Blue Box Ins and Outs Niagara Region July 23, 2013 Campaign - - PDF document

WMAC Meeting 1

Blue Box Ins and Outs Niagara Region

July 23, 2013

• Objectives:

i. To reduce processing challenges associated with improperly prepared plastic bags and recyclable film plastics ii. To reduce the amount of inappropriate, unacceptable plastics that end up at the recycling centre, such as plastic toys, rubber hoses and other unacceptable plastic items

Campaign Objectives

• iii. To educate and inform residents of

Niagara Region’s expanded plastic recycling program now that all numbered plastic containers and packaging are accepted (1 through 7).

WMAC Meeting 2

• Congestion and jams on container incline:

– large plastics such as lawn edging and garden hoses become entangled with bags of film and other containers

• Increased residue rates:

– entangled balls of material must be forced by sorters into the residue bunker chutes

Challenges at MRF

• Daily downtime and maintenance:

– loose film becomes tangled in equipment – loose film is extremely difficult to remove due to high volume and ends up reducing revenues due to disposal costs

• Plastic bags and recyclable film should be placed in the Grey Box

with paper and cardboard as it is recovered from the fibre sorting line easier than from the container sorting line. Plastic bags and film cross-contaminate the container stream.

Plastic Bags/Recyclable Film

• Based on audit results conducted at the Niagara

Region’s recycling centre in the fall of 2011, the residential co-mingle stream contained 6.3% recyclable film and plastic bags (by weight) that are better captured in the Grey Box.

WMAC Meeting 3

• Continue to face challenges with unacceptable plastic items

placed in the Blue Box.

• Items include such things as large plastic toys, pool liners,

children’s pools, lawn edging and children’s plastic vehicles.

• Audit results show that the residential co-mingled container

stream has an average contamination rate of 28% versus the residential fibre stream at 2.9%.

Unacceptable Plastics

• To make it easier for Niagara residents to recycle by accepting all

numbered or unmarked plastic containers and packaging.

• To improve upon waste reduction by diverting more acceptable

plastics into the Blue Box.

• To communicate the proper preparation of recyclable

film/plastic bags and eliminate unacceptable plastic items.

• To create easy to understand messages that reduces recycling

confusion, improves participation and improves proper segregation at the curb.

Campaign Goals

WMAC Meeting 4

• 1. Recycling is easy in Niagara.
• 2. No need to look for the plastic resin

code, all empty containers and empty plastic packaging are now accepted.

• 3. If it is not an empty container or it is not

plastic packaging, it means it is not acceptable.

• 4. Properly preparing recyclables before

they are picked-up makes recycling easier and the end material more valuable.

Key Campaign Messages

Media releases Print and Radio Ads Videosign Ads Facebook Social Media Ads Recycle & Win Online Game/Contest Educational Videos Pop-up Banners and Handout Cards for distribution Regular Meetings with Collection Contractor Pre and post collection curbside audits MRF tipping floor visual audits Internal and external public outreach displays Neighbourhood campaign and audits Niagara Region newsletters Pre and post campaign composition audits

WMAC Meeting 5

Print Advertisements – What’s IN Print Advertisements – What’s IN

WMAC Meeting 6

Print Advertisements – What’s OUT Print Advertisements – What’s OUT

WMAC Meeting 7

Print Advertisements – What’s OUT Video Sign Advertising

The ‘Recycle & Win’ Game was digitally advertised on a video sign network for 13 weeks on 33 screens at the following locations:

• Seaway Mall Food Court - Welland
• Beamsville Food Court Complex
• Grimsby Food and Service Centre
• St. Catharines Bus Terminal
• Niagara Falls Bus Terminal

WMAC Meeting 8

Radio Ads Compartmentalized Containers

• Campaign advertising was placed on six

compartmentalized containers near highly utilized bus stops and malls in Niagara Falls and St. Catharines.

WMAC Meeting 9

Collection - Oops Sticker

• An ‘Oops’ sticker was utilized to

educate residents on why their recycling was not collected.

• The sticker explained how

residents should sort their recyclables correctly and helps ensure that contamination does not recur.

18

Newsletter

• Campaign promotion was

also communicated using the Region’s GreenScene newsletter.

• The GreenScene is

delivered to all single family homes and apartments with 2-6 units in Niagara (> 156,000 units).

WMAC Meeting 10

Curbside Visual Audits

• Visual audits of the Blue and Grey Box recycling material were

conducted at 1,000 randomly selected homes across Niagara

• region. Three visits were made to each house over the course of

a three month period:

• Initial curbside visual audit of Blue and Grey Boxes
• Door-to-door survey; delivery of P&E material; and open

discussion about the Blue Box campaign messages as well as any challenges observed in the initial audit

• A second and final curbside visual

audit to look for improvement over the initial audit

Promotional Handout Card

• Handout cards were

distributed during the door-to-door visits as well as at all public events and booths.

• Cards were also

distributed to some collection staff to distribute to any residents

• r to leave behind in

‘problem’ resident recycling boxes that may learn from the message.

WMAC Meeting 11

Gold Star Reward Program

• Households that received high marks on material preparation

and separation during the second round of curbside visual audits received a Gold Star decaled recycling box to recognize their efforts.

• The Gold Star box was a visible and tangible reward.
• Encouraged their neighbours to achieve Gold Star Recycler

status as well.

Gold Star Reward Program

WMAC Meeting 12

23

Promotional Door Hangers

Front Back Front Back

• The online Recycle

and Win game tested recycling knowledge by asking participants to drag sample items into the proper container: Green Bin, Blue Box, Grey Box or Garbage.

Recycle and Win! Online Game

www.recycleandwin.ca

WMAC Meeting 13

25

Website Updates

26

Promotional Banners

WMAC Meeting 14

Engagement with Collection Contractor

• Four meetings were held at the contractor’s head office to

engage all collection staff with the key campaign messages and to reinforce the expectations of the collection contract.

• Meetings were held at 6 am in order to reach crews prior to the

start of daily collection. Open forum for questions.

• A Q&A page was developed for staff which reinforced the

Region’s expectations when dealing with unacceptable items.

• Shared with staff:
• Campaign promo materials
• Recycle & Win Game
• Results of tipping floor and curbside

visual audits

• Informational display boards
• Number of Oops stickers utilized
• Pre and Post curbside collection audits
• Recycle and Win game participation – contest participants were

asked to document where they learned of the game (i.e.: Radio, Video signs, Newsletters etc..)

• Facebook clicks
• Number of people reached at Outreach events/booths
• Neighbourhood visual audit results
• Comparison of pre and post composition audits

Measure your Success

How?

WMAC Meeting 15

• In May and June, the collection contractor used the standard

‘Recycling Non-Compliance’ sticker, but after 2 months of the campaign, a more campaign specific sticker was developed to improve the clarity of the campaign messages.

Evaluation – Oops Sticker Usage

• The ‘Oops’ sticker began to be

used in July and continues to be

• used. To date, over 60,000

stickers have been provided to the collection contractor for use.

• Pre-

collection inspection

Evaluation – Pre/Post Curbside Collection Audits

• Post-

collection inspection

Container full of lettuce Ceramic Urns - tagged Loose film

• tagged

WMAC Meeting 16 Views and Time on Page

• 4487

Page views for the Game

• 1m 59s Average time on Game page

Scores for the Correct answers

10 correct 316 9 correct 251 8 correct 288 7 correct 226 6 correct 170 5 correct 152 4 correct 73 3 correct 36 2 correct 12 1 correct 3 Total 1527

Evaluation – Recycle & Win

Where Did People Find the Game?

• Other

272

• VideoSign Ads

7

• Radio Ads

73

• Facebook Ads

195

• Informational booth

57

• Print Ads

94

• Promotional door hanger 33
• Green Scene Newsletter

61 Total 792

• A Facebook ad targeting Niagara Region

residents proved to be the campaign’s number one source for traffic.

• The ad ran from May 15 – Sept. 30, 2012.
• The ad had over 13 million impressions,

although there are no guarantees that it was noticed each time.

• The ad was clicked 3,310 times and had a

click through rate (% of clicks vs. impressions) of 0.025%. Anything between 0.01 and 0.02 is considered normal.

Evaluation - Facebook

Fgdfgd

WMAC Meeting 17

33

Evaluation - Outreach

Out of 1,000 homes:

Evaluation – Neighbourhood Audits

Number of homes to receive a perfect visual audit of their Blue and Grey Boxes in only the first audit 112 Number of homes that answered the door to staff during door-to-door information visits 286 Number of homes to receive a perfect visual audit of their Blue and Grey Boxes in only the final audit 110 Number of homes to receive a perfect visual audit of their Blue and Grey Boxes in both audits 42 Number of 'Gold Star Recycler' Boxes distributed after the results of the final audit 152

152 Gold Star Boxes distributed

WMAC Meeting 18 Completed in the fall, 2012 with positive results Blue Box

• Overall contamination decreased by more than 8%
• Plastic bags, film and outer-wrap improperly placed in the

Blue Box decreased by 0.74% Grey Box

• Plastic bags, film and outer-wrap increased by 0.63%

Evaluation – Post Campaign Audit

• Re-launch ‘Recycle and Win’ on the web this summer
• Introduce a plastic film interactive page for event booths

incorporating the, “It’s Not That Obvious” theme

• Pursue another Gold Star Recycler door-to-door campaign
• On-going communication with the Collection Contractor and

additional pre/post collection curbside inspections

• Additional promotion at summer community events
• More print ads using WDO in-kind ad space
• Additional audits of the container stream
• Participation in a ‘Golden Horseshoe’ Plastics Campaign with
• ther municipalities