Communications guidance. Improving recycling through effective communications

Transcription

1 Communications guidance Improving recycling through effective communications

2 WRAP helps individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources and helping to tackle climate change. Document reference: WRAP, 2013, Improving recycling through effective communications, Report prepared by WRAP Banbury, WRAP Written by: Gareth Morton and Lucy Cross WRAP believe the content of this report to be correct as at the date of writing. However, factors such as prices, levels of recycled content and regulatory requirements are subject to change and users of the report should check with their suppliers to confirm the current situation. In addition, care should be taken in using any of the cost information provided as it is based upon numerous project-specific assumptions (such as scale, location, tender context, etc.). The report does not claim to be exhaustive, nor does it claim to cover all relevant products and specifications available on the market. While steps have been taken to ensure accuracy, WRAP cannot accept responsibility or be held liable to any person for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. It is the responsibility of the potential user of a material or product to consult with the supplier or manufacturer and ascertain whether a particular product will satisfy their specific requirements. The listing or featuring of a particular product or company does not constitute an endorsement by WRAP and WRAP cannot guarantee the performance of individual products or materials. This material is copyrighted. It may be reproduced free of charge subject to the material being accurate and not used in a misleading context. The source of the material must be identified and the copyright status acknowledged. This material must not be used to endorse or used to suggest WRAP s endorsement of a commercial product or service. For more detail, please refer to WRAP s Terms & Conditions on its web site:

3 Contents Introduction... 6 How to use this guide Background Demographics of your area Current and proposed services Waste data and targets Research Funding and Support Planning your Communications Situational Analysis Analyse your current position Outline where you need to be Explain what you will do to get there Planning your Communications Aim and Objectives Define your aim Setting objectives Planning your Communications Target Audience All householders Internal/external groups Internal groups External groups Specific groups Hard to reach/engage Review lifestyle characteristics Planning your Communications Branding and Message Visual identity Tone of voice Type of message Planning your Communications Strategy and Communications Methods Overall approach Methods to reach audiences Impact of each method Distribution methods Planning your Communications Campaign Activities Individual aims & objectives Communication tactics Agree Monitoring & Evaluation mechanisms Planning your Communications Planning Your Activities Link with service provision Link with national events Schedule campaign activities Outline indicative costs Include contingencies Planning your Communications Monitoring and Evaluation Overall aims and objectives achieved? Individual aims and objectives achieved? Review impact of campaign activities Determine future activities... 56

4 9.5 Planning your Communications Conclusion Becoming an Expert No1: Gathering demographic and socio-economic information Sources of demographic information Using demographic information Becoming an Expert No2: Listing current and proposed recycling services Becoming an Expert No3: Local authority information and data Becoming an Expert No4: Identify potential sources of funding and support Becoming an Expert No5: PEST and SWOT analysis Becoming an Expert No6: Setting aims and objectives Becoming an Expert No7: Setting SMART objectives Becoming an Expert No8: Identifying and segmenting target audiences Audience classification tools A Framework for Pro-environmental Behaviours Recycling barriers and audience segmentation Becoming an Expert No9: Internal and external groups Mapping your stakeholders Internal groups External groups Becoming an Expert No10: Culturally diverse communities Characteristics of Ethnic Groups Identify your audience More Help and Support... Error! Bookmark not defined. Becoming an Expert No11: Campaign branding and identity The Recycle Now brand Why use Recycle Now? Becoming an Expert No12: Campaign tone of voice Changing your tone of voice for different target audiences Becoming an Expert No13: Developing campaign messages Primary and secondary messages Messages and addressing barriers to recycling The use and importance of facts and data in messaging Becoming an Expert No14: Communications strategy Your overall approach Developing your communications strategy Choosing the right communications methods Advertising PR 117 Direct marketing techniques Community engagement Online 119 Internal communications Selecting your communications mix Audience planning Becoming an Expert No15: Engaging culturally diverse communities in recycling Communications messages and targeting Communications methods Leaflets and Written Material Becoming an Expert No16: How communications can support operational activity Maintaining an existing service Introducing a new service Changing an existing service Reducing contamination Promoting drop-off sites Becoming an Expert No17: Communications to improve the quality of commingled collections Becoming an Expert No18: An overview of different distribution methods Becoming an Expert No 19: Campaign Activities Advertising PR (Public Relations) Direct marketing techniques Improving recycling through effective communications 4

5 Community engagement Online/digital communications Social media Integrating your communications activities Becoming an Expert No 20: Additional Communications Methods Manned opportunities Unmanned advertising opportunities Becoming an Expert No21: Maximising Social Media Channels The Basics More advanced Do s and Don ts of Social Media Expert Briefing No22: Communicating for less Saving money on design and print costs PR vs. Advertising Staff time vs. marketing spend Lower cost versions Integrated campaigns to maximise OTS Using Recycle Now Link to national events Cost efficiencies from partnership working Website 177 Social networking Becoming an Expert No23: Planning and the benefits of using Gantt charts How to plan your campaign using a Gantt chart Working with agencies Becoming an Expert No24: Budgeting and costing campaigns Budgeting and costing campaigns Sources of further information Glossary Improving recycling through effective communications 5

6 Introduction Communications are an integral part of any local authority recycling service. WRAP s (Waste & Resources Action Programme s) latest guidance in The Waste Collection Commitment ( sets communications firmly at the heart of any good recycling and waste service. This is based on consumer feedback on what is considered to be the most important aspects of a waste collection service. In order to participate fully, residents need to know clearly what their services are, what their service rules are and what happens to their recycling after it is collected. This guide is built on WRAP s experience of running national recycling and waste prevention campaigns, and on best practice from local authorities throughout the UK. It provides a broad introduction to the issues of developing a recycling communications strategy and follows WRAP s communications planning cycle (see page 7) which provides a methodical approach to campaign planning whether you are: Getting started with recycling communications Keeping communications fresh Expanding an existing campaign to cover new collections or tackle specific issues The ultimate aim of any recycling communications campaign is to improve recycling performance. WRAP s research shows that key to the success of a recycling scheme is a well designed service with good communications to overcome people s barriers to participation. At the heart of a successful campaign lies a sound plan and the benefits of good planning include: Easier and faster decision making and activity planning under a clearly agreed strategic direction Creation of clearer messages, ones which are appropriate to and directed at well defined target audiences Added impact through continuity and consistency as a result of communication activities that build on each other Savings in time and money through the integration of activities and clear lines of responsibility Consistency and clarity of communications with well defined aims and objectives As well as driving external communications, communication of the plan internally ensures that everyone knows what is trying to be achieved. This guide is designed to link into the Recycle Now campaign for England which, since its development in 2004 has done much to change the face of recycling communications by communicating directly with consumers, providing the national fabric for local communications and giving practical support to local authority campaigns. It has, along with the expansion of kerbside recycling schemes to nine out of ten households, helped England s recycling rate climb from 19% in 2003/04 to over 37% in 2008/09 with the number of committed recyclers experiencing a corresponding increase, rising in 2009 to 69% of adults. The campaign logo and iconography is in widespread use by more than 90% of local authorities and the logo is being adopted by an ever-increasing number of organisations right across industry and commerce anywhere in fact where recycling messages or information are being communicated. Improving recycling through effective communications 6

7 This guidance makes full use of all the most recent research to provide local authorities with an authoritative and comprehensive source of information on all aspects of communications planning. It also signposts users to sources of further sources of information and guidance produced by WRAP on specific subjects such as monitoring and evaluation. If you are new to recycling or an old hand, it will have something new that will help you think through the issues and to plan your next campaign to ensure it achieves the results you and your local authority require. How to use this guide This guide is structured in two main sections: The Essentials step-by-step guides that take you through the practical tasks at each of the nine stages of the planning cycle. At the end of each chapter in this section there is an examples from a typical communication plan, which used the WRAP communications planning template, entitled planning your communications. This aims to demonstrate a small part of the content from a communications plan and how it could be written and developed. Becoming an Expert detailed explanation of some of the key concepts raised in each Essentials section Each chapter is designed to be used as a whole, or as key concepts as required so you don t need to read everything from start to finish just dip in to the relevant section and use what you need. There is also a detailed Glossary at the end of the guide with definitions of all the key terms. Improving recycling through effective communications 7

8 Improving recycling through effective communications 8

9 1.0 Background Identify where you are This section looks at the information you need to gather to assess your current position and carry out a situational analysis (the next stage of the strategy development process). To help you identify where you are you need to start with your local authority s own information resources and gather basic demographic information about your area and the people who live there. Then, you need all the relevant information about the recycling and waste management services (current and proposed) which are available to the public together with up-todate information about their performance as well as their targets. As you gather this information you should be asking yourself how it will help you understand: The area and the people living in it who they are, how old they are, where they live, what types of houses they live in, what their lifestyles are How well they use the local recycling and waste management services What are their barriers to recycling Once you have gathered all the information you can internally you should look further afield to see if there is other information or research that might be useful to you. The final stage is to review all the information to see what it tells you and to identify if there are any gaps in your knowledge that need to be filled. Even if you know your local area, you should complete this first stage because it will give you the factual evidence you need develop your strategy, provide baseline information on which you can set targets and help you make the case for the communications budget you need. It will also set the context for those reading your plan (such as members or external partners) who may be less familiar with the overall district. The elements of this stage are outlined over the next two pages. 1.1 Demographics of your area Start by gathering information about your local authority and describing it its location, geography, population profile, housing types and amounts, urban/rural mix, areas of deprivation and local environmental quality. Include any other relevant demographic information you think is relevant. Your colleagues in the waste and recycling department will have knowledge of the specific areas they work in and your local authority will also have a wealth of statistical information on its local population, the economy, levels of deprivation, affluence and housing. Departments that might be able to help you include: education, housing, planning, strategic or corporate services and social services. There may be other local organisations, such as your local Primary Care Trust, which can be excellent sources of information about the local population. You can also access national demographic information through the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Draw on all sources to produce an accurate picture of your local authority in order to help you develop your communications plan. For detailed information about gathering demographic and socio-economic information see Becoming an Expert No Current and proposed services The next stage in your baseline information gathering is to summarise your current and proposed recycling and waste services. Include all information pertinent to: Improving recycling through effective communications 9

10 All relevant waste management facilities and services covering all material streams Collections types and frequency, drop-off facilities, services for other waste streams Relevant collection policies (closed lid, compulsory recycling etc) Include other relevant information as required This information forms the basis of what you need to be able to communicate to people whether you are providing standard service information, launching a new service, raising awareness of services, motivating people or preventing waste. You may use the information selectively in your communications eg service leaflets focussing on kerbside collections or include everything, for example on your local authority website. For more information about which services to list and why - see Becoming an Expert No Waste data and targets Then you need to look at your council s recycling and waste management data and targets, namely: The service performance information you gather, how it is gathered and how often it is gathered Current and past service performance figures Waste service and statutory targets Understanding this information will help you set targets by giving you the context for your communications and telling you what needs to be achieved and by when. For more information about local authority information and waste data - see Becoming an Expert No Research Consider whether any other research and information may be available and useful, such as: Your authority s corporate strategy Information from any previous communications campaigns undertaken by your authority Relevant operational research undertaken by your authority, for example participation rates, waste composition analysis etc Any reports or research conducted for your council by external parties such as waste management consultants or WRAP (eg WRAP s Local Government Services team) Research or case studies from other organisations eg WRAP or other local authorities Other relevant research eg by Defra, WRAP etc. Feedback from collection and other front line staff Helpline enquiry information As you gather the information, identify any knowledge or information gaps and undertake research to fill any gaps, for example whether you need to: Conduct any further research into operational performance eg participation monitoring Conduct research into peoples issues and barriers specific to your area. For more information on WRAP s barriers research, see Becoming an Expert No8. Improving recycling through effective communications 10

11 CASE STUDY: The value of research When it upgraded its recycling facilities, the London Borough of Bexley found that purpose-built flats had a lower rate of recycling waste than low-rise accommodation. The council decided to run a campaign to overcome the problems associated with recycling in blocks of flats. To provide information to tackle the communications issues data was gathered about residents attitudes, behaviour, ideas and barriers. Surveys looked at how many residents used the recycling service and communal bins. Focus groups discussed the barriers to recycling and waste management issues highlighted by the surveys. A key finding was a lack of communication between the council and residents living in flats. Most council communications (via its quarterly magazines, website and the annual recycling calendar and recycling guide along with adverts in the local free newspapers) were perceived to be insufficient. The focus groups highlighted the fact that: Local free newspapers were not distributed to flats The recycling calendars and guides were not relevant to flats Most residents in the targeted area did not have access to the internet in their homes Council magazines did not always have messages or articles about recycling This was a major communications flaw for a low performing socio-demographic group and the Council developed its communications accordingly. WRAP Local Authority Communications Case Study: London Borough of Bexley For more information about conducting research on recycling issues see WRAP s good practice guide to monitoring and evaluation provides detailed step-by-step guidance on a range of suitable research techniques Funding and Support Depending on what you need to achieve, your communications will require funding - as a rule of thumb, you should aim for a budget figure of around 1.00 per household for standard communications. For communicating major service changes or more intensive communications activities for hard to engage residents, 1.50 to 2 per household is more realistic. You may need to do some initial research now to identify potential sources of funding and support: Find out how much funding previous campaigns had and where the funding came from this will give you a good idea of what you might expect to get for your budget Look at internal budgets (possibly spread across your council) and the types and amounts of support (financial and other resources) available from other council departments and teams If you don t know already, find out about your council s budgetary decision making processes and deadlines Investigate possible external funding sources eg WRAP For more information about sources of funding and support - see Becoming an Expert No4. Improving recycling through effective communications 11

12 1.6 Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the background could be developed and written. 1.0 Background 1.1 General Moving Forward Council (MFC) is located in the midlands and covers an area of 214 square miles. It is responsible for the provision of recycling and waste collection and disposal services to approximately 40,000 residents living in 16,140 households. The district is a predominantly rural area with the population split approx 50:50 between rural and urban dwellers. 1.2 Demographics Employment Compared to national figures, there are very few minority ethnic communities in the district although there has been a recent influx of eastern Europeans seeking employment in the building materials industries located in the district. 1.3 Waste & Recycling Collections Current waste and recycling services provided to households include: Alternate weekly collection of residual waste using black 240 litre wheeled bins. Alternate weekly commingled recycling collection of food and drink cans, aerosols, plastic pots, tubs, tray and bottles, newspapers, magazines, drink cartons including Tetra Pak, mixed glass and cardboard using blue 240 litre wheeled bins; Alternate weekly mixed garden and food waste collections using brown 240 litre bins. No kitchen caddies have been provided to householders; Four HWRC sites, collecting: glass, batteries, scrap metal, cans, waste oil, oil filters, wood, paper, card, landfill waste, fluorescent light bulbs, plastic bottles, textiles, green waste and white goods; and Six unmanned recycling bring sites, collecting: glass, cans, paper and textiles. Kerbside collections are not always made on the same day of the week and there are 52 different collection combinations. There are no proposed changes of service to the household kerbside schemes, the HWRC sites or the recycling bring sites. 1.4 Treatment and Disposal Organic waste is processed in an in-vessel composting unit. Mixed dry recyclables collected at the kerbside are taken to a materials recycling facility (MRF) where the materials are sorted and sent for reprocessing. Currently the council pays a gate fee of 40/tonne, but this will become an income of 20/tonne from the start of the new contract next financial year. Approximately 10,000 tonnes per year of residual waste is taken to a dirty MRF 25% of which is recyclable 25% made into solid recovered fuel and 50% landfilled. Currently there is no charge but from the start of the new contract a gate fee of 100/tonne will be introduced. Waste is also collected on separate rounds from commercial organisations and from schools. This is disposed of as residual waste which is transferred to the dirty MRF. Improving recycling through effective communications 12

13 1.5 Performance Indicators MFC achieves good recycling rates with around 53% of waste diverted from landfill in 2012/13 as a result of the blue (27%) and brown bin (26%) collections. The council estimates further 20% or so can be diverted from landfill in 2013/14 as additional recycling and SRF from the dirty MRF operation. MFC already exceeds its % recycling target. However, residual bins still contain significant amount of material, which could be captured through the kerbside dry recycling collection scheme. Similarly, organic waste can still be found in some residual waste bins. The new contractual arrangements, from next financial year, make it attractive to reduce the amount of residual waste sent to the dirty MRF and increase the amount sent for recycling. 1.6 Capture Rate of Recyclable Materials Capture rates for different materials from the Waste Dataflow submission) are: Glass 32.3% Paper & Card 62.6% Mixed Metals 33.8% Textiles 3.4% Plastics 24.6% Compostables 54.7% No analysis of the organic collection has been carried out and it is difficult to establish how many households use the brown bin to recycle their food waste, however it is generally felt that there are significant amounts of food waste remaining in the residual waste bin which could be recycled. Contamination does not seem to be an issue on either brown or blue bin collections. Contamination in the blue bin collection is estimated to be between 3-5% and seems to be material, which might be recyclable but is not accepted at the MRF. 1.7 Participation No surveys have been carried out of set out or participation rates of the blue and brown bin collections. There is, however, anecdotal evidence of low performance in certain areas of the district. 1.8 Budget MFC has a budget of approximately 1/household for recycling promotions and there is an opportunity to bid for additional capital funding to help improve recycling performance. 1.9 Recent Promotions Few promotions are carried out to encourage householders to recycle and are limited to: A collection calendar, which is mailed out to all households in August of each year. Dates run from September to August; A leaflet delivered when the blue bin scheme was introduced 9 years ago; An instructional leaflet when brown bins were introduced 4 years ago; The website which explains the collection and disposal methods is significantly out of date; and Inaccurate and out of date vehicle livery showing what can be put in the recycling collections. Improving recycling through effective communications 13

14 1.10 Promotional, Advertising and Media Mechanisms External advertising opportunities include: Weekly local newspapers, with which MFC have a very good relationship: Council newspaper published twice a year; Vehicle livery on collection vehicles and signage at bring and HWRC sites; and Council website Availability of Distribution Mechanisms Available distribution mechanisms for promotional material to householders are: Door to door leaflet delivery by Royal Mail; Walksort delivery by Royal Mail; and Delivery using agency staff. Improving recycling through effective communications 14

15 2.0 Situational Analysis Establish where you want to be This section looks at how to develop a situational analysis using the information you gathered in Section 1. A situational analysis takes a snapshot view of your organisation or situation and where things stand at a particular point in time. This phase enables you to understand the context for your communications and identify the strategic goal you are working towards, for example reaching the 40% statutory recycling target in The information gathered in Section 1 will now be used to: Look at the wider context for your communications, what is driving it and what it needs to achieve Review the actions being undertaken to meet your local authority s waste management service targets Identify what you need to do and by when The first stage is to analyse your current position by reviewing the demographic, operational and the communication information you have gathered. Once you have come to some conclusions about what the information tells you, you need to work out where you need to be ie what you need to achieve and by when. Finally, you need to look at and describe (briefly) the initiatives your local authority will take to reach its goals. 2.1 Analyse your current position Start by reviewing all your research and information and what it tells you: Demographic analysis What does the demographic information tell you? Are there any unusual or unique characteristics, for example, does your LA have above average terraced housing, areas of deprivation or high population turnover, significant numbers of elderly people, or Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities? What implications might the demographic information have for service delivery and your communications? For example, do you have large numbers of elderly people who might need assisted collections? Do they know about the service? How will you communicate it to them? Are there areas with relatively high population turnover which might require basic recycling information on a more frequent basis or at specific times of the year eg in October when students start at college or university? Seasonal workers? Tourists? Operational Analysis What is your current performance across different parts of the service? Analyse the feedback you have about your service, for example from crews, call centres, satisfaction or other surveys etc. Look at levels and types of complaints, satisfaction levels etc. What does this information tell you? Where is the good performance, for example, high participation levels, large amounts of materials collected? Can good performance be replicated elsewhere? Where is the low performance, for example low participation, low amounts of materials collected, high contamination levels etc. Do you have any low performing areas? Identify any operational issues. Are there any significant operational issues in particular areas eg crew access to properties or containers? Are recycling sites clean and tidy or are they constantly overflowing and untidy? Improving recycling through effective communications 15

16 Are staff helpful and pleasant to the public? Can your helpline deal adequately with the number and types of enquiries? Are there any operational barriers to participation? E.g. not all households having a container, containers not large enough Are there any other issues? If any service issues are identified, you need to look at how to address these before you begin your communications. If the service, in the opinion of your residents, is poor then communications alone are unlikely to succeed in raising participation. To achieve a good recycling rate, services must be convenient to use and easy to understand as set out in The Waste Collection Commitment. Communications Analysis Are residents aware of your service? Do they understand how to use it? What results have previous communications achieved? Identify what ensured they achieved their objectives and whether that success could be replicated or used in future communications Have you developed a strong brand for your recycling communications? Do you have the staff capacity to manage a communications campaign? Are there any communications barriers that need to be addressed by your communications? Which operational areas or services would benefit from additional communications support? Are there any other issues? You can undertake a PEST (Political, Economic, Social, Technological) and/or SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis with colleagues to help identify and highlight key issues. Once you have completed your investigations, draw up a list of your main findings and review them: What issues have you identified? Are they new issues or were you already aware of them? What do they mean for your communications? How will you address the issues you have identified (through service changes or communications)? Have you uncovered any gaps in your knowledge? What are they? How will you fill them? Before you go any further, it is important that you have thought carefully about your approach so far in order to develop improved communications. Remember to look beyond the issues you identify first of all to gain a complete picture of what is happening. Look for facts and do not rely on unsubstantiated opinion alone. If you have insufficient information you will need to think carefully whether you are currently in a position to develop your communications or whether you need to do additional research to explore any issues you have identified. For more information about PEST and SWOT analysis - see Expert Briefing No5. For more information about operational solutions refer to your waste management strategy and talk to colleagues or contact WRAP S team of Recycling and Collections Advisors for advice (LAsupport@wrap.org.uk). For more information about people s barriers to recycling - see Section 4. I want to know more about Low Performing Areas see the specific guide developed by WRAP to help users identify areas of low participation, examine why they experience low participation and to develop effective communication solutions. The document is available on the WRAP website Improving recycling through effective communications 16

17 2.2 Outline where you need to be Where you need to be depends partly on where you are now and what your future targets and plans are. Once you have looked in detail at where you are, list any implications for your communications based on the findings of your demographic, operations and communications analysis. Good practice needs to be continued, any issues identified should be addressed and successful communications continued in your new communications plan. Next, consult your local authority waste strategy or colleagues for detailed information about your targets, operational plans, timescales and deadlines. These will give you a broad overview of what your local authority needs to achieve and how it intends to do it. You need to pay particular attention to any plans which have a communication dimension, for example: any future operational activities which need communicating to householders such as service changes, revised collection dates or new recycling sites. Depending on your situation, you may need to pay particular attention to the following in your plan: Any deficiencies highlighted in your current or past communication activities which need to be addressed Any deficiencies in operational performance which targeted communications might address Any targets that need to be met through communications activity as no service changes are planned For more information about strategic targets refer to your local authority waste management strategy or the Defra waste strategy which can be accessed here: Examples of what you may need to achieve: To reach recycling rates of 40% in 2010, 45% in 2015 and 50% in 2020 to meet government targets Need to communicate new service changes to all residents 2.3 Explain what you will do to get there Once you have identified the issues and where you need to be, you need to describe what your council intends to do to meet its targets. If you intend introducing further new services: What new services will be launched and when. For example when do you plan to introduce a new food waste collection service? How will your communications support new and existing operational activities? For example, running a campaign to support current collections of dry recyclables at the same time as the introduction of a new food waste collection service If you do not have any plans to introduce further services or improvements: What will your communications do to address any issues identified in your situational analysis such as low capture rates or LPAs? How will your communications help you reach unattained recycling targets? If you have reached a high recycling rate, are there other opportunities that you would like to explore, such as running a waste prevention campaign? Once you have described your operational plans and what communications can do to help, you should, in consultation with your colleagues, look at your service plans, draw up a list of actions and prioritise them in terms of the: Major issues that need to be addressed Biggest potential gains Quickest potential gains Least resources required Greatest alignment to corporate priorities Improving recycling through effective communications 17

18 2.4 Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the situational analysis could be developed and written. 2.0 Situational Analysis 2.1 Operational Issues As Moving Forward Council (MFC) has already exceeded its 2020 recycling targets, its key operational considerations from the 1 st April 2013 are to reduce the amount of residual waste being delivered to the dirty MRF with the aim of reducing its gate fee for disposal. The gate fee will be 100/tonne from the start of the new contract and increasing recycling could show considerable savings. This could be achieved by: Increasing the dry recyclables collected in the blue bin scheme this will also generate an additional income of 20/tonne; and Increase the food and garden waste collected in the brown bin organic collections. The blue bin dry recycling scheme already takes a comprehensive range of recyclable materials and the only option is to use communication to increase tonnage through increased participation and capture of materials which, based on Waste Dataflow, is clearly available in the residual waste stream. In particular the low capture of glass and mixed metals, which should be in the region of 70-80%. The brown bin organic waste collection could be improved by providing all households with a kitchen caddy and liners to collect their food waste. This would encourage householders to dispose of more of their cooked and uncooked food waste using the brown bin and increase the tonnage collected. An opportunity to bid for additional capital funding exists to improve recycling; a bid should be made to this fund for the supply of kitchen caddies and liners. Increasing the amount of recyclables and organic waste collected and the additional contribution to the amount recycled from the dirty MRF and the contribution of waste recovery as fuel should make a recycling and recovery rate of 70% feasible. 2.2 Communications Over the years, householders have received very little communication to inform them what they can and cannot recycle in their blue and brown bins; this should be addressed as soon as possible. The recycling schemes should be relaunched by developing a recycling guide to be sent to all households with the collection calendar. This key communication should be repeated every year. If the Council is successful in its bid to fund kitchen caddies and liners the food waste collection element of the brown bin collections should be relaunched in the autumn of Promotional material would be based on the WRAP food waste recycling promotional material templates, which are available for download from the Recycle Now Partners website. Internal communications should also be undertaken to ensure all MFC staff understand the food waste and dry recycling services and are aware of them being relaunched. HWRC sites and recycling bring sites should also be promoted so that householders know where to take excess recyclables, recyclables that are not collected at the kerbside and residual waste. 2.3 Longer term Making the following changes to existing services could make further improvements and reduce the amount of residual waste: Improving recycling through effective communications 18

19 In the longer term, consideration should be given to changing the collection rounds so that all kerbside collections are made on the same day of the week. This will make it easier for householders to remember to put their bins out for collection; Schools should be provided with the equivalent of blue and brown bin collections as soon as practicable and create a seamless link between school and home; and The Council should investigate the costs and benefits of providing a commercial recycling collection. Currently all commercial waste is taken to the dirty MRF as residual waste and any recycling collected from commercial premises would reduce the tonnage. 2.4 Monitoring It is critical that MFC regularly monitors participation rates and levels of contamination to assess the impact communications are having on recycling. This will help identify low, medium and high performing areas, which will enable future communications to be more targeted. Improving recycling through effective communications 19

20 3.0 Aim and Objectives Define aim and objectives This section looks in detail at defining your communications aim and setting your overall objectives. It considers the different nature of aims and objectives and how to set targets which are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). CASE STUDY: Setting aims and objectives 3.1 Define your aim Identify the main aim for your communications plan. An aim is a general statement of what you intend to achieve and generally, you should only have one aim. Your aim can include vague and undefined terms, for example: The London Borough of Barnet ran a campaign to encourage residents in flats to recycle more. The campaign aims were to: Meet 2010 government waste strategy target Increase the amount of material recycled Encourage low or non recyclers to recycle For more information about setting aims - see Becoming an Expert No Setting objectives Once your aim is defined you can set the overall objectives for your plan: An objective is a specific statement of what you intend to achieve Any terms need to be defined and the concepts understood You may have several objectives that together add up to meet your overall aim Your objectives must relate to the impact of your communications Your objectives should give your plan clarity of purpose and will help you prioritise activities, for example: does activity X help you meet the overall aim and objectives? If it doesn t, or has marginal benefit you should question whether to go ahead with that activity. They must also be SMART Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound and should be stretching (even challenging) but achievable. A target that looks unattainable can be counter-productive. Maximise participation and tonnage collected from flats using communal recycling facilities through a comprehensive door-to-door canvassing campaign Reinforce participation in the flats recycling service using a variety of marketing techniques The specific objectives set were to increase the following by the end of the campaign: Claimed usage rate by at least 10% Quantity of recyclables by at least 10% Number of committed recyclers by at least 10% Level of awareness by at least 10% Level of usage of specific material containers by at least 10% A wide variety of communication channels were used, spearheaded by canvassing and the campaign activities were monitored by collecting: Tonnage data collected from the site of each set of flats and were based on estimates of the volume of material in the recycling bins at the time of collection Usage data taken from a representative sample of people living in flats who were asked a series of questions about their recycling behaviour Committed Recycler data determined through a series of linked questions in a face-to-face survey WRAP Local Authority Communications Case Study: London Borough of Barnet Improving recycling through effective communications 20

21 Remember to make sure that your objectives can be measured and decide how to measure them now. Objectives that a) can t be measured or b) are too difficult, expensive or time consuming to measure will not be effective. Example objectives might include: Increase the recycling rate across the district from 30% to 35% by March 31 st 2010 Increase participation to 50% in identified Low Performing Areas by March 31 st 2010 Reduce contamination of recycling collection containers to under 5% by March 2010 Achieve a borough-wide recycling and composting rate of 40% by 2015 Later, when you are looking at individual communication activities, you need to set specific objectives (targets) for each activity. These should also be SMART, should link back to and support your overall aim and objectives and should relate to the inputs, outcomes and impacts of each activity. This is covered in more detail in Section 7. For more information about setting objectives - see Becoming an Expert No6. For more information about how to make objectives SMART - see Becoming an Expert No7. For detailed information about target setting and monitoring and evaluating your communications see Improving the Performance of Waste Diversion Schemes A Good Practice Guide to Monitoring and Evaluation. This comprehensive guidance document gives detailed step-by-step guidance on a range of monitoring techniques for waste operations and communications campaigns and can be accessed here: Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the aims and objectives could be developed and written. 3.0 Communications Aims and Objectives 3.1 Aim To ensure residents are aware of the recycling services available, understand how to participate and recycle as much as possible by providing clear instructions. 3.2 Objective The key objectives for the communications are to: Inform all householders within the district what items can be recycled using the blue and brown bin collection services by the end of September 2013; Inform all householders within this district what items can be recycled using the HWRC and recycling bring sites by the end of September 2013; Achieve an average participation rate of 85% in both the kerbside dry recycling and garden/food waste collections by March 2014; and Achieve a recycling and recovery rate exceeding 70% for 2013/2014. Improving recycling through effective communications 21

22 4.0 Target Audience Identify your audience This section helps you to identify and describe your target audience. There are four main groups to consider: Householders - the main focus of your communications Internal groups - your staff, senior officers, elected members, other council staff who need to know about your communications plan and may be able to help External groups - such as the media, community groups, other local authorities Specific subgroups community groups, religious and cultural groups, potential partners to help communicate your messages such as caretakers, landlords and housing associations You must be clear about the target audience for your communications and keep them as the focus of your effort at all stages. This section looks at each main audience in turn (householders, internal and external groups, specific groups and hard to reach/engage audiences) and ends with a review of their lifestyles. It will help you identify the target audiences relevant to your communication plan and to understanding them (who they are, where they live, what their lifestyle is like, what their issues and barriers to recycling are). This is important because your target audiences must be at the heart of your thinking about your messaging, overall strategy, communication methods and activities. 4.1 All householders Use the information you have already gathered to draw up a complete description of your target audience. You may need to split them up into groups in a process known as audience segmentation. An audience segment is a subgroup of people with broadly similar characteristics or needs. For example, people living in a leafy suburban street with large detached houses are likely to be very different to people living in a high rise council flat. Their levels of income and car ownership will be different, they will consume different media eg radio, newspapers, TV, magazines etc and have different shopping and travel to work patterns. They may have different attitudes towards the environment and recycling. As a result, different methods and messages might be required to reach and effectively communicate with these distinct groups. CASE STUDY: Target audiences The Staffordshire Recycling Partnership campaign covered the whole county. The target audiences for the campaign were: Socio-demographic groups needing the most motivation and those most likely to support/use new services (75% of effort) Niche groups that had proved hard to engage in Staffordshire s Blue collar roots Acorn group (20% of effort) and Asian communities (5% of effort) You should assess the following characteristics: Which are the most significant in terms of size and distribution? What are their life-stages? For example, young and single, families with young children, mature couples etc What are their similarities or differences? Are there any areas where particular groups or types of people are concentrated? Any other characteristics? The partnership campaign ran from September 2006 to March 2008 with a generic campaign to target the major audience and tailored marketing approaches for the niche groups. WRAP BCLF Case Study: Staffordshire Waste Partnership Improving recycling through effective communications 22

23 You should use the information gathered as part of your background research as part of Section 1 to look at your target audiences. Local knowledge can be very useful in this process but opinions and anecdotal evidence should always be supported by factual evidence. A useful idea is to use a geo-demographical segmentation system like ACORN or MOSAIC that identify different audience groups and map them. This can help you to see where different types of people live and cross-reference other information against them eg anecdotal information from crews about areas of poor performance. Many local authorities use systems such as ACORN or MOSAIC for strategic planning and other purposes and you may be able to use it find out from colleagues or other departments. You should use these systems to support and refine the population and audience information you have already gathered look at the whole picture you get using all the information at your disposal and do not rely too much on any single source. This process will help you to understand who you are talking to, how to talk to them and where they are, which in turn, will help you develop appropriate messages, which communication methods to use and where to run your activities. You could also compare your information to neighbouring councils, and to regional and national figures. Are there any major differences that help to identify issues or potential opportunities for your services and your communications? What do you know about their barriers to recycling? Communications and operational services need to identify, understand and address the barriers to recycling that their target audiences (local householders) face. Use your audience research information and the known barriers/issues in your area to match your audiences against recycling competence levels and barriers that research by WRAP has identified. Recycling competence levels: Recycling unaware Aware but inactive Contemplated but not engaged Unreliable Source: WRAP Barriers to Recycling report Barriers to recycling: Trying their best Broadly competent The Complete Recycler Situational barriers Not having adequate containers, a lack of space for storage, unreliable collections, unable to get to bring sites. Behaviour Not having the space or systems in place in the home to recycle, being too busy with other preoccupations, difficulties in establishing routines for sorting waste and remembering to put it out. Lack of knowledge Knowing what materials to put in which container, and understanding the basics of how the scheme works. Attitudes and Not accepting there is an environmental or other benefit, being resistant to perceptions householder sorting or not getting a personal motivational reward from recycling Source: WRAP Barriers to Recycling report The recycling competence levels are roughly equivalent to ACORN categories 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and this information can be used to map possible recycling competence levels and barriers in your local authority area. This will help you gain a better understanding of the people you wish to target by identifying likely behavioural and lifestyle issues which in turn can help to develop targeted communications activities and messages to address the issues of specific groups of people in particular areas. It is important to point out, however, that whilst tools like ACORN or MOSAIC can be useful for profiling target audiences, it is not a perfect science and representatives from all types of people will be found in their audience segments. It does give a broad indication of the likelihood that the issues highlighted will occur amongst these groups. However, at an individual level, people will have different barriers or combinations of more than one barrier and they may have different messaging needs and require different communication methods to reach them. Audience segmentation should not be seen as a replacement for detailed local knowledge and research and should be used in conjunction with other communication planning tools such as surveys and focus groups. You should also be wary of giving in to the idea that audience segmentation is the answer. On its own it isn t and using it exclusively to develop your communications can lead you astray making you overlook more mundane yet effective communication methods and activities in favour of activities better suited for national or regional Improving recycling through effective communications 23

24 mainstream consumer advertising or marketing campaigns. For example, running a clever and expensive advertising campaign designed to target a particular and widely distributed ACORN group when a simpler and more modest advertising campaign coupled with some form of direct marketing might have been more effective. If you have a limited budget, your communications plan should prioritise its activities to achieve specific, important aims (eg key issues, quick wins etc) or address the barriers of the most widespread audience segments ie the largest possible number of people. For more information more about identifying and segmenting target audiences - see Becoming an Expert No8. WRAP s barriers research containing more detailed information can be accessed online at: Internal/external groups As well as householders, you need to consider the other groups (audiences or stakeholders) that might need to be involved in your communications plan. Generally, these groups may not necessarily be the recipients or end users of your communications (ie householders) they are more likely to be people or organisations that can lend their support to help deliver the campaign and its messages. Some will belong to a number of different groups at the same time, for example, an elected member who lives in an area where a campaign is taking place belongs to both internal and external groups Internal groups It is essential to address internal groups or audiences local authority employees and employees of contractors working for the local authority as these groups can play an invaluable role. Indeed, without their involvement, it may be difficult to deliver recycling communications which achieve their objectives. They may also represent a significant proportion of your local population. As with external audiences, it is useful to segment internal audiences in order to give them appropriate messages. A few of these audiences and the roles they may play are listed below: Elected members (approving schemes and budgets, speaking to residents, promoting recycling in their ward, promoting waste management issues with the local media) Call centre staff (handling enquiries, directing calls correctly) In-house press office staff (support on communications planning, assisting with campaign activities, media relations) Receptionists (handling enquiries, handing out information) Operational staff (dealing with residents, giving information on schemes) Other employees (local ambassadors, leading by example) All internal groups you identify must be kept informed of what you are doing or planning to do. You need to engage them and they must be enthused about your communications plans. If they buy into your campaign they may be more willing and effective in helping you communicate your message or in delivering associated activities and services. You also need to enable them to work with you by making sure they have the right information at the right time in order to use it effectively and that this information is clear and easy to use in the context of their job and daily work. For more information about internal groups and stakeholders - see Becoming an Expert No9. Improving recycling through effective communications 24

25 4.2.2 External groups These are individuals or organisations outside your council that might be important to your communications meeting their objectives because they can lend their support, give advice or engage with key target audiences on your behalf to reinforce your messages and extend the reach of your communication activities. These groups (or stakeholders) range from: Key opinion formers such as local MPs and MEPs Community leaders, parish councillors, local religious leaders Community groups and organisations Local recycling groups and charities The local media - which is particularly important and you should have a media relations programme with additional, dedicated PR activities as part of your communications plan - there is more information about PR in Sections 6 and 7 You should undertake a stakeholder analysis to identify key groups and stakeholders. When you have identified all the groups (remember this may be an on-going process as more groups may emerge during your campaign), you need to decide how you will communicate with them, what sort of information they need and how often. For more information about external groups and stakeholders - see Becoming an Expert No Specific groups The local community is a potential resource with a complex web of organisations and individuals that need to be considered carefully in order for you to gain their support and help in delivering your communications successfully. These networks may not be immediately obvious so take time and consult with local communities to investigate them thoroughly. Opportunities may include: Peer pressure opportunities e.g. Neighbourhood Watch, family and friends, parish council Religious and cultural groups or local societies e.g. Women's Institute, youth groups, student groups, religious networks and communities such as churches, gudwara, mosques etc Community links e.g. libraries, local amenities, leisure centres, community centres, schools, clubs and pubs Local community voluntary groups e.g. environmental or conservation groups, elderly support groups, community waste and recycling groups Housing groups e.g. tenants association, caretakers, landlords, housing associations Others as necessary e.g. benefits agencies, police community support officers, neighbourhood wardens etc Use the stakeholder analysis process identified in Becoming an Expert No9 to identify specific local groups that may be important to your communications activities. For more information about local groups and stakeholder analysis see Becoming an Expert No Hard to reach/engage Hard to reach and hard to engage are sections of the population: Which are hard-to-reach operationally. This may be due to their location or housing type e.g. high rise flats or an isolated rural area. The issues they face are best addressed by consulting with residents at an early stage and by designing an appropriate service. The services provided should be convenient to use and simple to communicate to the residents in question With whom it may be difficult to communicate the reason to participate in a recycling service and/or the practicalities of using it. Examples of these hard to engage groups might include transient groups such as students or itinerant or seasonal workers. Language and literacy issues may present specific challenges Improving recycling through effective communications 25

26 Hard to reach/engage audiences are commonly associated with low performing areas (LPAs). The term LPA is applied to geographic areas where there is a concentration of households, which, for whatever reason, participate less in the recycling service(s) provided than households in other areas of the same authority. Low participation can cover a number of specific issues: Low levels of participation in recycling services overall resulting in low tonnages collected Low levels of participation in terms of the range of materials collected resulting in low tonnages captured for some materials Incorrect participation resulting in the wrong materials being presented and poor quality of recyclate collected which can lead to rejection of entire loads if contamination levels are high Low participation is a relative term as performance may simply be low in relation to an authority s overall recycling performance or recycling/landfill targets. Do you have issues with LPAs? You should carefully consider whether you have any LPAs and look very carefully at the issues, barriers and people living in any LPAs you identify. Each area could have a distinct audience profile, geography and associated barriers to recycling. You may need to implement specific operational improvements to address people s barriers to recycling and run specific communications designed to encourage them to recycle once their barriers have been addressed. For more information about targeting hard to reach/engage groups and developing focused communications for low participation areas - refer to the guidance document ( Improving Low Participation Areas Effective communications planning Guidance Document ) which is available on the WRAP website: Review lifestyle characteristics It is important to understand the impact which lifestyles, life-stages or cultural issues in your local authority may have on the recycling service and how it is communicated. There may be particular opportunities or barriers that are specific to different groups and your communications (brand, messages, type of activities) should aim to overcome or avoid them. Different areas within your authority may have different characteristics and need different approaches to both system design and communications. Summarise the information you have on the lifestyles of residents in your target areas eg: Socio-economic status e.g. where do residents shop and what do they buy? This will affect where you can effectively get your message across to them. Do they have a car? This will affect decisions about the use and location of bring banks. Do they have a house large enough to store the proposed mix of recycling containers easily? Do they have a garden? This will affect choices about communications messages. Population turnover/transience e.g. are residents students, migrant groups or travellers? Even in relatively stable districts, the population turnover can be 15% which can be a very significant proportion over a few years. This affects the frequency of communications needed. Any other characteristics as necessary Summarise the information you have on the life stages of residents in your target area: Children e.g. they may have influence over their parents Young people e.g. often transient, have other priorities and relatively low incomes Young families with children below school age e.g. may have other priorities but may be open to environmental messages Improving recycling through effective communications 26

27 Families with children at school e.g. whilst they may have other priorities they are often the ones involved in community activities Middle aged e.g. more settled, may be active in the community Elderly e.g. may have access issues and require assisted collections, may also be active in the community Any others as necessary Review any cultural issues that may be present: Literacy and language e.g. populations where English may be a second language or literacy levels may be low Social conventions e.g. in some cultures women will not talk to men that they do not know or men may not accept advice from women Social attitudes e.g. will environmental messaging resonate or would cost drivers have more impact? Do people care about the place they live? Religious beliefs and practices e.g. some religious groups do not drink alcohol so might not respond to images using wine bottles Differing waste practices in countries of origin e.g. some residents may not have experienced recycling before or there may not be a translation for the word recycling Keep this summary to hand when you consider your communications messages and communication methods. Improving recycling through effective communications 27

28 CASE STUDY: Engaging culturally diverse populations Across Luton as a whole, residents originating from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Kashmir and Sri Lanka make up around 25% of the population, but concentrations in certain wards reach 70%. The Council developed materials to communicate effectively with these groups as part of a campaign to promote recycling. Participation in recycling among Luton s Indian sub-continent communities tended to be lower than in other communities. The proposed campaign had therefore to suit the cultural and social background of these communities and choose the best method of conveying information about the benefits of recycling and how to recycle. The campaign used Bollywood themed posters, billboards, advertising shells, a leaflet and roadshows to attract the attention of people who normally ignored standard recycling messages. This highly visual, themed design was developed using the design principles of Recycle Now and aimed to be simple and eye-catching to draw in viewers before they knew what the message was. Once they had been drawn in, they read a simple message asking them to recycle in a variety of languages. All households in the target area received a leaflet in the same style as the poster campaign explaining how to use the recycling service at home. The campaign results included: Participation increased by 8% and the number of committed recyclers rose by 4% The amount of residual waste produced in the campaign area fell by 4.2% (compared to 3.6% for the whole of Luton) The amount of dry recycling increased 9.4% in the target area (compared to 8% for the whole of Luton) The success of the campaign was attributed to the time taken initially to understand the need to identify a common cultural and social theme. WRAP Local Authority Communications Case Study: Luton Borough Council For more information about culturally diverse communities see Becoming an Expert No 10. Improving recycling through effective communications 28

29 4.6 Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the target audience could be identified. 4.0 Target Audiences In order to maximise awareness and participation, communications will be targeted. The target groups will be as follows: 4.1 Householders Householders need to be provided with specific information about what can and cannot be recycled through the existing kerbside recycling collections, HWRCs and bring sites. Communications should be directly targeted at the female head of household. 4.2 Council Employees Council employees especially waste and recycling staff, crew, contractors and frontline staff; and Elected members. 4.3 Community Groups Care will be taken not to expend excessive resources in this area. Unless there is a large audience, particularly of uncommitted recyclers, a lot of effort can lead to only a marginal increase in participation. Resources should be used where they will make the largest impact on participation and recycling rates. Community groups that will be targeted include: Parish and town councils Women s Institutes; Scouts and Guides; Rotary Club; Church groups; and Tenant s Associations. 4.4 Media Local newspapers; and Local radio. 4.5 Schools Primary schools; Secondary schools; and Further education colleges. Improving recycling through effective communications 29

30 5.0 Branding and Message Developing Communications This section takes you through the stages of developing your communications brand and its identity, the tone of voice for your communications and explains how to link to the national Recycle Now campaign brand to get the most out of it. It uses some of WRAP s latest research into people s barriers to recycling and looks at the implications for messaging. Having identified your target audiences and their needs you need to develop your brand and message. Your brand encompasses concepts such as the brand identity, personality, promise and visual identity: The identity is the outward expression (name and visual appearance) of a company or campaign The personality is the assignment of human personality traits such as seriousness, warmth, or imagination to a brand The promise is the experience consumers should expect from all interactions with the brand eg your recycling collection services The visual identity is the overall look and feel of the brand what images you choose to use, the style and design Brands and identities are easy to produce but can be hard to get right. Developing the right brand for recycling communications is something in which a great deal of time, research and effort has been invested in order to get right and the Recycle Now brand enjoys high levels of public recognition through England. Your communications should adopt the national Recycle Now campaign branding for use locally as there are a number of benefits: Industry research shows that local communications benefit from association with national campaigns and messages through greater awareness and increased impact In June 2008, 74% of people in England recognised the Recycle Now brand The campaign logo and iconography is in widespread use by around 90% of local authorities and is being used by an ever increasing range of organisations to communicate recycling messages The campaign has an extensive range of resources designed to help local authority recycling campaigns The brand and its activities are extensively tested and evaluated You can review the Recycle Now branding guidance on the dedicated website for campaign partners: Some examples of the Recycle Now brand in use by local authorities are shown on the next page. Improving recycling through effective communications 30

31 For more information about campaign branding and the importance of using the Recycle Now brand - see Becoming an Expert No Visual identity Use a graphic designer (in-house or external design studio/agency) to develop initial design ideas and ways to incorporate the Recycle Now branding along with your own corporate branding if necessary. Ideally, you should test your designs (and messages) using focus groups (or at least circulate to non-waste members of staff and call centre staff) to ensure they will be effective. Remember to obtain approval for initial designs from senior managers and/or elected members as required before proceeding too far. And finally, once selected, your brand must be applied consistently across all your communications activities. Example of a local authority visual identity applied across a range of materials: Glass recycling leaflet Garden waste collection leaflet Plastic recycling leaflet In this instance, Liverpool City Council produced its own brand guideline document to ensure the communications materials it produced were consistent and complied with the national Recycle Now branding guidelines. Whilst this is a good idea for some larger campaigns (eg for waste partnerships) it is not necessary for every local authority to do this. There are a number of specific documents and a range of online information designed to help you develop your Recycle Now brand identity and communications materials including: Recycle Now Brand guidelines Recycle Now Partners guidelines - Design of Communications Material and communications checklist - Material streams iconography - Home Composting - Local advertising and promotion For a brief description of each publication, refer to the Further Sources of Information on Page 189. Improving recycling through effective communications 31

32 CASE STUDY: Campaign branding A kerbside scheme was introduced in a number of councils across County Durham for the separate collection of glass, cans and paper. The campaign was aimed at all residents with targeted messages in areas identified as low performing. In the past, communications had been limited to broad brush promotional materials such as calendars and leaflets and these materials had been produced by the individual district councils. As a result, messages across the scheme members were mixed with variations in style and brand. This was felt to be one reason why participation in certain areas was low. A different approach was required so all design was centralised and managed by the lead LA partner with sign-off by all four LA partners. Design and printing was managed by an external design agency using WRAP brand guidelines. With newly redesigned material under a single, overall campaign brand, the campaign undertook a range of activities designed to target different target audiences, including students who make up a significant proportion of residents in Durham City during term-time. Overall, participation in the scheme increased between 7% - 14%. The local authorities felt the use of Recycle Now branding provided a consistent message and allowed economies of scale. Testing the target literature, particularly for the student audience, also gave Durham City Council confidence the materials were appealing and that the messages would be well received. WRAP Local Authority Communications Case Study: Durham County Council For examples of how other local authorities have successfully adopted Recycle Now and used it locally, look at WRAP s local authority communications case studies For more information about campaign visual identity - see Becoming an Expert No Tone of voice Tone of voice enables a brand to convey its values or qualities through the language it uses. Many brands overlook the words they use and rely on visual cues: the logo, the colour and typeface. A brand's tone of voice what it says and how it says it is important yet sometimes it can be an afterthought. When the tone of voice is consistent it becomes another means of recognising the brand and reinforcing expectations (ie the brand promise). Research shows that the right tone of voice is critical to the success of recycling communications. You need to communicate with them so in ways that do not irritate, annoy or otherwise upset them. Be careful of text that may unwittingly cause offence the wrong word, phrase or tone could alienate sections of the population. Recycle Now is designed to engage consumers with clear messages in a positive, warm and friendly tone of voice. Look at the style, language and tone of voice developed by other local authorities in their successful communications by accessing Recycle Now case studies ( Once your brand and tone of voice is decided you can begin to develop your communications message/s. For more information about developing the right tone of voice - see Becoming an Expert No12. Improving recycling through effective communications 32

33 5.3 Type of message Your messages must be designed to engage, inform, educate, motivate and even inspire your target audiences. Depending on what your objectives are, your message needs to: Be personal Be simple and clear Address the barriers of your target audience Focus on a single action or an issue and how to overcome it. You need a clear call to action - a clear statement urging people to do something eg Recycle your Christmas Cards - so they know exactly what you want them to do Be consistent Different audiences may need different messages and you may need to develop separate specific messages to engage specific target audiences. What works for a high recycler may not necessarily work on a low/non recycler, for example: a high recycler may be motivated to greater recycling efforts by information on environmental benefits whereas a low/non recycler may only just respond to the fact that recycling is convenient and easy. Don t overload people by trying to communicate too much people are easily distracted or put off and saying too much can be a barrier in itself. It is better to focus on a single message and repeat it than try to communicate too much in one go. Your messages need to be developed with a range of communication channels in mind. How will it work, for example on a leaflet, in an advert, on an exhibition display, on the radio or on the side of a collection vehicle? Test your messages on your target audience, ideally through focus groups or with non-waste council staff and obtain approval from senior managers and/or elected members as required before proceeding too far with detailed design work. Make sure you have a clear and quick decision-making process for approving designs and messages. Avoid long-drawn out decisions and ones made by committee, as they will probably slow you down you and lessen the impact of your designs. See messages other local authorities have used successfully by accessing Recycle Now case studies here For more information about developing communications messages - see Becoming an Expert No13. Improving recycling through effective communications 33

34 5.4 Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the branding and campaign tone could be developed and written. 5.0 Branding and Campaign Tone Moving Forward Council (MFC) has not developed consistent branding or visual identity for its waste and recycling promotions. It is suggested that MFC use the Recycle Now campaign look and feel for its communications material and localises the identity by using recycle for Moving Forward on all its recycling promotional material. MFC should also consider developing design guidelines to support the recycle for Moving Forward branding. This will help any designer to achieve a consistent look in the future. Taking this approach will make all promotional material easily recognised and its purpose understood. All material will be compliant with the recycle now guidelines and take into consideration MFC s corporate branding guidelines. As there is no internal design service it is suggested that all the design work is contracted out to a professional design service to ensure quality and consistency of design. It is also recommended that an agency with experience of this type of work is used to save on briefing and copywriting by MFC staff. The tone of the communications will: Include positive messages and not be blaming or negative Be consistent with regard to the look and feel Make it easy for people to take action The female head of the household tends to take responsibility for recycling in the home and this should be taken into consideration when designing communications. The Waste Projects Officer will be responsible for signing off all artwork. The branding will be used on all communication material, press and advertising. Improving recycling through effective communications 34

35 6.0 Strategy and Communications Methods Develop strategy and methods The next stage in the communications planning cycle is to select the strategy and communication methods most appropriate to achieving your aim and objectives. This section helps you look at your overall approach, the issues to consider in different operational situations and how to choose the most appropriate mix of communication methods for your situation. You should start by considering your overall strategic approach and consider which main communication methods to use. This section takes you through this process and looks at the types of communication methods and how to use them to use to support services in different situations and target different audiences. 6.1 Overall approach Using the information from your background research, your knowledge of your key target audiences and your likely budget, you need to decide which mix of communication methods will be the most effective to reach your target audiences. Key questions to ask yourself are: Do I need to reach everyone across the whole LA area (broad brush communications)? Do I need to target particular audiences or people in particular areas (targeted communications)? What type of information do I need to communicate (simple or detailed)? Use your answers to help you decide on your strategy and select your communication methods. There is a range of communication methods to choose from: Communication methods Advertising PR Direct marketing techniques Examples Radio, press, TV, outdoor, mobile, online etc. Media relations via radio, press, TV and online. Door to door canvassing, leaflet/ information distribution (eg door-todoor), exhibitions and events. Building on-going permanent relationships with local communities. Broad brush/targeted Mainly broad brush though can be targeted if used carefully. Mainly broad brush for local authority recycling communications though sometimes specific areas can be targeted e.g. via local weekly newspapers. Targeted. Community Targeted. engagement Online Council website. Broad brush (but capable of communicating detailed information). Internal Internal communications with council Targeted. communications staff. Social media Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & You Tube Targeted. Mobile phones Mobile phone text alerts and information Targeted. services Improving recycling through effective communications 35

36 Depending on your situation, your communications may need to do one or more of the following: Create and maintain awareness Build interest and anticipation Provide practical information Address people s barriers Create behavioural change Keep people engaged and participating over time You should focus on whichever of the above is the priority for your communications and develop an integrated strategy whereby different communication methods and activities target different audiences in different ways. For example, radio advertising is good at creating and maintaining awareness or building interest and anticipation in a current or new scheme whereas leaflets targeting people in an LPA provide practical information that can address their barriers. Your strategy and the communication methods you use should not attempt to cover everything all the time. Some communication methods are better at reaching people across a wide area (broad-brush methods), whilst others are more effective if used in a targeted way in small, discreet areas (targeted methods). Some are effective at both. For example: TV is good for targeting people across an entire region with the same message Radio, depending on its coverage, is better to target people in smaller areas, say a single local authority area (although broadcast areas will probably overlap with other local authorities) Local weekly newspapers may target people in particular areas of a local authority Door-to-door canvassing is effective if used in a targeted way in relatively small areas e.g. particular estates Signage at recycling sites will only target people visiting that site Social media channels can be an effective way to target information about services and allows you to engage in two-way dialogue with residents to spread messages, improve customer service and build relationships. Mobile phone text alerts and information services e.g. reminders to put recycling bins out can be effective way to target residents. Your choice of communication methods also depends on what type of information you want to give to people: Advertising is good for short, simple messages eg awareness raising and a simple call to action such as call a helpline or consult a website PR in your local press can be effective at communicating both simple and more complicated information eg launching a new service, or explaining to people what happens to their recycling Information leaflets and calendars delivered to every household and your council website can deliver detailed information eg what goes in a recycling container and when it is collected Door-to-door canvassing and call centre staff can give detailed information tailored to the needs of individual people You should design your strategy to use a number of communications methods because no single method will be as effective in isolation and each has its advantages and disadvantages in different situations. Also, you should develop an integrated strategy with a range of communication methods targeting a number of target audiences at the same time in different ways. This type of approach will help to maximise the chances of hitting your target audiences by delivering your messages via a number of different methods over a period of time and increase the impact of your communications as a whole. For more information about developing a communications strategy and different communication methods - see Becoming an Expert No14. For more information on specific communications methods for culturally diverse communities see Becoming an Expert No15. Improving recycling through effective communications 36

37 For more information about how communications can support operational activity see Becoming an Expert No16 and Becoming an Expert No 17. CASE STUDY: Communication methods Corby Borough Council rebranded its communication materials to support the introduction of alternate weekly collections (AWC), which involved several service changes. The overall aim was to inform all residents of the new scheme so that they felt confident in using it, understood how to use it and why it was being introduced. The specific objectives were to: Inform all householders of the new AWC services by February 2007 Achieve an average participation rate of 75% in the new recycling services by May 2007 Achieve the council s recycling and recovery targets of 40%+ for Communication methods and activities Advertising: Community posters - These were put up in strategic locations (supermarkets, libraries and community centres, etc) Direct marketing: Letter - A letter (in a printed envelope so it would not be mistaken for junk mail) was sent to all households telling them about the proposed changes to the service A5 flyers - These had information about the new service, and were distributed at roadshows and local events Pre-rollout information pack - 30,000 information packs were delivered to residents as the bins were being distributed. These consisted of: a printed envelope containing a second letter; an eightpage instruction booklet; bin stickers and a collection calendar. Residents were told which materials went in each bin and when the bins would be collected Reminders - Residents were urged to recycle with the distribution of 49,000 bin hangers (reminders/ contamination tags). In November 2007, 25,000 copies of a further leaflet were distributed to act as a reminder to residents of the services on offer and how to use it Community engagement Roadshows - A series of roadshows were organised offering on-the-spot advice for residents. Additional roadshows were held throughout the year The percentage of residents participating in the scheme by the end of the campaign had risen to 92%. As a result of the campaign, Corby BC decided to reinforce the Recycle for Corby message and to continue using the localised Recycle Now call to action and branding as it was widely recognised and liked by residents. WRAP Local Authority Communications Case Study: Corby Borough Council 6.2 Methods to reach audiences As well as selecting your communication methods and activities on the basis of how they can support your services, your selection also needs to take account of your target audiences as different communication methods are more/less effective with different audiences. The methods you select must: Be able to reach the desired target audiences Address any barriers they may have Present the information in a way that they will respond to Research by WRAP suggests that not only do different audience groups have different barriers to recycling but that they are more receptive to specific recycling messages using different communication methods. Use the audience barriers and messages table in Becoming an Expert No14 to check that the methods you intend using are applicable to your target audiences. Please note, that whilst this table is based on robust and comprehensive research carried out by WRAP, it should not be the only thing you use to look at audience Improving recycling through effective communications 37

38 communications and to provide you with a sense check. You should also check how all your proposed communication methods fit together to reach your target audiences via a number of methods. When you have decided which communication methods to use you should look at how they fit together and assess whether they will reach all your target audiences. Use the communications matrix in Becoming an Expert No14 to map your communication methods against your target audiences to ensure: You haven t missed any key groups All your target audiences are targeted using a number of methods to increase the chances of your message getting through The communication methods you have chosen complement each other and fit together Checking that your selected communication methods are a good fit with your target audiences and your objectives should help you make your decisions about the mix of communication methods and activities you want to use to get the right messages to the right groups in the right ways. For more information about different communication activities see Becoming an Expert No19 and Impact of each method Each communication method has different strengths and weaknesses and their impact will vary depending on how they are used. It is essential to use the most appropriate mix of communication methods based on your target audience, your objectives and your budget and consider the impact, influence and targeting of the communications method or activity. External impacts To assess the likely impact on your target audience and to decide whether a particular communication method is right for your strategy you should assess it against the following attributes: Impact - the degree to which the communication will be noticed by the person receiving it Influence - the extent to which the technique will influence the recycling behaviour of the people receiving it Targeting - the precision with which the technique can be used to reach a very specific audience or group These attributes can be applied to different communication methods and activities, for example: TV advertising is high impact but it is also very indiscriminate so its targeting ability is low. This means its cost effectiveness for local campaigns is relatively low and should be given a low priority Leaflets delivered door-to-door are similar to TV in terms of their ability to influence people. However, their targeting can be highly effective and they can be very cost effective which means local authority recycling communications should give them a high priority You should assess all the communication methods you have identified to check that they are the ones best suited to your situation before moving on to look at detailed activities. This is covered in more detail in Becoming an Expert No14. Internal impacts As well as the effects on your target audience you should consider the potential impact on the local authority if your communications succeed will your services and resources be able to cope? You should consider the following issues and ensure sufficient resources are in place to cope with any extra demands created by your communications: Potential internal impact Ability of collection teams to cope with the additional material being collected Capacity of containers and vehicles with the additional material being collected Possible solution Rearrange rounds to take account of increased time collecting/emptying containers Assess containers and vehicles to ensure they have enough capacity Improving recycling through effective communications 38

39 The ability of front line staff to deal politely and efficiently with questions from householders or HWRC users Extra requests for help and support from householders eg assisted collections Capacity and collection frequency of bring banks and ability of HWRCs to deal with increased numbers of users Extra requests for bulky waste collections Additional enquiries to call centres Householders visit website to obtain further information Ensure additional containers can be provided if required Train staff Identify level of potential demand (use demographic information) and plan how to respond Review size of banks and collection frequencies to see if any changes might be required Review system for responding to enquires to maintain adequate response times and plan to have extra resources on hand if required Train staff to deal with enquiries quickly and efficiently and arrange for additional staff to be available to deal with likely peak demand periods eg around the launch of a new service perhaps through out-sourcing or sharing with a neighbouring authority Update information Check system can cope with increased hits Crisis Planning Have you considered what to do if something goes wrong? You should have detailed emergency plans and a crisis PR plan. You should also have a trained media spokesperson, someone who can deal with media enquiries and give interviews. You could conduct a SWOT analysis to identify potential internal weaknesses and develop ways to address them (see Becoming an Expert No5 for information about SWOT analysis). Ensure that all the likely internal impacts of your communications have been identified and addressed before you start your campaign. For more information about the impacts of different communications methods - see Becoming an Expert No Distribution methods There are a variety of ways to distribute communications material and information to target audiences including: Door-to-door distribution (door-drops) of leaflets/calendars/service information packs by crews, canvassers, specialist distribution companies or the Royal Mail Pick-ups from libraries, council offices, community centres, leisure centres and other public buildings Posters in libraries, council offices, community centres, leisure centres, doctors surgeries, schools, local shops, community notice boards etc Each method has its advantages and disadvantages and the final decision over which method(s) to use is usually determined by a combination of factors: Effectiveness - will it reach the target audience? Ease - will it be simple, complicated or time-consuming to organise? Timescales - how quick/slow will it be? What are the lead times? Will it work in the timescale I need it? Reliability - how reliable is this method? Can I guarantee people will see/read my message? Cost - how cheap/expensive is it? Does it represent good value for money? For more information about distribution methods - see Becoming an Expert No18. Improving recycling through effective communications 39

40 6.5 Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the communications strategy could be developed and written. 6.0 Communications Strategy In order to achieve these objectives the campaign will adopt the following strategic approach: Deliver generic information to all households on the recycling services available in the district and what can and cannot be collected in order to recycle as much as possible; Deliver targeted information to households where there is low participation; Develop and maintain recognition of the recycle for Moving Forward Council (MFC) branding; Deliver recycling information to all MFC staff; Develop effective partnerships with media groups to support the recycling services and the benefits associated with recycling; and Include monitoring and evaluation mechanisms within all communication activities to help measure their effectiveness. A way of identifying some of the audiences, the messages you are trying to get across and the methods that could be used is shown in the table below. Audience Message Method All Householders What you can recycle using the existing services The benefits of recycling What happens to recyclables How to obtain more information Direct Mail, instruction leaflets and calendar Website Council Helpline Council Newspaper Vehicle livery Unmanned exhibitions Roadshows Feedback leaflets and surveys New residents packs Social Media Channels Mobile phone text alerts Collection crews How to deliver the services Benefits of the services How to advise householders Crew training Calling cards Information provided to householders Press and Media Using the recycling services The benefits of recycling Events to promote the services Press releases Press briefings Improving recycling through effective communications 40

41 7.0 Campaign Activities Develop individual activities Your communication methods cover a wide range of individual activities and once you have decided on your overall strategy and selected the mix of communication methods to use, you need to look in detail at the communications activities you need to deliver your strategy s objectives. You should begin by looking at which communication activities to use as part of the mix of communication methods you have selected a list of potential activities is outlined below. Next, you need to set individual aims and objectives for each activity and decide how to monitor and evaluate them. This will enable you to identify which activities perform well, which perform less well and to report on your successes. Communication methods Advertising PR Direct marketing techniques Community engagement Online Social Media Mobile phones Internal communications Communication activities External advertising billboards, adshels, bus, train and tube Internal advertising bus, tube TV and radio advertising Online advertising Press advertising Free poster sites Branding of collection receptacles Information stickers for collection receptacles Livery of collection vehicles Signage at drop off sites Signage on bring banks Signage on recycling and waste collection containers Briefing local media (TV, radio, press and online media) Launch event(s) Press packs and press briefings Council newsletters Leaflets and service calendars (collection information) Contamination cards Door-to-door canvassing Building on-going permanent relationships with local communities and community groups Events, roadshows and drop-in days Council website and E-zines Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & You Tube Mobile phone text alerts and information services e.g. reminders to put recycling bins out Intranet Staff magazine Briefings Crew & staff training packs Like your communication methods, your activities need to be selected using the following criteria: Appropriate to your strategy and your chosen communication methods Support the achievement of your overall aim and objectives Improving recycling through effective communications 41

42 Appropriate for the services you are promoting Best fit for the type of message and audience Can be managed successfully with your available resources Can be delivered within your anticipated budget eg using a mix of high cost and low cost activities and free media (such as posters in council/public buildings) wherever possible Again, you should use a number of activities for each communications method because no single method will be effective on its own and each activity (like their corresponding methods) has its advantages and disadvantages in different situations. Also, you should develop an integrated strategy with a range of communication activities and methods which overlap with each other. This will maximise the chances of hitting your target audiences by delivering your messages via a number of different methods over a period of time and increase the overall impact of your communications. Use the communications matrix from Becoming an Expert No14 to cross-reference and integrate your communication activities with your overall methods and target audiences. CASE STUDY: Campaign activities London Borough of Barnet undertook a campaign to boost participation in recycling by people living in flats. The main campaign activity was door-to-door canvassing with the Council commissioning teams of recycling promoters to visit all 15,000 flats with communal recycling bins. Return visits were carried out to achieve a 50% face-to-face contact rate. The promoters offered residents free, reusable bags to store recyclable items and handed out an information leaflet on recycling. Other communication activities included: Media releases to achieve instant and sustained awareness and to launch the Flats Recycling publicity campaign Newsletters including features in local newsletters and community magazines Website the pages dealing with recycling on the council s website ( were updated with a separate section for flats Service leaflets were produced for distribution as part of the door-stepping campaign Direct mail a letter to provide information about the service was posted to residents who were not in when the door-steppers called Posters featuring details of the campaign were produced for communal areas of flats Reusable bags for storing and transporting recycling printed with service information were distributed to all residents visited Signage on recycling containers new clear, easy-to-follow information stickers conforming to national Recycle Now branded signage were introduced Show cards were produced illustrating the materials collected for recycling for use by residents who do not speak English as a first language WRAP Local Authority Communications Case Study: London Borough of Barnet For more information about communication activities see Becoming an Expert No19 and No20. For more information on communications on a budget see Becoming an Expert No Individual aims & objectives For each communication activity you need to identify an individual set of aims and objectives against which progress and achievements can be monitored and evaluated. Your aims and objectives for each activity need to link back to and support your overall aim and objectives. If they do not, you should question the value of a particular activity. This approach will help you to be clear about the purpose of each activity and see how it fits into your overall plan. Remember to make sure your objectives are SMART and include inputs, outputs and impacts where relevant (NB you do not need to include input, output and impact objectives for every activity use them sensibly). Setting input and output objectives is relatively straightforward as they are easier to Improving recycling through effective communications 42

43 measure. Objectives based on impacts should be approached with more care as it as be more difficult to apportion impacts to specific communication activities. Be sensible with the measures you chose make sure they are appropriate, for example: Activity Posters in public buildings and shops throughout local authority Door-to-door canvassing in LPA Objectives Inputs Outputs Impacts 450 posters distributed 400 displayed to the public Print 500 A4 colour posters 3,000 houses called at No objective set (too difficult to apportion impacts (ie increased tonnage of recyclate collected) directly to posters 1,000 people spoken to 5% increase in recyclate collected from the round covering the LPA To know more about setting aims and objectives and SMART targets See Section 3: Aims and Objectives and Becoming an Expert No6 and No Communication tactics Next, you need to look in detail at the individual tactics (or tasks) that make up each activity. You should list all your communication activities and break down the individual tactics each one needs in order to be developed and delivered successfully. For an example of an activity breakdown, see the outline plan in Becoming an Expert No23. For more information about planning your communications see Section 8: Planning your activities. 7.3 Agree Monitoring & Evaluation mechanisms Each activity should have its own monitoring and evaluation system so you know whether it has succeeded in meeting its aims and objectives. You need to measure the inputs, outcomes and impacts (as appropriate) of each activity and determine whether they have met their aim and objectives. For example, the monitoring and evaluation for an event could comprise: The number of events organised (input) The number of people attending the event (outcome) The number of people spoken to (outcome) The amount of information taken away (outcome) A survey of attendees (all or a sample) to obtain information on attitudes towards, understanding of and opinions about the event and recycling locally (impact) For an introduction and overview of monitoring and evaluation - see Section 9. For detailed information about target setting and monitoring and evaluating your communications see Improving the Performance of Waste Diversion Schemes A Good Practice Guide to Monitoring and Evaluation. This comprehensive guidance document gives detailed step-by-step guidance on a range of monitoring techniques for waste operations and communications and can be accessed here: Improving recycling through effective communications 43

44 7.4 Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the communications activities could be developed and written. 7.0 Communications Activities 7.1 Recycling Guide and Collection Calendar A recycling guide will be developed to inform householders of the materials they can recycle using the blue and brown bin kerbside services and the HWRC and recycling bring sites. This will be mailed out in an envelope with council branding to all households with the collection calendar. The design of the leaflet will be eye-catching and integrate the recycle now branding and material stream icons and the text will be kept concise. Aims To raise awareness of materials which can be recycled using the MFC kerbside, bring and HWRC recycling services; and To inform householders when their collections will be made. Objectives To design and deliver a recycling guide to all residents by the end of August 2013; To design and deliver a collection calendar to all residents by the end of August 2013; Tactics Design and print 18,000 (allowing for spares) A5, 8 page, four colour, recycling guide; Design and print 18, types A5 2 page, four colour, collection calendars; Design and print 17,000 C5 4 colour overprinted envelopes; Mail out calendars and recycling guides to all households; Provide copies of promotional material to relevant staff e.g. crews, frontline staff, members; Internal promotion to all staff using ; Issue press release to local media groups; and Update the recycling pages on the council website. Monitoring Mechanisms Number of recycling guides and calendars distributed; Tonnage of dry recycling and organic waste collected before and after mail out; Number of queries and requests received as a result of the mail out; and Hits and visits to the recycling pages on the council website. 7.2 Website The Council s website has information on the recycling and refuse services which will be updated and improved significantly to provide clear information on what householders can recycle. This will be done in a more visual way and will use the new branding developed for all recycling and waste services. A new URL will be developed to take householders directly to the recycling pages of the MFC website, this will be This address will be used on all communications as it is far easier for residents to access the information rather than going via the Council s home page. In addition a link from the home page will also be developed to take users directly to the recycling pages. Improving recycling through effective communications 44

45 Aim To raise awareness and provide up to date information to householders on the waste and recycling services and waste reduction initiatives provided by the Council on the MFC website. Objectives Make improvements and update the website recycling pages, develop a new URL for use on all promotional material and create a link from the home page by July 2013; and To increase the number of visits to the recycling and waste pages by 20% by March Tactics Develop updated, on-brand pages, new URL and link from home page and arrange upload; Add information about new promotional campaigns as and when they are launched; Ensure that regular website statistics reports are available for the waste and recycling pages to establish the information readers are accessing this can help shape and populate new pages. Monitoring Mechanisms Use statistics package to track website traffic to recycling and waste pages monthly recording/ quarterly reporting. Improving recycling through effective communications 45

46 8.0 Planning Your Activities Scheduling and costs This section looks at the process of putting your ideas into a coherent implementation plan and provides you with a mechanism to ensure that all activities are completed on time and within budget. Firstly, you need to ensure your communications plan dovetails with any operational activity that is planned such as the launch of new collections. Then the plan needs to take account of any national activities with which your communications could link in order to generate added media and public interest. Once all these key dates have been timetabled you can schedule all your communication activities and tactics. At the same time you need to obtain costings for all the communications activities and materials in order to develop your budget. The length of your plan will depend on how far into the future you need to plan and how far you can accurately forecast your budget levels and make reasonable planning decisions. In most cases the best approach is to plan and review communication activities over a 12 month cycle although occasionally, for short campaigns, your plan may only need to cover a few months. It is a good idea though to have an overall strategy that covers 2-3 years, though you do not need have prepared detailed plans for that length of time. Finally, you should consider the level of detail for different people: A simple overview of the main activities, timescales, deliverables and outcomes for senior managers and other key stakeholders A much more detailed version which you and your team will use on a day-to-day basis In terms of the format for your plan, Excel or specialised software programmes such as Microsoft Project can be useful in developing a visual representation of activities in the form of Gantt charts. 8.1 Link with service provision Start your communications plan by looking at your service targets and operational activity. List the key milestones and deadlines: Operational/service performance targets Operational activities and initiatives designed to achieve your service targets eg launching or changing a new service Changing collection times/frequencies Consult your local authority waste strategy or colleagues for detailed information and pay particular attention to those current and future operational activities that need communicating to householders (see the information you gathered in Section 1). It may be useful to show key operational activities that will affect your communications activities within the same plan to provide a focus for key deadlines. Operational actions could be shown in your plan alongside communications activity by displaying it in a different colour, for instance. 8.2 Link with national events Identify key national dates or events that you can use to base activities around or generate positive local PR, for example the dates national recycling or environmental statistics are released. Key international, national awareness days and events include: Improving recycling through effective communications 46

47 Compost Awareness Week Earth Day World Environment Day Recycle Week The Clean Up the World Weekend The national Recycle Now website provides a campaign calendar which includes information about upcoming events, advertising or special topics which can be incorporated into local plans. National events can be used effectively by local campaigns and have a number of benefits: There will be general public awareness about the national event as a result of national media coverage Any event you organise locally in support is likely to attract more interest from the public If you organise an event, it may attract the interest of your local media looking for a local angle or story about the national event 8.3 Schedule campaign activities When you have identified all the key dates, deadlines and milestones you need to plot them onto a Gantt chart, planning each activity and breaking it down into its individual tactics (tasks). Look at when each activity needs to be completed and allow time for all the tactics required to organise each one. Other key points to consider: Allow time for funding or sponsorship applications and build in campaign meetings as required When scheduling activities, remember to allow for holiday dates (staff, public and school holidays) Booking advertising space (eg billboards) may need to be done well in advance to get the best spaces and deals Leaflet distributions may need to be ready a long time in advance as much as a couple of months for Royal Mail You need to list your entire communications programme and schedule all your activities and tactics. Make sure you include everything. It can be useful to develop an Activity Table to schedule your communications activities, timescales and costs. A sample table can be downloaded from For more information about planning and using Gantt charts see Becoming an Expert No Outline indicative costs You should make some initial budget decisions quite early on based on indications of the size of any budget you are likely to have. As a rule of thumb, and based on WRAP s experience of working with a large number of local authorities, effective communications costs a minimum of 1.00 per household for ongoing communications. This will vary depending on local circumstances, for example the figure for smaller LAs could be greater as core costs for activities like monitoring will absorb a greater proportion of their funding. Also, if you are launching a brand new service, you may need to spend more in order to ensure you do so successfully up to 2 per household. A reasonable starting point is to consider exactly how much money you need (in an ideal world) and compare that to how much money you are likely to get (based, for example, on previous levels of communications funding). Work to an initial target budget that is somewhere between the two figures (bearing the 1.00 per household figure in mind). Cost efficiencies can be gained for some activities that could reach across a wider area by working in partnership with neighbouring authorities. Prioritise your activities into must have and nice to have activities and fully cost all your must have activities first. Is the budget figure you obtain higher or lower than your target budget? If lower, prioritise and start costing your nice to have activities until you reach your target budget. If the figure is higher you need to investigate what scope there is for finding some extra budget or economise by prioritising your must have activities: rule some out or find more economical ways of delivering them, for example, by reducing the scale of Improving recycling through effective communications 47

48 activities such as five events instead of ten or two weeks press advertising instead of four. If you have to economise you should also be wary of making some activities so small that they may not have any impact at all. It might be better not doing them and reallocating that proportion of the budget to other activities that have a greater chance of achieving your objectives. If your communications plan straddles a financial year, look critically at what activities you can push back or pull forwards and adjust your budgets accordingly. Remember, if you have to cut down, you may need to revise your aims and objectives down as well. If you have to economise, you should consider whether you are still able to reach your targets with a reduced budget. If it looks unlikely, use this information to make a stronger case for additional budget or seek agreement to a less ambitious target.. WRAP has produced an Indicative Cost Guide that aims to help with costing communications activities. These indicative costs cover a wide range of goods and services and should help you develop initial budgets and obtain value for money. This guide, however, is not intended as a substitute for seeking three estimates from local companies. Refer to the procurement rules for your Local Authority. Where you can secure suitable in house services you should expect to make savings. munication.html For more information on communications on a budget see Becoming an Expert No22. For more information about budgeting and costing communications - see Becoming an Expert No Include contingencies Your plan will need to allow for contingencies and the unexpected: Time - you should build in time ( slack ) for unexpected delays such as staff illness or key staff leaving, decision-making delays or stoppages, having to re-do work etc Emergencies - you should draw up an emergency plan and a crisis PR plan to deal with any crises, for example: any local controversy which might arise related to your recycling communications or services such as an accident involving a collection vehicle or plans for new services or facilities Staff some communications activities may require additional staff support. You should plan the time and budget to secure and train temporary staff if necessary Re-programming - plan to be able to respond to budget changes in either direction so that you know how to maintain the best value for money and achieve your objectives Budget you should allow for unexpected costs or cost over-runs by including a contingency budget of between 5%-10% of your overall budget Communications sometimes end up costing more than expected if activities and materials are changed a lot, especially at the last minute. Practical ways to avoid this are by having a clearly agreed plan at an early stage, clear decision-making lines and by completing approvals on messaging and copy before the design stage. Improving recycling through effective communications 48

49 8.6 Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the communications schedule and the indicative costs could be developed and presented. 8 Communications Schedule Extract from Moving Forward Council s (MFC) communications schedule Improving recycling through effective communications 49

50 8 Indicative Costs Moving Forward Council indicative communications costs Operational Issues Activity Quantity TOTAL Vehicle livery - allowing 1,500/vehicle 5 7,500 Design and print contamination tags for the blue bin service 2, Design and print contamination tags for the brown bin service 2, Design and print A6, full colour, double sided customer enquiry cards 2, Recycling Guide and Collection Calendar Design and print A5, 8 page recycling guides 18,000 2,800 Design and print collection calendar 18,000 4,000 Design and print mailout envelope and allow for insertion of calendar and recycling guide 17,000 1,500 Royal Mail postage 16,500 5,000 Bin Stickers Design and print 36,000 A4 blue and brown bin recycling stickers 36,000 5,753 Design and print 18,000 residual bin stickers 18,000 2,072 Apply stickers using agency staff 5,000 Food Waste Kitchen Caddy Introduction Design and print 18,000 A5 4 page introduction leaflets 18,000 1,518 Address from database tab shut and mail out using Walksort 2 16,500 1,500 Walksort 2 postage 16,500 3,960 Design and print A5 8 page instruction leaflets 18,000 2,358 HWRC and Recycling Bring Bank Site Signage To be determined - HWRC 5 5,000 To be determined - Bring Sites 10 4,000 New Year Recycling Campaign Newspaper advertising - estimated for 4 events - including design ( 200) 4 2,200 Roadshows/Displays Develop exhibition boards for trailer (if relevant) 6 2,000 Reusable bags 1,000 1,000 Recycled Pens 2, Street entertainer for 4 events ( 250 each event) 4 1,000 Design of mobile display 3 types manufacture 3 3 1,200 Purchase leaflet stand PR Design and produce A4 press packs ,791 Improving recycling through effective communications 50

51 9.0 Monitoring and Evaluation Evaluate effectiveness Monitoring and evaluation is part of a continuous process of learning and improvement that enables you to assess the performance of your communications against your aim and objectives. Effective monitoring and evaluation will help you: Know whether your communications plan has achieved or exceeded its aim and objectives Identify which activities worked well and which didn t and how they might be improved or whether they should be substituted for other activities Justify the expenditure on communications to senior managers and elected members Develop better communications in the future by refining and improving activities, focusing spending more effectively and achieving better results The continuous improvement loop: Improving recycling through effective communications 51

52 CASE STUDY: Monitoring and evaluation Bath & North East Somerset Council ran a communications campaign to target householders in hard-to-reach areas to increase awareness and take-up of its recycling services. To determine whether the campaign had worked the council conducted: Pre-and post-campaign participation monitoring in the areas served by a kerbside collection and targeted by the communications campaign Pre-and post-campaign usage monitoring in the areas served by mini recycling centres (MRCs) and targeted by the communications campaign Pre-and post-campaign committed recycler monitoring by surveying flats served by MRCs and shared houses served by the kerbside collection service Monitoring of tonnage of recyclate collected at MRCs and by the kerbside collection service on rounds serving the target community The monitoring programme enabled the council to evaluate the achievements of its campaign against objectives: Participation monitoring in shared housing - 5.2% increase in the number of properties using the kerbside recycling service Usage monitoring - 28% increase in reported usage of the mini recycling centres. This increase is supported by the tonnage data (see below) Committed recycler survey - the proportion of committed recyclers increased by 5% in flats and 9% in shared houses. Respondents claiming to recycle a lot showed the most dramatic increases (26.2% in flats and 10.3% in houses) Tonnage monitoring - overall there was a steady increase across Bath and North East Somerset in the amount of material being recycled and composted, and a decrease in the amount of residual waste being sent to landfill. Data for houses was disrupted but for flats, tonnages increased from 554,053 tonnes to 621,922 tonnes The monitoring programme provided evidence that the communications campaign had increased tonnage, participation, usage and the proportion of committed recyclers. It also showed the importance of using a range of monitoring techniques supported by anecdotal information as practical constraints interfered with some of the monitoring methods (and therefore the results) and to add weight to results which, on their own, might not appear as significant. By investing resources in measuring performance, it was possible to build evidence to support the use of communications and to make the case for additional funding for future campaigns. WRAP Local Authority Communications Case Study: Bath and North East Somerset Council You need to be thinking about your monitoring and evaluation techniques right from the start of the communications planning process: If you undertake any pre-campaign research when you assess your current situation, consider whether it could be repeated to form part of your post-campaign evaluation You should ensure your monitoring and evaluation measure impacts which directly link back to the attainment of overall recycling and waste management service targets eg increasing your recycling rate. Elements like operational performance, should be monitored and evaluated on a continual basis If you are measuring changes in awareness, attitudes and behaviour you need to undertake pre-campaign baseline monitoring and then carry out post-campaign monitoring to evaluate changes You will also need to decide who is responsible for undertaking the M&E activities and how much they will cost. This last point depends on whether they will be managed in-house or contracted out to specialists (or a mixture of the two). Improving recycling through effective communications 52

53 For detailed information about monitoring and evaluation research for waste operations and communications campaigns WRAP has produced a comprehensive guidance document Improving the Performance of Waste Diversion Schemes. This good practice guide gives detailed step-by-step guidance on a range of monitoring techniques Overall aims and objectives achieved? You should decide how to measure and evaluate your overall communications aims and objectives when you first identify and set them. Your overall objectives (see Section 3 and Becoming an Expert No6 for more information about aims and objectives) should relate to the impact of your communications. Measuring impact is essential as this is the only way of knowing the extent of behaviour change and every campaign, even the smallest, should aim to measure its impact. There is a range of measures, relevant to waste management communications programmes, which you could use to assess your communication activity including: Collection tonnages Participation rates Set-out rates Capture rates As a minimum, you should use data from your council s routine statutory recycling and waste management performance reporting to measure the impact of your communications. Once you have chosen the methods you are going to use you should schedule when all your monitoring and evaluation will take place: Pre-campaign measuring your baseline During the campaign measuring inputs and outcomes Post-campaign measuring impacts Remember to allow time for tendering, briefing and start-up if you are using external consultants to help you and don t forget to schedule your post-campaign M&E to give you time for analysis, review and report writing before any reporting deadlines. How much to spend on monitoring and evaluation The following table is a guide as to what WRAP thinks is reasonable. Communications costs (excluding core staffing and in-kind contributions) Recommended types of monitoring (both pre-campaign and post-campaign) 1-10,000 All routine operational performance monitoring, especially quantities diverted measured as kg per household per week for recycling schemes 10,001-50,000 All routine operational performance monitoring, especially quantities diverted measured as kg per household per week for recycling schemes Optional - participation rates for kerbside schemes or usage rates for bring bank and HWRC schemes 50, ,000 All routine operational performance monitoring, especially: Quantities diverted measured as kg per household per week for recycling schemes Improving recycling through effective communications 53

54 Communications costs (excluding core staffing and in-kind contributions) Recommended types of monitoring (both pre-campaign and post-campaign) Participation rates for kerbside schemes, usage rates for bring bank and HWRC schemes Proportion of committed recyclers If relevant to an objective: Proportion of each targeted material captured or avoided or level of contamination of recyclate 200,001 + All routine operational performance monitoring, especially: Quantities diverted measured as kg per household per week for recycling schemes Participation rates for kerbside schemes or usage rates for bring bank and HWRC schemes Proportion of committed recyclers Proportion of each targeted material captured or avoided Only if relevant - level of contamination of recyclate Note: For authorities that operate alternate weekly schemes, participation rate monitoring is normally less important than monitoring capture rates and contamination rates. This is because the most people will participate to a certain level in alternate weekly schemes because of the restricted waste container capacity. However, incorrect participation is likely to be higher. Alternate weekly authorities should therefore consider whether they should substitute participation monitoring for capture rate analysis or contamination analysis, even at the lower levels of campaign value. 9.2 Individual aims and objectives achieved? As well as your overall communications aims and objectives you should have set individual aims and objectives for all your communication activities. Your individual objectives (see Section 3 and Becoming an Expert No6 for more information about aims and objectives) should consist of the following types: Input objectives Outcome objectives Impact objectives All three are useful for different reasons but measuring impact is the most important as this is the only way of knowing the extent of behaviour change and the relative success of your communications in improving recycling. There is a range of measures, relevant to waste management communications programmes, which you could use to assess your communication activity and these are shown in the table on the following page. Improving recycling through effective communications 54

55 Measures used to evaluate communications M&E Technique Objectives Input Output Impact Advertising reach Brochure requests Calls to freephone number Capture rates Collection tonnages Competition entries Consumer research Doorsteps visited Employee survey Journalist research Leaflets printed Leaflets distributed Members survey Participation rates Press coverage Roadshow attendance Sales of composting bins Set-out rates Website hits In order to measure them, you need to ensure the monitoring and evaluation system developed for your overall aim and objectives covers your individual activity objectives too. If it does not, you should add extra monitoring and evaluation to measure the relevant inputs, outcomes and impacts of your activities. 9.3 Review impact of campaign activities When you evaluate the monitoring information you have gathered you should review the impact of your communications by answering the following questions: Did you achieve your overall aims and objectives? Did you achieve the aims and objectives for your individual communication activities? What was the overall impact of your communications? Investigate any other issues (positive or negative) which you identify or relate to your communications objectives Refer to the overall aims and objectives you set and check the corresponding monitoring and evaluation information you have gathered. Refer to the aims and objectives you set for your individual communication activities and check the corresponding monitoring and evaluation information you have gathered. Identify the overall or headline achievement of your communications eg increased tonnage collected, increased participation etc. The review process may uncover some unexpected results (good and/or bad) that require investigation as well. You should look at all the issues your monitoring and evaluation reveals in order to conduct a thorough review and build on your successes and avoid repeating any mistakes. Dealing with disappointing results If you have followed all the advice in this document your communications should be effective, but success can never be guaranteed and any communications programme may experience disappointing results from time to time. It is important that any temporary setbacks or disappointments which may have had causes entirely outside your own control, or which may have nothing to do with your communication activity are not seen as failures by key stakeholders and budget holders. Success in dealing with such situations lies in the consistent and credible presentation of results in an easy to understand format, always relating the actions undertaken to the objectives. Honesty is essential it is never acceptable to misrepresent or overstate results. Improving recycling through effective communications 55

56 Finally, even disappointments can be turned to your advantage as they will undoubtedly form opportunities to learn. When presenting disappointing results, it is important to show what has been learned as a result and what will be done differently in future. 9.4 Determine future activities Once you have established whether your communications have succeeded or not you should study the information again in more detail to see what you can learn for future campaigns. This final review could even act as the first stage in your next communications plan with the results forming your baseline information. You should: Identify activities that worked well, for example, reached lots of people in a cost effective manner, had high impact, produced marked increases in participation or tonnage. Could any successes be replicated or built upon in future campaigns? Review the M&E information gathered about the inputs, outputs and impacts of your communications activities. Identify which activities worked well and which worked less well. Consider what changes you might need to make in order to repeat successful activities in a different location, on a different scale, with a different audience etc. You may want to conduct debrief meetings with relevant staff to look at the information in more detail Identify activities that weren t so successful and possibly why not. Look at your weaker performing activities and try to identify the reasons for their weaknesses. Could their shortcomings be eliminated or avoided? Would it be better not to repeat the activity? Is the activity basically sound but needs improving in some way? NB - weakness does not necessarily mean failure to reach an objective, it may be a particular activity performed less well than others eg an event that attracted less visitors than other similar events. Again, you may want to conduct debrief meetings with relevant staff to look at the information and implications in more detail. Review the findings, identify and list your key recommendations for future communications This final assessment process will give you a firm, factual basis on which to: Build evidence to support the use of communications Make the case for additional funding for future communications Build and develop campaigns which achieve even greater results in the future Your results should be summarised, written up into a short campaign report and disseminated to key internal stakeholders and used to gain support for further communications. The findings should also be used in internal communications to thank staff involved in the campaign for their support and in press releases to give feedback to the public on how well they are doing, to thank them for their efforts and urge them to continue to recycle. This will generate additional positive media coverage and further your overall communications aim. Improving recycling through effective communications 56

57 9.5 Planning your Communications The following section shows an extract from a typical communication plan to show how the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms could be developed and written. 9 Monitoring and Evaluation It is necessary to monitor the success of each of the activities detailed in Section 7 so that activities and tactics can be changed if they are found not to be as effective as planned. Strategies will be constantly reviewed and updated in order to keep pace with the changing environment. By monitoring all the activities, it will be possible to determine which are the most successful for MFC and ensure that the communications budget is spent on activities that will produce best value for money. The WRAP monitoring and evaluation toolkit will be used as a reference document to conduct monitoring of the campaign where appropriate. 9.1 Determine whether overall aims and objectives have been met The recycling rate for 2013/2014 will be calculated from the annual tonnage figures for all recycling and residual waste. Participation monitoring will be conducted in February/March 2014 at the end of the campaign. 9.2 Determine whether individual aims and objectives have been achieved These will be measured using the individual monitoring methods detailed in Section Assess the impact of the individual campaign activities The impact will be measured by the parameters detailed in Section 9.1 and by the individual monitoring measures in Section Review monitoring information to determine future communication activities The success of the campaign overall will be assessed by comparing its achievements against the aims and objectives set. If some or all of the overall objectives have failed to be met, then the Council will consider alternative communications activities. Individual communication activities can and should be assessed. If they have failed to make a significant impact, then other activities should be considered to achieve future aims and objectives. Improving recycling through effective communications 57

58 10.0 Conclusion Once you have reached this point, by working through this document, you should have prepared and finalised your communications plan and be ready to start delivering your campaign(s). By now you will be familiar with all aspects of communications planning but there are a few key points to re-emphasise: Your communications need to reflect your situation and your aspirations. Your area and its issues will be unique and may require tailored solutions to encourage and embed long term behaviour change. Understanding your area, the people living in it and the barriers present are all key to the development of a campaign which successfully increases recycling performance You will need to use a range of different communication methods and activities to target your audiences successfully and you will need to use all the resources available to you imaginatively in order to achieve your objectives Careful objective setting together with intelligent use of monitoring and evaluation techniques are vital to measure success and to build on your achievements for the future. Improving recycling through effective communications 58

59 Becoming an Expert No1: Gathering demographic and socio-economic information Your communications might need to communicate with all those living within your local authority area, specific sections of the population (eg affluent families, young professionals, new families, students etc) or people living in particular geographic areas (eg particular housing estates, neighbourhoods, towns or villages, specific council wards or collection rounds). Whichever it is, you need to gather as much demographic and socio-economic information about your local householders as possible including: Number of people/number of households Age/gender profile Social grade/income levels Religion/ethnicity Housing types - proportion of each and distribution Rural/urban split Life stages of residents (students, young and single, new families, mature families, elderly) Levels of car ownership/use of public transport Levels/areas of deprivation This information can be gathered from a variety of sources. Sources of demographic information Your local authority Your own local authority will have a wealth of statistical information on its local population, the economy, levels of deprivation, affluence and housing. Departments that might be able to help you include: Waste management Housing Planning Strategy and planning Social services Education Research There may be external sources such as your local Primary Care Trust that can be excellent resources for information about the local population. Office for National Statistics (ONS) This website gives access to the 2001 census statistics, commentaries, profiles and downloads from the Office for National Statistics, together with details of forthcoming releases. The ONS website has a number of reports and search facilities across all kinds of government statistical information: Social Trends draws together social and economic data from a wide range of government departments and other organisations to provide a comprehensive guide to UK society today and how it has been changing Regional Trends is a comprehensive source of official statistics for the regions of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The report includes demographic, social, industrial and economic data Improving recycling through effective communications 59

60 The information is based on the last census carried out in 2001 so may be dated. Neighbourhood Statistics This site can be used to view or download local area statistics for wards or local authorities in England and Wales on a wide range of subjects including population, crime, health and housing. It is searchable by postcode, town, city, local authority area (borough/district or ward), or region. Examples of neighbourhood statistics available: Key figures for 2001 Census: Key Statistics Age Structure Cars or Vans Communal Establishment Residents Country of Birth Economic Activity - All People Economic Activity - Females Economic Activity - Males Ethnic Group Health and Provision of Unpaid Care Hours Worked Household Composition Household Spaces and Accommodation Type Households with Limiting Long-term Illness and Dependent Children Industry of Employment - All People Industry of Employment - Females Industry of Employment - Males Living Arrangements Lone Parent Households with Dependent Children Marital Status National Statistics Socio-economic Classification - All People National Statistics Socio-economic Classification - Females National Statistics Socio-economic Classification - Males Occupation Groups - All People Occupation Groups - Females Occupation Groups - Males Qualifications and Students Religion Rooms, Amenities, Central Heating and Lowest Floor Level Tenure Travel to Work Usual Resident Population Again, this information is based on the last census carried out in 2001 so may be dated. You should check any information you obtain to see whether it looks accurate and whether there is any more recent information that supports or updates it. Up My Street A commercial website, Up My Street lets you search and compare basic information about a specific postcode, city, town, district or region. By entering the postcode of an area Up My Street can give you various pieces of useful information such as a full neighbourhood profile or comparison of the local population to the national average: Up My Street uses ACORN profiling data and is not as detailed as ONS but does provide useful and quick overviews of population data for an area. ACORN (A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods) is a geodemographic classification system that is in widespread use by UK local authorities. It is provided by the CACI company and uses audience segmentation a process of dividing a varied and diverse range of people into smaller groups with broadly similar characteristics or needs. For more information about audience segmentation and profiling (including geodemographic systems such as ACORN and MOSAIC) see Section 4 and Becoming an Expert No8. Improving recycling through effective communications 60

61 National Readership Survey (NRS) social grade definitions (UK) The NRS social grade definitions have been used for decades, mainly for audience profiling and targeting by the media, publishing and advertising industries. They have become established as a generic reference series for classifying and describing social classes. These social grades are used in the Neighbourhood Statistics site. social grade social status occupation A Upper middle class Higher managerial, administrative or professional B C1 Middle class Lower middle class Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional Supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional C2 Skilled working class Skilled manual workers D Working class Semi and unskilled manual workers E Those at lowest level of subsistence State pensioners or widows (no other earner), casual or lowest grade workers Using demographic information This information is valuable to the communications planning process for a number of reasons: It enables you to develop a deeper understanding of your main target audience the people living in your local authority It will help you take a completely fresh look at your local authority area and ensure you are not overlooking anything significant It might reveal important characteristics that had not been recognised previously The information might give you insights which might lead to new ideas for communication messages or activities to target specific groups or areas As you gather your demographic information you should cross-reference as much of it as possible to build up a series of layers that will give you an overall picture of your local authority and the people living in it. For example: Start with a map of your local authority and note the key features population centres (towns, villages, particular housing estates), rural or open areas (countryside, parks etc), industrial or retail areas Next, look at the statistical information you have and see what it tells you about the people living in your local authority (age structure, economic activity etc). Also consider household types, living arrangements and any and all other information that helps you understand the lives of people living in your local authority. This information is particularly useful if reviewed on a ward by ward basis so that local variations show up As you go along, compare your information to national averages and neighbouring local authorities you are looking for any marked differences which may highlight unusual or even unique characteristics of the local population characteristics that your communications may need to take into account in order to improve its chances of success eg wards with higher than average BME population or people living in flats Finally, list the main features and characteristics of your local authority, highlighting anything significant Improving recycling through effective communications 61

62 Becoming an Expert No2: Listing current and proposed recycling services You should gather information about all the recycling and waste services found in your local authority because it will help you to remember the full range of services that you need to communicate to your residents and it will also provide background information for non-waste staff or partners reviewing your communications plan. Services and facilities to list include: Kerbside collections List what is collected in what type/s of container and how often. Describe the collection arrangements eg are materials collected on the same day or different days? Is the service run in-house or contracted out? Are there any special provisions for particular areas or property types such as flats? Are there any seasonal collections or service variations eg garden waste, Christmas and other bank holiday collections? Do you have any specific collection policies such as no side waste, lids down, assisted collections? How are these monitored and enforced? Bring sites & HWRCs List all your recycling sites, their locations, the materials collected at each, access arrangements and opening times Other facilities and services It is good practice to compile a list of all the other recycling services that are available to householders in your area, for example: The arrangements for collecting bulky waste. How to they access it? What do they have to do? Do residents have to pay for this? Are there any community sector recycling schemes such as furniture reuse schemes? List local charity shops and what they collect Is there a schools recycling collection service? Are there special collection services for flats? This information will be useful because all these facilities and services divert waste from landfill which is highly desirable because: Any material diverted from landfill will help your local authority meet its statutory targets You may want to promote waste prevention/minimisation or community sector recycling and re-use as part of your communications Householders may want information about the other things they can do to recycle and reduce waste and look on your website or call your telephone helpline Improving recycling through effective communications 62

63 Other issues Are there any planned changes to your services? If so, what are they and what is the timescale for their introduction? Where does all the material you collect for recycling go? What happens to it and what is it used to make? Are any recycled products used by your local authority? What are they and where are they? What does your council do to recycle the waste it generates through its own activities eg office waste, food waste or green waste from parks? This latter information (recycled products and council recycling performance) may be useful for persuading some target audiences to start recycling or put more effort into their recycling because they can see that you are doing your bit as well. Improving recycling through effective communications 63

64 Becoming an Expert No3: Local authority information and data You should review any relevant information and research that your LA has already gathered such as: Waste monitoring data Communications campaigns Attitudinal Information Crews and other frontline staff feedback Call centre enquiries Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI) Survey Tonnages, both recyclate and residual e.g. overall tonnages, materials/container specific tonnages and tonnages by round to compare them and identify areas for improvement Participation/set out rates e.g. to identify rounds with lower performance Waste compositional analysis Capture rates - can highlight if you need to improve the collection of specific materials Contamination rates - number of kerbside boxes rejected due to the wrong materials or percentage of contamination reported by MRF Numbers of container requests/bulky uplift requests Other, please specify Campaign reports and monitoring and evaluation information from previous communications e.g. how successful was it, what worked, what didn t and why? Attitudinal surveys (market research surveys) of local people showing the number of committed recyclers, their claimed behaviour, satisfaction levels and barriers to recycling Feedback from canvassers and fieldworkers Anecdotal information and feedback from council staff can be very useful in highlighting potential issues eg recycling performance of certain rounds/areas or access issues in particular areas/types of housing. However, factual evidence should be gathered to substantiate any information from these sources. Calls to telephone helplines should be examined as they could provide information about householder issues and concerns for example: missed collections, complaints, or container requests. BVPIs provide a rounded view of local authority performance delivery. They are designed to: Enable central government to monitor progress over a period of time Allow authorities to compare their performance against that of their peers Provide residents with information about the performance of their local authority Local authorities in England also undergo a series of surveys which ask citizens and other users of specific services about their satisfaction with the services provided by their LA. Surveys are carried out either by post, face-to-face, by telephone or using citizens panels. These are conducted every three years. For more information see: ips/bestvalue/bestvalueperformance/ Your local authority will measure and record its waste management and recycling data on a regular basis for performance reporting. Find out what information is collected, how it is collected and how frequently. To be of use in monitoring communications you should aim to have operational monitoring data available on a monthly basis where possible. Review all the data and information you have collected from the types of sources listed in the table above and identify whether there are any gaps. If your current information gives insufficient detail, is too broad or potentially highlights an underlying issue that needs investigating you should consider undertaking additional Improving recycling through effective communications 64

65 research to fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Depending on what gaps have been identified, the additional research could be carried out in-house by staff or contracted out if you have the budget. Funding and other types of help and support may be available from external sources (eg WRAP) for some types of research contact WRAP S Local Government Services Team for further information. Contact Alison Day on or LAsupport@wrap.org.uk. For further information about monitoring waste operations and communications see the WRAP monitoring and evaluation toolkit Improving the Performance of Waste Diversion Schemes. This good practice guide gives detailed step-by-step guidance on a range of monitoring techniques. Improving recycling through effective communications 65

66 Becoming an Expert No4: Identify potential sources of funding and support It is useful to identify potential sources of support, resources and funding from a variety of internal and external sources right from the start of your communications planning process. For example, people, teams or departments: With available budget and/or resources With a direct interest in the success of your communications plan and who may want to help you That work in the areas or with the communities you want to target With useful knowledge about the areas or communities you want to target The list below gives you an idea of some of the potential sources of help and support it is by no means exhaustive and every local authority area and campaign will be different. The more support you can secure the better your communications are likely to be. However, don t spread yourself too thin focus on those groups and other sources of support that will be of most help to you. You will need different people or groups at different times so remember to keep everyone informed of progress and success as your communications progress (see Section 4 for more on stakeholders). Internal Waste management department Communications/PR/ marketing team, design & print unit Housing department Council Tax department Council telephone helpline staff IT and council website management staff Elected members Education department Community development External Waste management or recycling collection Support and resources Staff time - working directly on the communications. Collection crews and other front line staff with first-hand knowledge of the issues in the field. Permanent recycling wardens or canvassing staff. Professional communications staff who may be able to give you their time, advice or practical help e.g. media relations, leaflet design and printing, advertising etc. Council offices in campaign areas. Caretakers or wardens for residential properties such as high-rise. May be able to put editorial / advertising in tenants magazines or on rent statements. May also be able to add recycling information to new resident packs Comprehensive address list for all householders. May be a channel for distributing waste service information to new or existing residents. Staff will also know about any specialist mailing services used by the council. Taking general enquiries from the public. There may be a specific allocation for the waste department so additional resources may need to be negotiated should you require additional helpline call time such as when implementing a new service. Developing new or updating existing council recycling website information and advising on website development. Tracking visitors to the website. Support for your communications both internally to secure funding but also within the communities they represent especially those representing target areas. Practical support for waste education programmes in schools. Practical support to help you understand particular communities and how best to communicate with them. May be able to identify local community groups for you to approach and work with. May have outreach workers who might be able to help deliver your message. Support and resources Staff time to help with communications. Collection crews and other front line staff with first-hand knowledge of the issues Improving recycling through effective communications 66

67 Internal contractor Neighbouring local authorities Waste Partnership or Waste Disposal Authority Private sector waste or recycling industry organisations Support and resources in the field. May have responsibility for some of your communications, depending on their contract. Sources of ideas and examples for communications activities. Staff time working on wider regional campaigns. Co-ordination of activities over a larger area. Sources of ideas and good practice for communications. Economies of scale can be gained from partnership working. Organisations like Alupro or British Glass may be useful sources of information and/or other support for local authority communications that help them meet their aims and objectives, for example, they may supply communications material for you to deliver locally in support of larger national recycling campaigns. The Reload Fund, run by European Metals Recycling, allows individual local authorities to apply for up to 60,000 for new and existing projects either wholly or partially devoted to metal packaging, including a maximum allocation of 10,000 for communication activities. The funds can be spent over a period of two years and tend to prefer capital projects that deliver practical improvements and long-term sustainability. For more information see: Community sector recycling organisations Local community organisations WRAP Other sources The Yellow Woods Challenge is an environmental campaign for schools run by Yellow Pages, working in partnership with the Woodland Trust and local authorities across the UK. The Challenge aims to: Recycle old Yellow Pages directories and reduce demands on landfill Educate schoolchildren about the importance of recycling and conservation Support the Woodland Trust, the UK s leading woodland conservation charity For more information see Possible practical help and support for communications where they meet their aims and objectives. You may need to provide them with resources or funding for them to be able to do this. Possible practical help and support for communications. However, don t expect too much as their resources will be even tighter than yours. You may need to provide them with resources or funding for them to be able to deliver your message. A community sector approach may be useful for hard to engage groups and for waste minimisation messages. WRAP s team of Recycling and Collections Advisors and the Community Partnerships team can provide expert advice and support on a wide range of technical waste, recycling and communications issues. Contact Alison Day on or LAsupport@wrap.org.uk. Other sources of funding and support become available from time to time such as EU funding or Neighbourhood Renewal Funding. Be alert for these funds and apply if they are applicable and you meet the criteria. Improving recycling through effective communications 67

68 Becoming an Expert No5: PEST and SWOT analysis There are two main methods used to analyse issues for organisations (or communications): A PEST analysis - used to look at external issues that may affect an organization or, in this case, a campaign. PEST stands for Political, Economic, Social and Technological A SWOT analysis - used to look more closely at your current situation. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats These techniques are useful for working in teams or groups to look at the current situation and analyse it. This will then help when you come to develop your strategy later on in the planning process. PEST Analysis Best used with a group of people (e.g. in a workshop), the PEST analysis template is a grid, comprising four sections, one for each of the PEST headings: Political, Economic, Social and Technological (see example below) which can be used on a computer screen or flipchart. A PEST analysis uses these four themes to undertake a general audit of external influences that are likely to have an impact on an organisation or campaign. The basic model can be expanded to include Legal, Environmental and Ethical implications if you want. The approach encourages creative thinking and can help you to understand in more detail the implications of a project or help you to choose between projects based on the implications. PEST analysis template The template includes a number of question prompts (see below), the answers to which can be inserted into the relevant section of your empty PEST grid. The issues highlighted are examples and you should make up your own PEST questions and prompts to suit the issues and the situation being analysed, the experience and skill level of whoever is completing the analysis, and what you aim to produce from your analysis. Subject for PEST analysis (insert) political Government policies Government term and change Council policies Council term and change Funding, grants and initiatives Lobbying/pressure groups social Lifestyle trends and demographics Consumer attitudes and barriers Media views Law changes affecting social factors LA image and communications brand Seasonality/weather issues Major events and influences Ethnic/religious factors economic Local and national economic situation and trends Cost of waste disposal Cost of LATS fines Markets for recyclables technological Use of new technology/ equipment Replacement technology/ solutions New waste disposal technology Innovation potential legal (optional) Current and future UK/EU legislation Regulatory bodies and processes environmental (optional) Ecological/environmental issues Climate change & carbon reduction ethical (optional) Ethical issues LA own recycling performance Here s an example of a completed PEST analysis: Improving recycling through effective communications 68

69 Subject for PEST analysis: (insert eg Communications to support kerbside recycling) political EU Directives Waste Strategy for England social Increased public awareness about environmental issues, especially climate change Recycling has widespread public support Some groups within society have barriers to recycling which need to be addressed economic Cost of landfill increasing Don t want to miss LATS targets and be fined Need to keep spending on waste under control technological RFID tags for containers New collection containers and vehicles legal (optional) Fines or other action for poor performance or missing targets environmental (optional) Recycling has lower carbon footprint reduces impact of climate change ethical (optional) Council should use recycled products wherever possible, ideally from material recycled & remanufactured in the UK It is important to clearly identify the subject of a PEST analysis, because if the subject is blurred you will produce a blurred picture - so be clear about the issue you use PEST to analyse. Also, be sure to describe the subject for the PEST analysis clearly so that people contributing to it and those seeing the finished work properly understand it and the implications. When you have completed the PEST analysis you should review the information and use it to develop your communications plan. SWOT analysis The SWOT analysis is a useful tool for developing understanding and helping decision-making for all sorts of situations. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It consists of internal (organisational) strengths to maximise and weaknesses to minimise such as available resources, expertise, partners and issue priority. Then, a similar list is made of external forces in the marketplace that represent opportunities you should plan to take advantage of, or threats you should prepare for. The SWOT analysis template The SWOT analysis template is normally presented as a grid, comprising four sections (see next page). Subject of SWOT analysis: (define the subject of the analysis here) strengths Advantages of idea? Do we have the capability (resources, people etc)? Do we have the experience, knowledge, or information? Campaign awareness or branding? Location? Environmental benefits? Ease of use (is it convenient to use and simple to understand)? opportunities Societal, community or lifestyle trends (eg public attitudes to recycling and consumption of resources)? Technology development and innovation (eg RFID tags)? Good news or new issues (eg reaching 40% recycling target)? What can we surprise people with? What does our information and research tell us? How could we use any partnerships? Are there any seasonal opportunities? Economic downturn may reduce consumption and waste weaknesses Disadvantages of idea? Do we have gaps in our capabilities? What are our known vulnerabilities (eg reliability issues due to old collection fleet breaking down)? What are the timescales, deadlines and pressures? Do we have the necessary budget? What effects will there be on workload? Will we be distracted from core activities? threats Political or legislative effects (eg of not reaching LATS targets)? What will be the media/stakeholder reaction? Will waste continue to grow? Are there any environmental impacts? What about public apathy or disillusionment? Will new technologies, services, ideas emerge that will be better? What are the barriers? Will there be insurmountable weaknesses? Economic downturn affect on material prices Improving recycling through effective communications 69

70 The example template has questions, or discussion points that can be altered depending on the subject of your SWOT analysis. When doing a SWOT analysis, remember that weaknesses should be able to be turned into strengths and threats into opportunities. An example of a completed SWOT analysis is shown below: Subject of SWOT analysis: Launch of new recycling service strengths Recycling will be more convenient for householders New scheme collects more materials and will increase recycling substantially Collections will be kept as simple as possible Relatively easy to implement new scheme A new fleet of collection vehicles opportunities Public support recycling and want to do more They are familiar with the current service and use it well A new targeted communications campaign will explain the new services adequately weaknesses Additional container householders may have storage issues Overall scheme may be becoming too complex threats People don t use the service properly because they don t understand it Use the information generated by the SWOT analysis to develop your communication plan. Improving recycling through effective communications 70

71 Becoming an Expert No6: Setting aims and objectives All communications must have aims and objectives so it is clear what you are trying to achieve. Your objectives will also give you a clear direction and purpose which will help you select your communication methods and activities and how you will measure them. An aim is: An objective is: A general statement of purpose or intention It can include vague and undefined terms Generally you will have only one aim A clear or specific statement of what you plan to achieve Terms will be defined and the concepts understood Quantified and given a specific timescale Several objectives might work together to meet an overall aim The main difference between aims and objectives is that you can demonstrate that you have achieved an objective but without objectives you can only argue whether you have achieved an aim. It is always better to know when you have succeeded. Setting your communications aim You may need to discuss your aims and priorities with senior managers, other departments and possibly members to agree the most effective way forward. Your initial research and analysis should have helped to identify the main focus of your communications, which could be: Increase recycling and composting Launch a new recycling service Target specific areas to increase participation and reduce contamination levels Your aim should link with and support your council s wider waste strategy targets or indicators under the Performance Framework for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships, for example: Waste strategy and statutory targets EU Waste Framework Requires local authorities in the UK to recycle 50% of household or similar waste by Directive 2020 National Waste Requires local authorities (in England) to recycling and compost at least 40% by 2010, Strategy for England 45% by 2015 and 50% by 2020 Performance Framework for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships NI 191 Residual household waste per household NI 192 Percentage of household waste sent for reuse, recycling and composting NI 193 Percentage of municipal waste landfilled Your overall communications aim and strategy could look ahead (up to 2-3 years) and have distinct (but linked) campaigns with related aims for each year to fit with annual budget cycles. These campaigns and their aims should build on each other year after year, for example: Year 1 Increase recycling by launching a new recycling service and increasing participation and reducing contamination Year 2 Introduce near-entry recycling systems for all flats and high-rise dwellings and increase participation in low participation areas. Year 3 Further increase overall recycling rate to meet and exceed 40% recycling target set by English Waste Strategy Improving recycling through effective communications 71

72 Setting objectives An objective, as distinct from an aim, is a clear statement of what you are planning to achieve, quantified and given a specific timescale. There are three types of objectives: Input objectives Output objectives Impact objectives You must always include at least one impact objective as they are the only way you can measure the result of your activity i.e. behaviour change. Inputs Outcomes Impacts Input Objectives This means an activity carried out on the way to delivering an outcome It is easy to measure It measures your effort (but not your achievement) Example: 12,000 leaflets distributed to households across the LA Outcome Objectives These relate to changes that happen as a result of your efforts It is a step on the way to achieving an impact Example: 6,500 more households aware of the kerbside scheme Impact Objectives These are the ultimate result of your activities For example, the change in behaviour of households results in more people participating and as a result, increased recycling At least one objective should relate to an impact Example: 2,500 more households participating in the scheme Increase tonnages of recyclate collected by 100 tonnes Setting overall communications objectives Your overall communications objectives should include one or more impact objectives. You will also need to set objectives for all the communication methods and activities you use in your communications plan so you can monitor and evaluate them. This is discussed in more detail in Section 7. For further information about setting aims and objectives for waste operations and communications campaigns, refer to Improving the Performance of Waste Diversion Schemes. This good practice guide, produced by WRAP gives detailed step-by-step guidance on a range of monitoring techniques. Improving recycling through effective communications 72

73 Becoming an Expert No7: Setting SMART objectives The essence of objective setting is the knowledge of what success looks like and that relies on having: A clear idea of what you want to achieve at the outset A monitoring and evaluation system in place that will allow you to measure the effect of your communications and identify when you have reached your goal Your council will have robust operational monitoring systems to report to government on its performance with respect to statutory waste strategy targets and national performance indicators. Use these as a framework, together with other information, for setting your communications objectives and your monitoring and evaluation system. The usual method of setting targets is to make them SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. Remember to link them to Inputs, Outcomes and Impacts. SMART targets are: Specific Participation will rise by 10% The recycling rate will rise by 5% Contamination will be below 2% Don t assume everyone will understand what your objective means always clarify the terms Measurable You must think how you will measure success before setting out to achieve it You will know how to monitor your objectives and how to set up on-going monitoring or an end-of-campaign evaluation Participation will be evaluated by pre- and post campaign participation monitoring Tonnages of materials collected for recycling and residual will be collected as part of routine operational performance management Contamination levels will be monitored Achievable Experience and talking to neighbouring local authorities will give you an idea of what is achievable. Use your baseline evaluation or historical information so you know where you are and can set achievable targets Don t set objectives you cannot meet. Expecting a communications campaign with a 10,000 budget to raise your recycling rate by 25% in six months without any changes in service is neither realistic nor achievable Relevant Your targets must relate to what your are trying to achieve or the activity your are undertaking Check that your objectives are relevant to achieving your aims Time bound Always set a deadline to aim for by which your objective will be met. This marks the point against which you can evaluate it, for example: participation to rise by 10% by 30 th September 2009 Improving recycling through effective communications 73

74 Remember to budget for any extra costs associated with monitoring and evaluating your communications. Do not set objectives that you do not know how you will monitor or evaluate you may find out later it is too difficult or too expensive. Sections 8 and 9 contain more information about planning and monitoring and evaluation. For further information about target setting for waste operations and communications campaigns WRAP has produced a comprehensive guidance document Improving the Performance of Waste Diversion Schemes. This good practice guide gives detailed stepby-step guidance on a range of monitoring techniques. Improving recycling through effective communications 74

75 Becoming an Expert No8: Identifying and segmenting target audiences Understanding and identifying your target audiences is important for communications as they will guide the development of your messages, its strategy as well as which communication methods and activities to use and where to deploy them. For example, if you want people to start composting at home, some people may be influenced by the composting saves the environment message and others may be influenced by composting saves you money. Using the wrong message may undermine your communications so you need to know about who you are communicating with and what issues are likely to motivate them in order to increase the chances of your communications succeeding. Audience segmentation is the process of dividing a varied and diverse range of people into smaller groups with broadly similar characteristics or needs. It can be a useful tool for local authority recycling communications but should be approached carefully. Any targeted group must be large enough for the communications investment to be worthwhile, but small enough for the people within it to have genuine similarities in terms of recycling attitudes and barriers, media usage and other relevant factors. There are a number of approaches and tools to identifying target audiences but all require detailed knowledge and understanding of the real people you wish to target. Relying solely on audience classification techniques like ACORN and MOSAIC to identify and segment your target audiences without any kind of local audience research is risky because, as the area and number of people gets smaller the likelihood increases that the local people will be different to profiles based on national statistics. For example, your ACORN profile might tell you the population of a particular area is Category 4 Modest Means (a very broad classification) but only local knowledge will help you understand the actual make-up and everyday complexities of the local community in that area. You must research your local population thoroughly first and use the information you gather to check whether additional information from other sources supports what you see on the ground. If your sources complement each other it is probably safe to put them together to increase your overall knowledge and understanding. If they do not match, you should undertake sufficient research to determine the most accurate sources and use only those. Sources of local information and research should be obtained at first-hand from the audience or community concerned, for example: Local satisfaction or other attitudinal research Surveys or questionnaires completed at local roadshows or other events Call centre enquiries and complaints Crew feedback Focus group research or feedback from citizen s panels Any other sources available to you (see Section 1 and Becoming and Expert No1 for information sources for background research) If you don t think you have enough first-hand information about your local population then you should look at ways of gathering it. Once you have this basic information, other techniques can be used to increase your understanding in order to help you develop your communications strategy. Remember, however, to always check all your information and findings - apply a sense-check to everything by asking yourself whether any new information fits what you already know and increases your knowledge or is it contradictory? If it does contradict what you already know, that doesn t necessarily mean it is wrong you should understand why it is different and then decide what to do: rule out the new information because your local information is the more reliable of the two or revise your overall thinking in light of it. Your overall approach to identifying and segmenting your audience should be: Improving recycling through effective communications 75

76 1. Gather and analyse background information 2. Review and list main findings together with key questions which need answers 3. Look at audience barriers 4. Consider whether further local research would be useful. Carry out if necessary 5. Look at audience classification systems like ACORN and MOSAIC 6. Apply a sense-check throughout check each set of new findings against previous information to see whether it supports of contradicts it. Add to your overall body of knowledge or find out why the new information is contradictory (NB. it may be a genuine finding, uncovering new, previously unknown information). Rule it in or out 7. Continue this process until you have a good picture of each of your target audiences 8. Finally, check proposed communications messages and activities with your target audiences to ensure they will work. Audience classification tools An example which most people will be familiar with is the National Readership Survey (NRS) social grade definitions (UK). The NRS social grade definitions have been used mainly for audience profiling and targeting by the media, publishing and advertising industries. They have become established as a generic reference series for classifying and describing social classes: Social grade Social status Occupation A Upper middle class Higher managerial, administrative or professional B Middle class Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional C1 Lower middle class Supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional C2 Skilled working class Skilled manual workers D Working class Semi and unskilled manual workers E Those at lowest level of subsistence State pensioners or widows (no other earner), casual or lowest grade workers There are more modern and complex commercial audience classification systems like ACORN, CAMEO and MOSAIC and your council may use one of them. ACORN is widely used by local authorities and stands for A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods. It is a classification scheme developed by the consumer research agency CACI. The table on the next page has simple descriptions for the five principal ACORN Groups, Categories 1 to 5, and the 17 subsidiary ACORN Groups organised within the five primary Categories. Improving recycling through effective communications 76

77 ACORN Categories 1 - Affluent Achievers 2 - Urban Prosperity 3 - Comfortably Off 4 - Modest Means 5 - Hard Pressed ACORN Groups 1.A - Wealthy Executives 1.B - Affluent Greys 1.C - Flourishing Families 2.D - Prosperous Professionals 2.E - Educated Urbanites 2.F - Aspiring Singles 3.G - Starting Out 3.H - Secure Families 3.I - Settled Suburbia 3.J - Prudent Pensioners 4.K - Asian Communities 4.L - Post Industrial Families 4.M - Blue Collar Roots 5.N - Struggling Families 5.O - Burdened Singles 5.P - High Rise Hardship 5.Q - Inner City Adversity Audience classification can provide a useful framework for profiling target audiences but it is not a complete replacement for local knowledge and research and should be used in conjunction with other communication planning tools. It can also be too time consuming, complicated and expensive for communications plans with small budgets. The first question to answer, therefore, is whether you need to segment the audience at all. If you have a small budget, are focusing on a single issue or message, or your whole audience is likely to be receptive to the same message and can be effectively reached through the same communication methods, you do not need to segment your audience. In some cases, however, the audience will benefit from some degree of segmentation and your communication activities should be more effective as a result. A number of local authority communication campaigns have segmented their audience and designed customised messages and activities to target specific groups (see case studies in Section 4). Many local authorities use systems such as ACORN for strategic planning and other purposes and you may be able to use it find out from colleagues or other departments. If your local authority does not already use a classification system like ACORN or MOSAIC, the costs of purchasing the system or having a classification exercise carried out for your local authority may be prohibitive. Also, you should carefully consider the implications of segmenting your audience too much: You may dilute your effort too much by trying to do too many things with too many audiences but not enough with any one of them to get your message across with sufficient weight for them to notice it and respond to the degree you want If you tailor your communications for different audiences your design and print costs will increase as you will need more materials and shorter print runs, losing economies of scale Finally, any targeted activities or communications should, ideally, be tested carefully Improving recycling through effective communications 77

78 A Framework for Pro-environmental Behaviours Probably the most comprehensive current segmentation research specifically undertaken to look at environmental behaviour is that published by Defra in January A Framework for Pro-environmental Behaviours focused on 12 headline behaviour goals ranging across low/high impact and easy/hard environmental behaviours (not just recycling). Looking specifically at waste related issues, the research shows: Who is currently doing what in terms of low and high impact CO 2 behaviours That recycling and wasting less food are high on the list of current environmental behaviours That wasting less food and recycling score highly in terms of both people s ability and willingness to act This analysis was further developed by looking at peoples barriers and motivators and segmented the population to enable more tailored approaches designed to overcome the barriers and enhance the motivations of specific groups. This gives an understanding of which groups: Are the most unwilling to act or sceptical Could be persuaded to act given the means or right information Could be advocates for more environmentally friendly behaviours amongst their social group Defra s environmental segmentation model divides the public into seven clusters each of which shares a distinct set of attitudes and beliefs towards the environment. For a more detailed profile of each audience look at the Defra research can be accessed online at: You should look at the report if you are working alongside other environmental behaviour change campaigns, as there may be useful crossovers in terms of activities targeting similar audience groups. Recycling barriers and audience segmentation WRAP conducted research looking at people s barriers to recycling and developed an audience segmentation model based on people s competence, which is highly relevant for local authority recycling communications. The results were mapped across Defra s pro-environmental behaviours segmentation model and ACORN to produce a useful tool with which to: Identify and understand the barriers and motivations of key target audiences Understand which communication methods/activities were better at reaching them and what kinds of messages they were likely to respond to The barriers research is also used considered in Section 5, which looks at communications messaging. The research identified four main barriers to recycling and segmented the population into seven main recycling competence levels as shown in the next two tables on the following pages. Improving recycling through effective communications 78

79 Barriers to recycling: 1. Situational barriers 2. Behaviour Current recyclers say they would recycle a little or a lot more if they had: A wider range of materials collected (52%) Bigger containers (23%) More containers (20%) More space to store their container/s (19%) More frequent collections (18%) Containers that are easier to move (16%) Current recyclers still sometimes or often: Bin things because they are not sure if they can be recycled (48%) Throw recyclable bathroom wastes in the residual bin (41%) Put things in the recycling even if they re not sure they can be recycled (36%) Forget to put out the recycling because they are not sure of the collection day (33%) Bin things because their recycling container is full (21%) Bin things rather than cleaning them for recycling (19%) For most recyclers (95%) recycling has become part of the everyday household routine. However: 53% found it harder to recycle at Christmas16% in the winter generally 8% on holiday or in the summer generally They are also put off a little or a lot by: Fear of identity theft (16%) Having to store recyclables (12%) Having to clean them (7%) 3. Lack of knowledge 4. Attitudes and perceptions Less than half of people (48%) understood very well what they are supposed to use their recycling containers for About a third of recyclers said it would increase their recycling if they had better information about their recycling services Some recyclers also said that Council information had not helped them: Understand their local recycling scheme as a whole (21%) Understand the real benefits of recycling (12%) Knowing what can and can t be recycled (12%) Knowing when the collection service operates (5%) Source: WRAP The vast majority of recyclers (90%), say they are happy to be doing their bit for the environment 69% say they feel good about themselves when recycling However 29% feel they are just doing it because the Council is telling us and 17% do it because everyone else is doing it Recyclers would still be encouraged to recycle more by: Seeing the practical impact of recycling in their local area (86%) Feeling more appreciated by the Council (52%) Receiving an incentive for recycling (56%) Being fined for not recycling (34%) Overall if asked which of three reasons best sums up why they recycle: 59% said because they believe in it 27% say it s part of the everyday household routine 14% because the Council asks them to do it For declared non-recyclers (only 6%) their main reasons for not recycling at all were: It is easier to throw everything in the bin (46%) Not seen any information about recycling (44%) Not knowing what can and can t be recycled (32%) Having nowhere to store recyclables (also 32%) Improving recycling through effective communications 79

80 Recycling competence levels: Recycling Recycling rate competence levels Description 0% 1. Recycling unaware Just not on their radar, no idea about it at all 0% 2. Aware but Know about it but have not inactive seriously contemplated doing it Sporadic 3. Contemplated May have dabbled, possibly but not engaged elsewhere, may do occasionally, drifted back A little 4. Unreliable Recycle but sometimes forget, or miss out, recycle opportunistically not regularly A fair amount A lot 5. Trying their best 6. Broadly competent 100% 7. The Complete Recycler Source: WRAP Usually take part, recycle staple items but confused about other items Reliable and regular but may still miss out some materials or collections Recycle all available items of all recyclable materials all of the time WRAP committed recycler status Non recycler Non recycler Recycler but not committed Recycler but probably not committed Committed recycler Supercommitted recycler Supercommitted recycler % of population } 6% } } 23% 41% } 30% The table on the next page gives a good idea of the approximate amounts of each group present within the UK. Remember however, that smaller audiences will become skewed in some way depending on the concentration of particular audience groups in particular areas. For example in a low performing area the numbers of recycling unaware and aware but inactive could be significantly higher. ACORN profiling has been used to understand the segments identified and profile them demographically. It is also worth remembering that, whilst this is a useful tool for profiling these segments it is not a perfect science and representatives from all segments will be found in the groups used by ACORN. It does however, give a broad indication of the likelihood of finding these barriers amongst these segments, but should not be seen as a replacement for local knowledge and research and should be used in conjunction with other communication planning tools, such as WRAP s low participation area guidance. Improving recycling through effective communications 80

81 Recycling Competence Level (1 to 7) 1. Recycling unaware 2. Aware but inactive 3. Contemplated but not engaged Description Just not on their radar, no idea about it at all ACORN categories: 2, 4 Age: Property: Flats, terrace, maisonette Know about it but have not seriously contemplated doing it ACORN categories: 2, 4 Age: Property: Flats, terrace, maisonette May have dabbled, possibly elsewhere, may do occasionally, drifted back ACORN categories: 2, 4, 5 Age: Property: Terrace, bungalow 4. Unreliable Recycle but sometimes forget, or miss out, recycle opportunistically not regularly ACORN categories: 3, 5 Age: Property: Bungalow, terrace, semi-detached 5. Trying their best 6. Broadly competent 7. The Complete Recycler Usually take part, recycle staple items but confused about other items ACORN categories: 3, 5, 2 Age: Property: Semi-detached, bungalow Reliable and regular but may still miss out some materials or collections ACORN categories: 1, 2 Age: 55 and above Property: Detached, semi-detached Recycle all available items of all recyclable materials all of the time ACORN categories: 1 Age: Property: Detached Profile tend towards having one or more of the characteristics below Lifecycle: Young single, no kids yet; single parent Lifecycle: Young single, no kids yet; single parent Lifecycle: Solitary retiree, single parent Lifecycle: Solitary retiree, solitary adult worker Lifecycle: Full nest couple with kids, solitary retiree Lifecycle: Empty nest, couple with no kids Lifecycle: Empty nest, children living elsewhere This approach requires a clear analysis of the target audiences' barriers as they perceive them. It is not intended for this research to substitute locally generated research and you should carry out dedicated research to identify the actual barriers of local people, especially in smaller areas as they could be specific to those areas and different from anywhere else. Use this approach, together with your local knowledge, to map, analyse and segment your target audiences to gain a better understanding of the barriers which are common amongst your target audiences and develop appropriate communications plans and operational interventions. For example: Some groups need better services (situational) Others may need better information and practical advice about how to use your scheme (behaviour, knowledge and understanding) Others need to be shown why participation is worthwhile (motivational) Possibly of more value than the audience segmentation are the implications of this approach for the identification and development of communications messages, communication methods and activities. This is considered in more detail in Section 5 and Becoming an Expert No13. For culturally diverse communities see Becoming an Expert No10. Improving recycling through effective communications 81

82 The research, a summary and a full report can be accessed online from here: Improving recycling through effective communications 82

83 Becoming an Expert No9: Internal and external groups Stakeholders can be important to your communications despite seeming to have varying degrees of interest and usefulness. They can be useful sources of information when you are researching your background and audience and can be useful in delivering your communications messages. There are two main types, internal and external: Mapping your stakeholders The first stage in working with internal and external groups is to identify who they are. You should begin by mapping your stakeholders and group them according to their level of interest/likely engagement and the power they have to help you influence your consumer audiences. Using the template on the next page, list your stakeholders and position them on the grid to identify those you need to concentrate specific efforts on, for example those who need to be directly involved and those that just need to be kept informed. Improving recycling through effective communications 83

84 High Influence High influence, less interest. Consider whether it is useful to try to increase the interest of this group in the recycling system. Keep them up to date with your plans and seek their input but bear in mind they may not want all the details. High influence, high interest. These are the people you must make the greatest effort to satisfy, so make them a priority of engagement activities and try hard to get their support. Low interest High interest Low influence, low interest. This group is not a priority but it is still useful to keep in touch from time to time to check that problems are not developing. Lower influence, high interest. Keep this group informed of progress and ensure they do not have any major issues or concerns. These people could be useful for championing recycling and may have knowledge that can assist you. Low influence Here is an example of a completed stakeholder map for a new recycling service in a tower block: High Influence High influence, less interest: Councillors (direct interest in recycling) Other community organisations (identify each one) High influence, high interest: Residents, tenants association, local councillors, local community groups (identify each one), collection crews servicing the flats, local media Low interest High interest Low influence, low interest: Local MPs, MEPs Lower influence, high interest: Councillors (not from the immediate locality), other community groups (identify each one) Low influence Improving recycling through effective communications 84

85 Improving Low Participation Areas Effective communications planning The document is available on the WRAP website: WRAP Flats Guidance Recycling Collections for Flats This is an online guidance tool which can be found on the WRAP website: Internal groups These are individuals, teams or whole departments within your local authority that must be informed about your communications because they: Are involved in the delivery of services that deal directly with householders or stakeholders e.g. recycling collection crews, in-house PR or communications team Might provide help and support or influence audiences e.g. elected council members All internal stakeholders you identify must be communicated with and brought 'on-side' and 'on-message'. These audiences need to be engaged at different stages throughout your communications plan and some will be involved as early the initial research stages. Generally, the earlier you engage with them the better. They should be consulted or kept informed about your communications as necessary and you should determine the frequency, type and detail of communications at the outset. Do not forget them or treat them as an afterthought they are too important. On the other hand, you should aim to strike a balance between internal consultation and information sharing and delivering your communications. Too much time spent on the former will affect your ability to deliver the latter. Focus on those activities that support the achievement of your communications objectives. Improving recycling through effective communications 85

86 Examples of internal groups Internal stakeholders Elected members Call centre staff In-house press office Receptionists Marketing and web-site staff Contractors/ Operational staff Other employees Other departments Why they need to be kept informed Communication channels When/how often to consult They may make the final decisions, allocate budgets and can champion the system publicly and within the council. They will be involved in dealing with enquiries from members of the public. They may be involved in communicating with the local media, providing support on planning, assisting with communications activities, etc. They may be handling enquiries from the public, handing out information etc. They can also provide support on planning, assisting with communications activities, design and production of communications literature and other material etc. The council website may need updating with new information. They will be helping to deliver services to the public, dealing with residents, giving out information and promoting the campaign identity, e.g. on vehicle livery, clothing etc. Local ambassadors, leading by example. Other departments may be relevant to recycling communications: Planning departments can encourage the provision of new recycling facilities Highways departments may be able to help plan collection routes and schedules Leisure and amenities departments can help promote recycling in leisure and sports centres etc Via regular council communications with members. Briefing notes At your workplace via internal communications and training. At your workplace. At your workplace via internal communication channels. At your workplace via internal communication channels. At your workplace via routine meetings or internal communication channels. At your workplace via internal communication channels. At your workplace via internal communication channels. Quarterly or at other times as required depending on the frequency of council-member communications. Communications leading up to key meetings and decisions are particularly critical. As required in the development and lead-in period to the launch of a new campaign. Routine monthly/weekly meetings. As required in the development and lead-in period to the launch of a new campaign. As required in the development and lead-in period to the launch of a new campaign. As required in the development and lead-in period to the launch of a new campaign. As required in the development and lead-in period to the launch of a new campaign. They also need feedback as the campaign progresses. As required in the development and lead-in period to the launch of a new campaign. Improving recycling through effective communications 86

87 Internal communication channels The communication channels that will work best will vary with each local authority but some example activities are listed below: Intranet site - create a recycling area on your local authority intranet (if you have one) - issue regular s with regularly updated information on recycling schemes and communications Internal newsletters with regularly updated information on recycling schemes and communications Internal briefings e.g. for senior officers/members Produce a podcast Launch recycling communications campaigns internally, through informal meetings, cascade briefings or other approaches, before launching them to the public. Explain what you are doing and why Give personal briefings to receptionists, call centre staff etc on materials available to explain recycling e.g. leaflets and web addresses Pass on information at regular team briefing sessions, personal or group meetings with key staff, or use conference calls and communications packs for line managers Discuss materials, in draft format, with front-line employees before producing them. Employees are householders too they can act as a simple and accessible focus group and give valuable feedback on the quality and usability of the materials Train front-line staff such as council helpline staff to understand and talk about recycling issues as well as dealing with enquiries. Collection crews and recycling site staff need to be trained in customer relations and in knowing the right information to be able to answer basic questions and giving good advice. Brief them in advance of new campaigns - the more familiar they are with what you are trying to do, the more they will be able to help you. WRAP may be able to assist you with front-line staff training, contact LAsupport@wrap.org.uk. Use office message boards/noticeboards Other opportunities as applicable Remember that councils should also lead by example with schemes for staff to recycle and reduce their carbon emissions. Working with elected members Individual local authority members are a critically important audience for recycling programmes and for your communication activities. Members work under a range of unique pressures that have a direct effect on their information needs as well as their responses to your activities. You should aim to take them through the stages outlined in the table on the next page. Improving recycling through effective communications 87

88 Awareness Understanding Appreciation Make members aware of what you are doing, or planning to do, in advance. Recycling communications are high-profile activities and waste services may be the most visible council service your residents receive. It may be useful to make members aware of the statutory targets, possible Government intervention and Landfill Allowance Trading Scheme (LATS) fines as a result of inaction. Even members with no particular personal interest in the campaign need to be kept informed. You should aim to help members understand what you are doing and why you are doing it, even if individual members do not seem to support the activity. You may not be able to win them round, but you may be able to prevent them influencing other members against your proposals. Help members to value your communications (and to support investment in it) by regularly feeding back information on successes in a format that they, in turn, can pass on to others. Information for members should be: Short, simple and clear - avoid technical jargon Focussed on necessity demonstrate the need for public communications and show that doing nothing is not a no-cost option Demonstrating the public s support for recycling - use surveys or opinion polls Demonstrating the financial case for communications - show value for money Reassuring show the total cost of communications and explain how the budgets are derived and how spending will be managed Feeding back progress and good results regularly, especially positive outcomes There are a variety of communications methods and activities designed to communicate with your internal stakeholders and these are dealt with in Sections 6 and 7 and the corresponding Becoming an Expert briefings Numbers 13 and 16. External groups These are individuals or organisations that are important to your communications success because they: Can lend their support or give advice Deal directly with key target audiences and can reinforce your messages and extend the reach of your communications Building relationships is a complex process - do not underestimate the time and effort it can take to gain the support of important groups, especially community groups. Remember: You will need a regular programme to keep your key stakeholder groups informed, on-message and supporting you throughout your campaign Strike a balance between delivering your communications activities and liaising with all your stakeholders your priority is delivering successful communications Improving recycling through effective communications 88

89 External stakeholders Community leaders, parish councillors, local religious leaders, local community groups and organisations (including local recycling groups and charities) Key opinion formers such as MPs and MEPs Why they need to be kept informed These groups can all support your communications in the following ways: Attend regular communications update meetings to share ideas, give and receive feedback and help solve problems Support the campaign directly by distributing communications information, hosting exhibition displays at their own community events Be advocates by publicly supporting your communications or establishing their own recycling schemes at, for example, community centres or places of worship Develop creative projects to promote the campaign such as public art and community events Provide staffing for events and door-todoor canvassing Help the communications target hard-toreach groups by supplying their local knowledge, expertise and specialist networks or organise joint campaigns with other stakeholders They can become campaign advocates and opinion formers for your target audience. Information should be of a similar format to that given to elected council members. Communication channels By direct contact with leaders. By direct communication via letters, etc. When/how often to consult They should be consulted in the lead-in to a new service or campaign and during the launch period. Key figures and groups should be kept informed on a quarterly basis. They should be consulted in the lead-in to a new service or campaign and during the launch period. They should be kept informed on a quarterly basis. Local media They that can assist communication of the new system and provide PR opportunities. The media is a particularly important group and you should have an existing and ongoing media relations programme with additional, dedicated PR activities as part of your communications in order to generate positive media coverage for your campaign and the issues your communications are addressing. By direct contact with key journalists and via press releases, photoopportunities etc. As required in the development and lead-in period to the launch of the new service or campaign or whenever there is positive news to communicate. Improving recycling through effective communications 89

90 The community sector The term community sector covers a huge range of organisations and falls into a number of general areas: Interest groups Social economy Voluntary groups Unpaid groups with no specific interest in recycling, but who may be persuaded to help as a community service. Examples include religious organisations (such as churches and mosques), sports clubs and Round Tables. Organisations with a specific remit to work as a recycling business (either profitably or not-for-profit) on behalf of society or the community. Examples include appliancereconditioning organisations such as Create, the Furniture Reuse Network (FRN) or Renew, the Community Recycling Network (CRN) and the Community Composting Network. Unpaid groups with a specific remit to work with society or the community. Examples include Neighbourhood Watch, Scouts & Guides, the Women s Institute (WI) and residents associations. To get the community sector involved you should begin by conducting a community stakeholder mapping exercise of your area. As an initial starting point, consider approaching internal press, communications and community development sections as they may already have contact details of local community groups. You can then expand this list if required to include other relevant stakeholders. Next, contact the relevant groups to establish if they would be willing to help and the level of support they could provide. This may vary from using a local sports hall for a recycling event to organising a direct-mail drop. Then, develop partnerships with community groups and work together for mutual benefit. For example, is there an opportunity to develop a feature article on a recycling project that both the local authority and community is involved with, or alternatively can you run a joint recycling event to raise awareness? Developing ongoing relationships is a critical element of working with the community. Keeping community groups involved through regular meetings and briefings ensures ownership of projects. It also provides a mechanism to discuss issues and problems that can then be addressed and resolved. Improving recycling through effective communications 90

91 Becoming an Expert No10: Culturally diverse communities This briefing looks at characteristics of culturally diverse groups, which may be useful for engaging these communities in recycling activity and overcoming communication barriers. Characteristics of Ethnic Groups Within ethnic groups themselves, there is a high level of diversity, which is most marked between generations with second generations often becoming more anglicised than their parents. People from different countries and cultures may also have widely differing perceptions of the concept of recycling. With this in mind, the following table presents some general findings on the characteristics of culturally diverse groups, the issues these create and the considerations you should make when developing communications. These should not be taken as representative of these populations as a whole and it is recommended that local authorities undertake research to explore the characteristics of ethnic groups in their areas in more depth prior to developing their communications campaigns. Characteristic Issue Consideration Age Age profile tends to be younger than white British population, although less Commitment to recycling is strongly related to age, for example: true with Jewish population % are super-committed % are super-committed % are super-committed Employment patterns Deprivation Workers from ethnic minorities are more likely to be working in low-paying sectors than white workers and seem to be predominantly filling low skilled vacancies Over two thirds of England s ethnic minority population live in the 88 most deprived local authority districts 1. Issues relating to working in the low pay sector could include: Poverty is likely to be a more pressing concern than recycling; May be working long hours and don t have time to recycle; and Working shifts, so are not at home to speak to doorsteppers. When broken down by ACORN categories the results follow a pattern where the most competent recyclers fall under ACORN category 1 and the least competent fall under Acorn 4 and 5. Also, it is generally the case that more deprived areas comprise high density housing where service delivery is worse 1 Source: Office of National Statistics (2003) 2001 Census Improving recycling through effective communications 91

92 Waste composition Perceptions of recycling Little evidence that waste generated from culturally diverse households compared to that of White British households is different. New entrants to the UK from developing countries may be familiar with the concept of reuse, but they are unlikely to have practiced recycling in the formalised way now common in this country. There is no real evidence that Asian households produce more waste per capita than White households 2. WRAP has shown that with respect to avoidable food waste, White British, Black and Asian households produce exactly the same amounts of avoidable food waste, suggesting that food waste is a problem that is unrelated to ethnicity per se 3. When developing communications you need to take into account the following issues: First generation immigrants are less likely to understand the concept of recycling and are more aware of reuse; Subsequent generation immigrants are more likely to have a westernised approach and understanding of recycling; Immigrants from urban areas are more likely to understand recycling better than those from rural area; and Better educated groups are more likely to have behaviours closer to the white British population. Identify your audience It is very important to research and understand your local ethnic communities before embarking on a communications programme to ensure that the communication methods you use will be effective. Each community will have its own characteristics and the key to success is to define your audiences, investigate their particular barriers to participation and develop specific communications solutions accordingly. Before you embark on any communications, consider the reasons why you want to do this and do some research in order to establish the following: Current behaviour do the residents recycle at all at present? Do not assume that because they are from an ethnic minority that they will not be recycling. This will enable you to establish a baseline from which to work; Have they had any experience of recycling previously; if they are immigrants what was their experience of recycling in their home country and how will this affect your communications; Barriers to participation/communication; Cultural beliefs and references that you will need to take into account; and Messaging techniques that may resonate specifically with particular groups. This will help you to build a picture of your target audience s understanding, beliefs and current behaviour in order to communicate recycling to them. If you think that an area with a culturally diverse population is not participating in your recycling services, you may want to investigate this further by using the Low Participation Area guidance - This will assist you in identifying whether you have areas of low performance within your district, and whether these correlate with areas of high ethnicity. You may find it useful to use this tool even if you want to communicate more effectively with your culturally diverse residents for other reasons such as racial equality or social inclusion 2 An indicative study with small sample sizes carried out in Bradford in 2002 found that Asian households produced just over 18kg of waste per household per week compared with just over 14kg per household per week for White households and that Asian households threw away 5kg of food waste compared with 3kg for White households. The study also found that on a per capita basis White households produced more than Asian households. Luckin, D Ethnicity, waste generation and waste related behaviour (draft unpublished report to the Bradford Environmental Action Trust). 3 Source: WRAP The Food We Waste Improving recycling through effective communications 92

93 as it will take you through a step-by-step process to build a profile of your target audience, identify communications barriers and develop a communications plan to overcome these. Identifying the characteristics of your culturally diverse communities is the first step to take, consider and take action on the following issues: Issues Identifying groups What information do you have on life stages of culturally diverse residents What information do you have on lifestyles of culturally diverse residents Are there cultural issues that need to be considered? What community networks, groups or organisations are active in your area and may be able to help deliver your message? Actions Identify the ethnic make-up of an areas using the following means: Office of National Statistics neighbourhood website can provide sociodemographic data about your area, (WRAP s Monitoring & Evaluation Guidance provides step by step guidance on this); Your council may have a team already engaged with culturally diverse groups who will have a lot of information and will be able to help; Previously gathered data in your council on ethnicity; Information from other council departments such as housing; and The Department of Work and Pensions provides data on the National Insurance numbers provided for foreign workers. Identify the stages of life of your culturally diverse groups, such as: What is the predominant age group; Are they living alone; and Do they have children and are they of school age. Identify the lifestyles of your culturally diverse groups, such as: What are their purchasing and disposal habits? Consumer behaviour information can be obtained from ; Do they use your recycling services and what is the participation rate compared to other areas; and What is the turnover of households in their area, is it a stable population or is the turnover of families and individuals at a high level. Establish any cultural issues that you may need to take into account in your promotions, such as: Limited knowledge of the English language; Not understanding the concept of recycling in the way we do it in the UK; Some groups do not drink alcohol; and Women in some groups will not talk to men they don t know. Identify groups, networks and organisations that are active in your area and how you can make contact; they will be helpful in getting your messages across. These could include: Religious or faith groups; Ethnic groups; Environmental networks; Culturally diverse radio and newspapers; Housing groups; Social groups; and Informal meeting places like shops and cafes. Improving recycling through effective communications 93

94 Case Study: Bristol As part of a targeted campaign to increase participation in recycling by ethnic groups, Bristol City Council used Bristol Muslim Cultural Society to run a Recycling and Islam element of the campaign. This focused on mosque visits and sermons and community resources such as the Salaam-Shalom radio station. Multi-lingual communications materials linked recycling messages with Islamic teachings. Eleven mosque visits took place and over 1,200 contacts were made. Bristol s Imams were contacted and meetings arranged at which links between the teachings of Islam and responsible environmental behaviour and the Recycle for Bristol campaign were discussed. Following these initial meetings, the Imams delivered a recycling khutba or sermon at Friday prayers and the campaign staff distributed the recycling and Islam leaflet as people left the mosque. An advert, based on an edited version of the khutba, ran on Radio Salaam Shalom (a joint Islamic/Jewish radio station run by Bristol Muslim Cultural Society). For information on engaging culturally diverse groups in recycling see Becoming an Expert No15. Improving recycling through effective communications 94

95 Becoming an Expert No11: Campaign branding and identity Branding is the way in which organizations distinguish their product or service from others. A brand incorporates a distinctive name, style and design which combined, express the promise to the customer. The message, on the other hand, is the communication of information using words, a call to action and a particular tone of voice. It is important to be clear and single minded about your main message. Brands are often embodied by a logo (such as the Nike tick or Ferrari horse) but are actually much more than this. A brand projects itself through the whole look, feel and tone of its communications. This is achieved by using particular fonts, a set suite of colours, set layouts (this applies particularly in leaflets) so that everything can instantly be recognised as coming from the same brand. Colour is important as colours and symbols have different connotations for different countries and cultures, for example, white signifies spirituality and purity in western culture and death in Chinese culture. You should check that any colours you use are suitable for your target audiences. You should also check that your branding and designs meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. WRAP has ensured Recycle Now meets the current Disability Discrimination Act guidance, namely that signs and their information should be clear, concise and consistent. The Recycle Now brand Recycle Now is the national recycling campaign for England, supported and funded by Government, managed by WRAP and used locally by over 90% of all English authorities. The brand was developed specifically for recycling after a great deal of research and testing and is designed to engage the public in a positive manner. The recycle icon is the logo of the brand and is designed for easy recognition. It embodies the feel-good nature of recycling. Both the recycle icon and Recycle Now call to action were extensively researched with consumers before the campaign started. They tested very positively. It s simple, descriptive and says: I love recycling The recycle mark includes a clear call to action and should be included on all communication and operational materials everything from leaflets to vehicle liveries. Here is a good example of local authority branding and overall design: Improving recycling through effective communications 95

96 Hanging banners in town centre: Householder leaflet: Reusable shopping bag: Householder newsletter: Bin hangers for plastic recycling campaign: Improving recycling through effective communications 96

97 Why use Recycle Now? There are a number of reasons for local authorities to use the Recycle Now branding for their local communications. Your campaign and your message are fighting for attention - estimates of how many messages people are exposed to every day vary from a conservative 500 to over 3,000. When competing against global marketing and advertising budgets running into millions, your recycling message has to work very hard indeed. Recycle Now was designed with this in mind. It is well recognised by householders in England Brand recognition by the public stands at 74% (2009) and this will probably increase in the future. In 2009 the number of committed recyclers rose to 67% of adults. Recycle Now offers consistency The campaign logo and iconography is in widespread use by around 90% of local authorities. A consistently applied brand will reap benefits over time in terms of increased recognition during the campaign and an extended period of brand recall compared to campaigns with inconsistent branding: Effect 30% to 40% Consistent, Strong branding Inconsistent, Weak branding Time Source: Saatchi & Saatchi Recycle Now is being used more and more by commercial brands Many leading companies and brands use the Recycle Now icon and new, on-pack recycling labels are being gradually phased in by Britain s leading retailers and brands. The scheme, which is led by the British Retail Consortium and supported by WRAP, has been developed to reduce consumer confusion and provide simple advice on what can and cannot recycle based on access to recycling facilities. Recycle Now can be localised and you can maintain your local identity Adopting the national Recycle Now brand locally: You will give a consistent brand for householders By using the logo, householders will identify your communication as recycling information Saves money there s no need to pay designers to develop new materials it s available to download free of charge It s tried and tested Research shows consumers like the logo, identify with it and it is known to engage people with recycling Improving recycling through effective communications 97

98 Recycle Now can help you spend your money more effectively Testing and analysis the recycle now brand and communications materials have been extensively researched and tested, meaning you don t have to spend money doing this again Using the tools, resources and templates on the partners site means you do not have to pay design costs have these drawn up again Recycle Now brand guidelines can be adapted for your own local authority use, helping you save both time and money for your authority by offering clarity and consistency of message and brand use Recycle Now resources Via Recycle Now, WRAP provides a wealth of support materials and resources for local authorities to use and localise. These include: A photo library Access to all the Recycle Now iconography including the main icon and material stream icons Template posters and adverts A pick and mix section to enable authorities to create their own materials Template press releases All resources are available on Implementing Recycle Now locally This section and the next two (Becoming an Expert Numbers 11, 12 and 13) cover branding, tone of voice and messaging and contain a number of examples of different types of communications literature. Refer to the examples in these sections to get ideas of how local authorities are successfully using the Recycle Now brand locally. All communications materials should adhere to the Recycle Now brand guidelines in order to preserve the integrity of the brand and its benefits. However, that does not mean it cannot work alongside and integrate with your own council identity and corporate design guidelines. Some local authority campaigns, with either strong corporate identity or comprising a number of councils working together, have developed their own brand guidelines to ensure the needs of all parties are met. For example: Improving recycling through effective communications 98

99 Liverpool City Council brand identity guidelines and green waste collection calendar: Gloucestershire County Council Recycle for Gloucestershire brand guidelines: It is not necessary for every council or campaign to go to the effort of developing their own local campaign guidelines but every campaign should check their designs are compatible with their own corporate design guidelines and those of Recycle Now. To help you implement the Recycle Now campaign brand locally and make best use of it in a wide variety of situations, Recycle Now has produced a set of guidance documents to help you use the Recycle Now brand on local communications and produce clear, well designed communications materials. These can be accessed online at Recycle Now Brand guidelines A new set of brand guidelines for Recycle Now has been developed which explain how best to use the Recycle Now logos, icons, colours and artwork templates. The new guidelines are an amalgamation of the previous brand and partner guidelines, updated to be an easy-to-use and highly interactive document. Improving recycling through effective communications 99

100 In addition, there are some more generic documents on the WRAP website designed to help you with many aspects of recycling communications. Some of the key ones relating to branding and design include: Design of Communication Material This document gives basic and practical suggestions on the design of effective communications. These principles can be applied to collection calendars, leaflets, adverts and other marketing communications. Printing processes explained The aim of this guide is to explain the design and development process that you will go through in commissioning promotional material for waste management services, whether through an outside design agency or through your own internal design team. It takes you through the design and development process from the initial concept for a promotional item through to the delivery of the final product and what happens at all stages. Guidance on Developing Collection Calendars Kerbside collection calendars are an essential communication tool for most authorities, enabling them to provide essential information to householders about their waste and recycling services with instructions on how to participate. This document guides you through all the elements of putting together a clear and easy to understand calendar. Developing recycling and waste websites This guidance document and web page review methodology has been developed as a result of requests for waste and recycling web page reviews from a number of London Boroughs to help ensure they provide relevant information about the services, make them easier to use and enhance the user experience. An evaluation matrix was developed to assist with the review process, which systematically outlines essential information the recycling and waste web pages should contain. Improving recycling through effective communications 100

101 Becoming an Expert No12: Campaign tone of voice Tone of voice enables a brand to convey its values or qualities through the words and language it uses and research shows that the right tone of voice is critical to the success of communications. The tone of voice you adopt can make all the difference to how your message is received by the public. Remember, tone of voice is not so much about what you say - it s about how you say it. For example you could take an authoritative approach such as: You must use your new recycling service now Or, you could talk to people in a way that is warm and friendly such as: We re here to help you get the most from your new recycling service In both the above, the overall message is the same, but the tone of voice is markedly different. Extensive research shows people have clear preferences in the way they want to be talked to: Ensure your written copy always uses positive language and a positive tone People do not want to be told what to do, be preached at or patronised They need to be given the facts and persuaded to use recycling services in the spirit of partnership i.e. we re all in this together and we re all doing our bit to help Look to promote Friendly Factual Simple My voice Mainstream Benefit to me Seek to avoid Guilt Threat Public Service/Duty Waste Fringe Rubbish Recycle Now is designed to engage consumers with clear messages in a positive, warm and friendly tone as the examples on the following pages show. Improving recycling through effective communications 101

102 Front cover of a recycling leaflet from Tower Hamlets in London, written in a light friendly style: General recycling poster from the Recycle for Gloucestershire campaign: Both examples have a light and friendly style, tone which is supported by the images with the smiling Recycle Now family and the bright, vivid colours used in the designs. On the next page is an example of a change in service leaflet produced by Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council. Again, it is written in a warm friendly style; it does not preach, nor does it patronise; it starts by asking for people s help then goes on to explain the new service and some of the key issues that householders are likely to have. Improving recycling through effective communications 102

103 Improving recycling through effective communications 103

104 Changing your tone of voice for different target audiences For most communications you will use the same positive tone of voice because it has been shown to work with most of the people most of the time. There are times, however, when a different approach might be better. Some audiences respond better to slightly different messages, images and language and you could change your tone of voice to engage these audiences more effectively. If you decide to take this approach, it is vital that you thoroughly research and test your communication messages and materials with your target audiences to ensure they are likely to achieve the desired result. The following examples show how the tone of voice has been altered to appeal to a very different target audience, namely students. Compare these conventional recycling leaflet and poster designs To these recycling campaign posters for students: These communications materials are specifically designed to appeal and be relevant to students. Tone of voice for a low performing area Despite having a recycling rate of 47%, Melton Mowbray Borough Council decided it wanted to encourage its residents to do even better and produced a leaflet designed to simultaneously target two audiences: Improving recycling through effective communications 104

105 Excellent recyclers (75% of local households) Poor recyclers (25% of local households) Their leaflet had a certificate of excellence congratulating the excellent recyclers on one side and an alternative message on the other for low recyclers: The text on the reverse of the leaflet was designed for both groups: to congratulate the high recyclers and to make low/non-recyclers aware of the consequences of their lack of action in a way that had a low likelihood of irritating them. It is reproduced below: Improving recycling through effective communications 105

106 Becoming an Expert No13: Developing campaign messages Your message is the communication of information through the combination of words, imagery and your tone of voice. It is important to be clear and single minded about your main campaign message. You messages need to be developed with your aims and objectives in mind they should be designed specifically to help you achieve them. For example, if you want to launch a new kerbside service for food waste it would not be appropriate to spend a large proportion of budget on advertising promoting your recycling banks. There are times however, when integrated communications will promote different aspects of recycling or waste prevention over the life of a communications strategy and these will have to be carefully planned and scheduled to give each issue space so as to not overwhelm people with too many messages at once. Communications literature which tries to say too much becomes confusing and people will not to respond to it as well as a single, clear, simple and focussed call to action. Finally, your messages should always be tested on your intended target audience. Recycling can be a sensitive issue and it can take a great deal of thought to come up with an effective idea. Messages can sometimes have unexpected effects both positive and negative. Occasionally the most unlikely and unpromising message can be the one to spark a reaction within people. Different audiences are likely to respond to different messages the message that motivates a high recycler will leave a non-recycler cold. Always test your messages to make sure they work as you intend them. The following examples from the Recycle for Gloucestershire campaign show how different messages have been used in different situations. A poster promoting new cardboard and plastic recycling facilities in Cheltenham (post-it section note blown up for clarity): Improving recycling through effective communications 106

107 Finally, reproduced across the next two pages is a very different leaflet promoting recycling and home composting by telling people where their recycling goes and what happens to it: Improving recycling through effective communications 107

108 Recent research by WRAP has shown that both committed and non-committed recyclers are encouraged to recycle more by knowing more about what happens to their recycling after the council takes it away. Improving recycling through effective communications 108

109 Another poster, this time promoting plastic bottle recycling in the aftermath of regional flooding: The text at the top of the poster reads: Got Bottle? Recycle it! Due to the recent floods you may have many plastic bottles. Please recycle them at your nearest bottle recycling site. This is a clear call to action on what was probably a highly topical local issue. Improving recycling through effective communications 109

110 Primary and secondary messages Once your message has been identified, you have to present it in the right way and that partly lies in good design. There are a few key principles that you should follow: Headline Hierarchy (secondary messages) Make it personal to the reader In a calendar, leaflet or advertisement the most important element is the headline. The headline is either the heading that goes at the top or if there's no heading, it's the first few words. The headline needs to grab peoples' attention and tell them what it is about. Keep it simple; do not try to be too clever a catchy and appropriate strap line is best. A clever concept can go over peoples heads they don t have the time or the inclination to try and work it out. It is very important that you develop a hierarchy so that the most important information or message is at the top and the least important at the bottom. Peoples attention span can be short and they will skim the information after the first few sentences unless you can maintain their interest. The copy of your calendar, advertisement or leaflet needs to be a personal communication to the individual reading it. It should address their specific interests or known concerns and it needs to constantly communicate the benefits of what you are offering. Make it positive Action Make Information Understandable Generally the message you are trying to get across or the service or product you are introducing is a positive thing otherwise you would not be doing it! Focus on the message. Very simple this one preferably one sentence only. Your communication must make it clear what action you want people to take. Make sure information is easy to understand and uses simple and concise language. If you are using facts and figures make sure information is as up to date as possible. Use clear and simple terminology that householders will understand and do not use jargon which may be familiar within your industry but to no one else. Example poster showing primary and secondary messages: Primary message: Recycle your newspaper. It s good news for everyone. Secondary message: Recycle your newspaper and in seven days it could be another newspaper Messages and addressing barriers to recycling Research by WRAP into people s barriers to recycling has shown that people need different messages which relate to their situation and/or specific barriers. In reality people often experience a mix of barriers which means a single silver bullet message may not work and you may need overlapping messages covering a range of Improving recycling through effective communications 110

111 barriers to be successful. Ensure your headline message addresses the most significant or widespread barrier and any secondary messages address other barriers. The two posters below are examples of two messages addressing the most basic barrier to recycling easy access to recycling services: the first poster highlights the fact that all households in the local authority area have a recycling service; and the second tells people what they can recycle and where it goes. The main findings of WRAP s research,, looking at barriers, audiences and messaging is shown in the table on the next page. The table gives an indication of, for each audience, the types of messages most likely to strike a chord with them. Use this table in conjunction with the information about identifying your target audiences (see Section 4 and Becoming an Expert No8: Identifying Target Audiences ) to identify the messages most likely to produce the desired response from your target audience. There is a further table in Becoming an Expert 14 which looks at messages, audiences and the most appropriate communication methods. Remember however, this information can only give you an indication of the likely barriers and issues of a particular audience and is no substitute for local knowledge and research which may identify some quite different factors unique to your area. You should always test your ideas and messages on representatives of your target audiences before you start your campaign. For more detailed information consult WRAP s research Barriers to recycling at home which provides in-depth information about people s barriers and looks at the links between social grade, barriers and messaging. It is referenced a number of times and can be accessed online here: Improving recycling through effective communications 111

112 Recycling Competence Level (1 to 7) 1. Recycling unaware 2. Aware but inactive 3. Contemplated but not engaged Description Just not on their radar, no idea about it at all Know about it but have not seriously contemplated doing it May have dabbled, possibly elsewhere, may do occasionally, drifted back 4. Unreliable Recycle but sometimes forget, or miss out, recycle opportunistically not regularly 5. Trying their best 6. Broadly competent 7. The Complete Recycler Usually take part, recycle staple items but confused about other items Reliable and regular but may still miss out some materials or collections Recycle all available items of all recyclable materials all of the time Profile - tendency to have one or more of the following characteristics ACORN categories: 2, 4 Age: Property: Flats, terrace, maisonette Lifecycle: Young single, no kids yet; single parent ACORN categories: 2, 4 Age: Property: Flats, terrace, maisonette Lifecycle: Young single, no kids yet; single parent ACORN categories: 2, 4, 5 Age: Property: Terrace, bungalow Lifecycle: Solitary retiree, single parent ACORN categories: 3, 5 Age: Property: Bungalow, terrace, semi- Lifecycle: Solitary retiree, solitary adult worker ACORN categories: 3, 5, 2 Age: Property: Semi-detached, bungalow Lifecycle: Full nest couple with kids, solitary retiree ACORN categories: 1, 2 Age: 55 and above Property: Detached, semi-detached Lifecycle: Empty nest, couple with no kids ACORN categories: 1 Age: Property: Detached Lifecycle: Empty nest, children living elsewhere Main messages and actions a) Instructions b) Explanations c) Dispelling the myths a) Instructions b) Explanations c) Dispelling the myths d) How it works a) Instructions b) Explanations c) Dispelling the myths d) How it works f) Saving cash a) Instructions b) Explanations c) Dispelling the myths d) How it works e) Rewards f) Saving cash a) Instructions c) Dispelling the myths d) How it works e) Rewards f) Saving cash a) Instructions c) Dispelling the myths d) How it works e) Rewards f) Saving cash a) Instructions d) How it works e) Rewards f) Saving cash Key to main messages and actions: a) Instructions What, when and how to recycle - details of the service and how to use it b) Explanations What is recycling? Why should you do it? What are the benefits to people and the environment? c) Dispel myths Education about the good & bad things in recycling & waste disposal from simple operational issues to more complex ones eg the relationship between landfill and climate change. d) How it What happens to recyclables once collected where they go and what they are made into. works e) Feedback Tell people how they are doing and how well they compare to everywhere else. Thank them and thanks for their efforts. f) Saving cash What are the costs and financial benefits of recycling, waste disposal, LATS etc Improving recycling through effective communications 112

113 The use and importance of facts and data in messaging Facts and data can be useful to help illustrate your points. For example: National Recycle Now campaign examples Recycling just one glass jar saves enough energy to power a light bulb in your home for one hour Recycle your metal can and it could come back as part of a car, a plane or even another can Recycle your newspaper and in seven days it could be another newspaper Local authority campaign examples Why am I being asked to separate my food waste? Approximately a quarter of the waste in an average household bin is food waste. When it decomposes in a landfill site it produces methane a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide. This waste can now be recycled into a compost which will be used as a soil improver on farms. Source: Oldham MBC Thank you South Staffordshire Your contribution to recycling in South Staffordshire makes all the difference and means that we are now recycling 43% of our waste! With your continued help we can do even better! Source: South Staffordshire Council Data and facts however, must always be used carefully. Using research data that is incorrect, has been misinterpreted, or is not directly relevant to your specific situation or your target audience, leaves you open to criticism, which may undermine your credibility and your entire communications effort. Use data (facts and figures or other information) sensibly express the information in terms people can relate to. No one knows what 10,000 tonnes of waste looks like but they will have an idea of the scale of 250 juggernauts Keep it relevant, meaningful and personal (to local people or the local area) Keep it simple Only use data from reputable and impartial sources which can stand up to scrutiny. Always reference data and keep a central file of the information and where it came from in case it is queried Check the context of the information you want to use and ideally check it personally with the organisation or person you got it from to ensure you understand the underlying data completely and that it fully meets your specific needs. This is especially true for information that converts waste or recycling data into energy savings or CO 2 emission equivalents Be very careful with the way you phrase or express the information as a word out of place can completely change its technical meaning. If in doubt, get it verified If you are using some key facts in your communications: You must base them on robust, authoritative research data which can be substantiated and relied upon (see above) The information you use must comply with the Code of Practice of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) If challenged, you must be able to substantiate any statistics or claim Improving recycling through effective communications 113

114 Examples of facts used in local authority campaigns Example of local authority literature using facts : Front: Back: Text from right hand leaflet: Where does it go? All glass collected in the County is reprocessed at a facility in Southampton and then used in road aggregate, water filtration units or made into new glass bottles and jars. Did you know? The average Buckinghamshire family throws away over 300 glass bottles/jars a year. Glass can be recycled indefinitely. Up to 80% of the bottles you buy can be made from recycled glass. The largest glass furnaces produce more than 400 tonnes that s more than one million bottles and jars each day! The energy saving from recycling one glass bottle will power a 100 watt light bulb for almost an hour. One bottle bank can hold up to 3,000 bottles before it needs to be emptied. Finely ground glass (or processed sand) is used in golf bunkers. Source: Buckinghamshire/Aylesbury Vale Council Improving recycling through effective communications 114

115 Becoming an Expert No14: Communications strategy Your overall approach Your communications strategy is the overall approach you take with your communication methods and activities (bearing in mind your target audience and general situation) in order to achieve your aims and objectives. This section takes you through the process of developing your strategy and contains a number of tools designed to help you make the right decisions based on your situation and circumstances. There are two critical stages to communications that aim to change behaviour: Initiation - the communications need to get people to adopt the new behaviour and start doing it e.g. using a new kerbside collection service. This is a critical stage - their perceived barriers must be recognised and properly addressed for them to change their behaviour and it may take very little (e.g. one missed collection) to discourage them and for them to stop doing it Persistence - once people have changed their behaviour, their new habit needs reinforcing with further messages and communications delivered over time to keep them motivated. As above, it is very easy for people to find excuses to give up and on-going communication must address these issues Your overall strategy should consider both aspects over a long-term period (i.e. more than one year). Developing your communications strategy You should develop your communications strategy using your aims and objectives as a guide together with the information from your background research, your knowledge of your target audiences, your timescale and your likely budget, to decide which mix of communication methods and activities will be the most effective to reach your target audiences and deliver the desired result. In considering your strategy there are three key questions to ask yourself: Do I need to reach everyone across the whole LA area? Do I need to target particular audiences or people in particular areas? What type of information or message do I need to communicate? Is it simple or complicated? The key stages in developing a communications strategy are: 1. Decide what you need to communicate: Launch a new service, promote an existing one, recycle plastic bottles etc 2. Decide who you want to communicate with: Everyone in your local authority, specific audiences or a mixture of the two Do you need one campaign for everyone or a number of interlinked campaigns targeting different audiences? 3. Decide on the mix of communication methods to use. Look at the attributes of the different methods and how they can help communicate: Simple messages and/or detailed information to lots of people (broad-brush) Simple messages and/or detailed information to specific audiences (tailored) Improving recycling through effective communications 115

116 4. Review your initial list of communication methods: Will they help you reach your aims and objectives? Are all your target audiences covered? Can they be delivered in the required timescales? Do you have enough budget to pay for them? Do they support each other to increase their overall impact? Choosing the right communications methods Your communications strategy will use two main types of communication methods: Broad-brush communications aimed at all residents Targeted communication aimed at specific audiences Both types have advantages and disadvantages for communications and often, a combination of methods (known as the communications mix) are used together to form an integrated strategy. Communications Advantages Disadvantages Broad-brush Targeted Can target many people with focussed recycling messages Good for targeting lots of people at the same time with the same message Good for targeting specific issues or barriers in particular areas or to target specific audiences Messages and methods can be tailored for each area or audience group Can target hard to reach or hard to engage groups which can be resistant to broad brush communications and messages May not address specific barriers in particular areas May not address barriers of specific segments of population Cannot communicate complex information or multiple messages easily Not as good for large areas Messages generally only work for the group or area they are designed for limited use elsewhere Targeted communications can be more intensive - requiring as much or even more time than broad-brush communications to organise and deliver They can require more research to understand the issues/barriers and check the message is likely to work Can be more expensive You will also need to ensure the methods you use integrate with each other, i.e. your communication methods and activities overlap in a complementary manner to: Target all your audiences with appropriate communications messages, using the right communication methods and activities over a period of time Provide support for each other - reinforcing each other and increasing their overall impact and that of your communications There is a range of communication methods to choose from (note - detailed communication activities are considered in Becoming an Expert No19, 20,21 and 22). Advertising Advertisements in printed publications (newspapers and magazines); in the outdoor environment (posters, bus backs, billboards, etc.); or in the broadcast media such as television or radio are best for broad-brush communications, have high impact and can generate significant awareness but are relatively expensive. They can be useful for targeted communications but only if used intelligently (as their accuracy is difficult to control), for example by booking particular advertising spaces in certain areas or in specific publications read by key target audiences. You will need to consider the scheduling of advertisements and consider whether you want a constant drip, or a burst of activity. Outdoor advertising spaces often need to be booked well in advance. Improving recycling through effective communications 116

117 Specific activities include: radio, press, TV, outdoor advertising (static external billboards, adshels, train, tube etc and static internal bus, tube etc), mobile advertising (e.g. bus, advan and adbike). Alternatives include new livery for collection vehicles and free poster sites in public buildings and other places. It should generally be used to support other methods. Advantages Best for targeting lots of people (broad-brush) with a simple message or call to action Can be used in a variety of different ways Some types are good at targeting specific areas e.g. local free newspapers Some types are good at targeting specific audience groups Disadvantages Can be relatively expensive Will be seen by lots of people, not just target audience you pay for that as well Difficult to monitor and evaluate the outcome/impact Needs good design and testing of messages to ensure success Can t communicate detailed or complex information Vehicle livery and operational signage A form of advertising, so vehicle livery and operational signage are good broad-brush techniques. Advantages Vehicle livery best for broad-brush communications Highly visible and cost effective form of advertising Static infrastructure can be tailored for specific audiences/locations Long lasting and cost effective provided graphics don t get damaged Disadvantages Can seem relatively expensive due to cost of special outdoor graphics Vehicle livery can t convey detailed or complex information Can be damaged PR Public relations (PR) at its simplest is media relations and is intended to help pass messages from an organisation to its various audiences via radio, press, TV and online media. By linking to topics of public interest and news items, PR can help to secure positive media coverage and engage the public. Because PR works through credible third-party outlets (like newspapers) and is subject to scrutiny by them, it offers a credibility that advertising does not have. PR can be used to build rapport with your residents. When used effectively, PR, is a tool that can provide invaluable support to any local authority communications. It is predominantly a broad-brush method although some targeting can be achieved depending on the distribution and coverage of local media outlets. You should have a continual and on-going media relations plan. PR can: Provide more in-depth information on communications issues, report on events (e.g. launch etc) Launch and promote new services via events, photocalls and press packs Report on the success of new services by reporting higher collection tonnages, meeting specific targets etc Thank residents for their efforts Provide continual feedback e.g. at various milestones such as 1,000 th tonne of x material, annual tonnages collected Advantages Good for all types of communications but probably best for broad-brush Can be very effective in communicating complex information and issues Can communicate your messages in a positive manner Can tailor messages to different types of media (radio, press, TV) and their audiences Disadvantages Bad publicity can damage your campaign The media wants news it can be challenging to be constantly thinking of new stories/angles on recycling The media can get bored of recycling Roadshows and Events Events are generally considered a discipline within PR but can form a part of community engagement activities. Depending on the nature of the event, they can be broad-brush or targeted e.g. a road show event in a town centre or an exhibition display in the foyer of a block of flats. Improving recycling through effective communications 117

118 Advantages Good for broad-brush and targeted communications Good to engage with people on an individual basis Good for launches, promoting simple and/or complex messages Can generate additional media coverage which takes your message to more people Disadvantages Locations need careful selection Events can take a lot of management Difficult to monitor and evaluate Can be expensive May not reach as many people It is easy for the effort needed to exceed the benefits Direct marketing techniques Direct marketing is based on a direct one-to-one relationship between you and the householder. Direct marketing activities typically include direct mail, leaflet inserts (in newspapers) and door to door canvassing. When using direct marketing techniques, take care to ensure that the material you provide is fit for purpose and focuses on clear service information. Unless material is clearly relevant, general leafleting and inserts in particular can be thrown away as junk mail which sends out the wrong message to householders particularly if you are running a mail preference campaign yourself!. It can work at both broad-brush and tailored levels, for example: Pre-service leaflets/fliers delivered to all households receiving new services Service information leaflets (to include instructional and motivational information), delivered to all households receiving new services, ideally at the same time as any new containers Service calendars (collection information) delivered to all households receiving new services, ideally at the same time as any new containers. Calendars can be tailored to individual rounds and should be delivered on an annual basis Branding new collection containers Dedicated council recycling newsletter (if you have a general council magazine you should target this as part of your media relations) Crew information cards (for householders) Advantages Can be used for broad-brush or targeted communications Can be highly effective in targeting hard to reach or hard to engage audiences Delivering leaflets or other information door-to-door is very effective in getting your message to everyone you want Door-drops can be tailored to deliver specific material to specific areas Disadvantages Can be relatively expensive depending on the technique Distribution needs careful planning and management as they can go wrong or some houses or streets may be missed out Junk Mail image Direct marketing can use a range of distribution techniques and these are discussed in more detail in Becoming an Expert No 18. Door-to-door canvassing Door to door canvassing can be considered a form of direct marketing and is an effective technique for recycling services where the issue is to explain the service being provided. Through face-to-face contact with residents, it is possible to give much more targeted information with a personal approach. For waste minimization, however, where the issues are about personal behaviours, door step canvassing is not cost effective and other techniques would be better. Advantages Can be highly effective in targeting hard to reach or hard to engage audiences Can deliver complex information Information can be tailored to the needs of Disadvantages Time consuming and relatively expensive Requires a lot of management but can be outsourced Canvassers need to have good people skills if they don t your communications won t be as effective Improving recycling through effective communications 118

119 individual people and locations People s issues and barriers can be addressed Communications can be planned down to street level Canvassing is seasonal and weather dependent people don t like standing and chatting about recycling when it is cold, dark or wet Community engagement This is the term for the process by which organisations like local councils, charity or community groups and individuals build ongoing, permanent relationships with local communities in order to work together for the benefit of a community. It is ideal for tailored communications targeting specific audiences. Approaches include: Local events promoting and explaining a new service to local householders Working in partnership with local community groups and other organisations Special support e.g. undertaking home visits to deal with issues and queries from householders Optional extra activities may include door-to-door canvassing for low performing areas. Advantages Good for targeting hard to reach or hard to engage audiences Can deliver complicated information Information can be tailored to the needs of individual communities, cultures and locations The barriers and issues of individuals as well as the wider community can be addressed Very good at addressing low participation issues Residents may trust the messages from people they know more than from the council Disadvantages Can be time consuming Long term ( slow burn ) activity Can take time to win trust and for message to spread Online Online has so far been mainly used as a broad-brush method though some activities (like s) can be targeted. There are likely to be significant developments in the use of this medium. There are already a number of different types of online communication such as websites, blogs and viral . Use of social networking sites, and web based campaigns are sure to develop but it is too soon to try to identify best practice. The bedrock of any activity will be your council or campaign website which should be regularly updated with a wide range of information about your services and more generally about recycling and waste issues. Advantages Can be used to broad-brush or targeted activities Can be very effective in communicating complex information and issues Can communicate your messages in a positive manner You have complete control over the information Disadvantages The information is passive i.e. people have to interpret and understand it People have to find it for themselves Poor website design and layout of web pages can be a barrier Not everyone has internet access Internal communications Internal communications is used to communicate with local authority employees, elected members and employees of contractors working for local authorities. It helps ensure council staff and members understand the waste and recycling services and their benefits. Some key activities for which internal communications is an important component include: Briefing or training telephone helpline staff and providing regular briefings and FAQs on services Crew & staff training to keep front-line staff engaged and on-message Staff newsletters Briefing sheets Intranet Improving recycling through effective communications 119

120 Asking the public to recycle if the Council s staff does not could be a significant communication problem and your internal communications should be used to encourage use of the Council s in-house facilities. Some Councils run specific campaigns to address this issue like Gloucestershire s OHIO (Own House in Order) campaign for this reason. Advantages Can be very effective in targeting specific internal audiences with complex information Can communicate your messages in a positive manner You have complete control over the information Disadvantages Can be time-consuming Selecting your communications mix As well as looking at the basic attributes of the different communication methods (see previous pages) it is important to consider the following factors to help you decide which to use: The impact, influence and targeting of the technique The barriers of your audiences, their messaging preferences and the types of messages you wish to communicate Impact, influence and targeting These refer to the following attributes: Impact - the degree to which the communication will be noticed by the person receiving it Influence - the extent to which the technique will influence the recycling behaviour of the people receiving it Targeting - the precision with which the technique can be used to reach a very specific audience or group These attributes can be applied to different communication methods and activities as shown in the table below. The table also gives an indication of the cost effectiveness of each method as well as assigning a priority level. So, for example, TV advertising is a high impact medium, has a medium ability to influence people, low targeting ability and low cost effectiveness. As a result, it is given a low priority for local authority recycling communications. Note that while high, medium and low are used as relative terms, not absolute definitions, they are useful in assessing which method, or combination of methods disciplines, may be most appropriate for your communications. Communication Method Impact Influence Targeting Cost effectiveness High/ Med/ Low Priority High/ Med/ Low TV Advertising High Mid Low Low Low Local newspaper advertising High Mid Mid Medium Medium Billboard advertising Mid Low Mid Medium Medium Radio advertising Mid Mid Mid Medium Medium Public Relations (PR) - editorial coverage (e.g. in local High High Mid High High newspaper) Direct marketing (e.g. welldesigned addressed mail) High High High High High Marketing (incl. design, branding and communications High High literature) Leaflet drops through letterboxes Mid Mid High High High Door-to-door canvassing for recycling High High High High Medium Roadshows High High Mid Medium Medium Community engagement High High High High Medium Schools visits High Mid High Medium Medium Improving recycling through effective communications 120

121 Communication Method Impact Influence Targeting Cost effectiveness High/ Med/ Low Priority High/ Med/ Low Internet council website High Mid Low High High Internet - viral ( not addressed to named High Low Low Unknown Low individuals) Social Media Mid Mid High Mid Low Internal communications Mid Mid High High High Operational signage and vehicle livery Mid Mid High Medium High Promotional activity with retailers Mid Mid Mid Medium Medium Messages and communication methods Depending on the type of message, different communication methods may need to be used to gain the best impact. The table below shows different communication methods and the types of messages they are best suited for: Communication Method Simple Messages Complex Advertising Posters Operational signage and vehicle livery Door-to-door canvassing Community engagement Communications literature (service leaflets, newsletters etc) Display panels Public Relations (PR) Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs & You Tube) The key issues in deciding which message and communication method to use is any given situation are: What do you want to communicate - do you want to raise awareness or inform/educate? Where do you want your message to be seen/heard? Will people have time to read it or does it need to be taken in quickly? If you want to raise awareness you should use short messages in highly visible locations where lots of people will see (or hear) it. If you need to communicate detailed information you need to consider other methods that will deliver larger amounts of information to people in situations where they will have the time to read it. Examples of simple messages include: Large billboard advert: Improving recycling through effective communications 121

122 Bus shelter advert: Taxi livery and bus rear poster: Audience barriers and messages At the same time as considering the impact, influence and targeting of the communication methods, you should also cross-reference them against your audiences and their barriers. The table on the next page allows you to cross-reference your target audience/s against the message and communication methods/activities. Use it to check your choice of communication methods to make sure they are likely to be appropriate for both your message and audience. Remember, however, that your local circumstances may present you with a situation where a different approach to normal may be required. Improving recycling through effective communications 122

123 Recycling Competence Level (1to 7) 1. Recycling unaware 2. Aware but inactive 3. Contemplated but not engaged Description Just not on their radar, no idea about it at all ACORN: 2, 4 Age: Property: Flats, terrace, maisonette Lifecycle: Young single, no kids yet; single parent Know about it but have not seriously contemplated doing it ACORN: 2, 4 Age: Property: Flats, terrace, maisonette Lifecycle: Young single, no kids yet; single parent May have dabbled, possibly elsewhere, may do occasionally, drifted back ACORN: 2, 4, 5 Age: Property: Terrace, bungalow Lifecycle: Solitary retiree, single parent 4. Unreliable Recycle but sometimes forget, or miss out, recycle opportunistically not regularly ACORN: 3, 5 Age: Property: Bungalow, terrace, semi- detached Lifecycle: Solitary retiree, solitary adult worker 5. Trying their best 6. Broadly competent 7. The Complete Recycler Usually take part, recycle staple items but confused about other items ACORN: 3, 5, 2 Age: Property: Semidetached, bungalow Lifecycle: Full nest couple with kids, solitary retiree Reliable and regular but may still miss out some materials or collections ACORN: 1, 2 Age: 55+ Property: Detached, semi-detached Lifecycle: Empty nest, couple with no kids Recycle all available items of all recyclable materials all of the time ACORN: 1 Age: Property: Detached Lifecycle: Empty nest, children living elsewhere a) Instructions what, when and how to recycle. Details of service and how to use it Leaflets, Calendars Bin/box stickers, Contamination tags b) Explanations what is recycling? Why should you do it? What are the benefits to people and the environment? Door knocking & leaflets, Local displays/ events, Adverts - TV & local radio, local newspapers, outdoor Messages c) Dispel myths education about what is good & bad in recycling & waste disposal Leaflets, Newsletters/ council newspaper, Local PR d) How it works what happens to recyclables once collected Vehicle livery, PR Newsletters, Council newspaper, Advertorials, Events/displays e) Feedback and thanks How we are doing compared to everywhere else PR, Newsletters, Council newspaper, Advertorials, Events/ displays f) Saving cash what is the cost of recycling, waste disposal, LATS etc PR, Newsletters, Council newspaper, Advertorials Improving recycling through effective communciations 123

124 Developing a wider strategy for behavioural change Communications need to use a range of communication methods and activities to stimulate the uptake of new behaviours and ensure people persist in them. They also need to be able to encourage people to do more and go further in their new behaviours. In order to develop strategic approaches that take in a wider range of potential activities which can influence behavioural change, DEFRA produced a framework the 4Es model - to help plan communications for behaviour change. The framework (which WRAP has used in its waste prevention toolkit is designed to ensure that all the factors necessary to change behaviour are present. The framework was developed as part of the UK s Sustainable Development Strategy Securing the Future, published in This evidence-based strategy gives a strong lead to delivering sustainable behaviour change by engaging individuals, households and communities. It recognises the complexities that influence behaviour and the need for the consistent approach required to change deep-seated habits. The 4Es model defines a new approach that focuses on the need to enable, encourage and engage people to help them towards sustainability (by for example recycling and waste prevention) and recognises the need for those delivering the change to lead by example exemplify. All these elements (to enable, encourage, engage and exemplify) are necessary for change to take place, the aim being for the combined package to catalyse people into action and for the new behaviour to become the norm over time - at which point further possibilities for progress may be opened up. A diagram showing the 4Es model is shown below. Defra 4Es model: Source: Defra The framework is designed so that your approach evolves as attitudes and behaviours change over time. Catalyse breaking the habits: What will really make things change? Unsustainable behaviour may be deeply entrenched and require powerful catalysts to change habits and ease the way to more sustainable habits like recycling and waste prevention. This means that you need to look at how your waste and recycling strategies come together as a package and how they are used to trigger change. Improving recycling through effective communications 124

125 Enable making it easier: this is the starting point. There is no point asking people to recycle if they don t know how. Or, if they know what to do, what they need is not readily available. People need help to make choices by providing them with education, skills and good quality information. To help people make easy choices, an easily accessible alternative and suitable infrastructure will need to be provided. In some cases enabling may be all that is needed for example by providing multi-material kerbside collections. Encourage give the right signals: this is about selecting the most effective techniques to encourage and, where necessary, enforce behaviour change. Engage get people involved: people need to take personal responsibility for what they do. This can work best if your target audience is involved early on in developing actions jointly an approach known as co-production. Face-to-face contact often works best, e.g. via focus groups. People also care about real-life examples that they can relate to so a localised approach works best. It is also recognised that remote messages from local government are often not the best way to get people to act and take responsibility. Working with local partners organisations that are known locally and deemed to be trusted is important to reinforce messages and encourage participation. Exemplify Local government takes the lead: local authorities need to lead by example this can include: Demonstrating your own commitment through in-house recycling, reuse and waste prevention schemes Using staff (and their stories) as local champions, e.g. real nappies, recycling and home composting Using partners, such as local businesses (who have environmental policies) or work with local communities and demonstrate their own commitment Promoting internal council waste prevention activities in council newsletters Ensuring that consistent policies are in place It is a good idea to use the 4Es model as a framework to look in detail at the actions and messages you want to deliver. It may be useful to conduct this exercise as a team and brainstorm ideas using a framework like the one outlined on the next page to list all the activities your council could undertake in the four quadrants to enable, engage, encourage and exemplify. Focus on your overall aims and objectives and the key actions you want to change. A comprehensive strategy should have activities in all four boxes. Improving recycling through effective communications 125

126 Your actions: Examples: Restrict residual bin size/ collections Compulsory recycling No side waste policies Enforcement action Incentive schemes Competition between wards Contamination cards Your actions: Examples: Provide multi-material kerbside recycling collections and assisted collections Recycling bring sites and HWRCs Provide information about collections Special services for high rise properties Enable Encourage Catalyse Engage Exemplify Your actions: Examples: Door-to-door canvassing Community engagement programme PR campaign Stakeholder engagement programme Your actions: Examples: Council uses recycled products and materials Council recycles own waste At the meeting, explain to participants the benefits of the framework and how it can be used. Use flip charts, ideally laid out in the diamond shape. The aim is to capture responses so that everyone can see their ideas and how the framework builds. Structure the time to ask the following questions: Enable making it easier Encourage give the right signals Engage get people involved Exemplify local government takes the lead What type of infrastructure, services, guidance, information and/or support is needed to reach statutory targets? What do you currently have in place? What do you need? How will you make it easy for households to change behaviour and recycle more/ differently? What measures are needed to provide benefits and incentives? How will you encourage responsible behaviour? How will you provide feedback How will you involve your audience early on in the process? Who are the local networks that you could establish relationships with (at a general level)? If you know your target audience, then you can aim to be more specific Who will you partner with? What type of communication and engagement methods will you use? What do you need to do to demonstrate you own commitment? Who else is demonstrating/reinforcing their commitment (e.g. businesses, communities)? What internal policies do you need to put in place to ensure consistency, particularly to help reinforce your messages Improving recycling through effective communications 126

127 This framework can be used to refine your strategy and ensure your overall approach considers the widest range of factors that can positively influence behavioural change and reinforce your communications. Audience planning Once you have developed your overall communications strategy you should check that your communication methods cover all your target audiences and approach them in a number of different ways to maximise their overall impact. Use an audience-planning matrix like the one below (you should make your own to suit your situation) to map your communication methods against your target audiences. Example communications matrix: Communications Method Advertising All Residents X New Residents Low Participating Areas Audience Multioccupancy Local groups Schools Posters X X X X X X PR X X X X Council magazine X Direct marketing techniques X X X X X X X Information pack X X X Annual calendar and reminder leaflet X Community engagement X X X Roadshows X X X X School visits X Door-to-door canvassing X X Online X X X X X X X Internal communications Waste minimisation messages Hard to reach communications Multi-occupancy campaign X X X Staff and members X Improving recycling through effective communications 127

128 Becoming an Expert No15: Engaging culturally diverse communities in recycling This briefing looks at communications messages and methods, which may be useful for engaging culturally diverse groups in recycling activity and overcoming communication barriers. Communications messages and targeting It is important to ensure your communications messages are appropriate for a specific audience. Look at the expert briefing on Identifying and engaging culturally diverse communities in recycling to help you with this. Attitudes to recycling differ across ethnic groups, therefore communications approaches aimed at these groups should also differ as with targeting to any audience. However, whilst modifying communications messages to specific culturally diverse groups is a good idea, it is important not to make any group feel it is being singled out as non-recyclers as this can cause resentment and discourage participation. Be careful with the messages you use, as blanket messages across all groups will not be effective. You will need to use different hooks for the different groups you are targeting. Example In Leicester, different outreach and support approaches are used to address three types of ethnic minority community: The newly-arrived (who may have limited English and few established social networks) Those with high levels of dependency on support from statutory agencies, but who have developed community welfare and support networks Those who are well established and largely selfsufficient, but may still experience prejudice. Targeting audiences should be based on knowledge of their socio-economic profile, culture, behaviour and attitudes ethnic minority communities are markedly different from each other, and like any community often have internal divisions too. Responsibility to family can be a strong motivator for many ethnic groups, especially within Asian and Chinese cultures. Messages encouraging residents to recycle for the future of their children can prove particularly effective with these groups. Bristol also found that a storyboard format also worked well with cultures where story telling is common. Using religious messages to encourage recycling could also be considered; this could be particularly effective within Muslim, Jewish and Sikh communities. Whilst religion can be an effective motivator, caution should be used when considering this approach. It is vital to check all messages and communications material with someone who has deep understanding of the religion as you may inadvertently cause offence in the way material is presented. Ideally a representative from a local centre of worship, for example the rabbi, should be asked to review and approve any material. Improving recycling through effective communications 128

129 An example of a storyboard leaflet from Bristol Communications methods As with any communications it is important to tailor your methods to your target audience. Once you have clearly identified your target audience and the messages you want to get across, the next step is to investigate the available media relevant to these groups. Once you have decided on which activities to use to target your culturally diverse groups, it is essential to plan your communications as it will enable you to effectively structure the delivery of your activities, maximise the use of resources and enable you to confirm a realistic budget and timescales for the project. For help with planning your communications look at WRAP guidance Improving Recycling Through Effective Communications. This will help you to select communication activities and to plan your activity. The two sections below identify issues and activities you should consider when delivering communications to ethnic communities. Leaflets and Written Material Many local authorities already provide copies of leaflets translated into languages other than English, nevertheless the case for translation is divided. Translation can be positive as it helps promote inclusion of culturally diverse groups (i.e. all residents are provided with the same information); however, translation may not always be appropriate or necessary. Many authorities say that residents welcome translations as it shows the authority has made and effort (e.g. Preston City Council) but these are used as part of a wider programme of engagement and not stand alone. If local authorities are considering translation they should bear in mind the following: It can be difficult to determine in which languages leaflets should be made available and thought should be given to how the translation is phrased, as a straight translation from English may not always be suitable. If you plan to translate any written material always make sure you check with your community contacts which languages are most suitable. Once you have translated the text it is recommended that the style of the language is reviewed by a native speaker to ensure it is appropriate to your audience. Many people from culturally diverse groups may not read their own languages, meaning a translated leaflet could be as inaccessible as one in English. Local authorities should consider the cost of translation against the cost of other approaches and the likely benefits of each. Translation can be costly and for the reasons outlined, translated leaflets may not be the best approach to communicating with residents for whom English is not their first language. Improving recycling through effective communications 129

130 If people have to ring a helpline in order to request a translated leaflet, they are unlikely to do so as the person answering the call will probably speak to them in English. Local authorities using this method have had a poor response rate. An alternative to translation is to offer leaflets primarily in English with key phrases in other languages; this will enable members of the household with a better understanding of English to translate orally for the rest of the family. An example of a bilingual leaflet from Preston A higher pictorial content and use of diagrams should be considered, as this will significantly reduce language barriers. It is important that the images used should be clear and instructive or descriptive to make sure that they illustrate the message. Images which are too stylised may be confusing. Simple leaflets clearly illustrated with images are often most effective. The London Borough of Bexley found that translated leaflets with a strong pictorial element were more effective than simply translating leaflets. For more information, please see the case study. Derby City Council also developed a recycling booklet where the emphasis was on graphics after consultation with the local community, see their case study. Characters should be credible and recognisable in terms of their ethnic and cultural identity, but not stereotypically ethnic. Photographs including people from the local community have been used to good effect in several local authorities. The use of photographs rather than cartoon or animated characters is recommended for less integrated culturally diverse communities as animated characters could be viewed as non-serious. Using WRAP s iconography or photographs on your collection containers may help to overcome language barriers, making it easier for ethnic residents to understand what materials go in which container. Breckland District Council and Preston City Council provided bin stickers with images and a simple translation of the material in areas where they had a high proportion of Eastern European residents. The full case study for Breckland can be found here - This method may also be useful in areas where there is a high turnover of residents. For help on developing printed material look at WRAP Design Guidance for Local Authorities. Working directly with communities Sometimes, outreach can be the most effective way to overcome the cultural, language or physical barriers, which prevent individuals and communities from accessing services or information. But it also offers great scope Improving recycling through effective communications 130

131 to create credible advocates, increase trust and empathy, demonstrate the organisation s commitment to the community and target effort with great accuracy. Outlined below are a number of methods for working with local communities. Opportunities Presentations to groups Utilising existing environmental networks Events Liaison with community and religious groups Using ethnic media Door to door canvassing Actions Give presentations (or get a local leader to do so) on recycling and/or re-use to local community groups. When arranging a meeting, consider whether: A translator will be required; You will need printed supporting material; and It would it be helpful to take along examples of containers and recyclable materials Contact established environmental organisations, for example: The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers; Wildlife Trusts; Groundwork; and Black Environment Network. Contact local community groups to find out if there are any events happening in your area and make arrangements to attend. As part of your event planning bear in mind: Have people manning your stand who speak the appropriate language; Asian women are unlikely to interact with men outside their family therefore a mix of men and women on the stand is vital; Ensure staff are dressed appropriately to respect the cultural norms of your target community; and If translation is appropriate make sure you have enough translated or pictorial material available. Identify relevant local groups in your area and investigate ways they could promote your message to their members, ideas include: Putting up posters and distributing leaflets; Including recycling messages in group discussions; Developing activities for the groups to undertake that involve recycling Act as recycling champions in their area; and Carrying out informal research of awareness and attitudes to recycling amongst their group. Ethnic media is available in English and ethnic language formats, and includes: Satellite TV channels; 24-hour a day local commercial Asian radio stations in the major urban conurbations; Ethnic language publications; English language publications; Monthly magazines; Weekly newspapers; Websites and social media. Ethnic language media is more appropriate for targeting 1st generation BME groups and those who may have little or no English language. Door-to-door canvassing has proved to be an effective communications mechanism to target culturally diverse residents. In an area with a high ethnic population it is important to bear in mind the impact of cultural issues such as: Use a mix of male and female doorsteppers as Asian women are unlikely to be drawn into a discussion with an unknown man; Seek advice from someone within the community to ensure that you are not overlooking any important cultural issues; Recruiting doorsteppers with relevant language skills; and If it is appropriate, translated or pictorial communications materials should also be produced, these can be left with households to reinforce the message Look at the WRAP step by step guide to door-to-door canvassing for more information. Improving recycling through effective communications 131

132 Case Study: London Borough of Bexley Bexley has a population of nearly 3,000 Sikhs, many of whom use the Gurdwara (Sikh temple) to worship. In line with the teachings of the Sikh religion the Gurdwara has a volunteer-run free kitchen open seven days a week. The main kitchen waste consists of milk bottles, food cans, cardboard boxes, glass jars and vegetable peelings, all of which could be recycled but were being disposed of in the general refuse bin instead. After discussion with the Gurdwara elders, the council was allowed to install bring banks at the kitchen. Prior to this the recycling officer met with the kitchen volunteers to make sure that they were ready for the scheme. Posters and stickers were produced in Punjabi and English and supplemented with pictures so that all of the congregation would be reached by the recycling message. The council has also installed recycling facilities at the nearby Belvedere Community Centre. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the waste produced at this Gurdwara has been diverted from landfill and messages have been linked to make the Sikh community more aware that they can recycle at home, at work and at school, as well as at the Gurdwara. Improving recycling through effective communications 132

133 Becoming an Expert No16: How communications can support operational activity There are a number of communication methods and activities, which are particularly suitable for providing direct support to operational services in different situations. These methods fall into three types: Tailored methods which are specifically useful for particular situations Generic communications methods which should be running continuously regardless of other activity and updated or boosted with tailored methods as necessary e.g. when a new service is launched Optional communication methods which can help strengthen your communications by reaching more people or increasing its overall impact The table below shows the communication activities which are considered to be essential in different operational situations: Service Area Maintaining an existing service Introducing a new service Changing an existing service Reducing contamination Promoting drop off sites Generic Areas of Support Essential Communication Activities Service leaflets (to include instructional and motivational information) Service calendars (collection information) Branding of collection receptacles Lorry livery of collection vehicles Pre-service leaflet (to introduce the new service) Service leaflets (to include instructional and motivational information) Service calendars (collection information) Branding of collection receptacles Lorry livery of collection vehicles Launch event(s) Exhibitions Changes to service leaflet/information pack Service calendars (if relevant) Launch event(s) Exhibitions Contamination stickers Contamination notices Crew information cards Signage at drop off sites Signage on bring banks Service information leaflets (combined with kerbside services where possible) Crew & staff training packs Website Helpline PR and Press packs Improving recycling through effective communications 133

134 Service Area Optional Extras Essential Communication Activities Door-to-door canvassing for poor performing areas External advertising billboards, adshels, bus, train and tube etc Internal advertising bus, tube etc Radio advertising Posters Information stickers for collection receptacles Roadshows & giveaways Crew information cards Council newsletters Maintaining an existing service In the absence of anything new to communicate you will need to work harder to make your communications grab peoples attention and maintain existing changed behaviours or building on them by encouraging further changes in behaviour. If you want to improve your overall performance (from a reasonably good starting level) your research, audience segmentation and messaging will have to be even better to identify key communications/audience issues and opportunities. You will also need to be more imaginative in your communication methods, messages and design in order to capture people s attention. Communication methods PR Direct marketing techniques Community engagement Online Internal communications Examples PR should run a series of mini-campaigns and run good news stories about recycling to keep awareness high: Report successes and milestones e.g. 1,000,000 th can recycled etc Highlight interesting recycling stories e.g. initiatives by community groups or individuals Focus on stories showing the end result and local benefits of recycling Organise recycling collections by council staff for special causes e.g. clothing and textiles collected for an air ambulance etc If you have any areas that perform relatively less well e.g. through lower participation or there are quality or contamination issues with collected recyclate, you should consider specific campaigns for each area using direct communications with households using a combination of contamination stickers, contamination notices and crew information cards. The aim is to make individuals aware that they are participating incorrectly and encourage them to recycle the correct materials. On-going, permanent relationships should be built with local communities to nurture the development of a recycling culture within local people. Information on the council website should be refreshed at periodic intervals. Recycling should be featured permanently on the council home page with links to pages containing relevant information e.g. press releases with latest news or information about services. Internal communications with all relevant council staff should continue with a steady stream of news and information. Themed communications Themed communications can be useful if you want to have a number of activity peaks to retain awareness over a long period or you want to promote a particular material. Themes could include: Specific materials (e.g. glass, plastic or food waste) which could be targeted in a series of mini-s throughout the year, coinciding with periods when households may be throwing more of them away e.g. plastic bottles and drinks cans in summer, food cans in the autumn/winter, glass at Christmas etc Seasonal communications which could focus on the materials generated at that time of the year e.g. garden waste in summer, DIY waste around Easter, Christmas waste (cards, trees, food and packaging) around Christmas and new Year Communications focused on specific audiences and the materials they generate, possibly at particular times of the year e.g. DIY enthusiasts, gardeners, students etc Improving recycling through effective communications 134

135 Local communications supporting national or regional themed or celebratory days e.g. Recycle Week, World Environment Day, Composting Awareness Week, Yorkshire Day etc Your communications need to be co-ordinated and planned well in advance to ensure they don t clash or occur too close together to give yourself enough time to organise everything properly (try to allow a minimum 6 weeks between any activity peaks). Introducing a new service If you are introducing a new service you have an immediate advantage a good local news story to tell. You should consider a range of activities including the following: Tailored activities Targeted advertising is useful but should be considered an optional activity and used selectively to target as many people as possible. You should consider new livery for collection vehicles PR is an essential activity and can be used effectively to launch a new service by holding a launch event (or events) to promote it and obtain local media coverage. The local media should be kept informed and fed positive news stories and information from the very earliest stages and your activity should culminate in your launch event Direct marketing is also essential as it your main means of direct communication with householders. You should produce material like a pre-service leaflet, a service information leaflet (to include instructional and motivational information) and service calendars with collection information. All items to be delivered to all households receiving the new service (the service leaflet and calendar should be delivered at the same time as any new containers). All new collection receptacles should be branded Community engagement is also valuable with events and other activities designed to promote and explain the new service to local householders Generic activities PR is an on-going process and after the launch you should proceed with a series of follow-through PR activities reporting on the success of the new service, thanking residents for their efforts and providing feedback at various milestones e.g. 1,000 th tonne of x material, braking the 40% recycling barrier etc Online activity includes revising the information on your council website Internal communications should consist of updated briefings and training for all relevant front line council staff (collection crews, telephone helpline staff, recycling wardens, canvassers etc) to ensure they know about the new service and can deal with enquires from householders effectively. Your internal communications also needs to target relevant elected members to ensure they understand the new service and can answer questions from householders in affected wards or direct them to the right source of information Optional activities Further supporting advertising could be conducted if necessary to increase the profile of the campaign and its impact Community engagement activities could be extended to provide special support for householders e.g. undertaking home visits to deal with individual issues and queries Communications in support of new operational activity should follow the relevant elements of the joint LGA/WRAP Waste Collection Commitment 4, including: Make potential users aware of the new service or facility Address any likely public concerns Explain clearly and simply to people how to use the new facility or service: 4 Improving recycling through effective communications 135

136 For kerbside collections, what can be collected for recycling, what won t be collected, how to collect and store materials at home, when to put containers out for collection Where a new recycling site is located, what can be recycled, opening times Explain the benefits of a new service and why it is important: Easier to use, collects more materials, more convenient etc Reduces waste to landfill which in turn reduces cost to council tax payers of waste disposal (which is rising) Landfill space might be running out Reduction in landfill site gas emissions that contribute to climate change Your council has legal targets to meet and there are financial penalties for not meeting them financial penalties which council tax payers will have to pay Communicate specific policies or rules connected with recycling: Policies regarding side waste, missed collections, contamination of containers, assisted collections etc Any rewards for people who recycle (if applicable) Any policies on penalties (if applicable) Provide contact information You should also consider whether to have special support on hand to undertake home visits to deal with issues and queries e.g. requests for assisted collections, dealing with new policy enforcement issues, people being confused and getting it wrong at first. Changing an existing service If you are changing existing services or collecting a new material using existing containers or adding new containers and materials, you should treat it as if you are launching a new service (see previous section) but substitute the following instead of a new service leaflet and calendar: A changes to service leaflet/information pack delivered to all affected households Revised service calendars delivered to all affected households (if relevant) Small changes to existing services may just require revised leaflets, calendars and online information In addition you must consider the following: Your promotional materials should make the changes appear as simple and as easy for people as possible simplicity and clarity of branding, messaging and leaflet design is essential. Focus on: The changes - clearly and simply tell people what, where, how to recycle Explaining the benefits and why these changes are being introduced Addressing likely concerns Highlighting the benefits Pointing out the consequences of inaction Briefing and training for all relevant front-line council staff (collection crews, telephone helpline staff, recycling wardens, canvassers etc) Reducing contamination Has your research identified specific low participation issues and are these confined to certain geographical areas or do they extend throughout your local authority? If you have low participation areas (LPAs) you will need to investigate the reasons for low performance thoroughly, address the barriers people have to recycling and develop dedicated communications targeting the people and communities living in those areas. Depending on your exact situation, you could tackle issues in areas of low participation by using one or more of the following: Improving recycling through effective communications 136

137 Tailored activities Reducing incorrect usage by using contamination stickers/notices and crew information cards Generic activities Explaining to people how to use the existing facilities or service by issuing additional information leaflets locally: For kerbside collections, what can be collected for recycling, what won t be collected, how to collect and store materials at home, when to put containers out for collection etc Where a recycling site is located, what can be recycled, recycling site etiquette, opening hours etc Optional activities Undertaking communications with specific hard to reach groups to make people aware of the service - tell them how to use it and how easy it is to use and why it is important. Your communications must address their perceived barriers Engaging local communities, cultural groups or specific areas with targeted communications addressing their barriers and issues: Working with local community leaders and community or cultural groups can be very effective One-to-one engagement through door-to-door canvassing can be very effective in addressing people s barriers For more information on tackling contamination see Becoming an Expert No 17 As well as this guide, WRAP has produced two other toolkits that would be useful for those contemplating a communications designed to improve the performance of existing services: Improving Low Participation Areas Effective communications planning Guidance Document Barriers to recycling at home Promoting drop-off sites If you want to stimulate collections at bring sites or HWRCs for materials not collected at kerbside you should consider the following: Tailored activities Issuing revised service information leaflets (combined with kerbside services where possible) promoting the sites and services Improving signage at drop off sites and on bring banks Generic activities Ensuring information about sites on your council website is up to date Improving recycling through effective communications 137

138 Issuing press releases marking particular recycling bank milestones or achievements Optional activities Run mini campaigns promoting bring banks and HWRCs in particular areas Improving recycling through effective communications 138

139 Becoming an Expert No17: Communications to improve the quality of commingled collections Usually there are three main aims for communications to support recycling collection services: increasing participation and the quantity of material collected; demonstrating service commitment to keep residents well informed; and improving the quality of material collected. Improving quality is an area where operations and communications have a close relationship. Evidence shows that getting both right so that they mutually support and reinforce each other delivers better results. As with any communications, there are a number of key steps to consider when planning activities to address quality issues: firstly, understand your current situation: o What is the nature of the contamination? is it material that cannot be recycled or materials that could be recycled but are not accepted by your kerbside service (e.g. non-target plastics); o What is the cause of the contamination? : are there any service or communications issues which need to be addressed; secondly, make any necessary improvements in service design and provision before embarking on communications activities; thirdly, develop and deliver integrated communication activities which address the issues and support the service provided; and finally, undertake pre and post monitoring to accurately measure the impact of your activities, and learn lessons for the future. Reasons for performance issues A number of reasons have been identified for the presence of non-target materials in commingled collections, including: types of materials collected for recycling are limited by the scheme (materials such as glass bottles, tetrapaks and plastic packaging can be recycled by some local authorities but not all, leading to confusion if residents move between local authority areas); communications not reaching residents due to high turnover of population, access issues, delivery issues; communications not being understood by residents due to language or literacy issues and cultural barriers; communications do not contain the appropriate information for example, lack of awareness of assisted collections for elderly people or those with disabilities; lack of regular information evidence shows there is a need to reinforce correct behaviour repeatedly and give feedback on progress; poor service provision (missed collections, not returning bins, damage, unhelpful staff etc.) resulting in a lack of commitment by householders to the recycling scheme resulting in disenchantment and less efficient segregation; cross-border effects i.e. the influence of a neighbouring authority s scheme which may encourage residents to put out the wrong materials because their friends, neighbours or relatives are recycling different materials; lack of convenient facilities for flats and houses in multiple occupation (HMOs); and poor understanding amongst collection crews about what the recycling scheme target materials are and why the quality of the materials collected is important. Improving recycling through effective communications 139

140 There are a number of ways of identifying the issues underlying the contamination of the recyclables collected. These include: visual monitoring which looks at disposal behaviour. It can tell you what types of contaminants are visible in collection containers, as well as give an indication of the frequency with which contaminating behaviour by households is observed. This can be presented as the proportion (%) of bins containing non-target materials and can tell you how widespread the issue is; a waste composition analysis which will provide data on the quantity (tonnage) and type of contamination by non-target materials which can be presented as a percentage of material set out for recycling; talking to crews about the problems they encounter on their collection rounds; and undertaking quantitative or qualitative research (surveys or focus groups) with local residents into how they use the recycling scheme and whether they experience any problems with it. Visual monitoring can be carried out at the kerbside and waste analysis at the transfer station or MRF. These methods can also be used pre and post intervention to monitor the impact of any service change or communications campaign. For further information about monitoring and evaluation see: Improving the Performance of Waste Diversion Schemes: A Good Practice Guide to Monitoring and Evaluation ( Used together, these techniques can identify problems in terms of the nature of the issue(s) and which collection rounds are most affected. Case Study: Kingston Upon Thames Prior to the launch of its new collection scheme, the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames conducted a trial to test its operation. Set out and nontarget material levels were monitored over a six week period and where non-target material or side waste issues were identified, a leaflet was left with the resident explaining the problem. Residents who required additional support were offered home visits by a team of recycling advisors who helped residents by providing advice on contamination, storage, washing, waste minimisation and recycling. Methods for improving quality of recyclate Once the issues have been identified, there are three main methods of improving the quality of recyclables collected by commingled collections: Levels of recorded contamination reduced from 9.8% of residents to 6.8% of residents during the last five weeks of the 12 week trial. The reminder cards were welcomed by residents and new cards were developed to accompany the Borough-wide rollout including a plastic specific factsheet for residents when it was found that this was the most frequent -target material found in containers. It is important to stress that each one is as important as the other and that a weakness in one can undermine the others and the performance of your entire collection scheme. In summary, your scheme must: be easy for all residents to access, use and understand; be delivered reliably and to a high standard; and be communicated to all residents in a clear, straightforward manner. Improving recycling through effective communications 140

141 Internal communications Your collection crews are one of the key instruments for improving the quality of material collected. Any initiatives should involve crew training so that they: understand how the MRF works, what it can process and why the quality of material collected at the kerbside is so important; can recognise non-target materials in containers and reject contaminated bins at the kerbside; understand the importance of householder satisfaction with services; are able to engage householders and encourage them to recycle correctly; and understand that their work and the reliability/ consistency with which it is delivered is important and valued by residents. Initiatives to train crews to be more pro-active in identifying and addressing contamination issues need to be supported by communications to raise awareness amongst the public regarding reasons for possible rejection as well as telling them the correct way to recycle. It can be useful to get a supervisor or crew member to review your communications materials before they are printed as they can often point out where things aren t clear or common issues which they find with collections. Case Study: London Borough of Lewisham The London Borough of Lewisham provided training for its collection crews about the recognition of target and non-target materials. The crews also record properties which presented non-target materials at the kerbside. This has been done in conjunction with the introduction of: new bin-stickers which clearly state what can and cannot be recycled; a checklist which enables crews to tick a box next to specific non-target materials present within the material presented at the kerbside and post this through the door; and a bin hanger which also states that non-target material has been presented at the kerbside. Waste advisors also visit properties where issues with non-target materials have been recorded by collection crews. This programme resulted in the level of non-target materials in the recycling collections declining over a 12 month period from 22% to 13%. It is also important to have regular communications between the local authority and MRF regarding material quality so that any issues arising can be dealt with as promptly as possible. Communications with householders Providing householders with a clear and simple service reminder leaflet at least annually will help them understand how and what to recycle. However, almost every local authority in the UK has areas (streets, neighbourhoods, wards or even larger geographical areas) that under-perform compared to neighbouring or similar areas within the same authority. The range of communication activities which can specifically address contamination issues are outlined in the table below: Communication Activities Targeted communications Training crews to understand quality and contamination issues, recognise non-target materials in containers and reject contaminated bins at the kerbside. Training crews how to engage with householders and encourage them to recycle correctly Information cards to remind crews which are target and non-target materials Contamination cards or stickers for crews to put onto contaminated containers highlighting what the problem is and explaining why it has not been collected Contamination notices (to give to residents/post through letterboxes) explaining why their container has not been collected Internal systems to: record householders which participate incorrectly; carry out follow-up visits by staff to explain why their container was not emptied and how they can recycle correctly and feed-back information on actions undertaken to crews Internal systems to collate resident feedback and use to inform future communications Door to door canvassing and community engagement with local groups to explain the message and receive feedback and reach hard to engage groups Improving recycling through effective communications 141

142 General service communications Other supporting communication activities Optional activities Regular service leaflets (to include information on how and when to use the service and why it is important Service calendars (collection information and dates of changes to the normal service) Branding of collection receptacles to show target materials Vehicle livery showing target materials Training for council telephone call centre staff to ensure advice is accurate Clear, accurate and regularly updated information on council website Regular communications providing on-going, regular feedback to residents about their recycling scheme (how well they are doing, what to collect/not to collect, what happens to materials, why separating the right materials is important etc.). Briefing the press on service changes, new initiatives etc., PR and Press packs Posters Exhibitions and roadshows at supermarkets / shopping centres / leisure centres Incentive campaigns for crews e.g. reward crew areas which show the best improvement (best reductions in contamination/increases in tonnages collected) Council newsletters External advertising billboards, adshels, bus, train and tube etc. Internal advertising bus, tube etc. Radio advertising Social media where appropriate such as Facebook and Twitter, When planning your communication activities, research shows you can start from the presumption that householders want to do the right thing. In the first instance you should work on the basis that incorrect use of the system is probably a matter of misunderstanding about the system or the problems which are caused by putting out the wrong materials. The tone of communications will be important in gaining the co-operation of the householder. It needs to be explanatory rather than accusatory. WRAP s report on Barriers to recycling at home ( provides advice on the best mix of communications for different audiences. Additional approaches which may be useful in areas with low participation or high rates of contamination include: Case study: Durham County Council Durham County Council promoted their Kerb-it campaign to increase participation and improve quality of recyclables in areas of low participation. In all, 36,000 households were targeted by the campaign which used a number of resources including: adverts, posters, leaflets, bus back / sides, road shows and door-to door canvassing (which managed to contact 12,000 people). Non-target material rates were only measured in areas with high student population, but within these areas rates decreased from 17.5% to 5.8% during the trial period. use of pictures on labels on bins; leaflets illustrated with images; leaflets primarily in English with key phrases in other languages as an alternative to translation for BME communities; using Community Liaison Officers who understand and empathise with concerns of the particular communities; recruiting some of the refuse and recycling crew members from the target communities; landlord forums (for owners of HMOs) to give landlords the chance to meet with council officers, find out about and discuss issues relating to council services, including the waste and recycling; and engaging with local community leaders, networks and organisations offers opportunities for influencing behaviour change. This is generally a long-term approach as it takes time to develop relationships, but it can be very effective. I want to know more about Low Participation Areas see the specific guide developed by WRAP to help users identify areas of low participation, examine why they experience low participation and to develop effective communication solutions. The document is available on the WRAP website Improving recycling through effective communications 142

143 Becoming an Expert No18: An overview of different distribution methods There are a variety of ways to distribute communications materials and information to target audiences including: Door-to-door distribution (door-drops) of leaflets/calendars/service information packs by crews, canvassers, specialist distribution companies or the Royal Mail Pick-ups leaflet displays in libraries, council offices, community centres, leisure centres and other public buildings Posters in libraries, council offices, community centres, leisure centres, doctors surgeries, schools, local shops, community notice boards The table on the next pages looks at each distribution method in terms of: Impact what is the impact of this method on the target audience? Ease - will it be easy, complicated or time-consuming to organise? Timescales - how quick/slow will it be? What are the likely lead times? Will it work in the timescale I need it? Reliability - how reliable is this method? Will it reach the target audience? How can I guarantee people will see/read my message? Cost - how cheap/expensive is it? Does it represent good value for money? Warning if you have complex collection arrangements because you have a number of containers collected on different days in different combinations across your local authority, your information leaflets and calendars, together with their distribution may become complicated and problematical. You will need to manage your distribution very carefully to ensure the right households receive the correct information. Your design and print costs will also increase if you have to produce lots of slightly different leaflets/calendars to cope with the complex variety of collection information. Potentially, this is the single-most expensive item in your communications plan and one of the most important. If householders don t get the information or get the wrong information then it is a waste of time and money. Be careful to select the best method for your needs. If possible it may be better to review whether the service can be simplified. Complex schemes are not as effective as simple ones. Improving recycling through effective communications 143

144 Distribution Impact Ease Timescales Reliability Cost Method Door-to-door (leaflets, letters, service packs etc) Crews Generally very good so long as materials are well designed and easy to read/understand. Needs careful planning and liaison. Door-to-door delivery by canvassers Specialist distributors Generally very good (as above). Generally very good (as above). Easy as part of communications training. Relatively straightforward with careful planning. Can be difficult if there are problems. Royal Mail Generally very good (as above). Relatively straightforward with careful planning. Electoral register distributors Inserts in local free paper Long lead-time. Execution can be relatively quick (2-3 weeks depending on number of households/ complexity of delivery). Depends on scale and duration of campaign. Can be relatively long (4+ weeks). Depends on scale. Relatively short execution (2-3 weeks) depending on number of households/ complexity of delivery). Long lead times possibly as much as 2-3 months prior to actual distribution date. Deliveries are relatively quick. Good but does depend on crews. Careful planning and management is required especially for calendars, which need to be delivered to specific properties. Good briefing of crews essential. Good but careful planning and management is required especially for calendars, which need to be delivered to specific properties. Beware of the distribution distracting them from their main task talking to people! Should be very good but can be variable. Get recommendations and find a good, reliable company. Careful management and planning is required especially for calendars, which need to be delivered to specific properties. Very reliable. Careful management and planning is required especially for calendars, which need to be delivered to specific properties. There may be additional staff overtime costs. Cheap if you are already doing canvassing. Can be expensive. Don t necessarily go for the cheapest - look closely at value for money and track record. Can be relatively expensive. Probably the best quality though. May not cover all areas. Note: the Royal Mail has a range of services for letters and Door to Door (for leaflets). For more information see Royal Mail Delivery Services and Marketing Services respectively - Generally very good (as above). Needs careful planning. Variable depending on Good but careful management Check costs as they the amount of planning and planning is required especially can vary considerably. required. Actual for calendars, which need to be Like other distribution delivery should be delivered to specific properties. methods, reliability relatively quick (2-3 tends to improve in weeks). line with rising costs. Not very effective as your leaflet can be one of many. Relatively easy to organise. Can be done on short timescales. Can be unreliable. Medium cost. Improving recycling through effective communications 144

145 Distribution Method Council magazine Impact Ease Timescales Reliability Cost Impact could be variable depends on position in publication and design/presentation of material. Probably more effective with audiences that take notice and read such publications. See if there is any readership research. Relatively easy liaise with internal production team. Poster and leaflet distribution sites (posters, leaflets, surveys, displays) Libraries, leisure centres and council offices Variable depends on number of visitors and location of material within building. Better for communications in discreet areas. Relatively easy there is probably an internal circulation/ distribution list/system - unless you visit all the buildings centres in person and put out the material yourself. Publication can be quarterly or a similar frequency. Variable can depend on internal distribution systems. Timescales can be controlled if the team distributes material itself. Generally good. Variable dependent on staff to put material up unless you or your team do it yourself. The advantage of the DIY approach is you can pick the best location so increase the likely impact. Best to contact locations in advance. N/A uses internal resources. N/A uses internal resources unless material is posted. Community centres, health centres, doctor s and dental surgeries Local shops Road shows Variable depends on number of visitors and location of material within building. Better for communications in discreet areas. Would need to be for relevant information such as real nappies. Variable depends on location, footfall, numbers of passers-by and location of material in window or inside shop. Some shops will not allow any communications material in them (unless you pay). Better for communications in discreet areas. Variable but can be very good. The aim is to pick busy locations on busy days e.g. a town centre or shopping centre on key shopping days such as a Saturday or the local market day. Supermarket car parks are not as good good positioning can be difficult and people tend to focus on their Can be time-consuming. You will need to get permission and send the material or deliver it. There may be issues in medical premises with non-medical information. Can be time-consuming. You will need to get permission and send the material or deliver it yourself. Depending on the size of roadshow they can be complicated and time consuming to arrange. Access arrangements (timings, restrictions etc) are key to the smooth Variable. May take longer than expected unless a list of contacts is already available. Variable dependent on how many shops there are and how long it takes to contact them and arrange for posters to be positioned. Some shops may have long lead times. Prime spots can be booked months in advance. Depending on the location, arrangements can also take time. Allow 3 months. Variable dependent on staff to put material up unless you or your team do it yourself. The advantage of the DIY approach is you can pick the best location so increase likely impact. Best to contact locations in advance. Variable unless you visit each shop and position material yourself. Variable as they are dependent on numbers of people in the area and the ability of your display/event to draw people in. Have as open a space as possible doorways and entrances can deter people. N/A uses internal resources unless material is posted. N/A unless you have to pay for space to put up posters. Can be expensive. Cost may include: the space, your displays, producing special material and/or giveaways, a trailer (or similar), some kind Improving recycling through effective communications 145

146 Distribution Method Impact Ease Timescales Reliability Cost shopping and be in a hurry. Audiences at events generally can be limited and possibly self-selecting i.e. you will only get the interested people (good recyclers), not others. running of an event of attraction/event as well as possible overtime for staff depending on the day. HWRCs Good. Signs and posters at HWRCs can communicate to a captive and interested audience. Positioning is important posters etc should be placed where traffic is queuing. Instructional signs should be on/by containers. Leaflet dispensers should also be on-site. Potentially a limited (but very engaged) audience depending on site visitor numbers. Refurbishing sites can involve a number of departments and budgets so may not be straightforward. Worth the effort though. Fully refurbishing sites can be a lengthy process but rebranding by updating information on signs and banks should be quicker. Good total control over the message and positioning. New signage can be very effective in changing sites from tips to high diversion recycling centres. Can be an expensive investment but a valuable one over the long term. Improving recycling through effective communications 146

147 Becoming an Expert No 19: Campaign Activities This section looks in detail at the range of communications activities that can be used for local authority recycling campaigns. The communications activities that will work best will vary with each local authority depending on their aims and objectives and their target audiences. When you start looking in detail at which activities to use you need to apply your knowledge of your local authority area and the people who live in it to make your decisions. For example, in a rural local authority, knowing on which days different towns have their market day will make the difference between a well attended and successful road show and a poorly attended one. You may also need to think creatively about how to adapt some activities to your particular challenges. For example, as part of a door-to-door canvassing campaign in County Durham targeting low performing areas, the promotions team undertook an on-bus face-to-face campaign whereby they traveled on buses (in the campaign target areas) talking to passengers and giving out leaflets and advice twice a week for eight weeks. They adopted this approach to target local residents in a more unusual and informal way and because the target audience were less likely to have a car (and more likely to travel via bus). Finally, remember your brand and apply it consistently across all your activities. If your billboard advertising looks completely different to the leaflets being delivered to every home, your communications activities will not integrate properly and will not reinforce the message - people may even wonder why there are two campaigns. All activities fall under one of the main communication methods: Communication methods Advertising PR Direct marketing techniques Community engagement Online Social media Internal communications Examples Radio, press, TV, outdoor, mobile Media relations via radio, press, TV and online One-to-one communications - leaflet/information distribution (eg door-todoor), door to door canvassing, exhibitions and events Building on-going permanent relationships with local communities Council website Twitter, Blogs, Facebook & You tube Intranet, staff newsletter, briefings Advertising Television Television advertising is the most expensive of all the communication media and for most local authorities this alone will make its use prohibitive. If that is not enough, broadcasting areas are huge, extending far beyond the boundaries of any single local authority which makes it a highly inefficient activity for any single local authority campaign. In the past, however, some local authorities have successfully collaborated and pooled their resources to run TV advertising campaigns across whole regions. If you want to target large sections of the population across a large area and can secure the budget and justify the expenditure then this may be a useful medium to explore. Advertising of this sort is, of course, only useful if there is a simple common message to put to people based on reasonably standardized services. Radio Local radio advertisements can be an extremely cost-effective way to build strong local awareness of your communications. You can make a radio advertisement responsive by including a telephone number or website address if appropriate. Most radio stations will help with the design and production of your advert. Check the audience profile of your local radio station to check it matches or is similar to your target audience before going Improving recycling through effective communications 147

148 ahead. Also check whether the station s broadcast area is a good fit for your campaign or local authority area. Consider how much additional airtime you might be able to negotiate on your local radio station in support of your message, for example interviews and question and answer slots about recycling. Radio relies on having strong verbal messages therefore your commercial needs to: Grab the listeners attention Paint a picture in the listener s mind Be simple Use a jingle or a sound as a shorthand to help the listener identify and remember the message Include a telephone number or website address (if you want a response or to direct them to further information) Air at various times of the day to hit the widest possible audience and the right audience cost effectively Local radio can also be targeted by your PR (see PR for more information). Press advertising Advertising in local or regional newspapers can be an effective mechanism for getting your message across. Advertorials are a combination of advert and editorial that you pay for and are useful as part of communications where you want extended editorial to accompany your advertising. Press advertising in local newspapers can be used to build a local dimension to any national advertising campaigns, with messages specifically tailored to service provision in your local area. Key elements to developing effective press advertisements are clarity, simplicity and focus - keep the message as simple as possible and ensure that the layout of the advertisement is easy for the reader to follow. For important issues or a campaign where you want to create maximum impact it might be worth investigating a wrap-around - essentially a four page advert attached to the outside of the newspaper (hence wrap-around ). These can have a significant impact as your message will be on display wherever the newspapers are sold and anyone buying and reading one cannot miss it as they have to open (and look at) the wrap-around before they can get into the newspaper. Of course, this approach will be considerably more expensive than smaller adverts (even full page ones) inside the newspaper and this should be borne in mind in your planning and budgeting. Media partnerships Partly advertising and partly PR, media partnerships may be a useful and cost effective way of working with your local media (press and radio) to develop a range of activities to promote recycling. Media partnerships can enable you to tap into the broadcasters/publishers expertise and resources. They can range from providing sponsorship to in-kind support to provide material, instead of having to buy expensive airtime. However, beware of your partnership actually being another means for the newspaper/radio station to drum up extra advertising revenue. Genuine partnerships will focus on generating useful and meaningful material (on air and in print) designed to communicate the issues to readers/listeners. Cinema advertising There are two types of cinema adverts: single static slides or TV style advertising shorts. Cinema adverts are a relatively expensive medium (especially for TV style adverts) targeting a relatively small number of people mainly in the younger age range (under 30). Cinemas also tend to draw people in from a very wide area and the numbers from your local authority area could be relatively small. The adverts need to be well-designed and very simple in order to appeal to this audience and on balance probably are not that cost effective. Outdoor advertising This includes static outdoor posters and mobile advertising on vehicles: Posters can be quite effective at getting short, simple messages across to people. They should have a striking design to grab people s attention. There are various types: Billboards (48 sheets and smaller), bus shelters (adshels) and other types of outdoor poster sites - outdoor advertising (especially billboards) can be expensive. It is important to select sites or areas which stand out from others, have lots of passing traffic (pedestrians/cars) and will be seen by your target audience Signs or large poster sites at HWRCs are particularly good for giving visitors feedback on recycling performance at that site, thanking them for their support and reminding them what can be recycled there Improving recycling through effective communications 148

149 Public poster sites such as shopping centres, libraries, arts and community centres, health or sports centres - posters in public spaces can be a useful way to advertise your message. Many of these public spaces are owned or provided free by councils. Posters for use in council buildings and offices, at events, in schools, in public buildings etc should generally be A3 or A4 size as they are the most versatile although bigger ones can be useful for some locations Mobile advertising includes bus exteriors and interiors, mobile billboards, advans, adbikes and taxis. As with any advertising they can be relatively expensive and difficult to assess their effectiveness. They require striking design and are only good for simple messages. Mobile advertising also requires a very good understanding of the audience you wish to target, for example: Buses exteriors (sides and rears) target car drivers and pedestrians along bus routes. Many people from outside your local authority will see your message, especially if the bus company has long bus routes to neighbouring towns or outlying areas. Bus exteriors should be used for short, simple messages whilst interiors can have slightly more detailed information. Bus passengers will see interior bus adverts and you should try to find out more about this audience before using this medium. Audience profiles may vary on different routes depending on the areas through which they run Mobile - advans and bikes, which are dedicated vehicles carrying your adverts. Advans are good for covering large areas (e.g. rural areas) whilst bikes are good for town centres. As well as driving around they can be used in a static role in particular areas e.g. remote locations at events such as football matches or in an LPA. The advantage of this medium is you can control exactly where they go which improves their targeting Taxis are similar to buses in that many people, depending on where the taxi goes, will see the message. Used well, taxis can be a very unusual and striking medium Online advertising The latest advertising medium, these include banner and other animated or flash adverts on local community or news sites. Depending on the website they are probably better for targeting younger or more affluent audiences which are more likely to use the internet regularly. Adverts need to be simple, engaging and have an accompanying website (for people to go to via a click-through). Advertising on council infrastructure Local councils and will have a huge range of resources and waste management and recycling infrastructure at their immediate disposal which can be used for communications: Site signage at bring sites and HWRCs can have instructional, motivational and feedback messages Collection containers can have stickers with instructions and collection information Recycling banks can carry instructional messages. Good for areas with low performance Directional signage to recycling sites Council/contractor collection vehicle livery trucks and other vehicles can be branded or carry communications posters/messages Tips for advertising Save time and money by using the downloadable artwork and guidance at These professionally designed communication tools tie in with the national recycling campaign brand and will generate greater recognition and response from your target audiences All advertisements must comply with the regulations as set down in the Advertising Code (obtainable from the Advertising Standards Authority) - Advertising can only communicate/promote headline or simple messages Adverts should be carefully designed and tested Allow plenty of time to find out about advertising locally and to become familiar with it. Remember, it s a buyer s market and you may be able to negotiate reductions on standard prices (rate cards). PR (Public Relations) PR can be used to help achieve a number of different aims or objectives, for example: Increase awareness of a campaign in an area or within a particular audience Improving recycling through effective communications 149

150 Explain complicated messages or issues in layman s terms Act as a call to action to any given audience Attract and promote a perceived third party endorsement (i.e. from the media) Help a campaign stand out in a crowded market through creative events and activities Support other communications activities If planned and executed properly, a PR campaign can help achieve all of this in a very cost effective way. Whilst advertising is clearly paid for, any item that appears as editorial carries with it the perceived endorsement of the title and editor of the publication it has been deemed as newsworthy and as such is worth more than an advert. Of course, it can never be guaranteed that a news release will be featured; neither can you control how the media may edit your press release, which is why the best campaigns successfully use a combination of PR and other activity such as advertising together. Linking your communications to the national Recycle Now campaign, especially around national events like Recycle Now Week, will make your stories more attractive to local and regional titles looking for a local angle on a national news story. Establishing good relationships with key local journalists is vital find out their interests, copy deadlines and what they look for in a good photo opportunity. Brief them well and keep them in the loop - even the most well written and best-intentioned press releases can be turned into negative stories if desired. Handled well, your local media may like your campaign so much that they adopt it and become a partner, supporting it through extra coverage and regular features on relevant issues. Achieving this position will generate considerable extra coverage for your communications and decrease the chances that the local newspaper may take a negative stance. It pays to approach the local media early to see if you can gain their support. Local newspapers are useful for reaching local populations with positive stories supporting your campaign. Think visually newspapers like a good picture (preferably involving local people and/or children). Many regional and local newspapers are online and feature video reporting - for example Scarborough Borough Council developed a good relationship with its local paper resulting in a visit and filming a short piece with the recycling officer explaining new scheme and what happened to materials once they were collected. This went on to the newspaper website, and the council were also able to link through to it from their website. Consider their requirements in your plans. Council newspaper/magazines can be useful if you have one and it is distributed to every household. Try to ensure there is a regular recycling/waste feature. It is a useful way of getting more detailed messages across to more interested residents. Check whether there are any costs associated with it. Online is a new and rapidly growing area of PR and online local community, news and social networking sites can be valuable as part of your overall communications. This medium is only worth investigating if there are sites which focus exclusively on local communities, issues and news. Local radio news or other programmes may be interested in featuring stories about your campaign, issues or activities. Take time to research the programming on local radio stations and developed a few ideas to present to editors and programmers. TV (terrestrial, satellite and cable) news or other programmes will only feature stories about your campaign, issue or activities if they are really unusual, regionally or nationally significant. TV coverage is the hardest to secure but reaches the most people and carries the most prestige. If you ve got a really significant regional or a touching human interest story it might be worth telling your regional TV newsroom. While PR should be an integral part of any communications plan, it is not a solution to all problems. Remember: PR will not provide an instant fix but will produce results to build on PR should not be turned on and off like a tap it s a rolling programme of activity You can never guarantee that your communications will make the news other events such as catastrophes, high profile celebrity news, crime or major accidents can change the priorities of a news teams in an instant All publicity is not necessarily good publicity Improving recycling through effective communications 150

151 Tips for PR PR Communications Plan - Develop a PR plan to tie in with your communications activities and support them by generating media coverage to promote them. Ensure you have a regular programme of press releases throughout the year to maintain interest and awareness Develop a press release protocol - Decide who is responsible for drafting press releases and who will provide approval and sign off. Establish responsibility and mechanics for the distribution of press releases, including circulation lists for local, regional and national print and broadcast media and trade publications as appropriate. Develop FAQs (frequently asked questions) and ensure everyone dealing with the media adheres to them Appoint a spokesperson - Every campaign needs a spokesperson, a voice of informed authority that understands the subject, can be quoted in all material and is media friendly. Try and identify a spokesperson that is lively, friendly and not afraid of journalists! Having one appointed spokesperson lends consistency to press material, and the regular quoting of one individual reinforces the reader s perception of the spokesperson being an expert in the field. Ideally they should receive some media interview training, even if from your internal press team Celebrity endorsement - Using a celebrity as a campaign supporter can be invaluable in securing media coverage. It can boost the success of the campaign, as the public is more likely to listen to a message presented by a celebrity that the target audience recognise and aspire to. With this in mind, a celebrity should be used only if they buy-in to your campaign and are able to speak knowledgeably about the subject. It is important to choose a celebrity who reflects the best aspects of your campaign and who will be of interest to your target audience (include the relevant media). Celebrities can be costly, so see if you can persuade them to help you for free or ensure that there is adequate provision in your budget Competitions or incentives via the press or radio, at events, or through schools can be an excellent way of generating awareness and interest in your communications. Make sure that your competition is in keeping with your message and that prizes are appealing (and ideally incorporate recycled materials or promote the conservation of resources). Be aware of the legislation surrounding competition and incentive terms and conditions and liaise with your legal department to ensure you comply Defra carried out a pilot study of local authority household reward only schemes in England in 2005/06. The aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a comprehensive range of reward schemes in encouraging householders to reduce, recycle and compost their waste. Information about the study can be found by following this link: As part of your on-going PR programme, take groups of people (the media, local stakeholders etc) to, or organise open days at waste and recycling facilities so the public can see waste management at first hand. Visits to landfill sites can often leave a lasting impression Good photography, design and imagery are vitally important. Good design is essential in all your communications to add clarity to your communications and to make them interesting and engaging Crisis plan for emergencies as part of your PR planning you should develop a comprehensive crisis PR plan to: deal with any unforeseen or emergency situations; and manage the media covering the emergency. Check with your press and media department to see if they already have one and familiarise yourself with it Direct marketing techniques Direct marketing covers a range of techniques designed to communicate with people on a one-to-one basis. Communications literature is also covered in this section. Communications literature This includes a wide range of material that forms the foundations of every campaign including: Recycling information leaflets Improving recycling through effective communications 151

152 Communications leaflets, recycling scheme information/instructions Collection calendars If you can do nothing else, you must give all householders a leaflet with information about their collections on an annual basis. For more information about distribution methods see Becoming an Expert No 15. WRAP has produced three guides to help you design and produce your communications materials: Design of Communication material This document gives basic and practical suggestions on the design of effective communications. These principles can be applied to collection calendars, leaflets, adverts and other marketing communications. Guidance on Developing Collection Calendars Kerbside collection calendars are an essential communication tool for most authorities, enabling them to provide essential information to householders about their waste and recycling services with instructions on how to participate. This document guides you through all the elements of putting together a clear and easy to understand calendar. Printing Processes Explained The aim of this guide is to explain the design and development process that you will go through in commissioning promotional material for waste management services, whether you use an outside design agency or your own internal design team. It takes you through each stage of the design and development process from the initial concept for a promotional item through to the delivery of the final product. Door-to-door canvassing/ household visits These are dedicated techniques that aim to talk to people at their home about recycling and waste to improve performance (e.g. increase recycling, reduce contamination etc). Research shows that this face-to-face contact with householders is highly effective in increasing participation in recycling services because it helps to overcome key barriers to recycling particularly lack of knowledge about how the system works. Door-to-door canvassing, unlike leaflets or media advertising, enables the message to be tailored to individuals through one-to-one contact. The doorstepper/canvasser can deal with the barriers that the individual householder perceives as preventing them from recycling. Door-to-door canvassing can reach individuals who do not usually read leaflets or engage with traditional council communications. April October is the best time to run door-to-door canvassing campaigns. Door-to-door canvassing is different from conducting a door-to-door survey and the two should not be confused. Canvassers have a conversation with people on their doorstep about recycling and the subject and content will vary from person to person according to their interests, issues or barriers. A survey focuses on asking every person the same set of pre-determined questions in order to gather quantifiable data. Sometimes it pays to be imaginative with canvassing or other community engagement teams in one campaign they travelled on selected buses speaking to local residents and commuters from low performing areas. For more detailed information about canvassing see WRAP s Door-to-door canvassing guidance. This guide is primarily designed for councils who are planning to organise and carry out door-to-door canvassing (also referred to as doorstepping or doorknocking) to promote their recycling services and encourage residents to recycle. It is also valuable for local authorities that are contracting another organisation to run a campaign on their behalf, as it is important to have an understanding of the whole process and what is involved. Improving recycling through effective communications 152

153 Community or recycling outreach officers These are small teams or individuals that respond to specific enquires from the public or issues reported by crews by visiting householders. This face-to-face contact with householders can be effective in addressing individual householder barriers and increasing participation in recycling services. Community engagement This covers a number of techniques to engage local communities over the long-term to improve recycling including: Long-term engagement programmes with local communities, talking to them, getting to know them and working with them, through local groups and organisations, to address local recycling and other waste related issues Face-to-face meetings with key local community groups (religious, cultural, charitable and voluntary, youth and environmental), tenants groups and other local housing groups. These groups can be an audience in themselves or they may help you to get your message across to the wider community Local ambassadors and champions involve dedicated programmes to work with key local people (based in the community) to develop them into ambassadors for your campaign. To be successful you need to have a clear idea about what you want to achieve and what you want your ambassadors to do. Ideally your ambassadors need to be recruited before the campaign, trained and kept informed/ motivated throughout. Having the ability to deliver face-to-face contact with householders can be highly effective in increasing participation in recycling services. This approach can be effective because people tend to have increased trust in information when it is received through someone they know. Whilst effective, this technique probably won t be able to target lots of people though it can generate useful local media coverage. It can also involve a lot of officer time to run and maintain For more information about local groups see Section 4 and Becoming an Expert No9 which looks at target audiences and external groups. Events or exhibitions Holding events or roadshows is a good way to meet face-to-face with your residents. Events can include workshops, seminars, public meetings, roadshows and exhibitions. The keys to holding successful events are targeting, planning and organisation: know exactly who you want to target and where to go to reach them, allow plenty of time and prepare well in advance. Events can be effective opportunities to: Launch your campaign to the public and media Reinforce the key message at a local level and talk directly to the public about local recycling issues Engage all partners to participate and deliver a unified public face for the campaign Give practical demonstrations for a new recycling service actually show- n -tell residents what can go into recycling containers Contact hard to reach or engage groups Types of events include: Displays, exhibitions, shows and events such as roadshows (in shopping centres, town centres etc) that target local residents and are designed for one-to-one engagement. Selection of a good location and timing is critical pick busy places/times Public meetings are events targeting local residents and designed for one-to-one engagement. Good selection of location and time is critical pick convenient places/times. Take a display panel (which can now be made from recycled materials) Attending popular public events and shows such as community fetes, melas, agricultural or village shows etc. The more engaging your display the better as it will encourage more people to come and talk Improving recycling through effective communications 153

154 You could even make up your own events/awareness/activity days but remember to allow adequate lead time for planning and publicity Some key factors to take account of when planning any event include: Summer is generally better for holding events (especially outdoor ones) when it is warmer and drier Identify and timetable key regional events that could be used for communications events, e.g. the Great Yorkshire Show Be careful to select events that will actually reach your residents and not visitors from elsewhere Remember to publicise your events to the intended target audience Depending on the type of event you are organising, you may want to include some activities to entertain or draw people to your stand where you can engage them. Useful activities include noisy or colourful ones such as a junk funk band (playing recycled instruments) or simple things like face painting that attract children and families. You should ensure your activities complement your display and do not overshadow it. You should have some practical giveaways for people that reinforce your communications messages. You should aim to give freebies away in return for something e.g. a conversation about recycling, completing a survey questionnaire or making a pledge to recycle more. Ensure your giveaways are branded, made from recycled materials (and promote the fact) and are useful so people don t just throw them away as soon as they get home. Items that might help people to remember to recycle or reduce waste at the right time (such as reusable bags for shopping or spaghetti portion measurers and food storage boxes for LoveFoodHateWaste) are a good idea. See the examples below: Item Example Notes Fridge magnet Useful with good retention value. Tend to be popular with householders for sticking things to their fridge door but can be expensive (especially shaped ones). Not made from recycled materials. Reusable shopping bag Useful with strong retention value. Again popular with householders for shopping and carry a good re-use message in themselves. Designs need to be simple and bold. Can be made from recycled materials or sustainable sources. Novelty items Bucket, spade and Frisbee used by a coastal local authority. Very useful, with high novelty and retention values. Quite visible (on beaches) because of their novelty. Should be made from recycled materials if possible. Love Food Hate Waste (LFHW) fridge thermometer and shopping trolley token LFHW snack box Two useful items with high retention value. The fridge thermometer in particular supports a key campaign message about effective food storage. Another useful item which enables people to adopt new habits promoted by the campaign. Improving recycling through effective communications 154

155 Schools Schools should be considered as part of the wider process to engage local communities and develop a widespread recycling culture. Initiatives could include: School recycling initiatives - to reinforce the recycling message, schools should have recycling facilities for their waste and lead children and parents in the local community by example Educational activities linking into the national curriculum in classrooms or with special school events or assemblies Basic talks about recycling in class and at assemblies WRAP has produced a guidance document on how to communicate effectively with schools about introducing, changing or promoting dry recycling and food waste collections and to enable this to tie in with the local authorities wider objectives on recycling. Check the document here ( For more information and resources to help with recycling programmes in schools see also the range of dedicated Recycle Now campaign resources ( Online/digital communications The rapidly developing field of online and digital communications is opening up new ways of delivering mass and personalised communications to increasing numbers of people. Recycling communications managers should find out more about wider online and digital strategies and initiatives within their council to see whether there are any new ideas they could use for their communications plan. Some ideas already used include: A campaign website or recycling/waste information pages on your council website. This is an absolute essential you can give all the information you want in as much depth as you feel necessary (e.g. from the basics of collection information to re-use, waste prevention, the recycling journey of materials from your local authority and even the links between waste, recycling and climate change) and have electronic copies of important documents or leaflets for download. Good for targeting audiences that use the internet regularly. Some ideas for good websites include: A direct link to recycling pages from the council homepage Easy navigation with as few pages/click-throughs as possible Good design with easy to read/understand information covering everything householders are likely to want to know such as collection information, times and policies, HWRC information, recycling sites etc Use plenty of images to illustrate information if your website can support this and e-newsletters are a useful way of contacting and keeping informed key individuals e.g. stakeholders etc. The public can also sign up to special recycling newsletters via websites. This can be effective but realistically will only be of interest to high recyclers and those people with a special interest in your campaign Mobile phone text alerts and information services e.g. reminders to put recycling bins out. This is very new technology and experience to date has shown very low take-up rates so it is probably not that cost effective yet (circa 2009) Internet advertising see advertising DVDs/CD-ROMs can be produced with information about recycling in general and specifically in your local authority for use in a number of ways: distribution to people who request information; sent to schools or used as part of education programmes; sent to householders. Whilst an interesting format and capable of presenting a wealth of information in a creative and interactive way, their usefulness is questionable as people need a computer to run them and only the very interested will be bothered. Their reach can be expanded by playing them on screens in public areas of council offices and making them available on the council website. There are probably more cost effective ways of communicating the information e.g. via the council website where it is accessible to all Improving recycling through effective communications 155

156 Council office public information screens (such as those available sometimes in public waiting areas) could carry adverts or other material to promote recycling Publically accessible computers in public libraries could have a campaign screen saver, a shortcut to the recycling pages on the council website or feature the council website as the internet browser s homepage Tips for online Whether you have your own campaign website or recycling pages on your main council website, here are some key principles to consider when developing your internet presence: Keep the content and layout simple Avoid complex graphics that are slow to download for many users Make reaching important information as easy as possible the user should be able to find what they need within two or three clicks of the mouse Feature a campaign link or icon on the local authority home page, which links to county, regional or national organizations and campaigns (like Recycle Now) Have a contact point available this could be an address or telephone number Keep the website up to date, there s nothing worse than outdated content Developing recycling and waste websites This guidance document and web page review methodology has been developed as a result of requests for waste and recycling web page reviews from a number of London Boroughs to help ensure they provide relevant information about the services, make them easier to use and enhance the user experience. An evaluation matrix was developed to assist with the review process, which systematically outlines essential information the recycling and waste web pages should contain. Social media Social media is the term given to Internet and mobile-based channels and tools that allow users to interact with each other and share opinions, experiences and content. Social media involves the building of communities or networks and encouraging participation and engagement. The most commonly used social media platforms channels are: Twitter, Facebook, Blogs and You Tube. Social media is a growing communication channel and can be a useful way to engage with your audience but you need to make sure this fits with your wider communications strategy. Be clear about what you want to achieve through your communications, who you want to communicate with and identify what social media channels they use. Using social media channels requires planning and on-going interaction with audiences which can be time consuming. However, it can be a useful way of getting information out about services quickly and effectively and should be considered as part of your communications mix. Social media channels allow you to engage in two-way dialogue with residents, spread messages and information, improve customer service and build relationships. For more information about how to utilise social media channels effectively see Becoming an Expert No 21. Integrating your communications activities When you are considering your activities and putting your communications plan together you should consider how the activities you have selected can support and mutually reinforce each other, giving the overall campaign added impact, targeting and influence. For example, leaflets drops are a very precise means of communicating detailed information to your target audience but may lack impact (householders may simply throw your leaflets away, unread). A leaflet drop could be used to communicate your main campaign message and support a forthcoming series of roadshows by including detail of dates and locations of events. Improving recycling through effective communications 156

157 PR is also a useful technique to support a leafleting campaign by issuing a press release with a strong photo (e.g. the mayor, in full regalia, pushing a leaflet through a letterbox) to the local press, explaining why the forthcoming leaflet is important and urge householders to read it when they receive it. A door-to-door canvassing campaign could be similarly promoted by issuing a press release with an accompanying a photograph of a canvasser talking on a doorstep to the mayor in full regalia. By developing an integrated approach, you will often be able to significantly increase the impact of your campaign at minimal extra cost. The impact of a door-to-door canvassing campaign, for example, can be increased at no cost other than your own time by developing supporting activities and PR. Example of integrated supporting activities and PR to support a door-to-door canvassing campaign Before doorto-door canvassing During door to-door canvassing After door-todoor canvassing Organise competition with local school to design brightly coloured baseball hats for door-todoor canvassing crew. Set up photo call for local press with children and the winning design. Issue photo to press with press release: watch out for our crew, they ve got important information for you. Arrange for a local radio reporter to accompany door-to-door canvassers for news piece on attitudes to recycling. Arrange photo call for local paper of door-to-door canvassers in action. Issue press release to local press with numbers of people visited, typical responses etc. Arrange meeting with press to discuss the results and potential editorial. Report to press, after one month, on uptake in recycling among those visited. Include report and photo from door-to-door canvassing activity in your local authority s inhouse newspaper or magazine. For some additional communications activities see Becoming an Expert No20 For lower cost communications activities see Becoming an Expert No 22 Improving recycling through effective communications 157

158 Becoming an Expert No 20: Additional Communications Methods There are a number of alternative methods of communications available that, depending on your objectives, audience and message, you may wish to consider when engaging with your audience. Manned opportunities Manned activities allow staff to interact with members of the public and can take the form of traditional road shows, outdoor advertising, or experiential communications - where instead of telling people about features of a product or service you let them experience the benefits for themselves. Look Walkers Look Walkers are a modern interpretation of sandwich boards. Staff wear promotional boards and engage with passers by to hand out supporting information leaflets. They are located in areas of high footfall where recycling or waste reduction is considered relevant, such as large shopping areas, town centres and outside supermarkets. These can be really useful to target particular areas/streets e.g. low performing areas because there is no on site setting up so they can be completely mobile and walk or be transported to other locations during the same day. The staff can be chosen by their ability to speak in different languages and relate to the hard to reach communities in the areas selected for the promotion. Ealing Council Recycling is Easy! Ealing Council organised a Look Walker campaign in Southall over a weekend to promote their recycling services. Overall the campaign was very well received, with most people taking a leaflet and many engaging in conversation with the staff. There were lots of questions asked and it was clear people in the area wanted to know more about recycling, as they didn t fully understand the process. The languages spoken by the staff were very useful and helped them to engage with residents more easily. The look walkers attracted people s attention and encouraged interaction. The staff handed out 1250 leaflets over the weekend and engaged in in-depth conversation with about 50 people, however they explained how to use the recycling service to around 500 people. The staff also encouraged people to pass the message on to family and friends. Improving recycling through effective communications 158

159 Pedal Bike Media Pedal Bike Media consists of a small mobile advertising hoarding towed by hired in staff dressed in fun outfits to attract attention. They can locate themselves in areas of high footfall where that can attract attention and engage passers by in discussion and hand out information leaflets. They are highly visible and like Look Walkers have been used effectively, not only in areas of high footfall but also in low performing areas, attracting attention whilst travelling from one site to another. They can also be used in areas where new services are being introduced to provide more information, answer questions, get feedback and deal with resident s requests. Pedal Bike Media Campaign Southwark London Borough of Southwark developed a campaign to promote their pilot food waste collection scheme and their existing recycling services to 10,000 households. Part of the campaign consisted of Pedal Bike Media to targeted roads in four of the five collection rounds. The advertising hoarding and campaigner costumes were designed to attract attention and stimulate interest. The campaign operatives engaged residents in conversation in order to cover more detailed messages about materials that can be recycled and the new food waste service. They also gathered residents feedback about services and took enquiries. Campaigners were able to hold a detailed conversation with an average of 23 residents on each shift but would have been seen by many more. This was dependent on the weather and finding areas of high foot fall in which people were willing to stop. Survey results indicated: 98% of respondents said they found talking to the campaigners very helpful or helpful; and 49% said they would recycle more as a result of information provided via the pedal bike media team as they found out more about the types of materials that could be recycled through the collection services provided. Key lessons learnt about bike media were: The team had significant success with parents and children leaving school for the day, Saturday shoppers and Sunday morning church goers; Pedal bike media proved to be a highly effective method of engagement and outdoor advertising. It is very flexible in terms of location and can combine the power of a traditional advertising campaign with an outreach team who can directly engage with the public and address queries relating to recycling services; and The method worked well despite challenges presented by the weather and could be even more effective during the summer months. More information can be obtained from the WRAP Recycle for London case study Communications Campaign to Support Southwark s Food Waste Recycling Trial. Improving recycling through effective communications 159

160 Unmanned advertising opportunities There are a number of other types of promotional opportunities available which may be appropriate, such as: Information screens Many types of council have information screens sited in council offices, area offices, leisure centres, etc. These can be used to good effect when people are waiting to see someone nothing quite like a captive audience! The information usually takes the form of slides, which can be designed and uploaded easily. Litterbin advertising Councils have used stickers on litterbins for many years to promote anti-littering messages. Consider using them for a more general recycling message, if for example you are delivering a Recycle on the Go campaign. More hi-tech advertising on litterbins has been introduced recently in stations, high footfall areas and shopping areas and can provide LED illuminated panels and Bluetooth connectivity with neighbouring smart phones, allowing you to send messages to users within the vicinity of the units. Train station advertising gates Some of the ticket gates in railway and underground stations can now carry advertising. Consider using this if you are running a generic campaign, such as: Recycling on the Go, Love Food Hate Waste or if you are trying to raise the profile of recycling generally within your area. Ad vans and trailers Some companies can provide ad vans or trailers, which can be located along streets and in pedestrian areas and will act as small advertising hoardings and perform the function of on street recycling banks. Consider using these if, for example, you have areas of very high footfall and you are promoting Recycling on the Go or recycling of a single material such as plastic bottles or cans. The advantage of these is that they can be located in many different locations each day. Improving recycling through effective communications 160

161 Clean advertising Clean advertising is an interesting solution developed in America where your message is imposed on a grubby pavement by pressure washing through a specially cut stencil. This is not permanent and will become grubby over time but it could be effective near recycling banks or if you are raising awareness of recycling or running a Recycle on the Go campaign consider using it to direct people to the nearest recycling bin in areas of high footfall when they may not be easily seen from above. Do check your council policy on this kind of advertising, it might be classed as graffiti! Temporary paint Temporary paint can be used to deliver your message by painting it on pavements near your recycling facilities or event. It will wash off after a while and not affect the surface it is on adversely. As with clean advertising, consider using it to direct people to the nearest recycling bin in areas of high footfall when they may not be easily seen from above. As with Clean Advertising do check your council policy on this kind of advertising, it might be classed as graffiti! Improving recycling through effective communications 161

162 Becoming an Expert No21: Maximising Social Media Channels Social media is collective term describing a number of different online communication channels. It can be an effective way of engaging with your audience and should be considered as part of your wider communications strategy. The informality of social media enables information to be communicated in a much more relaxed manner than most other forms of marketing communication. There are a number of ways you can use social media channels based on your experience and knowledge. This can range from basic information on your Council website to more detailed engagement utilising a number of social media channels. Summary of key social media channels: Twitter Twitter is a free social networking and micro blogging service that allows users to send and read updates (known as Tweets), which are posts of up to 140 characters in length. Twitter can be used to update residents quickly about service updates or as a customer service tool to consult residents about planned service changes, respond to residents recycling queries e.g. requests for recycling containers, etc. Facebook Facebook is a free social networking service that allows people to exchange messages and photographs. Facebook offers the option of creating an information page for products and services. Facebook allows users to provide regular updates about what is happening e.g. launching a new service, adding new materials etc. This information can then be shared with other Facebook users. As Facebook is not character-limited in the same way that Twitter is, it is an ideal way to share more detailed information about services and provide regular updates to users. Information will only be shared with users who have clicked that they like your page. YouTube YouTube is also free and allows users to share originally created podcasts and video clips. Videos on YouTube can be easily shared through the above channels and embedded into other digital presences, including websites and other social media channels, as well as found via the video results on search engines. YouTube provides local authorities with an opportunity to engage directly with residents through visual how to videos and demonstrations about how to participate in waste and recycling services. These are just a selection of the most commonly used social media channels. There are a number of other existing and emerging social media channels and the purpose of this expert briefing is to show examples of how local authorities have actively used these to support their communication strategies. If you are considering using social media you need to be clear about your objectives and then decide which channel(s) will be help you achieve these to maximise the impact of your communications. How you use social media channels will depend on your level of experience and understanding along with the resource you can dedicate to this activity. Improving recycling through effective communications 162

163 Important: It is important when deciding whether to use social media channels Local Authority officers need to consider their Council s social media and digital policies along with any usage and permission requirements. Some authorities may be able to set up individual Twitter and Facebook Pages e.g. for waste and recycling others will only be able to post information via the Council s corporate Twitter and Facebook accounts. Some local authorities will have social media schedules, which can be input into. You need to liaise with the relevant internal contacts to determine your social media options. This briefing reviews a number of options. The Basics In order to use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube you will need to set up user accounts. This can be done easily by following the links below: Facebook - this will enable you to sign up to Facebook. Once complete you ll be able to create a Facebook Page for your service You can have more than one admin member who can manage the page so consider if there are other team members who could help share the responsibility. Make use of the cover photo, profile photo and About section to help page likers understand more about your page. Twitter - this will enable you to sign up to Twitter. Set a meaningful biography to help other users understand what your Twitter feed is for. Once complete go to this will enable you to search for people you would like to follow (be mindful that this is a business account not a personal account!) and also start to Tweet immediately! YouTube - this will enable you to create a YouTube account. Once you ve created an account you will be able to simply upload video content All of this is very straightforward. Simply follow the online instructions. Each social media platform provides help and advice pages. Improving recycling through effective communications 163

164 Examples of social media channels Brighton and Hove City Council has a Facebook Page dedicated to recycling and refuse. The London Borough of Camden utilises the Council s corporate Twitter account to listen and respond to resident s queries, consult them about planned service changes, broadcast informative messages and generally improve customer service. Tweets are tailored to the waste and recycling services where relevant. Improving recycling through effective communications 164

165 Castlepoint Council has created a series of How to Recycle videos, uploaded them to YouTube and embedded them on their own website. This is a really effective way of making instructional videos easily accessible. The videos are also easily accessed by going directly to the YouTube Improving recycling through effective communications 165

166 East London Waste Authority (ELWA) ELWA provide a blog on their partnership recycling website. Interacting with your audiences Social media is a two-way channel so engaging and responding to your audience is essential. Consider why they want to engage with you and make your content interesting and relevant to your audience. Some authorities only post messages and information out one-way as they have limited resources and respond infrequently whereas others actively engage, listen and respond with their audiences on a regular basis. If you don t have time to respond or enter into a dialogue make sure you direct residents to your website or helpline. Think about the messages, themes and topics you want to cover. Understand what will motivate your customer to share. Plan out the content and work out what you will discuss each month, week or even day. Then think about the type of content. Don t always rely on text. If you re launching a new service, photograph or film it, talk about what it does and then ask for comment. Consider the tone of your communications on social media sites: be polite, helpful, understanding and (if appropriate) colloquial without being overly informal. Never be negative, remember that it is a public space and what you post should reflect the positive aspects of your organisation. You need to be careful about the information you put out through social media channels i.e. when you make a mistake offline, a few will know but when you make a mistake in front of hundreds or thousands of your online audience, most of them will know! WRAP provides some generic videos through Recycle Now on collection services and how materials are recycled that can be integrated into your website. These videos can be found on Improving recycling through effective communications 166

167 Here are some examples of Tweets Brighton and Hove City Council has sent out to keep their residents up to date about the recycling services. Top five tips when considering content and Social Media 1. Keep it informative and relevant - you want people to share your information. 2. Use social media platforms together to maximize impact e.g. add a video to YouTube about how to use the new recycling, Tweet about the video and signpost people to your website to find out more. 3. Use social media sharing icons across on your webpages, s and where relevant publications make your information and content sharable. 4. Where possible, associate with other relevant content. Sharing and pointing to excellent content produced by others builds trust among your audience, establishing you as a useful and authentic source. 5. Don t forget opportunities to amplify this content offline too in other communications activities! Improving recycling through effective communications 167

168 Listening, responding and managing feedback In order for social media to be effective you need to ensure that you listen, respond and manage feedback effectively and promptly. The example below shows how the London Borough of Camden has used Twitter to respond to a resident s query. Retweets A retweet is a re-posting of someone else's Tweet. Twitter's retweet feature helps you and others quickly share that Tweet with all of your followers. Retweeting is a quick way of sharing content and showing your support for others. Sometimes you will see RT at the beginning of a Tweet to indicate that they are re-posting someone else's content. This isn't an official Twitter command or feature, but signifies that they are quoting another user's Tweet. Improving recycling through effective communications 168

169 The examples below show retweets issued by Oxford City Council to promote their Pass it on textile recycling campaign. Hashtags A hashtag is a searchable link created by adding a # symbol before a word or expression (ensuring there are no spaces or characters). These can be useful for tracking a dedicated campaign or burst of activity on Twitter. By creating an original hashtag, you may be able to follow how widely discussed your activity is. Improving recycling through effective communications 169

170 Likes, following and followers! Encouraging residents to engage with your social media channels is critical. The following summary outlines the way users can interact with the information you provide. Facebook Facebook allows users to like information as well as being able to comment. When you click like on a Facebook Page, in an advertisement, or on content from Facebook, you are making a connection. You may see updates in your feeds and the feeds from Pages you like. You may also receive messages. You can unlike a Page on Facebook by simply clicking the unlike link on the page. Facebook also provides a metrics tool for Pages called insights which displays aggregated anonymous insights about people's activity on your page. This can be useful to determine the total number of likes, reach and even how viral your posts have been Twitter Following someone on Twitter means: You are subscribing to receive their Tweets. Their Tweets will appear in your timeline. That user is able to send you direct messages. Followers are users who follow you. If someone follows you: They'll show up in your followers list. They'll see your Tweets in their timeline whenever they log in to Twitter. You can send them direct messages. Although Twitter does not have any detailed analytical tools there are a large number of third party applications that can help you understand more about the potential reach of your posts, how much your content is being shared and by whom. YouTube YouTube analytics is a feature that generates a set of interactive reports. Through YouTube Analytics you can monitor the performance of your channel and your videos with up to date metrics. The data is presented in a useful and interactive way. The Likes and Dislikes report summarizes how many users liked and disliked your videos, including a per-video view. The report shows the net change of likes and dislikes in your videos, so it adds up the number of likes/dislikes added, minus the number of likes/dislikes removed. The Comments report summarizes how many users are commenting on your video, and it also includes on a per-video view. If resources are limited, consider turning comments off when uploading content. More advanced Once you ve mastered the basics you can start to think about tools that can help you maximise the impact of social media channels. Banners/covers opportunities to make your Page stand out You can create a Facebook banner/cover that sits at the top of your Page, right above your Page's profile picture. Like your profile picture, cover images are public which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see them. These banners can integrate graphics, photos and calls to action. To find out more go to the help section, managing your page. Improving recycling through effective communications 170

171 This will provide step-by-step instructions on how to customize your Facebook Page. Check Facebook s guidance on using cover photos, which must not include calls-to-action or web addresses within them. Using tools to help schedule information across media channels To make social media management and monitoring easier for users, some helpful applications have been developed to organise multiple platforms and information sharing across selected networks. Hootsuite and Digsby are current popular tools and allow users to schedule, manage and maintain the release of information across several social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook. The features, layouts and levels of user-friendliness are different for each application, but they all get the job done when it comes to organising and maintaining several social media accounts. These tools can also be useful if you have multiple team members managing your accounts, but note that some operate a monthly charge for accessing team type functionality. Consider how much use you might get out of a paid-for application. Promote your social media channels Social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter can be included on promotional material and in turn should signpost users to the Council s waste and recycling pages to find out more information. Remember to review the layout of web pages to ensure they are also mobile friendly. A growing number of people access social media from smart phones so the information needs to be presented in a clear and easy to read format. Liaise with your IT department about ensuring information is displayed in the relevant formats. Ensure frontline staff, crews and call-centre staff fully briefed about planned social media campaigns so they are aware of the communications methods being used to target audiences. Don t rely only social media channels as the only communications method. They are useful but should be used as part of an integrated communications plan as cross-promoting will increase the opportunities to see your messages and for your users to share them. Do s and Don ts of Social Media There are some do s and don ts you need to consider when progressing social media channels, for example: Do s Where possible, engage in conversation - Interacting with your audience through social media is a good way to raise awareness of your services. Regularly contributing to social media channels can help build a strong dialogue with target audiences. Make sure you use your brand consistently across networks and platforms - Keeping the style and tone of voice consistent will help your audience recognise, identify and engage with your brand. Outline content approval process from the offset establish who needs to be involved in the approval process. What permissions, if any, are needed to update Twitter account /Facebook Page / YouTube channel on a regular basis and individual Tweets / status updates /comments which do not need to be approved. Correct errors openly and in a timely manner - always admit errors and openly put them right. It is advisable to tackle an online crisis as soon as possible to stop it escalating out of control. Be respectful - always seek permission when updating information and uploading images and videos featuring colleagues or clients to social media platforms. Improving recycling through effective communications 171

172 Don ts Forget that a social media presence becomes part of a brand legacy. Posts, pictures, images, Tweets, status updates (content in general) can stay online forever. Think about what message to share via social media channels. Make an audience feel uncomfortable its good to be authentic and provide a hint of personality but continuously being grumpy or openly criticising people can put an audience off and deter them from engaging with an individual or organisation. Saturate your social media following Be careful not to post lots of repeat messages in short periods of time. Instead, try experimenting to find out what your following respond most positively to and if this is linked to users being most active at a certain time of day. Then maximise on this opportunity to ensure posts are relevant, interesting and timely. Bring a company into disrepute find out if your organisation has social media guidelines or policies to understand the online boundaries for your organisation. Improving recycling through effective communications 172

173 Expert Briefing No22: Communicating for less There are a number of ways you can save money on your communication activities and maximise the impact of the money that you do spend. This expert briefing reviews a number of options. Saving money on design and print costs There are a number of ways you can make savings on design and print costs. Design Like many services, design tends to be charged or estimated on a time basis; if you keep this in mind when you are asking for a quote or providing information for a piece of promotional material, you will save money. For example: If you are developing a campaign, try and get the designer, whether from an external agency or an internal designer, to quote for and do all the designs at one time. It is much more effective from everyone s point of view to have all the resources on screen at the same time rather than going back to previously developed artwork at a later date; Make sure you give the designer a clear brief what needs to be done and put the items you want them to design into context, what it is for the audience and what you are trying to achieve; Provide a layout and copy for the promotional item to show what you have in mind; this makes it a lot easier for the designer than having to start from a clean sheet of paper. Look at WRAP Design Guidance for Local Authorities to help you develop an effective layout; and Provide the designer with design guidelines for your local authority and any material you have previously had designed. This will help give a visual cue to the way you want the finished design to look and save design time. Also, consider producing similar designs with partner or neighbouring authorities, especially if you have the same collection services or if you are promoting recycling of a single material stream. There are significant savings to be made by using the same designs and buying the print together. Print Savings can be made on print in a number of ways: If you are printing different but the same size of leaflet at the same time, let the printer have all the press ready artwork at the same time. They will arrange it on the printing plates to minimise the costs; and If you can print similar material with a neighbouring or partner authority, economies of scale can play a significant part in the final price you each have to pay. Have a look at the WRAP Print Guidance for Local Authorities for an explanation of the most common printing processes and what you should consider when commissioning print. Improving recycling through effective communications 173

174 PR vs. Advertising Positive coverage in the local media can help local authority campaigns significantly, not only in maximising the campaign reach but also in providing an independent endorsement of the campaign. Local authorities should issue regular press releases on campaign activities to the local media. If possible, officers should meet representatives from the local media to establish a rapport and provide them with up to date information on services and any planned service changes. Activities to include in your PR plan could include: Arrange meetings with local media groups and involve relevant partners and a member of the Council s PR team Develop press packs with the Council s communications team to inform briefings Develop a list of interesting and unusual facts about recycling (see Recycle Now partners site & Recycle Now consumer site) use these to make press releases more interesting Develop a list of key waste and recycling statistics Develop a series of frequently asked questions to address any questions the media have about recycling Develop feature articles on recycling (such as the life cycle of a can, what happens to materials after collection, seasonal recycling activities) Draw up a list of Parish Council and social landlord publications and prepare regular articles in accordance with the frequency and distribution of these publications Similarly with radio, instead of running radio adverts, you may be able to persuade your local radio station to let you do an interview or a call-in session on recycling instead. Staff time vs. marketing spend Scarborough Scarborough Borough Council held meetings with their local press and radio representatives. They felt that the key to the good relationship with the press is to have a human face to the project and also to give them absolutely everything they want! As a result, the local media have been balanced but supportive, and have also had staff profiles alongside our standard releases. During one year SBC secured free publicity amounting to 140, They have also raised the profile of SBC nationally with a number of features in National and Regional media these have included: Yorkshire Post Full page photo when we installed a 35ft WRAP swoosh on the South Bay beach A series of online videos have also been created and posted by local media outlets covering school recycling, recycling infomercials and also collection rounds. Try and make the most of the assets you have. If you have communications display materials such as pull-up banners or stands, that would normally only be used occasionally at roadshows, use them for local displays in libraries, leisure centres, etc. You could also accompany these with displays on each of the various materials and what happens to them after collection. A different material can be featured every couple of months. In this way you are getting the maximum value out of your assets. If you send out an annual calendar showing collection dates for your service for the coming year, it is worthwhile putting a service reminder on the reverse, showing what materials can be accepted in which container. This provides a useful reminder for residents will help to maintain good levels of participation and reduce contamination and will not add to your printing and distribution costs. Many councils have a magazine or newspaper, which is delivered several time a year to all householders; it is one of the most popular ways for householders to get information about their Staffordshire Moorlands DVD Staffordshire Moorlands District Council produced a promotional DVD to help promote the introduction of its new service. The DVD is now available for download from the council website. A copy was also provided to all Parish Councils and District Councillors prior to the service change. The DVD was used widely in training sessions for all staff including collection operatives, customer services staff and elected members at dedicated training sessions. It was also played on a continuous loop in all Council offices from July to September to enable visitors to watch the DVD whilst waiting to be served. The DVD was also played at all the promotional Roadshows undertaken during July and August. Improving recycling through effective communications 174

175 council services. If your council produces one this is an excellent way of getting your recycling messages across. The delivery charge to households is covered through someone else s budget and generally it is free to for you to get an article published. Even if there is a charge, the cost will be much less than a separate delivery for your promotion on its own where you have to pay the delivery costs. Ask if you can pay for additional pages so you are not competing with other departments for editorial space; the cost of printing additional pages will be very small compared to the overall cost of the print and delivery. Make your messages seasonal if the publication goes out several times a year. See if you can have a leaflet inserted in the newspaper, if that would suit your communication better. Lower cost versions Posters are an excellent method of generating interest and prompting further enquiry. Rather than using outdoor advertising, which can be costly, a low-budget option is to print out A3 and A4 posters to display in areas of high local footfall, such as leisure centres, libraries, local shops and post offices. Kent County Council ran a campaign to promote WEEE recycling and got local shops to display posters in their windows during the promotion. Think creatively to look at cheaper options for your communications events and materials. For instance, if you are promoting your Love Food Hate Waste Campaign, can you get your local catering college to help you with some demonstrations or cookery classes? This is likely to cost less than hiring a celebrity chef to promote your project. If you are thinking of producing a DVD to illustrate an aspect of recycling to your residents, there may be students at a local college or arts course who may be willing to produce this for you as part of their coursework. Again, this will cost less than hiring a media company. Many people now have smart phones with the ability to access the Internet. According to newmediatrendwatch in 2012 there were 19.2 million (30.5% of population) users in the UK. Make sure you put QR codes on all your promotional material; especially posters and advertising so people can easily access your recycling web pages for more information. Suggest that people programme their smart phones to remind them of their collection days for recycling and waste collections. There is no need to develop an expensive application the technology in most of these phones allows repeating fortnightly events to be set. If possible, provide guidance on your website how to set these reminders. Integrated campaigns to maximise OTS Ensuring that your communications are integrated increases their cost-effectiveness. At its most basic level, a consistent message has more impact than a disjointed mix of messages. In a busy world, a consistent, clear message has a better chance of cutting through the 'noise' of over five hundred commercial messages, which bombard customers each and every day. Research suggests that images shared in advertising and direct mail boost both advertising awareness and mail shot responses. So using a consistent brand and message across all of your communications will increase awareness and using a mix of communications methods will increase the reach of your communications. Using Recycle Now The recycle now logo is being used more and more by a huge range of organisations; including major brands, retailers, local authorities and community groups; our research shows that 65% of people in England now recognise the recycle now logo. Using the recycle now logo on your communications materials can offer many benefits: Consistent message for householders by using the logo householders will identify your communication as recycling information; Save money. No need to pay designers to develop a new campaign. Recycle Now is tried and tested and available to download free of charge; Improving recycling through effective communications 175

176 Well recognised - Used widely, so will be familiar to householders; Tried and tested consumers like the logo, identify with it and it is known to engage people with recycling; and Compliment local campaigns The iconography can be used to compliment local messaging. Both the Love Food Hate Waste and Recycle Now campaigns have a calendar, which provides ideas for themes, and topics to use with the public about recycling and food waste prevention, the supporting resources available and some simple ways you can get involved. Simply visit each quarter in January, April, July and October to download the latest updated version. Link to national events Identify key national dates or events that you can use to base activities around or generate positive local PR, for example the dates national recycling or environmental statistics are released. Key international, national awareness days and events include: Compost Awareness Week Earth Day World Environment Day Recycle Week The Clean Up the World Weekend The national Recycle Now website provides a campaign calendar which includes information about upcoming events, advertising or special topics which can be incorporated into local plans. National events can be used effectively by local campaigns and have a number of benefits: There will be general public awareness about the national event as a result of national media coverage; Any event you organise locally in support is likely to attract more interest from the public; and If you organise an event, it may attract the interest of your local media looking for a local angle or story about the national event. Cost efficiencies from partnership working Partnership working can enable efficiencies to be gained through economies of scale and reducing staff time spent on activities for individual partners. To gain agreement for working in partnership, generic communications activities, which benefit all partners, are required, for example: All local authorities use the same campaign identity and communicate consistent messages; The public sees one campaign rather than many separate ones as they move around the region or county to work, shop and travel etc; Existing partnerships and working relationships are built upon; Partnership working is favoured and encouraged by central government; Commitment to meet targets can be stronger, due to peer pressure; Yorkshire and Humber Waste Prevention partnership Love Food Hate Waste project A regional co-ordinator has been employed to manage the regional Love Food Hate Waste programme. Significant efficiencies have been realised by having a single person developing materials, instead of officer time from 22 local authorities. Training on promoting LFHW to residents has been given by WRAP waste reduction advisors and the regional co-ordinator along with a training pack to help Waste and Recycling officers engage with the public when doing talks, presentations, or delivering their own training. To develop the training course and information pack has taken the regional coordinator an estimated 8.5 days. If each of the 11 local authorities attending the training spent this time sourcing and developing the information it would all amount to 13.5 working weeks collectively. Bulk purchasing of communications materials such as banner stands, pledge cards and promotional items has saved over 11,500. Improving recycling through effective communications 176

177 Staff can be employed specifically for campaign work; Campaigns become more integrated for example by including schools and community groups; Knowledge, resources, expertise and networking experience can be shared; Promotional and PR opportunities are increased; Financial economies of scale can be achieved and costs reduced; Joint operational contracts can be set up, with better bargaining power; and Opportunities can be created to link with regional media, particularly TV and radio. Website According to the Office for National Statistics, in % of households had Internet access and 67% of adults in Great Britain used a computer every day. According to the WRAP annual tracker survey, the Internet is the most popular place to find information about recycling. This demonstrates the importance of your website as a means of getting your information to householders. Your website should be up to date and easy to use, with the minimum number of clicks for people to be able to find out what recycling and waste services they receive, what materials they can recycle and frequently asked questions. Make sure there is easy access from the home page of your council website and keep a track of the usage of each of the pages within your area this will show you what information people are looking for and you can ensure the information on these pages is presented in the best possible way. Publicise your website everywhere you can and make sure there is an easily remembered URL such as so people can access your web pages directly. Review the content and structure of your website by using the Recycling and Waste Webpage Guidance developed by WRAP, which also contains a methodology for assessing the usability of your site. Social networking Consider setting up pages for social media, such as Twitter and Facebook - these are additional channels for communicating your services. Promote your Twitter and Facebook links everywhere, especially your website. Have a look at Becoming an Expert No 21 on how to set up and use social media. Improving recycling through effective communications 177

178 Becoming an Expert No23: Planning and the benefits of using Gantt charts Planning your campaign using a Gantt chart will enable you to visualise your whole campaign from start to finish. By planning all your activities and tactics (i.e. the individual tasks required in the development, organisation and delivery of each campaign activity) you will: Get a better understanding of the size of your campaign Be able to schedule activities so you are not doing too many things at once See where the critical deadlines are Be able to manage your campaign to achieve (as far as possible) an even workload with activities taking place at regular intervals Avoid periods where your message may not be so effective e.g. Door-to-door canvassing in February Be able to develop activities to run alongside and benefit from national Recycle Now campaign activity Check that what you want to do is actually possible given your resources Ensure that individual staff are not overloaded A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that can be used to show a project schedule with start and finish dates and key milestones during the project. They have become a common technique for representing the phases, activities and individual tasks of a project, so they can be understood by a wide audience. They can be prepared on a computer using simple programmes like Excel or using dedicated project management software like Microsoft Project. A simple Excel version (see screenshot below) has been developed for you to use for your campaign planning and can be accessed online here: ( How to plan your campaign using a Gantt chart You can either start at the beginning and work forwards or start at the end of your campaign and work backwards. The key is building in the time each activity and tactic takes so you can plan lead times and assess deadlines accurately. Remember that getting sign-offs and approvals can take time and incur delays at Improving recycling through effective communications 178

179 critical points. Try and schedule approvals well in advance and produce all artwork for approval at the same time For each activity, list all the tactics that need to be carried out in order to plan, prepare and deliver that activity (see the example Gantt chart on Page 140), not forgetting your monitoring and evaluation activities. Identify key milestones and deadlines (such as important council committee meetings or launch dates for new services) and build in appropriate lead times to carry out each tactic in time Repeat this for every activity so you have a series of mini-plans that build up to give you your overall campaign plan As you are developing your campaign plan, you should be building your campaign budget (see Becoming an Expert No 24) and considering the following issues: What are your key communication campaign targets and deadlines? For example the date you are launching a new service or the next national campaign (such as Recycle Now Week) with which you want to link When do you need to launch? When do you need publicity and information material ready by? How will material be distributed? When do you need to have material ready for your preferred distribution option? When do any campaign events take place? What planning is required and by when? Do you need to produce new display panels? Hire a trailer? Secure a location? How much time will you need for monitoring and evaluation before, during and after your campaign activities take place? Others as required This process will help you identify: Lead times and key deadlines Potential clashes between activities e.g. running a town centre roadshow event at the same time as a major local carnival or other community event that you want to attend Your likely resource needs (i.e. staffing) over the course of your campaign: Will you have enough people/time to do everything in time? Are you over-committing yourself/your team? Can you physically do everything you want in the timescales? What extra resources might you need and when? Where will they come from? Roles and responsibilities for your campaign team, for example, who is responsible for: Overall management Booking advertising Producing campaign materials writing copy, liaising with designers/printers Organising roadshow events Organising canvassing campaigns etc Others as required Periods of peak activity when you might be trying to do too much with too little time or just trying to do too much at once: Should your activities be spread out more in order give your campaign added impact over time rather than have everything happen at once? Whether your activities are hitting any particular target audience/s over too long or too short a period of time: Do you need to alter any activities targeting particular audiences? The following guide might be useful when you are looking at design and print management issues: Improving recycling through effective communications 179

180 Printing processes explained This guide explains the development and print management process that you will go through in commissioning promotional material for waste management services, whether through an outside design agency or through your own internal design team. It will help you plan printing timescales and schedule print deadlines. html Gantt charts are useful campaign management tools during your campaign. They can: Help you identify when deadlines or milestones are in danger of being missed and reschedule activities and tactics to get back on track Help you to profile your budget i.e. identify what you intend spending when and keep track of what you have spent Make it easier to identify the implications if activities are changed or added and to manage any changes They can be used to chart and report progress to stakeholders They can be used for day-to-day planning by individuals The length of your plan depends on three factors: your aims and objectives, how far into the future your strategy extends and your budget horizon i.e. how far into the future you can accurately forecast your budget levels and make reasonable planning decisions. Even though budgets are allocated on an annual cycle, it is best to plan on a rolling two-year cycle: Some of your service aims and objectives (e.g. reaching statutory targets) can be some years distant and your plan needs to bear these longer term targets in mind Communications is a long-term commitment and not something you should periodically turn on and off Some activities need to be carried out repeatedly on an annual basis Looking across two years you can avoid duplication by planning ahead and scheduling some campaign activities in the next financial year e.g. running a plastic bottle campaign in 2010 rather than This also helps with any budgeting issues e.g. delaying an activity until the following financial year or spreading an activity over two financial years Prepare two versions of your plan: A simple one focussing on the main activities, timescales, deliverables and outcomes for senior managers and other key stakeholders A much more detailed version which you and your team will use on a day to day basis An example of a campaign plan plotted on a Gantt chart is shown on the next two pages. Improving recycling through effective communications 180

181 Month Activity Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Research Baseline monitoring Operational performance (tonnage collections etc) Participation monitoring Contamination monitoring Desk research Market research (incl procuring an agency) Strategic planning Initial tactical planning Draft plan for internal comment/review x Final plan submitted to committee for budget approval x Management approval x Procurement procedure (for external contractors eg marketing or advertising agencies, canvassers) Detailed tactical/delivery planning Develop core campaign collateral (information and promotional materials) Event planning and delivery Launch (start campaign activity) Plastic bottle collection campaign New collections start x Design and produce teaser leaflet Decide on distribution method. Procure delivery agent if required Distribute teaser leaflet Design new calendar and revised recycling scheme information leaflet Obtain all round and collection information for calendars Print Deliver to households x Evaluate success of campaign Advertising Secure airtime on local radio station Produce adverts (with local radio station) Broadcast adverts Roadshows and community events Identify suitable locations/venues for roadshows and/ or events Book/arrange space and liaise with site owners re event planning Decide on event format/activities Prepare promotional materials Location recce Final planning Deliver event/s TBC TBC TBC TBC Evaluate success of campaign Improving recycling through effective communications 181

182 Month Activity Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb LPA campaigns Scope and identify LPAs Run focus groups to identify key local issues Appoint market researcher to run focus group/s Run focus groups Prepare community engagement programme Identify key community organizations/leaders Approach and secure their support Develop detailed campaign activities with local community input Identify any infrastructure improvement required and secure budget Instigate programme of infrastructure improvement if required Procure canvassing team/s Run canvassing campaign/s Run community engagement programme Evaluate success of campaign Online Redevelop LA recycling web-pages as required Launch new web pages and update as required PR/media relations Brief key local news editors/journalists Organise facility visit for media (follow the recycling trail) Scope ideas for media launch Finalise ideas Draft press release Recce location/venue and make final plans Issue press release Ring-round media secure attendance and coverage of launch Hold event x Evaluate success of PR launch On-going media relations activity Monitoring and evaluation Pre campaign consumer survey Post campaign consumer survey Participation monitoring Evaluation and reporting Review and plan for Year 2 X Hard (immovable) deadline Improving recycling through effective communications 182

183 Working with agencies As part of your campaign you may need to consider contracting out some of the activities to specialist companies, especially if your council does not have the relevant experience or skills in-house. Activities that are regularly contracted out include: Delivery of canvassing campaigns Design and production of campaign materials Campaign management Advertising design and production Printing Whether you contract out or use in-house services depends on the size and complexity of your campaign, the timescale and your own in-house resources and expertise. If you need to use an external agency you should consider the following as choosing the right agency is vital: Ask colleagues or neighbouring local authorities if they have worked with or know of an agency that they can personally recommend The respective trade bodies (such as PRCA - Public Relations Consultancy Association, DMA - Direct Marketing Association, CIM - Chartered Institute of Marketing etc) should be able to advise on suitable agencies based on their experience and location. Some of these organisations have regional structures and membership lists. Try to identify agencies with a track record of working with local authorities or on recycling, waste or environmental campaigns Draw up a shortlist of three to four agencies any more becomes too time-consuming Give a comprehensive brief and include measurable objectives and a budget, ensuring you give them enough time to prepare a proposal. Allow at least two/three weeks for an agency to prepare its proposals Meet all the candidate agencies before appointing one. Ask that the team attending the pitch is the team that would be working on your campaign. You should get a feel for personalities, experience and knowledge, and whether you feel you can work closely with the people present Ensure a proposal addresses all the objectives you have set Ensure the agency has understood your brief and has set goals and targets that you agree with and understand Be wary of the big idea unless you are confident it will work. Make sure the agency has done its groundwork first to test its feasibility. Remember anyone can have a good idea - ensuring it is appropriate, applicable to your situation and that it will actually work are the important factors For more information on working with agencies and for a template design brief, please refer to the Design of communications material guidance. Improving recycling through effective communications 183

184 Becoming an Expert No24: Budgeting and costing campaigns Budgeting and costing campaigns is relatively straightforward. Justifying the planned expenditure and securing the funding you may want can, however, be more difficult. This section considers both issues. Budgeting and costing campaigns 1. Firstly, obtain an indicative idea of what size budget you may have to work with by looking at any previous campaign budget and making a rough estimate based on the number of households. There is, unfortunately, no simple formula to determine how much needs to be spent on communications to achieve any given desired result. There are too many variables and too many ways of achieving results for such a formula to exist. As a rule of thumb, however, experience suggests that an effective campaign costs a minimum of 1.00 per household (NB. This will vary and for small LAs the figure could be greater as core costs for activities like monitoring etc will absorb a greater proportion of your funding). Your budget may also need to be proportionally greater if, for example, you are launching a new authority-wide service. If your plan requires a budget of much less or more than this figure (e.g per household) it is not necessarily wrong but you should reconsider it and satisfy yourself that your proposed budget is neither too high nor too low. These figures will give you an approximate target budget to aim at. 2. Work through your campaign plan and decide which communication methods and activities you need in order to achieve your aims and objectives Ideally you should start planning and budgeting with the aim of developing a campaign you know will achieve its targets. It is more likely however, that you will have a pre-set budget and you need to plan how best to spend it. This may automatically rule out some activities right from the start. You should maximise the impact of your budget by thinking strategically - look at your aims and objectives and think how they can be best achieved within the likely budget available. However, do not let budget restrictions stop you developing a comprehensive communications plan - funding may become available at a later stage and you will already have a robust plan that can make use of it. 3. Once you have your developed your plan you can start costing your activities List and prioritise your campaign activities into must have and nice to have activities. Fully cost all your must have activities first. Start by obtaining two or three quotes for all the activities you have planned. Shop around if you can to obtain the best prices. But remember, the cheapest may not necessarily be the best: Be prepared to look for quality too, especially when you are appointing external agencies or organisations to help you e.g. market research agencies, marketing, advertising, PR or design agencies Talk to your colleagues and neighbouring LAs to find out who they have used, how good they were, who they would recommend for a particular task An experienced agency may cost a bit more but could save you time and effort in the long run and deliver better results at the end of it Most companies will be happy to provide initial quotes or indicative costs for budget purposes so long as they get the opportunity to quote formally when tenders are issued. When that time comes, remember them Finally, don t forget to include all of the free or low cost activities you may be able to use. WRAP has produced a specialist guide designed to help you develop initial costings for various campaign materials: Improving recycling through effective communications 184

185 Indicative Cost Guide This document aims to help when seeking prices for communications activities. There are many ways of communicating messages and you need to ensure you select the right mix for your area and stay within budget. These indicative costs cover a wide range of goods and services and should help you obtain value for money. This guide, however, is not intended as a substitute for seeking three estimates from local companies. Where you can secure suitable in-house services you should expect to make savings. on.html 4. Making your campaign and budget fit together Is the budget figure you have arrived at higher or lower than your target budget? If it is lower and it includes all activities you need to meet your objectives, that is good. Don t be tempted to add low value activities just to use up the budget. If the figure is higher, firstly check whether everything you have planned is necessary to achieve your objectives. If it is, see what scope there might be for finding some extra budget. Ensure you have all the information you need to make a strong case for the additional budget you believe your campaign needs. If your campaign straddles a financial year, look critically at what activities you can push back or pull forwards. You may have a little flexibility on one side of the budget divide or the other which might help When there is an insufficient budget to deliver all your communications programme, consider the activities which will deliver the biggest result in terms of waste recycling and focus your money those which will help deliver them. If you have to cut down, you may need to revise your aims and objectives down as well. A budget that is too small for the ideal programme does not necessarily mean that the programme can still be implemented but on a smaller scale it may mean that it cannot be done at all. Similarly, increasing the budget might not lead to the same programme but on a larger scale it might open up entirely new opportunities or techniques. For example: A local authority wants to run a series of local community events in a number of towns and villages but it doesn t have the budget to do all of them. It decides instead to run a small number of events in the larger towns on the busiest shopping days (usually the local market days) when large numbers of people from the surrounding villages will be visiting A different local authority wants to target people living in a particular area of a city and has developed an advertising campaign on buses, billboards, bus shelters and on the local radio station. However, the campaign is too expensive and doesn t target the areas sufficiently (there is lots of wastage ). They decide to run a targeted door-to-door canvassing campaign supported by a community engagement programme instead Finally, be aware of your procurement system and try and keep your procurement process as short and as simple as possible. Some tendering exercises can take longer than the work they are tendering for, adding considerably to timescales. 5. Putting your budget together You should aim to produce a simple, yet comprehensive campaign budget that provides a full cost breakdown for all activities. It could also show whether activities are being resourced internally or externally. A sample budget is shown on the next page. As well as helping you plan your campaign, the communication campaign activity table ( allows you to profile your budget month by month. 6. Checking value for money and return on investment At the end of your campaign, when you are evaluating the results you should check to see whether particular activities provided good value for money and whether they represent a good return on investment. The monitoring and evaluation information will tell you how good or otherwise they were and you should (as far as you can) compare the results with what was spent, for example: Improving recycling through effective communications 185

186 You ran two roadshow events: one attracted 50 people and another 150. The first event cost 250 the second 2,500. The former event cost 5 per person, the second 10 per person. This seems relatively poor value for money (for both of them) but your monitoring and evaluation shows that recycling in the area where the second roadshow was held increased 10 times more than the first roadshow area. This means the return on investment was actually better for the second roadshow. This type of information can help you report back to funders and key stakeholders, to justify expenditure and make a case for increased funding in the future. Improving recycling through effective communications 186

187 Example campaign budget Activity In-house External Cost ( ) Research Desk research Market research (including procuring an agency) 6,250 Baseline campaign monitoring eg operational performance, participation and/or contamination monitoring Procurement procedure (for other external contractors) Plastic bottle collection campaign Design and produce teaser leaflet 2,300 Distribute teaser leaflet 4,000 Design new calendar and revised recycling scheme information leaflet 1,000 Obtain all round and collection information for calendars Print x 58,000 3,650 Deliver to households 5,000 Advertising Radio advertising (production and airtime) 1,500 Roadshows and community events Identify suitable locations/venues for roadshows and/ or events Book/arrange space and liaise with site owners re event planning 500 Prepare promotional materials 2,000 Deliver event/s Evaluate success of campaign LPA campaigns Scope and identify LPAs Run focus groups to identify key local issues 2,000 Identify any infrastructure improvement required and secure budget Prepare community engagement programme Develop detailed campaign activities with local community input 1,000 Run campaign eg door-to-door canvassing 8,550 Evaluate success of campaign Online Redevelop and launch new LA recycling web-pages as required PR/media relations Brief key local news editors/journalists Organise facility visit for media (follow the recycling trail) Scope ideas for media launch Draft and issue launch press release Ring-round media secure attendance and coverage of launch Hold launch event Evaluate success of PR launch On-going media relations activity Monitoring and evaluation Pre campaign consumer survey 3,000 Post campaign consumer survey 3,000 Participation monitoring 4,550 Evaluation, reporting and review/plan for Year 2 Contingency Contingency budget (6%) 4,000 Total 52,300 Improving recycling through effective communications 187

188 Sources of further information This Guidance provides a grounding in each topic more specialist information is available to download: Barriers to recycling at home One of the key factors for recycling campaigns to address are the barriers experienced by people which prevent them recycling as much as they could. This research examines the barriers people experience, the messages that may help overcome those barriers and the most appropriate communication methods for those messages. It is referenced a number of times and can be accessed online here: Improving Low Participation Areas Effective communications planning An increasing challenge for many local authorities is increasing performance in low participation areas (LPAs). In response, WRAP has developed a guide to help users identify areas of low participation, examine why they experience low participation and develop effective communication solutions. It is referenced a number of times and provides a comprehensive approach to running campaigns in these areas. The document is available on the WRAP website: Improving the Performance of Waste Diversion Schemes A Good Practice Guide to Monitoring and Evaluation The importance of monitoring and evaluation to campaigns cannot be underestimated. WRAP has produced a comprehensive guidance document which gives detailed step-by-step guidance on a range of monitoring techniques for waste operations and communications campaigns, including: surveys; participation monitoring; capture rate analysis; contamination assessments; and making better use of tonnage data. Again, it is referenced a number of times and can be accessed here: Door-to-door canvassing This guide is primarily designed for councils who are planning to organise and carry out door-to-door canvassing (also referred to as doorstepping or doorknocking) to promote their recycling services and encourage residents to recycle. It is also valuable for local authorities that are contracting another organisation to run a campaign on their behalf as it is important to have an understanding of the whole process and what is involved. Improving recycling through effective communications 188

189 Recycling Collections for Flats This guidance has been developed specifically to assist local authority officers to launch, manage and improve recycling and food waste collection schemes for blocks of flats. It can also be used by other individuals, organisations and partnerships with an interest in recycling services for flats. The guidance draws together and builds on lessons learned from the 2006 report Recycling for Flats commissioned by Defra (downloadable from the Waste Improvement Network), with subsequent research and experiences of local authorities. WRAP guide to communicating with schools This guidance document is designed for local authority recycling officers and their communications teams and will provide practical guidance on planning and developing recycling communications for schools. Design of communications material This document gives basic and practical suggestions on the design of effective communications. These principles can be applied to collection calendars, leaflets, adverts and other campaign marketing communications. Guidance on Developing Collection Calendars Kerbside collection calendars are an essential communication tool for most authorities, enabling them to provide essential information to householders about their waste and recycling services with instructions on how to participate. This document guides you through all the elements of putting together a clear and easy to understand calendar. Printing processes explained The aim of this guide is to explain development process that you need to go through to commission promotional material for waste management services, whether you use an outside design agency or your own internal design team. It takes you through the development process from the initial concept for a promotional item through to the delivery of the final product and what happens at all stages. Improving recycling through effective communications 189

190 Indicative Cost Guide This document aims to help when seeking prices for communications activities. There are many ways of communicating messages and you need to ensure you select the right mix for your campaign at a cost effective price. These indicative costs cover a wide range of goods and services and should help you obtain value for money. Developing recycling and waste websites This guidance document and web page review methodology has been developed as a result of requests for waste and recycling web page reviews from a number of London Boroughs to help ensure they provide relevant information about the services, make them easier to use and enhance the user experience. An evaluation matrix was developed to assist with the review process, which systematically outlines essential information the recycling and waste web pages should contain. Recycle Now Brand guidelines A new set of brand guidelines for Recycle Now has been developed which explain how best to use the Recycle Now logos, icons, colours and artwork templates. The new guidelines are an amalgamation of the previous brand and partner guidelines, updated to be an easy-to-use and highly interactive document. Improving recycling through effective communications 190