Having a world class business school on campus has proven to be a great benefit to sustainability efforts at HKUST. When it came time to review and assess the effectiveness of the recycling program on campus, a group of MBA students from the Net Impact student group were eager to help. Taking our needs as the basis for a class project for Prof van der Lans' Marketing Research course, the group set out to assess the current student perspectives and attitudes towards recycling on campus.

 

The goal for the group was to identify the significance of various barriers to student recycling behavior. In other words, we know that some students do now participate in recycling efforts. Why not? The team facilitated several focus groups to develop a conceptual model, and then designed an online survey which was completed by more than 660 undergraduate students, representing roughly 8% of the UG student population.

 

The results were striking; they found that the majority of our students come to the university already with a certain degree of knowledge about recycling. However, they also found that this primary knowledge does not necessarily translate into recycling behavior. Why? First, they found that some students are still not convinced that recycling materials can make a difference. Many were suspicious that recyclable materials were ending up in the landfill anyway, or that recycling was not creating any net improvements. Neither of these suspicions are true, but the fact that some students feel this way was a good indication of how to redirect internal marketing efforts. Secondly, the team found that over two-thirds of students were willing to recycle, but most of them simply needed the containers to be more convenient. 

 

These and the other insights from the MBA student group helped redefine the way the university looks at recycling strategies. The results were critical in developing new designs for the recycling bins, as well as new thinking on bin placement and infrastructure. The study demonstrated how hands-on experiences for students can produce meaningful results for the university. We did not ask what grades the students received for their work, but we give them a solid A+ (and with gratitude).