We have been running tours of a waste management facility for over 10 years. Demand is as high as ever from school groups and community groups. How can we evaluate the tours to understand their impact on sustainable behaviour in our community? What should we look at when we are thinking about how the impact of the tours can be amplified?
That’s great to hear that demand is as high as ever. The tours must be high-quality.
First and foremost, you will need to start with a clear idea of which sustainable behaviors you wish to promote during the tour. Do you want participants to recycle better? Reuse items? Repair items? To gauge the impact of the tours, you may consider conducting a pre- and post-tour survey. The pre-survey, that is a survey taken before the tour, is to gather baseline data on waste diversion behaviors. The same survey can be given to the same people a few weeks and/or months after the tour to see if behaviors have shifted over time. If your results indicate that the tour is successful in shifting behaviors, provide that feedback to participants to reinforce those behaviors. In terms of amplifying impact, consider choosing one or two influencers from each community group to take compelling photos and share them on social media. Remember that the first element of persuasion is to capture attention. Your photos could do that and reach a wider audience at the same time. I hope this helps.