'Big mother is watching' in new Weymouth bin campaign

The 'tut tut tut' of Grandma's disapproval has made it's way onto the side of 40 Weymouth bins.

'Be a sweetie, bin your wrapper' and 'Nan says "Thanks for keeping Weymouth lovely" are plastered across the town.

It's a joint scheme from five organisations aimed at reminding us that 'big mother is watching' as we toss aside empty crisp packets.

Dorset Council are working with the company behaviourchange.org on the project which looks at confectionary litter (chocolate, crisps and sweet packaging). This is a partnership project between; Mars Wrigley, Behaviour Change.org, Keep Britain Tidy, Litter Free Dorset and Dorset Council.

The project is a testing behaviour change theory by installing artwork on general litter bins in Weymouth town centre.

The full-funded trial that will be rigorously evaluated by Keep Britain Tidy including litter audits, perception surveys and behaviour monitoring.

It builds on two insights from research with litterers; that feeling observed makes them think twice about litter (especially if it's by a family member), and that a little bit of humour is more effective than wagging the finger judgementally.

Marten Gregory is a recycling and street-seeing team leader for Dorset's Waste Team. He said:

"We hope people see it as a little bit of fun. Mars Wrigley were very keen that we do some research and establish if we can change people's behaviour in relation to confectionary litter, particularly targetting the younger audience.

"So they've come up with this nans artwork where people feel they may be watched and perhaps can associate with someone in their own family as a sort of means to perhaps dissuade them from littering sweets and wrappers et cetera.

"It's just a handy reminder to remind people to place litter in the right place i.e. the bin, or even better if the bin's full, take it home."

Not everyone will be a fan of the new artwork, but Marten says it's just a trial.

"These things are just being tested. Keep Britain Tidy are doing the monitoring and evaluation to see if it makes a difference.

"If we don't try these things then we can't look forward to future campaigns. We really need to see if this type of messaging works.

"Some people won't like it, some people will, but the main thing is to see if it makes a difference because it's really important that we manage to keep our streets as clean as possible."