It may not have been what assembled recycling coordinators wanted to hear, but Mike Birett had a clear message regarding curbside recycling information campaigns: “Public education really doesn’t work—on it’s own.”
Birett, a manager with the Solid Waste Management Branch of the Region of York, Ontario, was on a panel addressing the topic of recycling public education at a session held at the Canadian Waste & Recycling Expo in Toronto in early December. The session was sponsored by the Solid Waste Management Association of North America’s Ontario Chapter.
Birett clarified his position by saying public education programs must be tied into recycling incentives and strategies—either financial mechanisms or a consistent message that re-shapes the way people dispose of their garbage and recyclables.
Systems that offer financial rewards or punishments can be subject to budgetary changes (in the case of rewards) or can be ignored if enforcement mechanisms are insubstantial (in the case of punishments or mandates).
Thus, Birett recommended tying the public’s participation into an overriding message that ties into accepted norms and people’s desire to “do the right thing” and do what is expected of them as one long-term approach.
But doing this is no easy task, he warned, and can only be accomplished after researching the demographics and cultural values of residents, and then surveying them regularly to get feedback on a recycling program. Birett also recommended enlisting community leaders to act as “change agents” to reinforce that recycling is an accepted and expected behavior.
At least one attendee of the session said that a unified Ontario-wide recycling message is the best approach to boost recycling participation rates. Rodney Muir of Waste Diversion Toronto said Ontario’s cities, regions and counties should be pooling a portion of their publicity budgets for a province-wide multi-media campaign that will elevate the prominence of residential recycling.
Another panelist, Helene St. Jacques of Informa Market Research Co. Ltd., Toronto, outlined how a well-funded province-wide campaign in Alberta helped the Alberta Dairy Council dramatically increase the recycling rate for HDPE milk jugs.
After researching consumer attitudes and finding a province-wide source of pride in Alberta’s environment, the Council and its ad agency created 30-second TV spots (as well as radio and print ads) tying milk jug recycling into keeping the province pristine and litter-free.
The result was a boost from a 45 percent milk jug recycling participation rate before the ad campaign to a 68 percent rate after the spots had been running for several months.