Curbside Value Partnership SWALCO W Willis.pdf - Illinois Counties ...

Curbside Value PartnershipEducation Campaign in LakeCountyOctober 4, 2012ILCSWMA 20 th Annual Conference

Agenda for Today• Brief Overview of SWALCO and CurbsideValue Partnership (CVP)• The Education Campaign– Why a campaign– The campaign plan, budget and timeline– The creative approach and examples• Final thoughts

SWALCO Overview• 41 municipal members and the County ofLake• Provides the following primary services– Owns and operates a Household Chemical WasteProcessing and Transfer Facility (30 events peryear)– Partners with over 30 e-scrap collection sites (ontarget to collect 3 millions pounds in 2012)– Provides consulting services to members onhauling contracts and local recycling programs

SWALCO Overview– Prepares Solid Waste Management Plan and 5year Updates for Lake County– Operates a county wide education program withits members and schools– Active with statewide legislation– Maintains agreements with both landfills and theWMI material recovery facility– Prepared the 60% Recycling Task Force Reportin 2011 (nearly 18 month planning effort)

Relationship with CVP/EducationCampaign• SWALCO is 29 th community to partner withCVP to launch an education campaigndesigned to increase participation andtonnage• CVP is an independent 501c(3) organizationthat helps communities grow participationand volume by developing, launching andmeasuring strategic education campaigns

CVP’s Vision …… to make curbside recycling thecultural norm in theUnited States.… to elevate curbside recyclingvolume by one million tons peryear by 2020.… to become 500 stakeholdersworking together to makeresidential curbside recyclingprograms more successful.

CVP Sponsors:A united coalition of companies and industries working together toelevate recycling rates nationally

Why a campaign and why now?• The SWALCO Strategic Plan calls for 60%diversion.• We need to get residents to recycle MOREand get energized in order to reach 60%.– We do this by educating them!• Based on last year’s data, the region is at39% diversion.• A partnership with CVP gave us addedresources and expertise.

Target audiences1. COUNTY-WIDE: “Sometimes” recyclers whodo not need to be convinced to recycle, they justneed to “step up their game.”2. COMMUNITY-SPECIFIC: Communitieswith per-household recycling volume between350-700 pounds/year. This includes:• Beach Park, Highwood, Fox Lake, Newport Township, Lake Villa,Port Barrington, Round Lake Park, Round Lake Heights, WinthropHarbor, Park City, Vernon Hills, Antioch, Round Lake, WarrenTownship, Lake Barrington, Round Lake Beach, Gurnee, ThirdLake, Hainesville, Island Lake, Tower Lakes, Lindenhurst andWauconda

Short Term Goals of the Campaign• Engage 24 of SWALCO’s members toparticipate actively in the campaign (othermembers encouraged as well)• Increase general awareness of how and what torecycle– Modify messaging on plastics, away from numbers• Increase curbside recycling tonnage by 5%

Long Term Goals of the Campaign• Motivate remaining towns (7 of 41) to startusing larger carts instead of bins• Move more residents into PAYT programs (20members have this option for residents in theirhauling contracts)• Increase the tonnage sent to the WMI MRFabove the current 42,000 tpy (SWALCO gets $5per ton bonus payment for tonnage above 42k)• Help SWALCO meet 60% recycling goal by2020

Communications strategyDevelop an integrated education campaignthat incorporates marketing, public relations andadvertising to generate county-wide residentawareness for curbside recycling and provide all41 SWALCO member communities and theCounty of Lake with information, tools andmaterials for local implementation.

Developed with Lake County in mind…• CVP surveyed SWALCO members and theysaid…– They like to communicate online (Web and email).– On average, they communicate with residents oncea month.– 88% think their communications could be better.– 83% are very likely to use the CVP campaignmaterials locally.– The top three items they like are Web content andfacts, fliers/posters and event materials.

Campaign overviewCampaign Branding& MessagingCounty-Wide PublicRelations andAdvertisingDirect to ResidentsCommunity-BasedCommunications

Campaign Plan – Integrated Tactics,Social Marketing Based• Target audience:– Is reached directly– Makes a personal connection to the campaign– Receives some sort of follow-up prompt toreinforce the call-to-action (to recycle more)

Campaign Plan – Elements• Digital communications (New landing page,SWALCO website, social media• Public relations (Fact sheets, guidelines, keymessages, media launch event, press releases)• Advertising/Marketing (Hard dollars spent onads, direct mailing, street teams, merchandise)• Budget and timeline• Measurement (participation, tonnage, websitetraffic)

Campaign Budget

Campaign BudgetItemsAdvertising - radio ($8k), transit shelters, bus tails andmetra cards ($8k), mall posters ($10k)Estimated Cost$38,000Digital - Triblocal ($4k), Patch.com ($3k) $7,000Events - Street teams $5,000Marketing - Direct mail ($15k), bill stuffer ($2k),recycling guidelines, kids flyerMerchandise - Truck decals, t-shirts, magnets, pop-upbanner displays, stickers$17,500$20,000Total $87,500Remaining $4,500

Campaign TimelineActivity September October November3 10 17 24 1 8 15 22 29 5 12 19 26PR activitieslauncheventongoingEventscommunity event outreachTransit advertising 34 bus tails Unpaid coverage until tails removed45 train cardsRadio advertising 73x 73x 73x 73x 73x 73xOnline advertisingTown sponsorship ad (Antioch/Fox Lake, Lindenhurst/Lake Villa, Round Lake) & cube ad (Gurnee)14 Patch sites 14 Patch sites 14 Patch sitesMall advertising8 posters5 standee postersMarketingdirect mailbill stuffers

A look at the campaign…

RecycleFirstTrashLast.org

Education Campaign SamplesRecycling Guidelines FlierKids’ Coloring Page

Samples (cont.)As well as:• Radio ad (2 versions)• Mall/transit posters• Bus sign• Bill stuffer• Truck decal• Toolkit materialsMagnet

Online Toolkit• Campaign materials available for download:• 30-second radioad• Online bannerand cube ads• Commuter bustail ad• Posters• Bill stuffer• Direct mail• Recyclingguidelines flyer• Kids coloringpage• Magnet• Event display• Sticker• T-shirt• Truck cling

Online Toolkit• Campaign resources available:– Key messages– Template press release– Sample op-ed/letter to the editor– Sample promotional copy for newsletters and blogs– Sample promotional emails/letters– Sample social media posts– Recycle First. Trash Last PowerPoint presentation

Event Materials

Events: Step-by-Step Engagement Strategy1.Engage2.Discuss3.Prompt

Final Thoughts• CVP and its marketing team (Hill +Knowlton) are experts in developing andimplementing education programs• Energy level is quite high right now,sustaining and growing it over the next fewyears will be a challenge• http://www.recyclecurbside.org/content/u/cvp_connect Use this link to develop your owncampaign with useful tips and ideas providedby CVP

Contact Information• Walter S. Willis, Executive DirectorPhone: 847/336-9340 x2Email: wwillis@swalco.org

Questions?