Using nudging to manage a local authority’s waste policy[Le nudging pour gérer la politique des déchets dans une collectivité territoriale]

If the management of household and similar waste is a major concern for public authorities, the optimization of the collection and sorting of waste poses specific problems in tourist areas. In 2020, the challenge for local authorities was to treat an extraordinary quantity of waste over a long period of time in a context of health crisis. Indeed, one of the consequences of the health crisis was the influx, in many French regions, of secondary residents, bi-residents, remote workers, and tourists. Drawing on the insights of behavioral economics, some local authorities, like the one studied, had already implemented nudges to reinforce a policy that was primarily focused on information and enforcement. These actions are based on soft incentives and encourage virtuous behavior regarding household and similar waste, without forcing users. Through a longitudinal study, this article analyzes the conditions of implementation of these action tools by a public organization confronted with the COVID-19 crisis, in particular that of stakeholder participation in the nudging process, little studied in the literature. The aim is to promote an open-minded approach to innovative public policies based on behavioral science.