Public Space Signage
Signs are an important tool to communicate the behaviours we want to see right in the place they are meant to take place. But not all signs are created equal, and not all are effective. Below, we explore how to get the most out of signage.
Better Practices
In crowded areas with multiple distractions, it is important to provide signage that can be easily seen from a distance. The use of bright colours and banners/flags can be effective in notifying the location of the bins to users. Bins that are blocked from view and/or located in shielded places can be visually enhanced by having signage posted just above the bins.
Banners need to be located close to the bins and large enough to be seen from a distance. Avoid objects that obstruct their view.
SHARED EXPERIENCE
One of the goals of the 34th America’s Cup, held in San Francisco, California in 2013, was to reduce the event’s environmental footprint. The event featured recycling and composting stations with newly designed signage. The recycling and composting stations used many examples of attention grabbing signage including flags, banners and colour coded signs and bins. The bins were colour coded to the activity (blue for recycling, green for composting and black for garbage) and supported by clear and attractive signage that was large and easy to see from a distance. During the event, 98% of waste was diverted from disposal.
When designing signage for public space bins keep in mind that the information conveyed to the user must allow them to make a decision in seconds. In a pilot project undertaken by York Region, surveyed park users indicated they spent fewer than five seconds reviewing signage on recycling and organic bins before deciding where to toss materials. “People are in ‘thinking-fast’ frame of mind when interacting with people or objects in public spaces. This mode of thinking means that decisions are based on emotion and gut reaction, not considered thought. This limits the amount of time that a recycling station has to engage with the user.”
To help facilitate the “quick” decision making process, it is important to use easily recognized, standardized messages such as “Garbage”, “Recycling”, “Organics” that most of the public understand. Avoid using industry jargon, such as “co-mingled” or “compostable”. Even the terms “Containers” and “Fibres” can cause confusion and may be interpreted to mean boxes, textiles, or food packaging. Terms such as “Bottles and Cans” and “Paper” result in less confusion and reduce the potential for misinterpretation.
Did you know? Some communities are replacing the term “Garbage” with “Landfill”, which acts as a stronger cue to the material’s final destination. Using signs and signals to remind people to act in a desired manner is called a prompt in community based social marketing.
Specific colours have become universally recognized, in North America, in denoting waste diversion activities, such as blue for recycling, green for organics/composting and black for garbage/landfill. For decades Ontario communities have been using these colours in their curbside recycling programs. Using these colours for signage and bin colours helps to build on the standardization of existing waste diversion programs and signals.
Communities with a two stream recycling program will typically use blue for the container stream and a variety of colours for the fibre stream including grey (e.g. Simcoe County, St. Thomas), blue (e.g. Durham Region, City of Peterborough, North Bay), red (e.g. City of Windsor, Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority) and yellow (e.g. British Columbia). It is more effective to mimic the colour already in use in the municipality’s recycling program for the fibre stream or consider coordinating colours with neighbouring municipalities to participate in future joint procurement activities.
Shared Experience
York Region. Public Space Three Stream Waste Diversion Parks Pilot, 2008
York Region developed signs for public space bins, which feature clear messaging and universally recognized colours for recycling, compost and garbage. Using the recognized colour as the sign background further strengthened the message and intent of the expected action. In addition, the Region linked the public space activity with the residential recycling program by putting an image of the residential containers used for recycling, composting and waste in the sign.
The public responds best to signage that has both images and simple text explaining what to do.
People understand and respond to visual images better than text, especially in situations where a decision about how to use something (such as a recycling bin) is made in seconds. Graphics also overcome language barriers by focusing on images rather than words. Pairing the images with simple text, that support the images, can help to improve user understanding of the program and reduce contamination. It helps to use images of items that are commonly generated in the public space; for example, a recycling bin at a sports facility would show images of pop cans, water bottles and juice bottles paired with the word “Recycle”.
A study conducted at the University of Toronto showed signage that combined images with text experienced the fastest recognition and shortest decision making time and achieved the highest diversion rates.
Shared Experience
268 Town of Whitby – Perfecting Indoor Public Space Recycling, 2011
The Town of Whitby focused on images to highlight the common items that could be placed in the organic “green” bin, or two stream container and fibre bins. Note that staff used the words “bottles and cans” rather than “containers” to help users more easily understand what recyclable materials should be placed in the recycling bin. The images of a pop can, water bottle and milk carton act as strong visual cues to further indicate what to put in the bin. Staff also used the word “paper” rather than the word “fibres” to encourage greater diversion of paper and paper products. The images of newspapers, magazines, boxboard and paper provide the visual cues as to what papers could be recycled.
The realistic images used on the four signs show items commonly generated in public space settings. The arrows further reinforce where to place the items.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Signage provides an important source of information on how to properly use the recycling stations. Despite its importance, not all signage provides beneficial information and can sometimes result in greater confusion. In this section, we explain why we rank some public space recycling stations and signage as more effective.
| At a Glance | Very Effective |
| Recognition | Strong colour coding of bins Bins are tall, stand out and visible from a distance |
| Visuals | Good graphics showing divertable materials Text is large and capitalized |
| Features | Large openings in bins but may be difficult for some people to access Paired with a garbage bin with good message “GARBAGE – STOP” |
This recycling station has most of the components of effective signage. Each entire bin is colour coded and easy to see from a distance. The colours match Metro Vancouver’s residential blue box program colours, with blue for containers, yellow for paper, and green for compost. The simple text is large and stands out against the background. The images are in colour, large and easy to read. As the user walks up to the bin, the images and text are easy to see.
The bins stand over five feet tall, so are easy to see from a distance. These bins are intended for events and are not designed to be permanent. The holes are shaped to remind the users their intended purpose with round openings for containers, rectangular openings for paper and oval openings for organics.
| At a Glance | Effective |
| Recognition | Bins are fairly visible from a distance with signage appearing above the slots Slots are colour coded |
| Visuals | Signs are colour coded with good graphics/images and arrows pointing to the slots Text could be larger |
| Features | Large slot openings using different shapes to help denote activity Handle on the organics bin may deter use Recycling and composting bin paired with garbage bin |
This multi sort recycling station uses strong signage with good coloured images and arrows pointing to the holes. The signage hangs above the slots and is easy to see from a distance. The text, which could be larger to stand out more, uses simple wording such as “bottles and cans” and “paper” to relate to the materials to be recycled; however, this may be cancelled by the fact that both streams are coloured in blue. While the City has chosen to mimic the residential blue box program that offers two blue boxes for containers and paper, consider using yellow for paper, to reduce cross contamination in the two streams. The round opening for bottles/cans and slit opening for paper should help to reduce cross contamination.
The front of the bins provide minimal colour coded information. There is ample space for larger text and more colour coding. The handle on the organics bin may act as a deterrent for many users if their hands are full and cannot easily open the lid. The easily accessible garbage slot beside it, may become the default.
| At a Glance | Effective |
| Recognition | Bins are fairly visible from a distance with signage appearing above the slots Slots are colour coded |
| Visuals | Signs are colour coded Supporting images are faint and difficult to read the images do not provide good information to the user Text size is good and stop sign on the garbage bin is effective |
| Features | Large slot openings using different shapes to help denote activity Recycling and composting bin paired with garbage bin |
This tri sorter recycling station uses colour coded signage with supporting text to indicate blue for recycling, green for compost and black for garbage supported by the use of icons. The images, however, are faint and difficult to read and may provide little additional information to the user. Images are best presented in colour and using real pictures rather than drawings.
The stop sign symbols, with “stop” and “think first” in capital letters stand out and send a good cue to the user, to think about what they are discarding to landfill.
The bins themselves are not colour coded so it may take the public a few extra seconds to distinguish which bin is for which activity. The openings are colour coded and shaped to indicate use, with the garbage opening larger than the recyclable and compost opening. The colour coding of the openings will help the user once they are standing at the recycling station.
| At a Glance | Satisfactory |
| Recognition | Bins are aesthetically appealing but may be difficult to see from a distance |
| Visuals | The bin and sign are colour coded White text stands out against the blue background Good images but small and indicate only bottles and cans accepted which is not supported by the text Half of the sign is used for the municipal logo, instead of used for more supporting information |
| Features | Slot opening on the front helps protect recyclables from weather Recycling bin paired with garbage bin |
The recycling station is aesthetically appealing, especially compared with the garbage bin beside it. The large white letters for “Recycling” against the strong blue background help the text to stand out. Putting the text in capitals would have been better. The graphics are good but indicate that only containers are accepted in the stream. Further wording, such as “bottles and cans only” would help to provide more useful information to the user. There is ample space on the front of the bin for additional information, since over half of the space is taken up by the municipal logo.
The round opening also indicates that the bin is dedicated to the container stream only. The side opening helps to protect the materials from the weather. The bin may be attached to the pole behind to reduce potential vandalism.
| At a Glance | Ineffective |
| Recognition | Bins may be difficult to see from a distance Poor colour coding of bins Green bin is used for garbage rather than organics, which may be confusing to the user |
| Visuals | Signs are very difficult to read Text is too small to read Good images but small |
| Features | Slot opening on the front helps protect recyclables from weather Recycling bin paired with garbage bin |
The best feature of these public space containers is the fact that the bins are twinned but rather than blue bin used for recyclables and green bin for organics, as would be expected using the North American colour coding, the green bin is used as a garbage bin. This use of colour could be very confusing to the user and result in higher contamination rates. The side openings help to protect the materials from the weather.
While effort has been made to provide coloured graphics on the bin, they are small and not easy to read. The graphics would benefit from some simple wording to indicate what the bins are for, e.g. recycling and organics/compost. The small sign above the bins with the word recycle and a Mobius loop provide very little benefit directing users to the bins compared to a banner or flag.
| At a Glance | Very Ineffective |
| Recognition | Bins may be difficult to see from a distance Very poor colour coding of bins Green bin is used for plastics, black for aluminum and blue for paper, which may be confusing to the user |
| Visuals | No signage or images provided Text is a good size |
| Features | Slot opening on the front helps protect recyclables from weather No pairing with garbage bin Bins look durable |
The colour of the recycling bins does not indicate the intended purpose of the bins. The blue bin does not indicate mixed recyclables or containers, as NA universally accepted, but identifies paper recycling. The black bin, typically identified for garbage, is used for aluminum containers and the green bin, typically identified for organics, is used for plastic. What type of plastics can be recycled is unknown.
The bins lack signage and provide no images or information about what materials should be recycled. The bins do not appear to be paired with a garbage bin, which will increase the likelihood of one or more becoming the default garbage bin. The only redeeming feature of the bins is that they look fairly durable.