Western Riverside Waste Authority
Western Riverside Waste Authority (WRWA) handles the disposal of municipal waste from the London Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham, Lambeth, Wandsworth and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Recycle Western Riverside is a five year, £5.4M campaign to 2007, funded by Cory Environmental through the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, delivered by Waste Watch and London Remade.
The region is inner city with a population of approximately 900,000. All boroughs offer co-mingled kerbside collection of recyclables, mostly through an orange sack, together with co-mingled bring sites.
Recycle Western Riverside had a very successful Big Recycle 2004.
What they did
- Create a promotional concept – 'thumbs up for recycling.' Four large artworks of a cereal box, glass jar, soft drink bottle and food tin were created by local schools on which residents placed their thumbprint as a pledge to recycle, The artwork roadshow visited eight venues, including shopping centres, tube stations and libraries throughout the boroughs
- Produced a mascot “Recycling Ricky”, to attract attention and provide additional photo opportunities at the artwork roadshows and for local press
- Produced free recycled notepads, pens and 'thumbs up for recycling' stickers to be given away to ensure longevity of recycling message
- Issued a press release to local media announcing the artwork roadshows
- Organised photo shoots during the Big Recycle week at the roadshows with local Mayors and Councillors for the Environment
- Gave out promotional materials to over 3,500 residents
- Displayed completed artworks around the boroughs to continue to promote the recycling message
What happened
- Press interest was generated in the week prior to the Big Recycle by sending a press release and photos of the local school kids making the artworks
- Post event press releases and photos also sent out
The results
- The campaign generated extensive press coverage worth £37,000, with 315,000 opportunities to see
- Results from MORI research illustrate the high impact of the campaign with a significant change in the positive response to a number of key questions:
Why it worked
Jim Fielder, Waste Watch Campaign Manager, noticed that residents were making the connection between what they had seen in the press and on the radio, and these local roadshows. “Having the one brand at a regional, London wide and national level has definitely helped create the mass cultural shift we know is needed. And by involving local schools in the production of the artworks and getting local residents to put their thumbprints onto the artworks, we directly interacted with a great number of local residents who then got a better understanding of what the Big Recycle was all about”
On the Big Recycle 2005
Jim says: “We are looking to build on the success of the 2004 week for the Big Recycle 2005 by devising another concept of throwing recyclables into a giant orange sack using the strapline 'make recycling your goal!' This will again engage with the public and enable us to generate extensive media coverage.”
Northampton Borough Council
Northampton is the largest town in England, with 85,000 properties and a population of 196,000. Northampton Borough Council launched its kerbside collection scheme in April 2004, with every house given two branded kerbside boxes for dry recyclables, in addition 28,000 households were provided with two wheelie bins.
Northampton Borough Council had a very successful Big Recycle 2004.
What they did
- Issue personalised template press release to all local and regional media – radio, print and television
- Invite media to visit their MRF
- Brief their waste call centre on the Big Recycle campaign
- Made themselves available to the media and public, as a priority during the Big Recycle week
- Took its recycling road show to local supermarkets, the town centre, council offices, community centres and the town hall
What happened
- Press interest was generated in the week prior to the Big Recycle
- A double page feature ran in the local newspaper
- The Community environment development officer took part in a live phone-in on the daily current affairs programme on BBC Radio Northampton
- News items were run throughout launch day of the Big Recycle, on the local commercial radio station Northants 96
- Anglia television ran a feature item and interview on its 6.30pm news programme
The results
Northampton Borough Council community environment development officer Paul Mocroft said:
“As a result of our involvement in the Big Recycle and the media interest it generated, we really noticed a tangible effect. Calls to our recycling helpline increased and more importantly we saw an increase of over 9% in our plastic bottles and cans collection from the previous fortnight.”
Why it worked
Paul Mocroft says the Big Recycle made running a recycling promotional campaign easier and more effective:
“By piggy-backing a national campaign, we got maximum coverage for a lot less effort than it would normally have taken. As the media were aware of the campaign, we found them to be much more approachable and willing to take onboard our ideas.
We sent out invites to visit our MRF, to the television and local newspapers, which they accepted. As a result of this we had a double page feature in our daily paper and a slot on Anglia Television's evening news. We also took part in a phone in on BBC Radio Northampton.”
On the Big Recycle 2005
Northampton Borough council will be looking to build on the success of the 2004 week for the Big Recycle 2005 by holding a special event to generate more media interest: “We hope to get school children involved for a more hands on activity,” says Paul.
Planning is now well advanced for the Big Recycle 2005 and the campaign team is calling on local authorities to take part with the same enthusiasm they showed last year.
Andrew Hartley of British Glass said: “the Big Recycle 2005 will again provide a unique opportunity to deliver these important national messages at an individual household level.”
The week is being jointly organised and funded in partnership with WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) a major UK programme established to promote resource efficiency, and leading materials recycling organisations British Glass, Corus, Novelis (formerly Alcan), PaperChain, Recoup and Valpak, and was developed in consultation with LARAC. For further information and to register for campaign updates visit www.thebigrecycle.com .
Manchester City Council
Manchester City Council is situated in the regional centre of the North West, with 200,000 households and 450,000 residents. Twenty seven out of thirty two wards are in the top ten percent most deprived areas in the country.
Manchester City Council's multi-material kerbside box collection scheme services 100,000 households, fortnightly. In addition the authority operates a twin bin collection scheme, covering 65,000 households.
Manchester City Council had a very successful Big Recycle 2004.
What they did
Create a promotional event – attempt to make the world's biggest sheet of recycled paper, target 72m2 alongside a recycling market- Issue press releases to all local and regional media – print, radio and television
- Brief “Environment On Call” contact centre staff and display information on television screens within the centre
- Advertise event on intranet in classified section
- Recruit and organise a diverse group of 150 volunteers
- Encourage partners to hold information stands and stalls
- Obtain financial sponsorship and materials donation from partners
- Locate a temporary bring site next to market with staff rallying in the market to encourage public to use recycling facility
Create a promotional event – attempt to make the world's biggest sheet of recycled paper, target 72m2 alongside a recycling market
What happened
- Press interest was generated in the week prior to the Big Recycle
- BBC GMR radio ran announcements
- News stories ran on BBC and Manchester Evening News Websites
- News feature ran in the Manchester Evening News
- Local television station Channel M ran a two minute feature throughout the evening
- Article featured in the internal magazine “Your Environmental Services”
- Sale Sharks rugby player James Hoyle confirmed that the completed sheet measured 6m X 12m = 72m2, although still awaiting verification of world record from Guinness
The results
Manchester City Council's Principal Waste Strategy Officer Gary Donoghue was encouraged by the success of the Big Recycle:
“The increase in the number of enquires made to the recycling team in the weeks after the Big Recycle was very promising. This indicated that the campaign had stimulated recycling enthusiasm in the Manchester residents.
Notably this enthusiasm transferred into actions and we saw the largest increase in our overall recycling rate since the introduction of new services back in June 2004, with paper arisings displaying the largest tonnage increase.”
Why it worked
“There is no doubt that the Big Recycle impacted upon the success of the promotional campaign” says Gary Donoghue; “As a result of the national campaign recycling awareness and enthusiasm was at a high which made it easier to obtain support from partners, press and the public.
“The success of the campaign can also be attributed to the way we localised the message. We used the Big Recycle logo and campaign materials alongside the established Kerbit brand, whilst the world record attempt was unique to Manchester. Involving local people, businesses and organisations residents were made aware that while recycling may be a national concern it is equally relevant to the people of Manchester.”
On the Big Recycle
Gary Donoghue is confident that whilst 2004 will be a hard act to follow this year's campaign will be even more successful. Plans have already begun for Manchester's “Recycling Party in the Park” which will ensure the event is accessible to a greater number of residents.
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