By Jayme Soulati, Santa Monica
You’ve heard, right? Some smaller communities can no longer afford a recycling program, and some aren’t telling the homeowners who diligently separate garbage from recycling. That would tick me off kinda big, how about you? Others put out their recycling only to have it untouched week after week. When a phone call to the municipality says, “Oh, just mix it in with the trash, and we’ll sort,” you know there is NO recycling program in your community.
Indeed, recycling programs cost money, but at what cost to the environment is the long-term cost of recycling?
“A well-run curbside recycling program can cost anywhere from $50 to more than $150 per ton…trash collection and disposal programs, on the other hand, cost anywhere from $70 to more than $200 per ton. This demonstrates that, while there’s still room for improvements, recycling can be cost-effective.”
A hindrance may be too many contaminants in the recycling to keep it clean, or not enough manpower in smaller towns to manage such a program, or not enough participation by residents to warrant separate pick up trucks and drivers, or no landfills in which to dispose the trash.
What’s a town to do?
Call in the public relations strategists, of course.
This week in the mail I got a postcard from my municipality. It was the first time in 12 years I got a “Do You Know What To Throw?” card. It showed which items I can recycle and which I omit from the new, spanky recycling bins the city just provided. This is pretty cool stuff and only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to education campaigns.
Were I working for a municipality, I would embark on a communications strategy that would include many of the following elements.
Public Relations Strategy for Recycling Program
- Develop a Message Map: this exercise showcases the foundation of the recycling program along with facts about volume, types of trash, problems with the program (like contaminants), and where the items go once they are sorted. Authorities will approve the public-facing information to share, and this map forms the basis for approved content marketing strategy.
- News Releases: Develop press releases announcing the volume of recycling collected in the city and which neighborhood in the city had the least contaminants (make it a contest for greater awareness)
- Owned Media: Use the language in the news release on website copy and in newsletters that go out to the community
- Earned Media: Pitch the mayor or public works representative with media like radio, TV, podcasts and local newspapers to speak about the program and invite the community to participate
- Launch an Event: Working in tandem with other non-profits, launch and event with the girl and boy scouts (for badges) to educate the community at festivals during the summertime about the importance of recycling, reuse and re-purpose.
Do Pro Bono Public Relations Already
Obviously, there is more complexity to launching an information campaign to consumers about municipal recycling. Before even going out with a larger message, the back end of the program must be in tip top shape with detail, factual information, financials, and cost-benefit analysis.
At the end of the day, though, no recycling program will ever work unless the consumer is on board to participate. So many homes still do not participate for various reasons (so much so that I find myself taking trash home from peoples’ houses) that we still have a long way to go before we reach 85 percent participation.
Regardless, public relations teams or independent professionals can still offer themselves up for service in the community.
It’s rare that smaller communities have a public relations team on board. That means full opportunity for an agency to conduct pro bono work to give back. Every agency where I’ve worked does pro bono work. We shouldn’t forget the importance of contributing to public education campaigns that matter.
Recycling our trash is one of those gold mines for public relations. C’mon, let’s do this.
