Challenge
Waste management faces unprecedented challenges – exacerbated by climate change, increasing consumption patterns, dwindling natural resources, and inconsistent recycling practices across member states. The European Commission launched an initiative to harmonize recycling practices across the EU.
Moxie specializes in facilitating participatory workshops, helping teams test ideas, and conducting research with people who are experiencing the challenge at hand. Moxie was selected to facilitate the Austrian component of this multi-country project. The collaboration focused on understanding citizens' perspectives and co-designing waste sorting systems that would work effectively across diverse European contexts.
The goal was to engage citizens in their own experiences, uncovering barriers to effective recycling so that the European Commission could develop standardized waste sorting systems that would be intuitive and accessible for all Europeans.
“It was clear to citizens in Austria that companies needed to step up and take the lead on sustainability. If businesses focus on reducing packaging and choosing sustainable materials, we can make a much bigger impact. Moreover, knowing that companies are doing all that they can to create products with sustainable materials motivated citizens to recycle."
The Client
The European Commission, through its EU Policy Lab, sought to harmonize waste sorting labels across all member states to improve recycling rates and reduce confusion among citizens.
The EU Commission recognized that for any standardized labeling system to succeed, it needed to be co-designed with citizens from various backgrounds and contexts across the EU, reflecting their real-world experiences and needs.
The European Commission selected six member states for this project: Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Greece, and Poland. These countries were chosen to reflect the diversity of Europe in terms of recycling rates, waste sorting methods, population characteristics, and existing approaches to waste sorting labeling.
Client Collaboration in the Research
The EU Commission developed a prototype for harmonized waste sorting labels based on prior research and the labeling system in Nordic countries.
Moxie was responsible for facilitating the Austrian citizen engagement workshops, collaborating closely with the EU Policy Lab team, the broader consortium and Austrian citizens.
Approach
The project engaged 245 EU citizens across the six member states through 12 collaborative workshops. In Austria, 50 citizens participated in activities to co-design waste sorting labels that would work effectively for their country.
Each workshop followed the methodology below:
- Label assessment: Participants rated each label in the prototype according to different key dimensions like accessibility and comprehension
- Idea generation: Small groups brainstormed new and improved ideas for waste labeling systems
- Concept development: Each group selected one idea and developed it into a concept using sketches and journey maps
- Presentation and discussion: Collective reflections in the larger group to gather further insights and share ideas across the group
This participatory approach gave space for citizens' voices to directly react and develop the design of the waste sorting system.
Workshop Facilitation Techniques
Moxie used a variety of facilitation techniques to encourage active participation and creative thinking:
- Listening Moments: Creating space for citizens to share frustrations and challenges with current recycling systems
- Visual Thinking: Using sketching and visual mapping to help participants share ideas
- Structured Brainstorming: Guiding ideation with frameworks that encouraged both creative and practical solutions
- Collaborative Prototyping: Supporting groups in building on each other's ideas
Capturing Austrian Perspectives
Through our facilitation, several key themes emerged from the Austrian workshops:
- Corporate Responsibility: Austrian citizens strongly emphasized that companies need to take the lead on sustainability, focusing on reducing packaging and choosing sustainable materials.
- Transparency as Motivation: Participants noted that they were more motivated to recycle when they knew companies were doing their part to create products with sustainable materials.
- System Integration: Ideas for how labeling systems could connect with broader sustainability efforts and circular economy principles.
Cross-Country Perspectives
Following the workshops, we collaborated with facilitators from the other five countries to identify patterns and differences in citizen perspectives across the EU. This synthesized information was crucial for the European Commission to understand the diverse needs that a harmonized system would need to address.
Below is a glimpse of some of the insights from across the EU:
- Czech Republic: Citizens welcomed harmonized waste labels but stressed the importance of simplicity and comprehensive information resources.
- Estonia: Participants emphasized the need for intuitive, accessible, and minimalistic designs with features for digital guidance.
- Greece: Citizens connected recycling with broader climate action and advocated for education and awareness campaigns.
- Italy: Participants highlighted the importance of education and incentives to form recycling habits early.
- Poland: Citizens focused on simplicity, early education, and effective communication about the impact of waste sorting.
Impact
Participatory Design Success:
The project successfully engaged 245 citizens across six EU member states, demonstrating the value of including citizen perspectives in policy development. Our facilitation approach in Austria ensured that citizens felt heard and valued as contributors to EU-wide policy.
Integration into Prototype Development:
The insights gathered from all workshops, including our work in Austria, are being analyzed alongside results from a citizen survey involving more than 16,000 participants from 21 Member States. This data is directly informing the iteration of the prototype for harmonized waste sorting labels.
Ongoing Policy Development:
The European Commission is using these insights to develop a standardized waste sorting labeling system that:
- Reflects the real-world experiences of citizens across diverse EU contexts
- Addresses the need for corporate accountability alongside consumer action
- Creates intuitive, accessible labels that work across cultural and linguistic barriers
- Supports broader circular economy goals
This project demonstrates the power of participatory design approaches in creating effective environmental policies. By centering the experiences of citizens, the European Commission is developing waste sorting labels that have the potential to significantly improve recycling rates across the EU while acknowledging the systemic nature of sustainability challenges.
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