Spotlighting Advanced Recycling Technology

Situation:

WM Recycle America, the recycling services division of Waste Management, was leading the way in rolling out advanced single-stream recycling systems, which eliminate the need for curbside separation of recyclable glass, plastic and paper. While these systems have been proven to increase recycling participation by up to 30 percent, the company had to overcome the skepticism of municipalities and customers about the technology’s ability to cleanly separate and recover different types of materials while reducing costs.

Solution:

We developed a plan to spotlight the openings of new single-stream recycling facilities, by creating grand opening events for local elected officials, regulators, commercial customers and the news media.  The events offered stakeholders an opportunity to tour the new recycling plants and watch how the technology is used to automate the separation of recyclable materials.  We promoted the events to the news media, so they could report on the visitors’ positive reaction to the single-stream processing system.  We held grand opening events at a newly constructed single-stream recycling sites in Syracuse, New York and Newark, New Jersey.

Results:

Both events achieved strong turnouts and support from local officials and recycling program managers.  Several dozen participants heard presentations on the technology by WMRA officials and toured the recycling plants.  The events were extensively covered in local print and broadcast news media, raising awareness of the single-stream process among targeted audiences.  We also sent post-event newsletters to an extensive mailing list of current and potential customers.  The added exposure enabled the facilities to attract and win new recycling contracts.