LoveNZ – the Recycling In Public Places Initiative Caroline Read, Senior Adviser, Ministry for the Environment

Introduction In February 2007, six new sustainability initiatives were announced as part of a wider cross-government work programme to ‘lead towards greater sustainability in our resource use and way of life’. The Recycling in Public Places Initiative is part of the ‘Towards zero waste’ initiative and is being led by the Ministry for the Environment. The initiative, now publicly known as LoveNZ after the initiative’s LoveNZ – recycle with care brand, received $4.6m funding over three years to June 2010 in Budget 07.

LoveNZ involves setting up a network of consistently branded recycling bins around New Zealand by providing government funding to local councils. The project aims to install at least 600 bins in high foot traffic and busy tourist areas around the country by June 2010, and bring on board businesses that provide recycling facilities to their customers to expand the LoveNZ branded bin network.

By June 2010 we would also like to have set in place the mechanism to continue the growth of the network and increase the recognition of the LoveNZ brand. We are now well into year two of the project and have another year to continue to trial bin type, location and placement and the best management practices for maintaining the bins. We are also trialing methods to communicate with our target audiences to ensure the best use of the bins.

This paper presents an update on LoveNZ and what we have set in place to capture the information required to determine a business case for public place recycling.

Year one councils Year one of LoveNZ installed bins in the Far North, Taupo, Raglan, , Kaikoura, , Wanaka and Arrowtown. This was done through partnerships with Far North District, Environment Waikato, Wellington City, Kaikoura District, Christchurch City, and Queenstown Lakes District councils. Our target number of bins for Year One was 200 – once all the bins are installed (some are held up due to locations within redevelopment areas) we will have 229. The bins are located within metropolitan centres, such as Lambton Quay in Wellington City and City Mall in Christchurch, at the beach (Cable Bay in Far North District), outside information centres (Kaikoura), in airports (Christchurch International) and in the streets of tourist towns.

During this first year we also set up a steering group of representatives from the tourism, local government, waste, retail and packaging sectors to champion the project in their sectors and provide strategic guidance on the growth of the project.

Year two councils Twelve proposals have been included in year two of LoveNZ. This will bring the total number of councils receiving funding from the Ministry to 23 (run through 18 projects). The proposals put forward this year include installing recycling bins in town centre main streets, high foot-traffic tourist locations such as shopping malls, major events venues, remote tourist locations, and airports. The year two councils include: • City Council (on behalf of five councils in the Auckland region) • Auckland Regional Council • Council • Environment Waikato (in collaboration with Thames-Coromandel District Council and Otorohanga District Council) • Council • Greater Wellington Regional Council • City Council • Queenstown Lakes District Council • Council • City Council • Wanganui District Council • Council.

Promotions in year one To support the roll out of the LoveNZ network, funding for marketing and educational programmes has also been provided. Other trials, both in New Zealand and abroad have identified the need to promote and educate people in the use of public recycling bins and also to encourage the public to recycle while they are out and about. The LoveNZ initiative therefore focused on creating the right visual identity and included regional marketing programmes from the outset.

The LoveNZ visual identity, created by Wellington designers Base Two, provides an internationally recognised call to action with positive, empathetic messages about recycling that complements New Zealand’s 100% Pure brand. The LoveNZ brand has played a key role in the successful expansion of the network within the tourism sector and put us in a good position to establish the network nationally.

The roll-out of the promotional activities in year one was confined to regionally delivered campaigns, to avoid raising expectations while the network was in its infancy. In year two, given that another 18 regions will be installing LoveNZ bins, the marketing programme will be broadened to include nationally delivered promotional activities.

Year one taught us that good planning and extensive communication is needed between and within councils to deliver regional promotional campaigns which align with the councils other priorities and campaigns. To aid in this, the Ministry has developed templates for promotional material that maintain a consistent visual identity, whilst allowing a diversity of styles for different audiences. This will be developed further in year two as we learn more about how the public respond to the promotional material.

Evaluation programme This year the Ministry will continue to roll out an evaluation programme including material audits in four locations over 12 months and a series of public surveys. The audit and survey data will feed into a case study of the LoveNZ network that will provide on the ground information to councils, contractors and businesses who are looking at joining the network, or making decisions on maintaining participation in the network.

Waste Not Consulting were commissioned to audit the contents of bins in the Far North, Kaikoura, Wellington and Christchurch over 12 months. This information will provide a good representation of the use of bins in tourist destinations and central metropolitan areas.

To complement the audit data, the Ministry will also undertake a public survey programme to gather public feedback on the promotional material and the use of the bins. Two surveys will be done at the end of the summer marketing campaigns in early 2009 and again in 2010. We are also investigating ways to capture feedback from international visitors.

Business involvement Given the importance of taking tourists with us on this public place recycling journey, we have developed some strong links with the tourism sector. Interest in the LoveNZ brand from several high profile sustainable tourist businesses led us to develop a Memorandum of Understanding for businesses to be able to use the brand. Youth Hostel Association, Tourism Holdings Limited and Holiday Parks Association are all now using the LoveNZ brand on bins they already had, or are newly sourcing. We are also investigating opportunities with InterCity and AA for a different approach to getting the messages out. Some smaller tourism operators, such as Abel Tasman Water Taxis and Dive Tutukaka, have chosen to use the LoveNZ brand on their existing recycling bins. We are encouraging this uptake of the brand and are working with the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand to investigate the costs and opportunities for small business to increase the number of LoveNZ branded recycling bins available to customers.

We are hoping to continue bringing on businesses who are interested in contributing to the initiative. We are also looking at ways they will be able to participate in informing tourists on the use of the bins.

Where to from here? Year two for the Ministry for the Environment will include rolling out the project to the 12 new regions and investigating the business case to take public place recycling and the LoveNZ brand into the future.

For more information please contact: Caroline Read, Project Manager – LoveNZ [email protected] 04 439 7676