HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-01-21 Solid Waste Advisory Public Education Campaign Subcommittee Minutes/l
RECEIVED
'i0 CLERK
READING, MASS.
SWAC Public Education Campaign Subcommittee Ea I Ill 3 I l '9
January 21, 1997; 284 Summer Avenue
Members Present Kay Clark, Jean Krogh, Lynda Zarrow, Carol Nelson, Anne Mark
Guest - Nichole Cirillo, Recycling Education Coordinator for the State of Massachusetts
Anne called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.
Recvclinq Participation Campaign (RPC)
Nichole highlighted the steps the DEP has already taken and plan to take in order to get the RPC
in place by the fall.
Step 1: Held focus group meetings in 3 municipalities (2-Boston, 1-Needham) to determine their
attitudes towards recycling. The replies of the focus group participants allowed them to
more accurately word the telephone survey.
Step 2: Conducted a recycling participation survey to determine if there was a particular group
that wasn't recycling and decide if they could be influenced.
Step 3: Determined the particular group to focus on, while remaining committed to including the
entire population of Mass. during the campaign.
Step 4: Issued a Request for Responses (RFR) for advertising and public relations firms to
implement a state-wide multi-media campaign to formulate programs most likely to
affect consumer recycling behavior.
Step 5: Will select one firm on March 17 and give them until June 30 to further develop the
campaign so that it can be fully implemented in the fall.
Implementation methods have not been developed yet, however Nichole said that we could use
the theme, slogan, and logo as soon as they are finalized, which will be before June 30. We
were relieved to hear this so that we do not have to develop these on our own.
One item they are thinking of producing are postcards that could be specialized per Town, where
the percentage of garbage that is recycled would be listed.
Recycling Participation Study
Nichole provided an overview of the Recycling Participation Study that Cambridge Reports
International conducted to research barriers and attitudes towards recycling. She also pointed
out that this is only a portion of their entire Recycling Participation Campaign (RPC). An
overview of the campaign and participating organizations is attached.
Several interesting findings from the Study include:
• 85% of the population has the means to recycle in Mass., either by curbside pickup
or drop-off locations.
• the most motivating factor for recycling paper was to save trees.
• the non-recyclers were located in the urban areas, had a lower income, and less
education than recyclers.
• kids do not have a significant impact on recycling.
• a slightly higher percentage of women recycle because they tend to be the food
preparer in the household.
• there is peer pressure to recycle among neighbors.
The target audience, based on the findings from CRI, include the 27-29% of the population that
are considered low to non-existent participants, and the population that is recycling now, but
could be recycling more.
SWAC Educational Campaign Ideas
We had an opportunity to highlight for Nichole our education campaign goals. Several ideas she
recommended we have already planned to implement including block leaders, sandwich board
signs around Town, and working with kids in the classroom. This led to a discussion of REAPS
(Recycling Education Assistance in Public Schools). Nichole is checking to see if we have
applied for a REAPS grant and will let Anne know.
Lynda will contact the Reading phone book publishers to see if we can put information in it for
this fall.
Kay recommended we develop an informational mailer stating all the places that items can be
recycled, e.g. rags, plastics 3-7, old cars, etc. Jean volunteered to look at the reference book at
the library for ideas. _
A follow-up meeting was scheduled for 1/27/97, 7:30 p.m., at 284 Summer Avenue.
Adiourn:
The meeting concluded at 9:25 p.m. Carol Nelson