Incentives for Environmentalism - II

The custodial staff recently outfitted each of our offices with new sets recycle bins and trash cans. In contrast to the previous receptacle regime, our new trash bin is about 1/3 - 1/4 the size of the recycle bin. The total volume of the former is equivalent to the space occupied by 6 soda cans: its super small.

I'm pretty sure that giving us a much smaller trash bin is part of a larger effort to get us to recycle more. I think the incentive works in two ways. First, space constraints in smaller bin encourage the user to recycle things that he/she normally would have thrown away. This is even more powerful in a setting where there are real opportunity costs to getting up and finding a larger trash bin (after all, researchers are loathe to leave their desks when in the middle of an engrossing problem!). Second, placing a much larger recycle bin next to the trash bin may send some implicit (subconscious?) signals about the relative importance of recycling over convenience. (Tsk, Tsk, how can you throw that away when there is so much space left in that big recycling bin!)

I've noticed a change in my behavior along both of these lines: I now try to recycle everything I possibly can because space in the trash bin has become much more valuable. (I could get around the constraints by a) walking 20 feet to the larger trash receptacle or b) using the trash bin in the neighboring professor's office. I'm too lazy to do (a) and going through with (b) would be weird.)

Perhaps more interesting, I also feel guilty putting things in the trash bin when there is a large, unfilled recycling bin right next to it.

What are your thoughts on this? Could we scale this intervention up to a larger level? Has that already been tried?