INTERNATIONAL SOLID WASTE ASSOCIATION - Denkstatt

4.7. Awards
ISWA Communication Award
Each year ISWA honours an excellent Waste Communication
Campaign that increases public awareness and
promotes sustainable waste management. The awarded
campaign is recognized at the ISWA Annual Congress.
The award is open for participation for both ISWA
members and non-ISWA members.
2010 Communication Award Winners
The judging panel had an excellent selection of waste
management communication promotions to assess in
2010. Eleven communication initiatives were put forward
from 9 different countries and the judging panel found
it difficult to determine an overall winner from those
put forward. The first two were separated by only a very
few points out of a total 90.
FIRST – Vienna’s Poop Scoop Success
Vienna in common with other communities around the
World had a problem with dogs fouling public streets,
parks and other areas. Several previous attempts had
failed but in 2006 a mother of two toddlers secured
16,000 signatures on a petition. Thereafter the City’s
waste management authorities introduced a comprehensive
and progressive information, education and
enforcement effort to persuade dog owners to “pack my
poop in a sack”. The sacks were provided by the city and
extra doggie bins added in addition to the extra staff
employed to impose on the spot fines and other sanctions.
The judges were impressed by the overall communications
plan and in particular:
• The communication with existing staff
• The hiring of new staff
• The use of amusing but thought provoking
signs placed in public parks
• Thorough assessment throughout its roll-out
• Extensive evaluation of the results.
This evaluation included analysis of the contents of a
weeks worth of doggie bags to determine the doggie
contribution to Vienna’s waste management system.
For the statistically minded at least 3 tonnes of dog
faeces are collected each day. The best result is the fact
that 87% of people are now satisfied that Vienna has
adequately addressed the dog waste problem.
SECOND – Sweden’s Waste Managers
get Frank about Waste
Sweden national waste management body Avfall Sverige
has more than 400 members, mainly municipalities but
also the waste management and recycling companies. In
2008 they embarked on Sweden’s largest environmental
movement, an internal promotion program to galvanize
the 16,000 workers for each of Avfall Sverige’s members
to promote three key components of Sweden’s waste
strategy:
• Material recovery
• Hazardous waste, and
• Energy recovery.
This required a multi-media approach to ensuring the
message was accessible to as many of Sweden’s citizens
as possible.
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„Pack my poop in a sack“
THIRD – Waste No More
The Netherlands provided our third winner with the Van
Gansewinkel Groep’s inspiring initiative to Waste No
More reflecting our aspirations to move from traditional
waste management services towards being a supplier
of raw materials and energy for businesses and the
community. Their communications program was very
comprehensive, including most of the communication
media. Significantly they started by providing their employees
with a home-based set of information, including
CDs and games to interest family members. In contrast
to the other winners it was felt by the panel from the
information provided that it was probably too early to
determine the full effects of the campaign.