The Waste and Circular Economy Collaboration led by BehaviourWorks Australia (BWA) and its partners explored how behavioural insights can be used to encourage households, businesses and the Australian community to avoid, reduce, reuse and recycle waste, improving the liveability and sustainability of our cities and regions.
The Collaboration leveraged the combined missions, reach, resources and expertise of the following BWA Consortium partners: Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water; the Victorian Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action; Sustainability Victoria; Environment Protection Authority Victoria; and NSW Environment Protection Authority, with contributions from the NSW Department of Planning, Industry, and Environment.
Research streams
Three streams of research were conducted between 2019-2021. Follow the links below to learn more about these research streams and access publicly available research outputs.
Waste Collaboration Stream 1 - Kerbside Recycling Contamination
Waste Collaboration Stream 2 - Effectiveness of product labelling schemes
Waste Collaboration Stream 3 - Business barriers to circular economy approaches
Impact stories
How has this collaboration impacted individuals, groups, and communities so far? Check out our 'Impact Stories' page to read more on our real-world contributions, the significance of these outcomes, and testimonials from our industry partners and other participatory stakeholders.
Read our impact stories
Find out more
You can read about the approach used to identify the research agenda in Chapter 2 of the BehaviourWorks Method book.
The Method Book, Chapter 2
Prefer to hear it? Listen to a 17-minute excerpt (Mp3) from a podcast interview conducted by the Collaborating Centre for Sustainable Consumption's Academy of Change, EU, with Project Founder, Dr. Stefan Kaufman.
Listen to the podcast
Got questions? Contact our Program Founder, Dr Stefan Kaufman directly, here, or email us at behaviourworksaustralia@monash.edu.
Please also consider giving feedback at the bottom of this page once you have reviewed the outputs; and if the research made a difference for you or your organisation, please share the story at the bottom of the page.
Help us improve this initiative
Has the BWA Waste and Circular Economy Collaboration made a difference for you?
Please feel free to visit the program web page if you want to refresh your understanding of the program or access key reports (see below) before proceeding.
Other major projects
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