Persuasive Technology for Appealing to the Motivation of Chinese for Garbage Classification

Abstract: The amount of garbage is rapidly increasing in China  nowadays, which has led to severe environmental  problems. Garbage recycling is imperative in dealing with the problem and garbage classification plays an essential role in the recycling process. However, most Chinese have weak awareness of garbage classification. Therefore, how to motivate Chinese to classify garbage correctly has been of concern. Persuasive technology is used to intentionally change user’s behaviors or/and attitudes by designed persuasion. This project is aimed at exploring whether persuasive technology can be employed to appeal to the motivation of Chinese for garbage classification. Persuasive strategy in this thesis is based on literature research. Besides, a prototype is developed to implement the persuasive strategy. Through user testing and interviews, it shows that persuasive technology can indeed appeal to the users’ motivation for garbage classification.