Can Reminders Promote Regular Pro-Environmental Behavior? Experimental Evidence from Peru

Fuhrmann-Riebel, Hanna, D'Exelle, Ben ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9332-5223, Lopez Vargas, Kristian, Tonke, Sebastian and Verschoor, Arjan (2026) Can Reminders Promote Regular Pro-Environmental Behavior? Experimental Evidence from Peru. World Development, 203. ISSN 0305-750X

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Abstract

Pro-environmental behavior, such as recycling, often needs to be regular to be effective, and interventions to encourage behavioral change may therefore need to be repeated; yet, little evidence exists on the optimal time pattern and frequency of such repeated interventions. To fill this gap, we investigate the impact of mobile text reminders on households’ recycling behavior in urban Peru by randomly varying the exposure length and continuity of reminders. We find that reminders increase both the likelihood that households start to recycle and the frequency of recycling among households that already did so before the intervention. The effects are stronger when reminders are repeated over a longer period. Our findings suggest that both limited attention and habit formation matter for recycling behavior, and that low-cost mobile text reminders can effectively support regular pro-environmental behavior.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	habit formation,limited attention,peru,recycling,reminders,geography, planning and development,development,sociology and political science,economics and econometrics,sdg 11 - sustainable cities and communities,sdg 12 - responsible consumption and production ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300/3305
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural and Experimental Development Economics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Environment, Resources and Conflict Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Gender and Development Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Impact Evaluation
Related URLs:	https://www.scopus.com/pages/publication...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	24 Feb 2026 14:30
Last Modified:	15 Sep 2026 08:27
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102041
DOI:

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