Behavioral economics and the design of a dual-flush toilet. Arocha, J. S. & McCann, L. M. J. Journal (American Water Works Association), 105(2):E73–E83, 2013. abstract bibtex Dual-flush toilets, which use a high-volume flush for solid waste and a lower-volume flush for liquid waste, can reduce water consumption. Behavioral economics was used to analyze the design of the dual-flush mechanism for the Sloan Uppercut® toilet. The default option, pushing the handle down, results in a large flush. Because Americans have been “conditioned” to push a toilet handle down, it was expected that most users would push it down out of habit. A field experiment measuring up versus down flushes in eight women's toilets in a municipal building confirmed this expectation. Although Sloan predicted a 2:1 urination-to-defecation ratio, the observed ratio during the control period was 1:4, i.e. the ratio was the opposite of what would occur if people used the toilets correctly. Adding signage to each stall only increased the ratio to 2:5, emphasizing the importance of the default.
@article{arocha_behavioral_2013,
title = {Behavioral economics and the design of a dual-flush toilet},
volume = {105},
issn = {0003-150X},
abstract = {Dual-flush toilets, which use a high-volume flush for solid waste and a lower-volume flush for liquid waste, can reduce water consumption. Behavioral economics was used to analyze the design of the dual-flush mechanism for the Sloan Uppercut® toilet. The default option, pushing the handle down, results in a large flush. Because Americans have been “conditioned” to push a toilet handle down, it was expected that most users would push it down out of habit. A field experiment measuring up versus down flushes in eight women's toilets in a municipal building confirmed this expectation. Although Sloan predicted a 2:1 urination-to-defecation ratio, the observed ratio during the control period was 1:4, i.e. the ratio was the opposite of what would occur if people used the toilets correctly. Adding signage to each stall only increased the ratio to 2:5, emphasizing the importance of the default.},
number = {2},
journal = {Journal (American Water Works Association)},
author = {Arocha, Jade S. and McCann, Laura M. J.},
year = {2013},
pages = {E73--E83},
}
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