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From Waste to Willingness: A Behavioural Design Approach to Recycling in Lebanon

Updated: Aug 20

In this week’s Behavioural Design for a Sustainable Future feature, we spotlight Christina Abouhamad, a strategic communications leader from Lebanon and a recent graduate of the Master in Customer Experience and Innovation at IE Business School.


Against the backdrop of a country where just a sliver of waste is recycled and trust in institutions is critically low, Christina uses behavioural design to reimagine what recycling could look like, starting not with policy, but with people.


Designing for Daily Change


By Christina Abouhamad on how to reimagine what recycling could look like, starting not with policy, but with people in Lebanon.
By Christina Abouhamad on how to reimagine what recycling could look like, starting not with policy, but with people in Lebanon.

In Lebanon, where plastic is often burned or dumped directly into the sea, recycling isn’t just a neglected behavior, it’s almost entirely absent. There’s no national system, no consistent bins, and little belief that recycling efforts make a difference.


Christina’s project confronts this head-on. Her target behavior? Turning latent environmental concern into daily recycling habits, even without formal infrastructure.


Using the COM-B and EAST frameworks, Christina designed several creative interventions:

  • Capability: Countering misinformation and building sorting habits with school-based programs that turn recycling into a playful, family-oriented activity.

  • Opportunity: Making recycling physically possible through visible collection points, floor-vs-floor competitions in apartment buildings, and WhatsApp nudges from local leaders.

  • Motivation: Making impact tangible, like showing how collected bottles built a local bench, transforming recycling from an abstract civic duty into something visible, immediate, and identity-reinforcing.

“Most people want to do the right thing,” Christina notes, “They just need a system that makes it possible. But what if we redesigned the environment so the right choice was also the easiest one?”

Her work shows that even in the absence of strong institutions, small behavioral shifts, grounded in community, visibility, and trust, can move systems toward sustainability.


About the Author


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Christina Abouhamad is a strategic communications and brand strategy professional from Lebanon. With global experience leading high-impact projects in luxury, FMCG, and banking, she recently completed her Master’s in Customer Experience and Innovation at IE Business School. She is passionate about leveraging behavioral science to make environmental and social change more actionable, relatable, and real.


🔗 Connect with Christina on LinkedIn




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