You may have noticed something new sprouting up around bins in Chippenham over the past week: green footprints guiding the way.
This low cost anti-litter initiative was first trialled in Copenhagen, where it successfully reduced litter by 46%. Other cities and towns in the UK have followed suit: Cardiff. Sutton-in-Ashfield. Shrewsbury. And now Chippenham.
The idea behind this “nudge”, in part, is that it calls attention to the location of bins. As discussed previously, bins in the UK tend to be camouflaged black or dark green – it’s almost like we’re afraid to draw attention to the fact we produce waste. Bright and bold, red post boxes and telephone booths don’t suffer from this tendency! The footprints also act as a visible illustration of what the social norm should be: rubbish in the bin, not the street.
We owe a big thank you to Steve from Chippenham Town Council for his help in getting these in placed, and to Chippenham Town Council, Wiltshire Council, and Chippenham BID for their continued support as we begin to trial no-cost and low-cost methods of litter reduction. More appreciation goes to our wonderful volunteers who are keeping an eye on the test locations so we can record whether the footprints make a difference. And finally, a big hand to Beverly Walker for spearheading the Clean Up Chippenham campaign.
Pardon the pun, but we hope that this is the first step towards a number of activities that we will carry out in Chippenham, making it a cleaner place for everyone to enjoy.
Photo by Sarah Barker (@KermitcarCacher)