title of entry: pitkin county solid waste center “talkin ... · ... internet marketing, tv, ......

HELP END TRASH TALK

Title of entry: Pitkin County Solid Waste Center

“Talkin’ Trash” Campaign

LandfillRules.com

Title: 2017 Excellence Award Category: Public Awareness CampaignEntrant: Pitkin County Solid Waste CenterContact person: Cathleen Hall, Solid Waste [email protected], 970-429-2882

• Approximate population of the jurisdiction: 17,000• Cost per household for the project: $3.94/person• Approximate budget: $67,000 annually

REDUCE WASTE. COMPOST.

FOLLOW THE RULES FOR HAZARDOUS

WASTE.

DRINK FROM REUSABLE CONTAINERS

REFUSE NON-

RECYCLABLES

TREAT YOUR TEXTILES TO A SECOND

LIFE. DONATE.

UNDERSTAND RECYCLING

2017 EXCELLENCE AWARD NAME OF CATEGORY: PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN NAME OF ENTRANT: PITKIN COUNTY SOLID WASTE CENTER

Executive Summary

More than 50% of the Pitkin County Landfill’s waste stream could be recycled, reused, or composted. At this rate our landfill will be full to capacity in the next decade. We created a multimedia awareness campaign that our citizens could not ignore.

Our custom-designed characters engage in ‘Trash Talk’ that are animated for television. They do not ‘mince words’ as they snipe with each other after mistakenly ending up in the landfill when they could have been diverted.

Our trash-talking characters have succeeded in not only getting the attention of our community but they have helped us increase participation in our textile recycling, composting, and reuse programs.

We believe we deserve to win a SWANA award because we have proven that a creative, out-of-the-box campaign can be fun and effective. Our community has great affection for our landfill and its programs and our “trash-talkers” have helped us create that atmosphere.

HELP END TRASH TALK

Intro Video: Help End Trash Talk-Public Awareness Campaign

Click in the box above to view the video!

-1-

HEY GARBAGE BREATH...THINK YOU’RE TOO GOOD

FOR THIS PLACE?

EX-CUU-UUSE ME,EVER HEAR OF A REUSABLE MUG?

https://youtu.be/sv9VcvHo0EY?list=PLnSvysX88MPzVNLJqRmqa9e5lg9gGoioS

https://youtu.be/sv9VcvHo0EY?list=PLnSvysX88MPzVNLJqRmqa9e5lg9gGoioS

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByK134-4INCDeG50LUxRSXUtUk0

research

In 2015 Pitkin County embarked on a waste diversion planning process, which involved a waste composition study. Pitkin County staff along with our consultants, Weaver Consulting Group and LBA Associates, conducted two extensive trash and recycling waste sorts in 2015 during our high tourist season and low tourist ‘off’ season.

What we learned: More than half (53%) of our waste and recycling streams could be diverted with existing programs.

From this data, the Reduce, Reuse and Refuse “Talkin’ Trash’ campaign was born.

Pitkin County Landfill Waste

Using the data collected, the call to action messages in the campaign were tailored to our specific community. In one example the campaign notes that 768 tons of single use plastic bottles are trashed in the Pitkin County Landfill annually; the message asks viewers to drink from reusable containers instead. Other messages speak to the amount of contamination in the recycling stream and the tonnage of the recyclable textiles in the trash annually. The messages bring to light areas that deserve focus to improve diversion and decrease trash being buried.


-2-HELP END TRASH TALK

I WOULD HAVE MADE THE HIPPEST COCKTAIL GLASS...

I’M NEARLY NEW... NO HOLES,

NEW LACES. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONATED!

Hazardous Waste 6%

Residue 9%

Glass 6% Metal 4%

Plastics 19%

Paper 20%

Organics 36%

planning & Goal setting

Overview

The Pitkin County Solid Waste Center has been operational since the mid-1960’s. At the time of its opening it was considered the “dump” — an uncontrolled canyon fill at the edge of town. Over the last 50 years the dump has evolved into a highly functional, integrated solid waste management facility.

Our current Solid Waste Center has an RCRA Subtitle D permitted landfill, a recycling drop off area, a large-scale composting operation, a scrap metal and tire collection program, an aggregate crushing operation, e-waste collection and recycling, and a year round household hazardous waste collection facility.

The Solid Waste site is on the western slope of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, 160 miles west of Denver. Our center services the waste management needs of the residents of the Roaring Fork Valley and the City of Aspen.

The people of our community are environmentally focused and work actively to protect our beautiful mountain home. It is well documented that landfills have a substantial role to play in climate change; the less we bury and the more we divert will make an impact. Using the momentum already apparent in our community we devised an outreach campaign that communicates the urgency of diverting waste to positively impact the environment and extend the life our our landfill.

Target Audience

The target audience of our campaign included the 17,000 plus residents of Pitkin County, second homeowners, and the tens of thousands of visitors who vacation winter and summer at our world-class resorts of Aspen and Snowmass Village. Our community is already environmentally conscious. The majority of the people who live, work, and vacation here are passionate about outdoor recreation and protecting our climate, particularly our snowy winters.

We are reaching out to our target audience with a multimedia approach. Because Aspen and Snowmass are world-renowned winter and summer resorts, the readership of our local newspapers is very high in print and online and our local NPR station also has a very high listenership locally and online around the world. We also used geo-targeted television to reach cable TV households in our area. We also specifically targeted a younger outdoor-oriented, environmentally conscious audience with our sponsorship of the high-profile 5Point Adventure Film Festival in Aspen during the winter of 2016/17.


-3-

I GOT LEFT ON THE BUS AND

WOUND UP HERE!

WELL, AREN’T WE AN ODD PAIR?!

I TOOK A LEFT AT THE DRYER AND HERE I AM..

HELP END TRASH TALK


Campaign Goals

Specific — This campaign was designed to not only raise awareness about recycling, reducing, reusing and refusing but to also increase participation in on-site landfill programs and initiatives with the ultimate goal of increasing the life of our landfill.

Measurable — We were able to measure the results of our outreach by analyzing the click-through and view rate of our digital advertising and the audience reach of our print, radio and TV spots. Please see our report here. We were also able to measure the results of our campaign by seeing significant increased participation in our on-site landfill programs including textile recycling and our ‘Drop and Swap’ reuse program.

Attainable — Our ultimate goal of extending the life of the landfill is attainable when we see increased participation in our on-site textile recycling programs, an increase of food compost in our ‘SCRAPS’ program, more participation in our ‘Drop and Swap’ program, and an increase in overall collection and diversion.

Relevant — Recycling, reusing, reducing and refusing are relevant in our community because there it is already environmental consciousness here. Surveys show that the reason people visit and live here is primarily for the clean water, fresh air, and blue skies. We believe we can have an impact on our citizen’s habits by appealing to their conscience to keep a special place special.

Time-Bound — Our campaign has succeeded in raising awareness of the limited life of our landfill. Because real estate prices are so high in our resort and finding property for another landfill here is unrealistic, there is a sense of urgency for prolonging the life of our landfill. As a result of our outreach our community and elected officials are well-aware of the consequences of our landfill filling to capacity, including higher trash hauling costs when trash must be hauled farther and farther away.



GURGLE, GURGLE, GURGLE, GURGLE...

SO,YOU’RE SAYINGNEITHER OF US ARE RECYCLABLE? DON’T GET SMART WITH ME!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EbggRvUvfPLWQzQ3c5SmI0c2M


Strategy

The public information campaign was designed to encourage the community to reuse, reduce waste, and recycle. The campaign employed an aggressive and integrated outreach strategy, which delivered the message to the market across all media – print, Internet marketing, TV, radio, movie theater and special event sponsorship.

The cornerstone of the creative direction is a series of custom produced 15 second videos. Because the subject matter was not universally compelling to the public, creative directors used illustration and motion graphics to capture audience attention. Each spot features two pieces of trash talking to each other dropping puns, bad jokes and generally behaving badly. The message encouraged viewers to “Help End Trash Talk” by reducing, reusing, recycling and other wiser choices. The art direction employed Shel Silverstein-inspired line drawings with an edgy, grungy, comical style.

Timeline

In 2016, the campaign ran May through September. In 2017, the campaign is scheduled to run in four, eight-week campaign periods – February/March, May/June, July/August, October/November

Budget

2016 total expenditures were $43,490. 2017 approved budget is $66,653.



DON’T WORRY SPUD. I’M GONNA’ TURN

YOU INTO SOMETHING

MORE... COMPOST!!

DON’T THROW ME AWAY, SARGE.

implementation

Obstacles

Designing a creative, multi-media campaign was beyond the skill set of the Solid Waste Center staff. We hired a professional marketing firm, Aspen Marketing Partners, to design the program and to manage the distribution to the multi-media outlets. The result of this decision was a professional looking campaign, and a comprehensive media plan.

The campaign was conceived after the start of the 2016 budget year and money for it had not been budgeted. Staff shifted and re-prioritized funding within our education and outreach budget to make the campaign possible. Money was re-allocated from education and outreach activities that of lower priority. The campaign was fully funded in the 2017 budget year. Additional discussion on the expenses and the budget are presented under the heading ‘Budget’ below.

New OpportunitiesIn an effort to reach as wide an audience as possible our campaign used mediums outside traditional newspaper and radio advertising. We took advantage of digital advertising opportunities on our highly-read local newspaper websites. We also produced animated television ads that aired on popular network channels geo-targeted to reach a local audience. Our animated shorts are also being screened in pre-show offerings at local movie theatres.

Our sponsorship of the Aspen 5Point Film Festival gave us exposure to a younger, outdoor-oriented, environmentally conscious audience. Festival organizers embraced the ‘look, feel and creativity’ of our campaign and went above and beyond to promote Pitkin County Solid Waste Center initiatives during the festival.

Other new opportunities for the solid waste center campaign included advertising exposure in the world-renowned Aspen Music Festival and JAS Aspen concert programs. The relationship built with JAS Aspen inspired an invitation to our Solid Waste Center to partner on summer 2017 concert-day recycling and diverting efforts.

Budget ComparisonThe Program began after the 2016 budget year. We had to reprioritize outreach to accommodate our new Reduce, Reuse, Refuse Ad Campaign. Additional money was added to the 2017 Outreach Budget to accommodate all of the education and outreach needs of the SWC, as well as to grow the RRR Ad Campaign.

Improvements

Employing a professional marketing firm allowed us to create a more impactful brand for our outreach campaigns. Before the professional ‘Talkin Trash’ Reduce, Reuse, Refuse campaign was launched our outreach and education efforts were primarily conducted by in-house staff who had no marketing, advertising and outreach training. Our prior outreach campaigns lacked professional quality and did not convey a unified message.



RESULTS

Using data analytics we are able to measure the number of views and people reached with the campaign.

Pitkin County will conduct another waste composition study in five years. The results of the study will let us know, quantitatively, if our ‘reduce, reuse, and refuse” messaging had an impact of material being buried in the landfill.

Staff also will monitor the tonnages of the recyclables, such as single stream and textiles, on an annual basis, to review the trends on recycling impact.

2016/2017 Public Outreach Campaign Review

From May 2016 through February 2017, our campaign through newspaper, digital, radio and movie theater delivered 2,034,746 impressions to our targeted audience. With a total media expenditure during that time period of $32,646, our average cost per impression was $.016.

It is worth noting that our click-through rate on digital advertising was .65%. A rate of .02% is considered a good click-through rate in the industry.

These figures do not include 15,498 cable TV spots delivered for which total impressions figures are not available.



YEA, DONT THEY KNOW WE’RE HAZARDOUS?

WE SHOULDN’T BE HERE.

DON’T THEY KNOW WE NEED SPECIAL CARE?

EVALUATION

Overall, we believe our ‘Talkin’ Trash’ outreach campaign has been effective in educating the public about reducing, reusing and refusing waste.

We did encounter some unexpected outcomes of two of our outreach efforts:

JAS Aspen 2016 Program Advertising: We purchased advertising in the JAS Aspen Concert program encouraging recycling. We learned after-the-fact that the event venue did not offer opportunities to recycle. Event organizers did not encourage food and drink vendors to use compostable or recyclable servewear. After applying pressure on event organizers by refusing to advertise again unless recycling was offered, JAS Aspen has agreed to offer recycling at all of its events this summer. In fact, the Pitkin County Solid Waste Center has been invited to partner with the event waste hauler to brand recycle bins with our ‘Talkin Trash’ characters.

Communication with local thrift shop: The launch of our textile recycling program at the landfill has been one of our most successful diversion programs to date. We have contracted with USAgain to recycle unwanted textiles that would have otherwise been discarded and deposited into our ever-shrinking landfill.

The success of our on-site textile program at the landfill raised the concern of our local thrift shop, Aspen Thrift Shop, who also contracts with a textile recycling company. The thrift shop worried that the landfill would compete with their ability to raise money for the community through their textile program. The thrift shop was also concerned that citizens would begin dropping off unwanted textiles at the downtown shop instead of transporting them to the landfill.

Neither of these issues has materialized.

Lesson learned: Communicate with your local thrift shops before launching a textile recycling program!

Program Replication: Our program could easily be adapted to other communities since so many areas are faced with similar issues of diminishing landfill space and challenges with reducing waste. Any community could create a similar program by determining its audience, incorporating community-specific waste data, and creating ‘trash talkin’ characters’ that resonate with its citizens.



ZIP IT!YOU’RE NOTEVEN GOOD

ENOUGH FOR THETHRIFT SHOP!

LOOK AT YOU,PATCH

ADAMS!!

I wanted to let you know that I’ve been seeing your engagement

work with 5 Point Aspen and videos at the Isis and I think it’s brilliant. Very

creative and well played. — LARA WHITLEY, CORE COMMUNITY OFFICE FOR RESOURCE

EFFICIENCY • I think the Reduce/Reuse campaign is brilliant with its poignant

substance & simple art. Clearly delivered messages with sharp wit & spicy

humor. — DAVE REINDEL, EVERGREEN ZERO WASTE • The Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

campaign by the Pitkin County Landfill brought humor and simplicity to a topic

many people find dry and complicated. Their unique ads were memorable and

raised the community conversation about our local waste issues. These quirky,

quick, and clever messages to remind people to reduce, reuse, and recycle are

models any community could use to engage the public in waste reduction. Our

community saw an increased awareness of waste issues as a result of this

memorable campaign. — LIZ CHAPMAN, CITY OF ASPEN

““





I WOULD HAVE MADE THE HIPPEST COCKTAIL GLASS...

I’M NEARLY NEW... NO HOLES,

NEW LACES. I SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONATED!

TEXTILE WASTE OCCUPIES NEARLY 5% OF ALL U.S. LANDFILL SPACE

REDUCE WASTE. DONATE & REUSE.

HELP END TRASH TALK Landfi llRules.com970-429-2880

WAIT A MINUTE PIZZA FACE, YOU’RE

TOO GREASY TO RECYCLE... I’M THE ONE WHO DOESN’T BELONG HERE!!

WELL OVER 1 BILLION PIZZAS ARE DELIVERED IN THE US EACH YEAR

REDUCE WASTE. UNDERSTAND RECYCLING.

HELP END TRASH TALK

WE RECYCLABLES GOTTA FIGHT THE GOOD

FIGHT, RIGHT? Landfi llRules.com970-429-2880

"Talkin' Trash" ads and television spots

PRINT AD

LINK TO TELEVISION SPOT

PRINT AD


donate & reuse understand recycling

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EbggRvUvfPbUtvN0owdWdyRlU

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EbggRvUvfPNC12S1pQQ1dNRGc





AMERICANS EACH THROW AWAY AN AVERAGE OF 70 POUNDS OF CLOTHING & TEXTILES ANNUALLY

TREAT YOUR TEXTILES TO A SECOND LIFE.RECYCLE THEM AT THE PITKIN COUNTY LANDFILL.

ZIP IT!YOU’RE NOTEVEN GOOD

ENOUGH FOR THETHRIFT SHOP!

LOOK AT YOU,PATCH

ADAMS!!


EACH YEAR OVER 3,700 TONS OF FOOD WASTE IS BURIED IN THE PITKIN COUNTY LANDFILL

COMPOST YOUR FOOD WASTE AT THE PITKIN COUNTY LANDFILL.

DON’T WORRY SPUD. I’M GONNA’ TURN YOU

INTO SOMETHING MORE...

COMPOST !

DON’T THROW ME AWAY, SARGE !

PRINT AD


PRINT AD


treat your textiles to a second life compost your food waste

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EbggRvUvfPamNiMFRsemZOS2c

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EbggRvUvfPX3N5RTFzeE05ZWM





IT’S AGAINST THE LAW IN COLORADO TO DISPOSE OF ELECTRONIC AND HAZARDOUS WASTE IN A LANDFILL.

PROPERLY DISPOSE OF HAZMATS AND ELECTRONICS.

WE SHOULD NOT BE HERE. DONT THEY KNOW WE’RE HAZARDOUS?

DON’T THEY KNOW WE NEED SPECIAL CARE?

HEY GARBAGE BREATH, ...THINK YOU’RE TOO GOOD FOR THIS PLACE?

EX-CUU-UUSE ME,EVER HEAR OF A REUSABLE MUG?

7500 TONS OF PLASTIC BOTTLES REACH OUR LANDFILL EVERY YEAR

Landfi llRules.com970-429-2880

REDUCE WASTE. DRINK FROM REUSABLE CONTAINERS.

HELP END TRASH TALK

PRINT AD


PRINT AD


hazmat & electronics disposal drink from reusable containers

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4AlP_obryCGM2ZUbUw2X2ZLU1U

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EbggRvUvfPUm5ndmJfR2xEYUk





GURGLE, GURGLE, GURGLE, GURGLE...

SO YOU’RE SAYING NEITHER OF US ARE RECYCLABLE? DON’T GET SMART WITH ME!

IN 24 SECONDS, AMERICANS USE 44,110 DISPOSABLE COFFEE CUPS

REDUCE WASTE. REFUSE NON-RECYCLABLES.

LOST ON YOUR WAY TO THE COMPOST PILE, MISSY MACINTOSH?

WELL OVER 1 BILLION PIZZAS ARE DELIVERED IN THE US EACH YEAR


I’M A HONEY CRISP!YOU SHOULDN’T BE

HERE EITHER, SMELLY.


PRINT AD


PRINT AD


refuse non-recyclables compost

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EbggRvUvfPbFVjNUU5ZHNXaE0

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-EbggRvUvfPd0RBaHBvYTdpOGs

"Talkin' Trash" BAG labels



LOCALLY COMPOSTED AT THE PITKIN COUNTY LANDFILL FROM LOCALLY COLLECTED FOOD & GREEN WASTE. -US COMPOSTING COUNCIL CERTIFIED-

HELP END TRASH TALK


YOU INTO SOMETHING MORE... COMPOST!


COMPOST-Local Soils from Local Food-

Landfi llRules.com

LOCALLY COMPOSTED AT THE PITKIN COUNTY LANDFILL FROM LOCALLY COLLECTED FOOD & GREEN WASTE. -US COMPOSTING COUNCIL CERTIFIED-

HELP END TRASH TALK


YOU INTO SOMETHING MORE... COMPOST!


POTTING SOIL-Local Soils from Local Food-

Landfi llRules.com

"Talkin' Trash" EVENT SIGNAGE



_ TRASH _

PROPERLY DISPOSE OFYOUR TRASH.

Landfi llRules.com

I’M TRASH.I ADMIT IT.

HELP END TRASH TALK

_ COMPOST _


Landfi llRules.com

I’M A COMPOST GIRL TO THE CORE!!!

HELP END TRASH TALK

_ RECYCLING _

REDUCE WASTE. UNDERSTAND RECYCLING.

Landfi llRules.com

I’M RELEIVED TO BE GETTING A SECOND LIFE.

HELP END TRASH TALK

title of entry: pitkin county solid waste center “talkin ... · ... internet marketing, tv, ......

Documents