Understanding how Zero Waste Scotland can better engage the nation

The Scottish Government declared a climate emergency, thus committing the country to urgent action to deliver by 2030. Within this, Zero Waste Scotland plays a crucial role in educating, motivating and encouraging lifestyle changes to support this goal and minimise impact to the environment. 

Research was required to understand consumer awareness, understanding and perceptions of the following brands: Zero Waste Scotland, Love Food Hate Waste and Recycle for Scotland. The output was used to shape how the brands and communications speak to consumers in the most effective and motivating way. 

To achieve this Union Insight conducted a 2 stage approach to ensure both reach and breadth, as well as depth of understanding. 

Stage 1 consisted of inviting respondents to a week-long study on an online platform where we were able to understand needs, behaviors and questions with regards to the climate crisis. Respondents could utilise technology to respond to various tasks via video, written response and photos to help illustrate their point of view or lives. This method also allowed us to spread recruitment across Scotland covering hard to reach areas like the highlands and islands. 

Following on from the online discussion we conducted face to face group workshop sessions with fresh participants uninvolved in stage 1. Bringing together multiple participants is ideal for promoting discussion and debate around the brands and delving into how they make people feel emotionally. A group session meant ideas could be shared and debated prompting thought and discussion into areas not spontaneously considered on an individual level, resulting in greater depth and understanding. Within each session we covered 3 different consumer groups each with a different moderator. This had the benefit of allowing debate and discussion within a group but also an added level of feedback by sharing across groups, which then meant we could compare and contrast.