Stockport Date: June 2014
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LIFE+ Up and Forward Project: Case Study B2: Celebrating Recycling Achievements Area: Stockport Date: June 2014 LIFE11 ENV/UK/000389 Contents Page 1. Executive Summary 2 2. Introduction 5 3 Campaign Area 6 4. Demographics & Acorn Data 9 5. The Approach to the Campaign 11 6. Results 19 7. Conclusion 27 8. Key Learning Points 28 1 Section 1: Executive Summary Introduction 1.1 As part of the EU LIFE+ project Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA) has carried out a 42 different communications campaigns across nine Districts within Greater Manchester (Bolton, Bury, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside and Trafford). Each campaign has had slightly different focus, targeting sections of the community that have traditionally been hard to reach, making the success of recycling schemes in these areas particularly challenging. This project enabled GMWDA to target smaller groups, generally around 1500 households, with much focused recycling messages. This allowed a variety of communication methods and messages to be piloted and the impact of each to be monitored. The project started in June 2013 and ran until January 2015 and involved nine Greater Manchester districts. The project is split into 12 campaigns covering one of the four following themes: a) Households – focused on communities in disadvantaged areas; b) Students and Short lets – focused on those areas with a high level of rental properties or student rental accommodation; c) Faith and Culture – focused on those areas with a strong religious or cultural background; and d) Apartments – focused on those areas with a high level of low rise or high rise apartments. 1.2 The celebrating recycling achievements campaign reported on in this case study was carried out in the Stockport area of Greater Manchester and aimed to help local residents understand why they are asked to recycle and how to recycle correctly through a fun family and community event. 1.3 The campaigns main driver was the establishment of an events committee with volunteers from the local community. Committee members were encouraged to work with the community, existing networks and environmental groups to plan and run a ‘green’ community event. Community volunteers were asked to commit over a three month period with Project Officers managing volunteer time inputs, and the reputation of the project partners and LIFE+. 1.4 Monitoring the impact of the campaign took place in a variety of ways. The number of households that were actively recycling was monitored and any change in the yield of recyclable materials collected in the area was calculated. Targets were set to increase both the set out rates in the study area and the weight of recyclable waste collected. These targets, and the formula used to set them for all of the GMWDA / EU LIFE+ projects are explained in more detail in the project handbook document. 1.5 Following the campaign there was an increase in set out and weight of recyclate collected which shows that more households are using the services, thus moving towards pro recycling behaviours. More assessments would be required to evaluate the long term impacts of the campaign. Alongside this, the campaign received support from several local businesses and three national stores that provided publicity for the event and supplied items for prizes and gifts. The number of people attending (over 100 residents) the organised events gives an indication of the community involvement in this campaign. 1.6 Recruiting volunteers from the community allowed for improved engagement. The campaign found that residents were more likely to listen and respond to people within 2 their own community. However, volunteers often have other commitments and can therefore prove hard to recruit, with the time spent on community engagement and attending meetings often being minimal. The importance of engaging with existing networks and associations is vital in developing and disseminating the campaign message as well as organising the event. Aims of the Campaign 2.1 The main aim of the campaign was to help local residents understand why they are asked to recycle and how to recycle correctly through a highly visual, fun, family event (organised by community volunteers). Key objectives were as follows: a) to develop positive recycling behaviours amongst residents in deprived areas; b) increase the level of recycling for all of the current materials collected; and c) raise awareness of the importance of recycling. Key Facts 3.1 The total cost of delivering the activity was €14,584.24 (£12,069.64), of which €9,434.90 (£7,813.99) was personnel costs and €5,149.34 (£4,255.65) was consumables. GMWDA received 50% towards the total cost of this activity from the EU LIFE+ programme. 3.2 548.31 hours were spent delivering the campaign. 3.3 There was involvement from six existing networks and associations at each stage of the campaign. 3.4 Three community recycling ambassadors were recruited and trained. 3.5 20 hours were spent by recycling ambassadors organising the event and engaging in the community. 3.6 Two focus groups were held with community members. 3.7 Two assemblies were held at the local primary school. 3.8 Four community committee meetings were held with five members from the local community engaged in staging the event. 3.9 Over 50 bins were cleaned and numbered during the event and 18% of participants ordered a new bin. 3.10 170 questionnaires were completed and analysed on recycling behaviour. 3.11 1700 campaign newsletters were distributed within the community. 3.12 Over 100 people attended the event; 87% residents said the event made them think more about recycling. 3 Results 4.1 Set out monitoring Set out rate (monitoring how many households present containers for emptying on two consecutive collection) results after post monitoring showed an increase in participation in two waste streams (pulpables and commingled) and a decrease for the organics stream. Both the dry recyclate waste streams met or exceeded the targets set. 4.1.1 Pulpables recycling set out rates increased by 3% from a baseline of 55% to 58%. 4.1.2 Commingled recycling set out rates increased by 7% from a baseline of 65% to 72%. 4.1.3 Organics recycling set out rates decreased by 6% from a baseline of 49% to 43%. 4.2 Weight monitoring The weight of recyclable materials collected increased for pulpables and commingled waste streams. 4.2.1 The weight of pulpables recycling collected increased by 0.48 tonnes (from 8.41 tonnes to 8.89 tonnes). 4.2.2 The weight of commingled recycling collected increased by 5.66 tonnes (from 5.76 tonnes to 11.42 tonnes). 4.2.3 The weight of organics waste collected decreased by 4.61 tonnes (from 15.09 tonnes to 10.48 tonnes). Some of the increase/ decrease in the organics waste stream may be accounted for by the timing of the monitoring and seasonal trends in waste generation, where larger amounts of organics will be generated in the growing season. 4.3 Targets The commingled waste stream exceeded the tonnage target set by 186.51%. The weight of the pulpables stream was close to the target set (98.19% towards the target). 4.4 The event A successful community event was held, with involvement from over 100 local residents. The event was well received within the local community. The campaign also gained support from several local and national businesses that provided prizes and gifts for the event. 4 Section 2: Introduction 2.1 The celebrating recycling achievements campaign is one of 12 campaigns run by GMWDA’s Up and Forward project. The campaign was delivered by GMWDA in partnership with Stockport Council. Each campaign has had slightly different focus, targeting sections of the community that have traditionally been hard to reach, making the success of recycling schemes in these areas particularly challenging. 2.2 The campaign ran for 22 weeks, from June 2014 to October 2014, in Offerton, Stockport, targeting 1701 households. The round selected was low yielding and contained households with high levels of deprivation. It has been recognised that there are difficulties reaching this group of residents with the traditional approach of door knocking activities. This group often does not have time to engage with a canvasser at the doorstep. Often, door step campaigns engage with the group of people that are already committed to recycling and are interested in finding out more about recycling, rather than those that do not understand or are not aware of the recycling collections available in their area. It is against this background that the campaign was operated. 2.3 The campaign’s focus was to deliver a recycling message in a fun way to encourage behaviour changes to increase the recovery of recyclable materials. The recycling message was refocused and moved into the community, with the help of local community groups and volunteers in the target area. A community committee, made up of volunteer residents, representatives from schools and housing associations, community groups and local environmental organisations in Offerton, Stockport, met on four separate occasions to plan a fun, family orientated, community event and organise activities. Members of the group were encouraged to inspire the community by getting people involved in the event. This provided a further opportunity to intervene in recycling behaviours, as the recycling message could be informally reinforced through designing, developing and staging the event. Residents were encouraged to discuss recycling between themselves in order to stage the event, which provided a subtle 'bottom up' engagement method. 2.4 A group of three recycling ambassadors were recruited and trained to engage with residents through informal gatherings, surveys and door knocking with the assistance of the campaign Project Officers.