Funded by a 25,000 grant from DEFRA's 140m National Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund, the project will see MEL developing a communications strategy that will help Dartford introduce a new kerbside recycling collection across the borough from the end of March.
Dartford's weekly kerbside collection has been trialled in a fifth of households since July 2001, but the council is now putting in 180,000 a year to extend the service to the full 36,400 households in the borough. Material from the kerbside collection goes to Cleanaway's materials recovery facility at Rainham in Essex.
As well as raising awareness of the extended kerbside service, the new publicity campaign will also aim to promote the use of existing bring sites, household recycling sites and also home composting.
Commenting on the plan, Dartford cabinet member for the environment Bill Cook said: “I think the use of targeted promotion, especially to those who are harder to persuade to recycle, is just what we need to boost recycling levels.”
Doorstepping
Project manager Rachel Parker said research showed that 47% of residents are already relatively good at recycling, but need further advice, while 19% of people are not interested in recycling in Dartford.
“These hard to reach groups need more encouragement and will be targeted for doorstepping,” Ms Parker said. “This face-to-face contact is one of the best ways of reaching these people, as other communication tools such as leaflets and posters are often ignored.”
The projects will take advantage of Kent county council's War and Waste exhibition, which will tour the borough next month, and content from the exhibition will be adapted to suit Dartford.
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