldn’t you!
Thank you