Littering behavior

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The two-stage process model of littering behaviour describes the different ways in which people litter. The model was proposed by Chris Sibley and James Liu, and differentiates between two types of littering: active and passive. The distinction between active (e.g., someone drops litter on the ground and continues walking) and passive littering (e.g., someone drops litter on a bench while seated and fails to remove it when subsequently leaving) depends on the latency between (a) when the litter is placed in the environment and (b) failure to remove that litter when vacating the territory (see Table 1).

The theory has important implications for understanding the different types of litter reduction interventions that will most effectively reduce littering in a given environment. The theory states that, all things being equal, passive littering will be more resistant to change, because of two psychological processes: 1. diffusion of responsibility that increases as the latency between when an individual places litter in the environment and when they vacate the territory, and 2. forgetting, which is also more likely to occur at longer delays between when an individual places litter in the environment and when they vacate the territory.

[edit] References

• Sibley, C. G., & Liu, J. H. (2003). Differentiating active and passive littering: A two-stage process model of littering behavior in public spaces. Environment and Behavior, 35, 415-433.