Issues: Green Enterprise

Recommendations

It is important to read this report in its proper context. In several ways, recycling in New York is an emerging success story. As the costs for landfilling the City's waste continue to climb, the Sanitation Department is providing weekly recycling collections to every city neighborhood. Although far behind schedule, the amount of recyclables placed out for collection is now at almost 2,400 tons per day. As noted earlier, recycling remains a very popular waste disposal strategy according to New Yorkers in all five boroughs. And, even within the DOS recycling education program, there are elements (such as the recently prepared package of educational materials for public school teachers) that are quite impressive and that should contribute to further progress in future years.

In short, the City's recycling program has much to offer and requires careful nurturing. But this nurturing must include an honest identification of weaknesses in the program, so that such shortcomings can be corrected, and the program strengthened. It is with these objectives in mind that NRDC offers six recommendations for improving the City's public education program for recycling.

1. DOS should scrap its existing television ad campaign for recycling.

While there has been much to praise in the DOS public education efforts on recycling, a major area where the City's outreach efforts have fallen short is in its television advertising. In 1997, the City began running animated television ads with cartoon characters who offer general information on the use of blue and green recycling bins. Despite the significant amount of money spent on this campaign (NRDC was unable to secure precise figures), the Marist survey strongly suggests that the current effort is failing to educate residents on the specifics of the recycling program. By providing only general information, these widely viewed ads represent a lost opportunity and an unwise expenditure of City funds.

Accordingly, NRDC recommends that the City terminate its ongoing television ad campaign and revise its program as outlined below.

2. DOS should initiate a new recycling ad campaign that focuses on specifics.

Of course, television advertising remains essential. But with every City neighborhood now receiving weekly recycling collections, and with frequent changes to the list of items collected for recycling and to recycling schedules hopefully a thing of the past, the time has come to better focus the City's television ad campaign. Rather than provide only general information, future television ads should provide specific information on which items are recyclable (and which items are not), under the City's program.

One way of accomplishing this goal would be to invite New York celebrities to appear in a series of television ads that inform New Yorkers about individual parts of the waste stream -- providing specific information on what to recycle in that area. (For example: "I'm Bernie Williams. When I recycle plastics, at home or at Yankee stadium, I place the shampoo bottles, juice and soda bottles, and plastic milk jugs into the blue recycling bins. I never, ever put plastic bags into the recycling bins -- that's like striking out with the bases loaded.") Athletes, broadway stars, comedians, and musicians, etc., could be recruited to donate their time for recording similar ads dealing with each separate segment of the waste stream.

Regardless of what format a new television ad campaign takes, the key point is that the approach should concentrate on informing New Yorkers about the specifics of the program. To represent a clear break with the past and to grab the attention of viewers, the new ads should not employ the same animated characters that appear in the existing television ads.

3. DOS should mail its color recycling poster to all residents annually.

One of the clearest elements of the outreach and educational program is the full color recycling poster that DOS has previously distributed. It specifically identifies three dozen individual items, indicating which are recyclable and which are not, under the city recycling rules. (See Appendix "B.") Unfortunately, many New Yorkers who have moved into their apartments or homes recently have never seen this poster. And residents who have previously received such a poster in the mail could also benefit from periodic reminders. Even the world's best-known brands, such as McDonald's and Coca-Cola, regularly keep their names in front of consumers; they recognize that the key to successful advertising is repetition. Similarly, New Yorkers need to be reminded, through different media, as to the specifics of the city's recycling "dos and don'ts" on a regular basis.

Accordingly, an annual mailing of the DOS recycling poster to all City residents should be a cornerstone of the City's education program -- at least for the next several years until familiarity with program specifics increases in New York.

4. DOS advertising should also advance a secondary campaign theme that focuses on individual recycling rates and challenges residents to match the recycling rates of their neighbors.

DOS should also incorporate into its education program a new approach -- informing New Yorkers how much their neighbors are recycling and challenging residents to match or beat those numbers. Experts suggest that bringing issues to the neighborhood and even individual level can be an effective way of encouraging community members to increase their recycling participation. People often conclude that they are paying more attention to recycling than others, these experts suggest, and that their neighbors are not doing their "fair share."⁹ Rather than touting the total annual citywide recycling tonnage placed out for collection, as some current DOS advertising does, the average amount of recycling placed out by each household should be announced in order to more effectively motivate individual New Yorkers. (For example, a more successful message might be: "Your neighbors in Douglaston, Queens are recycling an average of 10 pounds per household of newspapers and paper recyclables every week -- how well are you doing?")

Accordingly, NRDC recommends that DOS adopt an approach that challenges individuals to participate, to complement the previously recommended focus on the specifics of what should (and should not) be recycled.

5. DOS should provide information on the benefits of recycling for the New York community.

While most residents understand that recycling is good for the environment in general, few realize that participating in the City's recycling program provides direct benefits to the New York community. The perception that a resident is performing a good deed for his/her own community through recycling is a strong motivating factor, and one that is not necessarily fully tapped in New York City. Advertising could focus on issues such as job creation that comes from recycling and decreased pollution from reduced garbage truck traffic in neighborhoods. Additionally, now that the cost of recycling is nearing the cost of exporting garbage in New York City, it is important to tell residents that increasing recycling has long-term fiscal advantages for New York. Consequently, DOS should identify opportunities to inform City residents about the local benefits that come from participating in the New York recycling program. By providing such information, along with data on neighborhood recycling rates (as discussed above), DOS could help to bring the message to the community level and further motivate recycling participation.

6. DOS should undertake intensified recycling education efforts in apartment houses, New York City Housing Authority facilities and all 1100 public schools.

DOS has to its credit sought to increase recycling in all three of these areas over recent years. Nevertheless, implementation of intensified outreach to superintendents in high-rise apartment buildings should receive greater emphasis. Informal inspections of apartment house recycling areas by NRDC suggest that lack of proper signage and information to apartment dwellers is hampering participation in the recycling program. Presumably, recently funded recycling coordinators will make this area a priority. Similarly, intensified efforts to improve recycling education in Housing Authority buildings is necessary to deal with less than optimal recycling rates in those facilities.

Finally, the long-promised addition of recycling in the City's 1100 public schools is still not a reality. Regular recycling collections are expected to begin this fall in about 700 public schools. That program should be carefully monitored and expanded to all 1100 schools by September 2002.

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Notes

9. P. Wesley Schultz, "Knowledge, Education, and Household Recycling: Examining the Knowledge-Deficit Model of Behavior Change." Presented at a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change, November 29, 2000, Washington, D.C., p. 16.