LAWR

STREET SCENE Increasing recycling through effective engagement With many councils facing tough financial decisions and limited prospects for significant investment in domestic collection services, maximising recycling per- formance has never been so important. Here, Joanna Dixon gives an insight into what Croydon Council, in south London, is doing to implement effective schemes. he debate about how maximising recycling performance is best achieved often involves looking at capture rates and participation, and more recently the effectiveness of incentive schemes. In my experience capture rates are difficult to judge, and it seems the jury is still out in terms of the effectiveness and cost/ benefit analysis of incentive schemes, which leaves maximising participation – the strategy we chose to use in Croydon. Designing effective engagement Whilst council officers are often well aware of the locations where participa- tion in kerbside services is less than optimal, this kind of anecdotal evi- dence is no substitute for a data-driven approach. By using robust and reliable data, priority locations can be identified and a baseline established to monitor and demonstrate the impact of engage- ment activities. The work put in at this stage is well worth it to ensure the available resourc- es are focussed in the areas with the potential to deliver the biggest increases. This can help form the basis for a cost/ benefit analysis. Tailoring the approach When target locations have been estab- lished it's well worth looking at the socio-demographic make-up of where you want to focus your efforts. By know- ing your audience you can tailor your approach, so, for example, when work- ing in areas with high proportions of speakers of other languages try to ensure your team are multilingual, or if your audience are professionals then door knocking at evenings and weekends will improve effectiveness. How the engagement team are briefed is also incredibly important. In Croydon we developed a script to guide interac- tions, although we also advised team members they should enter into conver- sation to uncover underlying issues and areas of confusion. This engagement- led approach has elicited some fantastic results. Below are the details of two pro- jects which have used this methodology. Kerbside recycling collection As a matter of course collection crews in Croydon note the properties which haven't presented recycling for collection. This is a fantastic data resource for iden- tifying those households which regularly don't participate in kerbside recycling col- lection. In Croydon this highlighted over 900 properties which didn't present recy- cling for four or more weeks. Using WRAP guidance we under- took collections monitoring to confirm the data, and these properties were the ones targeted for doorstep engagement. If there wasn't anyone in when the team visited they worked flexibly, includ- ing evenings and weekends, achieving an 'open rate' of 83%. The doorstep engagement was then followed up with collections monitoring which identified a service-participation rate of 69% from properties which had previously pre- sented nothing. Compulsory recycling engagement We decided to build on the successful methodology used above and developed a compulsory recycling policy using provisions within the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (although going for- ward we will need to take into account the requirements of the Deregulation Bill which is currently working its way through the legislative process). A range of data sources were analysed and evaluated to identify particular roads where participation was low. Phase One of the project targeted 4,626 properties across 48 roads and used the 'monitor, engage, monitor' approach used in the previous project. All properties in the selected roads received a letter to advise they were in a 'policy implementation zone' and a leaflet detailing what could be recycled. This often s timulated increased recy- cling box requests and participation from these locations. Collections monitoring highlighted non-participating properties, which were targeted for engagement and further monitoring. Initial collections monitoring found that 432 (9.3%) properties continued to not present, and further doorstep engage- ment reduced this to less than 1%, with only 31 yellow letters delivered, followed by just five red letters. Continued collections monitoring showed that only one (0.02%) of the 4,626 properties was due to receive a fixed penalty notice of £80. The project has been phenomenally successful in targeting roads which were historically poorly performing, with a noticeable decline in the number of properties with overflowing landfill bins. Most significantly we saw recycling collections participation of up to 100% in roads selected for policy implementa- tion (excluding residents exempted due old age, disability, or the use of other recycling facilities). In conclusion, these results have pro- vided a demonstrable impact and serve to underline the undeniable power of face-to-face engagement. Joanna Dixon is community recycling officer at Croydon Council. 20 Local Authority Waste & Recycling December 2014 T

• Cover