MAY 2022 Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR BEHAVIORAL INSIGHTS AND POLICY OPTIONS ​ ​ Rights and Permissions The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because The World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. Any queries on rights and licenses, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank Group, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; fax: 202-522-2625; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. Attribution—Please cite the work as follows: “World Bank. 2022. Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR. ©World Bank.” Photo credits World Bank 2022 Contents Acknowledgements  4 Context  5 Our Method  6 Define & Diagnose  7 Design  16 Implement & Evaluate  20 Learn & Adapt  27 Final Recommendations 31 Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTEXT The Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA) on this ASA is led by Maurice Andres Rawlins and at In order to promote environmentally friendly also devoted significant attention to identify and behavioral insights to reduce open waste burning in the time of delivery includes Kaysone Vongthavilay, behaviors, it is fundamental not only to consider describe major socio-psychological and situational Lao PDR aims to support the government of Lao PDR Rieko Kubota, Souksavanh Sombounkhanh and and modify already existing infrastructure and determinants of sustainable behaviors, such as age, to generate and convene knowledge that informs Anorath Douangphachanh. A team from the facilities, or rethink physical prompts and cues in gender, cultural background, attitudes, knowledge, the development and implementation of policies, World Bank’s Mind, Behavior & Development Unit the environment, but also contemplate and target motivation, social influence and others1. In this plans, and investments for Lao PDR’s green growth (EMBED) directed by Renos Vakis, and composed of the cognitive traits inherent to any human being. report, we provide a description of how behavioral transition and helps the country build natural and Ailin Tomio and Daniel Alejandro Pinzón led the be- Sustainable behaviors such as recycling, reusing science was used to generate insights on factors human capital from better management of pollution, havioral analysis. and composting are driven by different motivations that influence open burning in the population of Lao waste, and renewable natural resources. and beliefs. In the past few decades, scholars have PDR. Funding for the ASA was gratefully provided by the This ASA is a deliverable under the Lao PDR Resil- Korean Green Growth Trust Fund (KGGTF) which ient Green Growth Programmatic ASA (P171011) was complemented by World Bank operating bud- implemented by the World Bank. Sister ASAs ad- get. Figure 1: How we work in our projects. dress related topics important for Lao PDR’s green growth agenda, such as solid and plastic waste man- agement, priorities for environmental management, promotion of nature-based tourism, sustainable HOW WE WORK forest management, landscape valuation and impor- tance of biodiversity. The World Bank task team for CONTEXT-DRIVEN EMPIRICAL AGILE Resources are devoted We test multiple designs, Results are used to learn and to carefully define the each based on different adapt the program design behaviors underpinning the assumptions about and feed into a new round development challenge and individuals’ choices and of definition, diagnosis, appropriate diagnosis of the behavior. design, implementation, causes of those behaviors. and testing; this process of refinement continues as the intervention is scaled up. 1  Miafodzyeva, S., Brandt, N., & Andersson, M. (2013). Recycling behaviour of householders living in multicultural urban area: a case study of Järva, Stockholm, Sweden. Waste Management & Research, 31(5), 447-457. Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 4 5 OUR METHOD DEFINE AND DIAGNOSE This report will walk the reader through the different hypotheses is designed. Finally, the intervention is Behaviorally-informed policy emphasizes the is influenced by several factors such as: i) the current phases of the behavioral method applied to open implemented and evaluated in order to adapt the importance of context for decision-making and state and limited coverage of the waste collection burning in Lao PDR (Figure 2). In the definition phase solutions to the current reality of the population. behavior. The social, psychological, and economic system7; ii) financial aspects such as a general lack the behavior is outlined, and the social, psychological, factors that affect what people think, as well as how of incentives and high costs of services8; iii) legal and contextual factors that influence it are studied. people behave while using a service, are key insights aspects such as the lack of enforcement of fines; In the second phase, an intervention based on the that inform behavioral interventions. This project and iv) social aspects such as the lack of awareness was focused on a specific waste management (WM) of the consequences of burning and a lack of trust issue present in Lao PDR: open burning of waste by in the waste collection system. Finally, there are Figure 2: The project’s phases households. According to a 2020 World Bank report2 specific social and individual behaviors that favor every year in Lao PDR there are 10,000 deaths the habit of burning9 such as consumption patterns attributed to environmental health risk factors, and and cleanliness habits (see Figure 3). household air pollution alone represents 44 percent of those deaths. The 10,000 deaths represent 21.6 percent of all deaths in the country, without mentioning the illnesses they cause. 01. 03. DEFINITION IMPLEMENTATION To understand the context, a desk review of & DIAGNOSIS & EVALUATION all materials and available information on the incidence of the issue was conducted3,4,5,6, as well as several interviews with key stakeholders such as UNDP Accelerator Lab, Zero Waste Laos and the 05. Department of Natural Resources and Environment RE-DEFINE & Inspection in Lao PDR. RE-DIAGNOSE Open burning in Lao PDR is a multicausal issue that 2  Sánchez-Triana, E. (2021). Environmental Challenges for Green Growth and Poverty Reduction. 02. 04. 3  https://www.la.undp.org/content/lao_pdr/en/home/blog/2020/the-journey--collective-intelligence--ci--to-understand-open-bur.html DESIGN ADAPT 4  https://openjicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/12345914.pdf 5  https://www.la.undp.org/content/lao_pdr/en/home/blog/2020/before-the-bins--what-s-really-going-on-.html 6  Sánchez-Triana, E. (2021). Environmental Challenges for Green Growth and Poverty Reduction. 7  Household waste management in the nation’s capital stands at only 27 percent, while the remaining 73 percent of households in the capital do not use municipal waste collection services, retrieved from: https://openjicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/12345914.pdf ​ 8  The service fee is relatively high (4 USD/month) when compared to the minimum wage of local people (80 USD/month) https://www.la.undp.org/ content/lao_pdr/en/home/blog/2020/the-journey--collective-intelligence--ci--to-understand-open-bur.html​ 9  According to several surveys on waste management conducted by The Asia Foundation in 2017 in rural areas of Khammouane province, 90 percent of respondents said they burned their waste https://asiafoundation.org/2017/04/19/love-laos-keep-clean/​ Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 6 7 Figure 3: Archetypes: the different dimensions Based on the literature review two hypotheses tradition or social norms, while others burn to fulfill that influence waste burning in households around open burning were stated: i) households certain purposes such as the need to maintain their have different levels of awareness in relation to the houses and front yards clean or saving the money negative outcomes of burning their waste, and ii) from the waste collection fee (see Figure 4). some households have the habit of burning based on • Small roads don’t allow waste • Formal collection charges extra • System of fines is not clear/ collection system to access every for organic waste transparent house • Open burning is free in practice • Illegal waste dumping • In Vientiane only 27% has contract with waste collectors. Similar rates • Waste pickers look for valuable for the rest of the country waste (e.g., metals, cardboard, etc.) • Low frequency & bad quality • High service fee for waste waste service generation (4 USD/month) OPEN WASTE COLLECTION SYSTEM FINANCIAL LEGAL BURNING FROM CONTEXT SOCIAL & INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AWARENESS & BELIEFS LAO HOUSEHOLDS • Open burning is a tradition • Lack of awareness of the consequences for health • Reporting others is burdensome • Animals spread the waste in the • Lack of trust in separation of waste, streets when left outside • Open burning is easier than as all ends up in same landfill recycling and disposing • Solid waste has doubled in • Plastic is considered a symbol past 10 years • 90% report burning trash of progress FACTORS SYMPTOM Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 8 9 Figure 4: Hypothetical Arquetypes: reasons we Even though the focus of the study was on the same waste container. Social norms and status think people burn their waste the households’ waste burning behavior, our quo may be factors impacting the lack of sustainable research , , suggests open burning is the outcome 10 11 12 management at home. Finally, since waste collection of a series of previous behaviors that lead to the doesn’t happen every day, waste is piled up and generation and poor management of waste. To households are faced with the decision to burn it, illustrate this, a journey map of the decision process dump it on the streets or wait the necessary time to BURNS BY HABITS of waste management was developed. The journey handle it to the collection trucks if available.   1 2 (Figure 5) illustrates the different stages of waste generation that lead to waste accumulation and   Outlining these stages of waste generation and burning, as well as the most frequent biases present management, uncovered the need to develop a during each stage. Modern consumption habits tend household survey to understand not only open to favor the purchase of several small plastic products, burning but also alternative behaviors tthat could that are barely reused once consumed and cannot help people rethink their consumer and waste be recovered by recyclable industries. Excessive management habits and shift them into sustainable cognitive load, as well as the focus on present needs alternatives over future needs (hyperbolic discounting), tend to become a barrier to a sustainable planification of People that think open burning is a People that think open burning is daily purchases. At home, households are not used useful solution to waste generation and dangerous but are not motivated to to segregating their waste and therefore throw it in HIGH AWARENESS LOW AWARENESS they have been doing it for generations. change their habits. 3 4 Z ZZ People that are not aware of the risks People that are aware of the risks of open of open burning and try to avoid the burning but believe its individual benefits inconvenience of having waste are higher than its consequences (e.g. money-saving, avoiding accumulating waste). BURNS WITH A PURPOSE 10  Desk review of online materials mentioned on page 3, as well as insights from key stakeholder’s interviews and relevant literature on behavioral science and waste management. 11  Hoensheid, M. (2021). Long-Term Effects When Educating Elementary Students on Waste Reduction in Minnesota. 12  OECD Report (2008). Household Behaviour and the Environment Reviewing the Evidence.  Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 10 11 Figure 5: Household decision journey in relation to generating and managing waste. 06. 01. CONSUMER HABITS Convenience Hyperbolic discounting 05. A Burning Issue 02. ACCESSING PARTIAL WASTE COLLECTION Using Behavioral Insights to DISPOSING WASTE Poor collection service Reduce Waste Burning in Laos Lack of awareness Lack of options Status quo 04. 03. CREATED BY HUMAN INDEED STUDIO EVALUATING OPTIONS FOLLOWING NORMS Mental accounting Bandwagon effect Present Bias No accountability structural and Addressingstructural Addressing and behavioral behavioralbarrier to recycle, barriers reduce, to recycle, reuseand rething waste and, rethink in Laoswaste in Laos will reduce reduce waste willburning, waste leadingburning. Thus, to a healthier it will and morelead to eco-friendly community. a healthier and more eco-friendly community. Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 12 13 Biases present during the journey of waste generation and disposal • Cognitive load: Our attention span and short-term memory have limited capacity to • Status-Quo Bias: The status quo bias is one type of cognitive bias that involves people process information and retain it. Factors such as too many stimuli in the environment, preferring that things stay as they are or that the current state of affairs remains the stress, or lack of sleep reduce people’s capacity to process and retain information. At the same. In waste management, habits and social norms tend to become a barrier to stores, when there are too many products to choose from, people will prefer those that behavioral change. are most salient and easy to access. • Present Bias: A tendency to skew our attention to the present over the future, leading • Hyperbolic discounting: We are inclined to choose immediate rewards over rewards that us to make short-term decisions, procrastinate on our long-term intentions, and adopt come later in the future, even when these immediate rewards are smaller. In this case, risky or unsustainable behaviors that are enjoyable, cheap or convenient now but may be people may choose small plastic products instead of bigger reusable packages that seem detrimental in the future. Burning waste may be chosen over keeping the waste until the more expensive in the short term but are cheaper in the long term. collection trucks come because it’s less burdensome and allows households to keep their house clean. • Bandwagon Effect: This is the tendency that causes people to think or act a certain way if they believe that others are doing the same. The bandwagon effect can influence people’s tendency to litter. For example, people are more likely to litter if they’re in an environmenthat’s already littered, and less likely to litter if they’re in an environment that’s clean. Based on this journey, and considering the practical limitations of online surveys, the team decided to focus on stages 3 to 5 of the journey to understand household habits and beliefs that lead them to choose between sustainable behaviors (recycling, reusing and composting) or burning waste.  Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 14 15 DESIGN Figure 6: Theory of change Once defined the problem and objectives, a introduction section, an explanation of the SHORT-TERM MEDIUM-TERM questionnaire was developed in order to survey survey and informed consent were outlined. PROBLEM ACTIVITIES RESULTS RESULTS the household’s most important barriers to Relevant information about waste collection sustainable behaviors and test the framing of access, location and education level was asked Lack of awareness Messages oriented Increased knowledge different messages to discourage open burning. in the background section. The experimental of the dangers of to highlights and increase intention. section included different messages regarding open burning. the negative The main hypotheses were that the lack of consequences of the consequences of waste burning, which awareness of the negative consequences of open burning. were randomized among respondents open burning and the lack of better alternatives (See Implement and Evaluate section). The to fulfill their objectives (clean their homes, save following two sections tested the respondents’ waste collection money) led them to burn their DECREASE beliefs and commitments in relation to open waste. Therefore, messages targeting those burning and sustainable behaviors such as IN OPEN barriers would help change beliefs, increase reusing, recycling, and composting. Finally, the Lack of options Messages oriented to Increased knowledge BURNING intentions, and promote alternative behaviors to avoid burning. highlight alternatives on ecofriendly last section of the survey focused on current to decrease waste related to reusing, recycling, composting and alternatives + behaviors and needs concerning open burning. generation. thus avoiding waste burning. increased intentions. One week after the first part of the survey The survey consisted of two parts with a total was completed, people received a second set of 22 questions. The first part of the survey was of questions about their last week’s behaviors separated into seven sections: i) introduction in terms of reusing, recycling, composting and ii) background questions, iv) experimental burning. messages intervention v) belief questions vi) intention questions vii) final questions. In the Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 16 17 Experimental design Treatments 2,3, 4 and 5 included a vignette where a character called Noy was introduced as a waste the survey, participants received a message asking if they agreed to be re-contacted. For those who burner and the respondent was asked to choose a agreed, the second part was sent over the same For section iv, five experimental messages targeting behaviors to burning such as using the collection reason to tell Noy to stop burning. Before choosing chat on Facebook Messenger one week after. behavioral barriers were designed. Treatment 1 system, reusing, recycling, and composting (See the reason, a picture with a message was displayed showed an informational message on alternative Figure 7). The advantage of the algorithm is that it allowed (see figure 8). Depending on the treatment arm some recruitment of hard-to-reach subpopulations assigned to each respondent a different message in order to make the sample more representative of would show. Each respondent of the survey Laos. As the survey is rolled-out, algorithms ensure would be randomly allocated to one of these five that the ads focus on the clusters that are below Figure 7: Treatment 1: informational message treatment messages or a control (no message) their expected population share (i.e. male, above condition. The rest of the sections were identical for 50, from Vientiane). The ad budget was reallocated all respondents. as surveys were completed, to optimize the share The survey was collected through social media via of respondents in each cluster while achieving the “ Facebook Messenger, in partnership with Virtual Lab, which created the optimization algorithm and survey chatbot. Participants 18 years and older were total desired sample and staying within budget. With the Messenger chatbot, we were able to reach the respondents without asking personal or sensitive As I said before, my job is to share recommendations to have recruited using Facebook ads and targeted by age, questions in a friendly and user-known interface. a better environment. By the way, did you know there are options gender, and region. If they clicked on the ad, they to waste burning that might help us all generate less waste? were taken to a chatbot in Facebook Messenger, where they completed the survey. After finishing For example:  • Use the system if it is available to you.   Figure 8: The images were included in the experimental section. • Compost: Use food and organic waste to enrich the soil and plants.  • Recycle: Give the recyclables to waste pickers or recyclable companies.  Treatment 2: Treatment 3: Treatment 4: Treatment 5: PRESCRIPTIVE NORMS HEALTH COSTS SOCIAL RESPONSABILITY MONETARY BENEFITS • Reuse: refill containers and bottles, carry reusable bags in the market, avoid single-use plastics.  Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 18 19 IMPLEMENT & EVALUATE Main results Our sample consisted mainly of young, educated The first part of the survey was launched in February to collect more answers. people from Lao PDR. Forty percent of our sample 2022, and the second part was programmed to be was between 18 and 29 years old, 59 percent were All respondents received the same survey questions launched one week after the respondents finished males, and 90 percent had incomplete secondary except for the experimental section which was the first part. The survey was promoted in the education or above. Forty percent of the sample randomized across users that started the chatbot. Facebook® platform where it reached 1,438,786 was from Vientiane Capital while the remaining 60 Each respondent had a 14.3 percent chance of people, of which 5,217 clicked on the ad and 3,169 percent was from the rest of 65 % getting each of the five treatment arms or a 28.6 completed the survey. From that sample, only 2,924 the country. percent chance of not getting any of them (control accepted to be contacted the following week and group). Results showed that 7 out of 1,920 completed the second part of the survey. 10 households generate two Those who finished both surveys entered a raffle or fewer bags of waste a week, of respondents used the waste collection for a ₭500,000 top-up phone card as an incentive and when asked what they services, recycled, or reused their waste, had done with their waste in Figure 9: The advertisement on Facebook the past week 65 percent of which shows that a good amount of people respondents used the waste practice sustainable behaviors. collection services, recycled, or reused their waste, which shows that a good amount of people practice sustainable behaviors. Thirty-two percent of the total sample mentioned that in general waste was burned in their homes and this was more pronounced for those who do not have waste collection access13. In terms of frequency, 22 percent reported having burned a few times in the past week, while 78 percent reported that they did not burn at all. 13  Since the data collection was carried out through Facebook, the sample of respondents was skewed towards young, educated people, which indicates we should be careful when extrapolating the data to the country’s population. Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 20 21 Figure 10: Green circles show the percentage of people that have access to waste Within our sample, one in three people did not have don’t burn more recyclables. collection systems and those who do not. Orange circles show the percentage waste collection service. This is important since our 70 percent of those who burn, do it in their backyard, of people that burn waste and those who do not within each group. survey shows that using waste collection services highlighting the private modality of this behavior. strongly predicts waste burning:​ 53 percent among those that do not have this service report burning When asked for the reasons to burn waste: 32 compared to 22 percent that have it (see Figure percent of those who burn responded that they did 10).​When asked why they did not have the service, it to keep a clean house; 22 percent did not know the top reason was lack of availability. Still, 1 in 4 other alternatives; 14 percent did it because people respondents mention lack of awareness, high costs, around them do it; and 13 percent did it because of and other reasons as the causes of not having it.​ a lack of access to collection service. The rest (18 32% percent) chose other reasons. 53% 47% In addition, those who have waste collection reported burning more organics while those who DO NOT HAVE WASTE BURN DO NOT WASTE BURN WASTE COLLECTION SERVICE Figure 11: Type of materials burned. 68% 78% Without WC With WC 40 DO NOT HAVE WASTE BURN WASTE 30 COLLECTION SERVICE 20 10 22% BURN WASTE 0 19% ORGANIC 25% 21% RECYCLABLE 17% 12% 6% A MIX OF THEM Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 22 23 Experimental results Results from the experiment showed that different who do not have access, while they were in those who framings on messages can influence beliefs, intentions have. In general terms, focusing the communication and behaviors. However, they impact differently in on the health consequences and monetary costs of people with or without waste collection services. In burning waste showed greater impact in changing terms of behaviors, having access matters: messages beliefs and intentions regarding burning and other were not successful in changing behaviors in those waste management practices than other framing. PEOPLE WITH WASTE COLLECTION SERVICE PEOPLE WITHOUT WASTE COLLECTION SERVICE • People mostly think about air pollution when making recommendations. This means the consequences of burning tend to be detached from personal consequences. The experiment refined people’s concepts about burning since messages increased HOW THE awareness about damages to the environment and illegality as well as to the personal • The experiment refined people’s concepts about burning 2 of the 5 messages DIFFERENT costs to their health and financial costs.​ successfully increased the belief that burning is bad for health in seven percent​ MESSAGES • More personalized messages seem to work well:​ relative to no message. IMPACTED 1. The message focusing on health costs increased the belief that stopping burning BELIEFS:​ waste is important by six percent in comparison to no message condition. 2. The message focusing on monetary benefits increased the belief that burning is bad for health by seven percent.​ HOW THE • The experiment shifted people’s intentions to stop burning and manage waste correctly:​ DIFFERENT 1. The information message made people commit more to stop burning​ MESSAGES • Messages tested were not successful at changing intentions​ 2. Both messages on monetary benefits and health costs made people commit more IMPACTED to reusing and avoiding single-use plastics INTENTIONS: HOW THE • Messages encouraged people to try other WM methods:​ • Messages tested are not successful at changing burning waste behaviors in general. DIFFERENT 1. Three of the five messages successfully increased the reuse of materials and • The message about health costs increased reuse practices and reduced use of single-use MESSAGES avoidance of single-use plastics by eight percent relative to no message​ . plastics. The prescriptive norm message also reduced the use of single-usee plastics. IMPACTED 2. Monetary benefits message increased recycling and composting, seven BEHAVIORS:​ percent and ten percent. Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 24 24 What do people LEARN AND ADAPT need to stop Results from the survey suggest that different types types of personas should be receiving different of respondents have particular beliefs, intentions interventions according to their preferences. These and behaviors. In light of the results, five types personas are non-exclusive, which means that a burning waste? of personas were characterized. A persona is a singular person can be characterized by more than characterization of an average type of respondent one persona and that some characteristics may be with particular beliefs and behaviors. Different shared by different personas. Figure 12. This graph shows how the different Personas are ordered according Better waste collection time, closer points of two dimensions: burning and accessing waste collection services. NO WASTE COLLECTION service and communal composting sites could help . Information can also help. reducing burning​ The Follow The perceived high costs of the service is more Your Neighbor The Money . relevant among those with waste collection service​ Mindful DO NOT BURN The Uninformed BURN . Fines are not perceived as useful​ The Ones Who Needs Access + The No-Burner WITH WASTE COLLECTION Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 27 The No-Burners The Follow Your Neighbor 68% of the sample 4% of the sample This is the group of people that do not burn waste​​ . They tend to be older, living in small households They are influenced by social norms, and report burning because family and friends do it. It (<5 persons), in Vientiane or large cities, and with high education levels.​They do have suggestions for is integrated by young people, living in large households (>5 persons), in the rural areas with low those who burn. Particularly, they choose to highlight that it is illegal to burn​​ . They commit to recycling but education level.​In the experiment they do not have a suggestion.​They commit to compost but not are reluctant of composting. recycle and did not implement any of them. They also burn waste weekly. The government should focus on enabling them to help others around WM. This can be achieved by The government team should focus on highlighting other groups’ (such as the No-Burners) facilitating venues for community interaction or knowledge exchange and making visible this group’s positive behaviors in terms of waste management, and make it accessible to these personas, in contribution to Laos sustainability. order to influence them. The Uninformed The Money Mindful 18% of the sample 10% of the sample They burn waste because they do not know how to access the waste collection system; do not think They burn waste because they do not want to pay collection fees or are not able to pay them. It they need it; are unaware of the harm of burning waste or do not know how to handle the waste. This . In the experiment, they don’t have a is integrated mostly by young, female, living in rural areas​ group is integrated by young people living in rural areas with low education levels.​In the experiment, suggestion as much as the other personas.​Only five percent think that burning waste in Laos is they choose to not give a suggestion and are averse to responding that burning waste is illegal. ​ They do bad for health, similar to all the other personas. They commit to compost but not recycle and did not think burning waste in Laos is bad for health as much as the other personas. They tend to generate not implement them. two or fewer bags of waste weekly and actually compost more and recycle less than the other personas.  The focus should be on providing information about the costs, emphasizing savings, personal The focus should be on offering them information about how to manage their waste and best practices and social benefit of waste collection services. Make more salient comparison between service in terms of segregation and disposal. In addition, they should be taught the benefits of not burning costs and monetary, health and social costs of burning waste.​ waste. ​ The Ones Who Need Access+ ​ 24% of the sample This group presents similar characteristics to The Uninformed, but the main reason they burn waste is that they don’t have access to waste collection or part of their waste gets rejected. It is integrated mostly . In the experiment, they choose not to suggest anything and by young males living in rural areas​​ They do not think it is important to stop burning are averse of responding that burning waste is illegal. ​​ waste in Laos as much as the other personas. The focus should be on bringing access and information on waste management alternatives and benefits of not burning waste.​ Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 28 29 FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS Our recommendations are based on strategies that have been applied and tested in different contexts and are recommended for Lao PDR in light of the survey results: How to communicate with people: 01. Leverage positive emotions and social norms: Taking care of the environment, one’s community, home or health, can be a strong motivator for behavioral change. Make use of The No-Burners to highlight new social norms. 02. Tailor messages to each persona bearing into account their preferences and beliefs (see table 1). Each persona has different access to the waste collection system and their influences and attitudes differ. Personalizing the communication on how to manage with waste can increase the probability of having the desired impact. 03. Focus on the benefits of not burning waste. Results show many people do not know about the personal costs of burning, and the alternative behaviors that can replace the habit of burning. Communications should emphasize the benefits of recycling, reusing and composting. Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 31 Table 1: How to design communications for the different Personas, so communications and policies can be effectively targeted. The The  The Ones Who The Follow  The Money  No-Burners Uninformed Need Access +​ Your Neighbor Mindful ​ Communication design elements​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Facts about burning waste​ • • • • • Social norms​ ​ ​ ​ • ​ Helping others in their communities​ • ​ ​ ​ ​ Information about composting​ • ​ ​ • • Information about recycling​ ​ • • • • Information about reusing​ • ​ ​ • ​ How to properly use waste collection system​ ​ • • ​ ​ Cost-benefit analysis​ ​ • ​ ​ •  Non communication solutions​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Improve waste collection access​ ​ ​ • ​ ​ Better collection times and points of service​ • ​ • ​ ​ Communal composting sites​ • ​ ​ • • Cheaper service​ ​ ​ ​ ​ • Fines (low priority)​ ​ ​ • ​ • Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 32 33 Recommendations of the waste collection service in general: 01. Improve access to the waste collection system​and composting sites, especially in rural areas. 02. Improve frequency and points of service of the collection service where the system is already working. 03. Refine fees model. People will pay for the service when they believe the fee reflects the quality of the service. . Waste management is 04. Revise Waste Collection service practices​ a systemic issue that has to be solved in a systemic way. Private companies in waste collection, as well as start-ups that focus on sustainable alternatives, should be brought to the table to guarantee that the point of view of every stakeholder is included in the discussion. 05. Explore social mechanisms to increase popular participation (educate people with games at schools, churches, and other institutions along . with relevant community activities)​ Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 34 The recommendations and the journey As seen in this report, this study found that different groups emerge in terms of access to the waste collection system and the reasons they do not use it and they burn their waste. Our research highlights an important opportunity: most people commit to stop burning waste and implementing good practices for waste management. In general, people are aware of the consequences of burning waste, but lack alternatives to do otherwise. Messages may be able to modify some behaviors but other actions such as improving the waste collection system and providing alternative options to manage waste are essential. PHASE 1 PHASE 2 PHASE 3 PHASE 4 PHASE 5 CONSUMER DISPOSING FOLLOWING EVALUATING ACCESING PARTIAL HABITS WASTE NORMS OPTIONS WASTE COLLECTION • Increase awareness on sustan- • Increase awareness of different • Highlight the No-Burners • Refine fees model for each kind • Improve the waste collection able behaviors options of waste management habits & experience of persona system and composting sites according to personas • Develop economic benefits for • Make use of influential • People will pay for the service • Improve frequency and choosing alternatives to plastic • Facilitate bins for separation figures to promote when they believe the fee re- points of service for collection and composting sustanable behaviors flects the quality of the service • Develop incentives to • Make clear how it works producers for eliminating • Increase awareness on the per- • Explore social • Evaluate the role of informal plastic in products sonal consequences of burning mechanisms to increase workers and community popular participation organizations  (educate people with games at schools, churches, and other institutions along with relevant community activities) Behavioral Insights to Reduce Open Waste Burning in Lao PDR 36 37 ABOUT eMBeD The Mind, Behavior, and Development Unit (eMBeD), the World Bank’s behavioral science team in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice, works closely with project teams, governments, and other partners to diagnose, design, and evaluate behaviorally informed interventions. By collaborating with a worldwide network of scientists and practitioners, the eMBeD team provides answers to important economic and social questions and contributes to the global effort to eliminate poverty and enhance equity.