1999 Trash Cutter Award Program Case Studies

Santa Cruz County: Best Public Information Program

• Program Description
• Program Summary
• Costs
• Benefits
• Contact

Program Description

The county created its Public Information Program to increase waste reduction and participation in its many recycling programs. To reach residents, full-page ads were placed in the regional newspaper and small ads in the smaller, local papers. Each ad is titled "Waste Reduction Tip of the Month" and contains information on the many recycling options that exist in the county. Aside from display ads, the county came up with the unique use of aerial advertisements to increase awareness and participation in the recycling programs. The county has had great success with the flights.

Program Summary

To reach the average person, the county places full-page ads in the regional paper and smaller ads in the smaller, more local papers. Each ad is titled, "Waste Reduction Tip of the Month," and contains valuable information on the many varied recycling opportunities that exist within the county, as well as benefits that come with utilizing these opportunities. The advertisements are formatted to have a similar look, to increase familiarity with the programs. The county has also begun to experiment with printing these ads in Spanish, to reach the non-English speaking citizens.

One of the barriers to placing ads is not every one reads the advertisements. Many people skip over ads when reading. To overcome this problem, the county started submitting a related article to the papers as an accompaniment to the display ads. More often than not, the papers pick up these articles, printing them as a staff article. Many of these articles have found their way to the front page. These topics receive a sort of double coverage, putting the waste reduction message out there to reach parts of the community that may have missed the display advertisements. A benefit to these articles is they are being published free.

Aside from display ads and their accompanying articles, the county looked at innovative and enterprising ways to encourage recycling and waste diversion. At a significantly lower cost than display ads, the county has used aerial advertisements to increase participation.  The county has had great success, particularly when used during the the biannual County Cleanup Days. The county noted a significant and immediate increase in the participation at the cleanup days when these flights occur.

The county also worked with the local CBS television affiliate to create some commercial spots to educate the community of the recycling services available throughout the county. The station agreed to design, create, shoot, and edit county spots for $500 each, with the commitment of $500 worth of airtime a month for three months. Additionally, when the county produced three commercials, all production costs were waived for the third commercial. They also matched the county spots with free spots. These TV spots have reached an otherwise, untapped market. As an added benefit the relationship between the station and the county garnered more free publicity for the recycling programs.

The county has used other unique ideas to get the recycling message circulated. Partnering with a local art center and mall, the county was able to erect a recycled art display in a window at the only major mall located in Santa Cruz County. The display was comprised of art made from discarded materials which was made by local artists. The art center was instrumental in collecting the artwork, and the county worked with the mall representative to construct the display. Another great aspect of this project--it required zero funding.

Another method the county uses to motivate residents to utilize the services offered, is to distribute pamphlets on various recycling programs to libraries throughout the county. These pamphlets are free to the public. The county is also working on a recycling resource binder for the libraries that include all the recycling pamphlets, and allows for anyone to access and copy them at will.  

Costs

• The county budgets approximately $36,000 for print advertising annually. Press releases were frequently picked up by publications and printed at no cost to the county.

• The county also budgeted about $1,000 for four aerial advertising flights, an amazingly small price for the reponse the county received from it.

• The TV advertising costs were under $8,500, a bargain considering this figure included the cost of production as well as three months of air time for each commercial.

• Other methods to advertise that did not cost the county included:
  1. Recycled art display in the local mall.
  2. Shared brochures with other jurisdictions.
  3. Distributed brochures through the county public libraries.
  4. Library displays were erected.
  5. Provide information through the county Web page.

• Staff time cost is estimated at $31,200 annually for one half-time employee @ $30/hour.

Grand Total:  $76,700

Benefits

The advantage of these programs is that there are little or no costs in implementing them.

For Further Information Contact:

Santa Cruz County
701 Ocean Street, Room 410
Santa Cruz, CA  95060
(831) 454-2160

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