Florida County Joins CVP

Stamford, Conn.-based The Curbside Value Partnership (CVP), a Keep America Beautiful program, is partnering with the Hillsborough County, Fla, this fall to launch an education campaign designed to increase recycling participation among the county’s 240,000 residents.

The education campaign will use a combination of paid and earned media to generate county-wide awareness of recycling and promote to residents the ease of getting a recycling bin. The campaign will include billboards along high-traffic roads, bus ads and radio promotional spots during peak driving hours.

“We jumped at the chance to work with Hillsborough County,” says Steve Thompson, CVP program director. “The county has demonstrated a commitment to seeing their recycling program succeed, they have the foresight to see that in order to engage residents they must approach recycling education from new angles and they have the capability to measure whether the campaign works or not in the end.” He adds, “These are all qualities to be admired in a community recycling program and why we are excited to see this partnership succeed.”

Integral to the campaign will be a new Web page (www.HillsboroughRecycles.org) designed by CVP that will serve as the comprehensive communications channel for residents seeking information about the program. Visitors will be able to easily request new bins, ask program questions, download fliers and brochures and contact Hillsborough County’s customer service department.

“Our goal is to increase recycling participation by 10 percent,” says Chris Snow, contracts and customer service manager for the Hillsborough County Solid Waste Management Department. “We know this is an ambitious goal in such a large county and in these tough economic times, but we are confident Hillsborough County’s residents will rise to the occasion and that CVP can help us get there.”

CVP’s goal is to launch and study education programs to increase participation in local curbside programs and make programs more profitable and sustainable. More information is available at www.RecycleCurbside.com.