Recycle for London
Budget
Recieved a total grant of £5.4 million from The London Recycling Fund and WRAP over a four year period.
Launched
Recycle for London officially launched in September 2003.
Sections
Background
The Recycle for London campaign has been developed by the Greater London Authority (GLA) working with London's boroughs, the Association of London Government and the London Recycling Fund. The campaign covers the whole of London, an area consisting of 33 Boroughs, over 3 million households, and more than 7 million residents from a diverse range of backgrounds.
Following a high profile launch by London Mayor Ken Livingstone in September 2003, the campaign has pursued a multi-media approach encompassing advertising, PR, online marketing, specialised ethnic communications and a presence at key events. The campaign works closely with the London boroughs to deliver a programme that operates at a number of levels, with messages increasing in relevance and detail as they get closer to the resident.
Aims and Objectives
Original Objectives
The communications approach of the campaign is based upon an extensive behavioural study of London residents. The original communications objectives for the campaign are as follows:
- To simplify and normalise recycling – making it part of everyday London life
- To get recycling onto the agenda of Londoners
- To help people to find out more, in particular, to provide people with details of their local service
- To communicate the materials that can be recycled, and how people can recycle them
- Ultimately, to motivate people to not just think about recycling, but to act
For its 2005/06 campaign, Recycle for London employed six separate external agencies to manage the PR, media buying, advertising, market research, ethnic communications, and digital marketing elements of the campaign.
Campaign Communication Methods
Recycle for London has localised the national Recycle Now identity and successfully applied the campaign style across a wide range of communications, including:
Advertising on bus sides, billboards, 6 sheets, and at London underground stations, using familiar household brand labels to communicate the message 'London, Let's Recycle More'- Press advertising in The Evening Standard, Metro and other local titles
- A media partnership with the Metro newspaper worth £150,000, comprising of editorial, advertising, space on the Metro Café website, and use of the Recycle Now logo in the paper
- A programme of PR designed to support key campaign activities and take advantage of seasonal opportunities such as Christmas, New Year, and Valentines Day
- A consumer website (www.recycleforlondon.com), offering information, advice and a postcode-driven recycling service locator
- An innovative SMS messaging service that allows Londoners to text their postcode to a specified number and receive information on their local recycling service, including collection day and materials covered, by reply
- A digital marketing campaign, using tailored versions of the advertising to direct people to the website and recycling services locator
- A specific ethnic media strategy designed to engage with residents from different cultures
- Localised support of nationally-lead initiatives such as The BIG recycle and Compost Awareness Week
Funding is also provided for each borough to design and produce their own consistently branded promotional materials including leaflets, vehicle signage, posters, contamination cards, cotton bags, magnets, pens, pencils, tea towels and T-shirts.
Management
The Recycle for London campaign is lead by the GLA, with a team of delivering the campaign's activities. The team's work is guided by a campaign steering group consisting of representatives from the Association of London Government, London Recycling Officers Group, Association of London Cleansing Officers, London Recycling Fund, London Remade, Waste Watch, and WRAP.To ensure that all partners are fully briefed on each aspect of the campaign regular stakeholder events are staged, featuring presentations and practical workshops. The campaign management team also produces its own e-zine and a dedicated section of the GLA extranet is used for storing and accessing campaign information and resources.
Approach
An essential ingredient of the campaign's approach has been the recruitment of external agencies to manage and deliver specific elements.
Recognising the benefits of linking with a national campaign, Recycle for London has used the Recycle Now branding as a central reference point in the development of a complimentary advertising campaign.
Recycle for London has also benefited from the availability of resources such as the material stream colours, PR ideas and the photo library, all of which have helped save valuable time and money.
Using RecycleNow
Recycle for London was the first major local authority campaign to adopt and localise the Recycle Now branding.
Monitoring
The success of the campaign has been monitored through three phases of quantitative research before and after each wave of activity.
Achievements
The following achievements were highlighted in the campaign's monitoring in summer 2005:
- 33% of Londoners had seen the advertising after the main advertising burst
- 83% of Londoners said it is now either 'very' or 'fairly' convenient to recycle their household waste, up from only 69% six months previously
- Just under half of all Londoners (47%) now say that they "recycle a lot" compared to less than a third (31%) in the previous phase of research
- The number of people saying they don’t recycle has dropped significantly from 17% to only 9%
For further information on the Recycle for London campaign contact Ellie Russell on 020 7983 4430 or Fridey Cordingley at WRAP on 01295 819949, e-mail: Fridey.Cordingley@wrap.org.uk
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