Case study: The fun theory, Bottle bank arcade

Problem:

“Many of us return our plastic bottles and cans. Noticeably fewer recycle their glass. Maybe that's because we don't get any money in return, as we do for cans and plastic. Can we change this attitude by making recycling glass fun to do? So you are not just rewarded with a good conscience, you also get a smile.” The Fun Theory: Online

Can we make more people use the bottle bank by making it fun to do?

Campaign:
Volkswagen turned an ordinary bottle bank into a bottle bank arcade game where you put the bottles in the specific hole when it lights up. They placed this in Stockholm to see what people’s reactions were and if it would increase the amount of people recycling bottles.
Outcome:
In one evening the bottle bank arcade was used nearly 100 times whereas a nearby conventional bank was only used twice. 

The Fun Theory, Bottle bank arcade campaign

Problem:
“To throw rubbish in the bin instead of onto the floor shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so. Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do?” The Fun Theory: Online

Campaign:
Volkswagen put a bottomless pit noise into a bin to encourage more people to put rubbish in. when an item of rubbish was put into the bin the noise of a long fall and crash at the bottom played.
Outcome:
In one day 72kg of rubbish was put into the bottomless bin, this was 41kg more than the normal bin nearby. 

The Fun Theory, Bottomless bin campaign

Conclusion:

This shows that by making an everyday, mundane activity into something fun or a game you can change people’s behaviour for the better. This could be useful to us when looking at ways to encourage people to recycle their clothing into Traid bins. Could we make the clothing bins into a game or something interactive to make them the recycling destination?

AMY LAURA BURT