Volume 12, Issue 3  •  Fall 2004

Recycling Marketing Strategies

by Kelly Palmiotto

After a full day of flying and layovers, I made it to San Francisco for the NRC Conference at 11pm Monday evening.  The Opening Session on Monday was given by Candy Cox, managing partner for Issues & Advocacy at DDB Bass & Howes, who received a standing ovation at last year’s conference in Baltimore. Unfortunately, I was still at the airport at this time but I overheard many referring to this session that set the tone for the rest of the conference. Last year, Candy spoke on how to market recycling and encouraged the audience to view recycling as not just an industry or concept but as a “brand or brand name.” Many successful campaigns are built by giving a product or company a “brand” through a catchy tune, sex appeal, or humor. 

Another interesting issue was that many researchers are finding out that recycling participation is not always linked to convenience, as many believe.  Value seems to be driving participation.  Value can be defined as the reasons and principals of why the participant believes that recycling is the right thing to do, it helps the environment, it is their responsibility to recycle, and so on.  There is also the thought that the participant believes that the recycling material is valuable…there is value in separating our waste.  

The misbelief about the convenience factor could explain why some who switched over to single stream collection have not increased recycling rates. Industries commented on the pros and cons of single stream and government reported on the development of switching to this type of collection during the conference sessions.  For more information and to download the speakers presentations on this topic, go to the NRC website at http://www.nrc-recycle.org/congress/index.htm.

A thought to ponder...the public is interested in the material that gets recycled and what value it provides.  The American Beverage Association (formerly National Soft Drink Association) has been running a campaign, “Recycle It Now!” that captures the marketing strategy mentioned by the ad agency paired with providing answers to the value of recycled material.  The campaign uses humor associated with reincarnated products that targets those least likely to recycle, males 18-34.  The campaign was run in Pittsburgh, PA and Hampton Roads, VA (near VA Beach) from March through Labor Day 2003.  Aluminum can recycling went up 24% and small PET went up 25%.  This is a campaign that can be duplicated by other communities.  Go to www.recycleitnow.net for more information.