It’s not just a load of rubbish

It is all very well building green new homes, but what of existing estates? Part of the challenge is educating residents to think green and recycle.

The charity Vital Regeneration delivers Get on the Greenside, a neighbourhood programme to increase recycling in high-density housing on six estates in north Westminster, London. The project works to raise awareness and increase community involvement in promoting Westminster council's and other local recycling services. It is funded by CRED (Community Recycling and Economic Development), WRAP (Waste Resources Action Programme) and Westminster council recycling department.

After a year the amount recycled across the estates increased from 143 tonnes/ year to 384 tonnes /year. Here’s how it can be done:

Understand the baseline

Study the information. We received baseline data from the council which gave us information on each estate, how much was recycled and the amount recycled per household per week. This allowed us to pinpoint estates where the recycling rate was particularly bad and identify barriers to recycling.

Know your community

Get to know the community and the community groups working in the area. It is important to speak to tenants and residents associations and residents. Understanding the target audience will affect what messages are reported, how the message is pitched and what language, tone and images are used.

Use the right methods of communication

If your communication methods and materials do not appeal to your audience, they will not work. More than 30 different languages are spoken on the estates we work with so it is essential we keep written materials simple, using images rather than text where possible to overcome language barriers.

The most effective means of communication with the community is face to face. We attend local events, festivals and meetings to speak to residents, promote recycling and answer questions. We always bring a supply of recycling bags as residents are more likely to start using them if they are readily available.

Recruit local recycling champions

A vital element of our project has been to engage local recycling champions to promote the services. Recycling champions have been involved in activities such as supporting the neighbourhood recycling officer in promotional and educational activities and researching new approaches to recycling.

We carried out a recycling awareness campaign last year visiting all 5,000 households on our estates. We employed local young people to knock on doors. Many of these young people were NEET (not in education, employment or training) and this provided training and work experience that could be taken on to gain further employment.

Partner with schools

An integral part of our project was to work with local primary schools to deliver “environmental kids clubs” engaging students aged 6-13 years. We used creative activities to teach children about recycling, climate change and their local environment.

An environmental education programme was introduced to the after-school homework club at the local community centre. This uses fun activities to encourage kids to think about waste and ways to reduce, re-use and recycle.

Be imaginative

Be creative in developing an awareness campaign. Incorporating environmental activities and messages into family events is an effective way of engaging the community, as organising an event which solely focuses on recycling may not attract a large audience.

One successful element was working with residents to change the image of their recycling bins. Children were encouraged to come up with designs for the recycling bin to get them involved, prompt residents to recycle and make a feature of otherwise dull bins. As a result of the makeover recycling almost doubled.

Work with local groups

To reach out to a broader community we developed Faith Waste – a project with local faith groups. The aim is to motivate faith communities to participate in recycling schemes by relating how such actions link to the teachings of their religion to respect the earth and conserve resources.

Get the right skills

Get the right people on your team, those who are passionate about the work and willing to go that extra mile. It takes a blend of skills – from understanding legislation and waste issues to community engagement, fundraising and project management capabilities – to deliver this project. Working with volunteers increases the social impact of the project.

Work effectively with partners

To maximise project effectiveness we worked closely with the council recycling team. We have regular briefings with recycling officers to discuss improvements we can make to the service the council provides. We have identified where community needs/barriers could dovetail with council initiatives.

Be sustainable

As we near the end of our two-year undertaking we are looking at innovative ways to sustain the momentum. We will continue to roll out successful elements of the project while developing new approaches.