Speaking at the Anglia Region Waste Awareness Campaign (ARWAC) conference in Cambridge, campaign co-ordinator Caroline Mackinson outlined this year's campaign which aims to increase participation in kerbside recycling schemes. It is hoped that the initiative, which will be the fourth annual “Slim Your Bin” campaign and will build on the success of previous campaigns such as “Smart Shopping” and “Get Composting”, will encourage residents to continue recycling after the initial enthusiasm for a kerbside scheme has declined.
The “Slim Your Bin” campaign was launched three years ago to reduce the amount of waste produced in the region and involves Anglia Television, 41 local authorities, local radio stations and newspapers.
ARWAC will run an 18-month recycling roadshow covering all the districts in the Eastern region in a bid to increase participation rates in kerbside schemes by 33%.The initiative, which will also promote waste minimisation, will be officially launched in June. While most of the districts in the Anglia region run kerbside schemes, where there are no such schemes, the campaign will encourage residents to use bring sites.
Mrs Mackinson said: “There is potential to increase the type and amount of material that people recycle. We need to increase the public's awareness of what they can recycle, for example even though they may be able to recycle cans and textiles in a kerbside scheme they may only put paper out. The focus of the campaign is on segregation and sorting.”
The Anglia region is currently working on a new strapline for the campaign which will accompany the “Slim Your Bin” logo. ARWAC has posed that to encourage participation in kerbside schemes, the strapline should be: “You bought it…You sort it”. But there was opposition to this at the conference, with some recycling officers saying that the message was too aggressive. ARWAC is now debating the issue and would welcome comments on the effectiveness of the slogan.
Local support
Mrs Mackinson explained that local support is crucial to the success of the campaign and said that ARWAC plans to visit every district in the region for one week, when the arrival of the campaign's roadshow will be supported by an intensive local campaign. The roadshow will promote the recycling message and as with other “Slim Your Bin” campaigns, it will be accompanied with a large amount of promotional material including pencils and reusable cotton bags as well as competitions and leaflets. ARWAC is also looking at launching a series of billboard and cinema advertisements to accompany the television, radio and newspaper adverts that have been used in the past.
Research shows that to encourage the public to recycle they need more information about what happens to the recyclables once they are collected. Residents will be given this information as part of the campaign as well as feedback on the how participation has increased, as this is vital to maintain interest in the scheme.
For more information visit the “Slim Your Bin” website.
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