Is Measurement Really Worth It?

Whether you are determining how many miles to your destination, if a possible new sofa will fit in your living room or how much of an ingredient to add to a recipe, measurement plays an important role in our daily life. 

But while those uses are obvious, incorporating measurement into your recycling program doesn’t always seem as simple. 

We’ve all been there: knowing that we should be using measurement and that it can help our program, but having no idea where to start. 

For me, it was really knowing the power that hard data would give me in selling the value of the Denver recycling program, especially among city officials.  I know from personal experience though that many of us don’t pay much attention to data until we’re facing a potential crisis.  However, as I’ve learned, regularly gathering and evaluating data to determine what is and is not working can easily become a habit. And it makes you better prepared to face potential threats as well as new opportunities.  

As you probably realized there are many components of your recycling program that can be measured.  You can get measurements on tons recycled, material weights, education costs or financial information.  You can also measure the numbers of bin or cart orders, Web site traffic, phone calls to your recycling center or the demographic information of your customers. 

One of the first steps is determining which variables are readily available to you.  For example, some communities do not track or have access to set out rates but most communities track some sort of tonnage report, ideally on a monthly basis.   Start really looking at it and comparing it to the years prior to get a sense of trends.  Is it typical that your collections go down during the summer months or right after the holidays?  Is there a time of year when your recycling tends to be higher?  This can help you in planning future education efforts.  For example, maybe you should really push residents to continue recycling once the holidays are over.  Looking at this data closely can also help evaluate the impact of a particular education effort.  Did you see a jump the months following a new PSA campaign?

I’ve also found that reviewing other factors can be helpful, such as visitors to our Web site and phone calls received.  If a new education effort is successful, we immediately see a jump on both. However, occasionally we’ll do something that doesn’t reach residents as much as we anticipated and this is obvious first by showing no lift in either communications. 

Before you conduct new education aimed at your residents, look at the existing data and use it to help set some goals.  Think about what you are trying to accomplish.  It’s likely that your end goal is to increase recycling but what will be other indicators?  For example, if you want to increase participation in your program through an education campaign, you could set a goal of increasing bin or cart orders first. 

Once you know what you are measuring, where you are starting from and what goals you have set for success, you can start taking measurements by working with your MRF or hauler, collecting your own statistics and utilizing CVP resources at your disposal.  But once you start having measurements to work with, what do you do with them? 

The simple answer: you put them to use!  Having concrete data can tell you what education efforts are most effective and those that aren’t worth the resources you are putting into them.   It can help you prioritize messages and timing, determine your returns on investments based on operating costs and plan for the future.  Measurements can also back you up that your program provides value to your community and should be supported.

So grab your tape measures, and get started!

Charlotte Pitt is the Recycling Program Manager for Denver Recycles/City of Denver.

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