Groundswell -Commmunity Engagement
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The Groundswell Community Engagement Process Keeping it Clean the Groundswell Community Engagement Strategy community engagement There is no doubt that physical contamination of organic waste directly impacts on the cost of processing and the value of the end product. But how do we successfully engage the whole community in organics collections? How do we get universal participation while keeping glass, metal and plastics out of the organic waste stream? With almost universal participation and contamination rates around 0.2% the systems for collection established by Goulburn Mulwaree Council and Lachlan Council as part of the Groundswell City to Soil project are leading the way in Source Separation of household organics. The community engagement strategy adopted by the councils is simple, cheap and effective however it does challenge entrenched approaches to waste education and the usual way of doing things. Simone Dilkara, January 2010 The two councils have been providing a combined food scrap and garden waste collection to 0,800 households for almost 6 months as part of the Groundswell City to Soil project funded by the NSW Environmental Trust. The Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Inside Waste highlighted the low contamination rates achieved by householders in the project. Contamination rates have ranged between 0.076%, 0.4% and 0.2% over the past two years. The Groundswell City to Soil community engagement program is based on the assumption that to get people to do something, you need to give them the right tools, information and motivation.
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Groundswell Information Sheet - Community Engagement
Transcript of Groundswell -Commmunity Engagement
� TheGroundswellCommunityEngagementProcess
Keeping it Clean the Groundswell Community Engagement Strategy
community engagement
There is no doubt that physical contamination of organic waste directly impacts on the cost of processing and the value of the end product. But how do we successfully engage the whole community in organics collections? How do we get universal participation while keeping glass, metal and plastics out of the organic waste stream?
Withalmostuniversalparticipationandcontaminationratesaround0.2%thesystemsforcollectionestablishedbyGoulburnMulwareeCouncilandLachlanCouncilaspartoftheGroundswellCitytoSoilprojectareleadingthewayinSourceSeparationofhouseholdorganics.Thecommunityengagementstrategyadoptedbythecouncilsissimple,cheapandeffectivehoweveritdoeschallengeentrenchedapproachestowasteeducationandtheusualwayofdoingthings.
Simone Dilkara, January 2010
Thetwocouncilshavebeenprovidingacombinedfoodscrapandgardenwastecollectionto�0,800householdsforalmost�6monthsaspartoftheGroundswellCitytoSoilprojectfundedbytheNSWEnvironmentalTrust.TheJan/Feb2009issueofInside Wastehighlightedthelowcontaminationratesachievedbyhouseholdersintheproject.Contaminationrateshaverangedbetween0.076%,0.4%and0.2%overthepasttwoyears.
TheGroundswellCitytoSoilcommunityengagementprogramisbasedontheassumptionthattogetpeopletodosomething,youneedtogivethemthe right tools, information and motivation.
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Right Tools
Fundamentallyweneedtomakeiteasyforpeopletodowhatwewantthemtodo.Thechallengehereistofindtoolsthatareuniversallydesirabletouse.
Moreimportantly,thetoolsneedtopassthe’nanna’test.Basically,ifyoucan’tgetyourgrannytousethetools,thenyouhaven’tgottherighttools.Oneofthemainreasonswhypeopledon’tcompostistheydon’tlikethatsmellykitchenbucket.Soweneedasystemthatdoesnotproduceodoursanddoesnotneedwashing.Peopleareusedtoplacingfoodscrapsintoplasticbags,tyingthemupandplacingtheminawheeliebin.Soitmakessensetoreplicatetheseexistingbehaviours.
Thebesttoolswecouldfindareventedkitchenbinsandcompostablebags.Theyworkbecausetheyemulateandimproveonwhatpeoplearedoingalready.Compostablebagsimproveontheexistingsystembecausetheyeliminateodoursinthekitchenandinthewheeliebin.Andyes,my75yearoldmotherhappilyusesherventedbinandcompostablebagstothisday.
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Right information
Informationaboutthecollectionneedstobeprovidedinwaysthatreacheveryoneinthecommunityregardlessofliteracy.Weneedtoletpeopleknowexactlywhatwewantthemtodoandwhywewantthemtodoit.Thoughtneedstobegiventothetoneofinformationaswellasgraphicsandmedium.
TheGroundswellprojecthasdevelopedhumbletwocolourgraphicsinpreferencetoglossyphotosandkeptinformationrelentlesslyupbeatandassimpleandinclusiveaspossible.Picturesofspecificpeoplewithspecifickitchensandfoodscrapswillalienateanyonewhocannotrelatetothatimage.
Ratherthanworryaboutmultilingualbrochures,informationaboutCitytoSoilhasincludeddrawingswhichexplainwhatwewantwithouttheneedforwordsorliteracy.Theprojecthaspurposefullychosencheaporfreeformsofmediaincludingcouncilmail-outs,pressreleases,updatesinratesnotices,wordofmouth,ablogandsteeredclearofglossyadvertisementstomaintainthesimplicityand‘normalness’ofthecollection.
Oursimple,constantmessageis“ifyouputyourfoodandgardenwasteintothisbin,wewillcompostitandgetitbackintoagriculture.”Itisasimpleandpowerfulmessage.
TheresultispeopleKNOWthateverythingtheyputintheCitytoSoilbinisgoingtoenduponalocalfarmer’spaddock.Thecollectionbecomesaboutfoodandfoodproductionratherthanwasteandgarbage.
Forthismessagetoworkhowever,youneedtoconvincethecommunitythatthisiswhatyouaredoing.Youneedtoshowthemthecompostandshowthemtheoccasionalfarmerandtheoccasionalloadofcompostmadefromtheirfoodandgardenwastebeingappliedtoapaddock.
Aphotoofoneofthemorephotogenicofyourcustomerspreferablyoutinthepaddockwithsomerollinghills,atruckfullofbeautifulcompost,afewsheepandashortpressreleasewithanicejuicyquotefromthefarmerssayinghowwonderfulthecommunityisandhowlovelythecompostis,isalwaysawinner.
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For updates and more information on the Groundswell project go to: www.groundswellproject.blogspot.com
Written by Simone Dilkara, 2010. Graphic design/illustration by Carolyn Brooks
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. It can be downloaded and shared with others, but it can not be changed in any way or used commercially.
The Groundswell Project was assisted by the NSW Government through its Environmental Trust
Motivation
Whatgetspeopletosourceseparatetheirorganics?Whywouldpeopledothis?Formethisisthemostinterestingandcontestedareaofthewasteindustry.Istronglybelievethatcouncils,wastecompaniesandthegovernmentconsistentlyunderestimatethecommunity.Peopleassumethatuniversalparticipationisunachievableandasaresultdesignnoncomplianceintotheirsystems.
Obviouslythereisnosingleuniversalmotivatortogetpeopletocorrectlysourceseparate.Ourresearchshowedthattherewereactuallysix.SpecificallywetrawledthroughtheNSWDECCWWho Cares about the Environment?researchandfoundthatthereweresixreasonswhypeoplemightparticipateanddifferentpeoplewouldrespondtoone,someorallofthosesix.
The six motivators are:
Helpaddressclimatechange
Reducewastetolandfill
Reducewastecosts
Improveagriculturalsoils
Supportlocalfarmers
Winprizes
Byconsciouslyusingcombinationsofallsixmotivatorsinmediareleases,articleandletters,weareabletoreachthewholecommunity.Forexample,someonewhohasnointerestinclimatechangemaybemotivatedbytheprospectofreducedwastecostsorreducedwastetolandfill.
Thepurposeofrunningaprizeprogramforzerocontaminationistorewardpeoplefordoingtherightthing,generatepositivemessagesabouttheprogram,generatecommunityconversationsandtoreinforcethemessagethatCitytoSoilisaboutfoodproductionratherthanwasteorgarbage.Whereverpossible,takeaphotowhenpresentingtheprizesandgetashortquotefromtheprizewinnerforapressrelease.
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Insummary,theGroundswellCitytoSoilCommunityEngagementStrategytapsintoknownmotivatorsandtranscendstherequirementtochangepeople’svalues.Educationmessagesandmaterialshavebeenkeptverysimple.
Theuseofdrawingsandsocialmarketingstrategiesensurespeopledonothavetobeliteratetocorrectlyparticipate.Theprogramtranscendsconventionaleducationstrategieswhichrelyonvalueschangeorenvironmentalawareness.Itisalsonotableforitseaseofimplementation,simplicity,affordabilityandeffectiveness.
Thesuccessoftheeducationprogramisdependantonmakingsurethattherighttoolshavebeenprovided,andthattherightmotivatorshavebeenidentified.Peopleneedtoknowwhatyouwantthemtodoaswellaswhy.Strengtheningthelinkbetweenpeopleandwheretheirfoodcomesfromisintegraltokeepingphysicalcontaminationoutoftheorganicsstream.
Agoodcommunityengagementstrategybuildspositivelinksbetweenhouseholds,councils,processorsandlocalfarmers.Andthatcanonlybeagoodthing.
Thisarticlefirstappearedinthe20�0Jan/FebeditionofInside Waste magazine.
