Behavioral economics and the design of a dual-flush toilet

摘要

Dual-flush toilets, which use a high-volume flush for solid waste and a lower-volume flush for liquid waste, can reduce water consumption. Principles from the field of behavioral economics were used to analyze the design of the dual-flush mechanism of the Sloan Uppercut~? toilet. The default option, pushing the handle down, results in a large flush. Because people in the United States have been "conditioned" to push the toilet handle down, it was expected that most users would push the handle down out of habit. A field experiment measuring up flushes versus down flushes in eight women's toilets in a municipal building confirmed expectations. Whereas 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.