Brevard County, FL - "Take it to the Curb!"
We worked with Brevard County to educate residents about their local program via low-cost marketing materials such as fliers, bin stickers and magnets, coupled with media relations and events. After the pilot period was complete, a 9.5 percent increase in all recyclables was garnered, yielding a 132 percent return-on-investment from the lift in commodities collected.

Brevard opted to utilize the tagline the Partnership had developed "Take it to the Curb!" and was aggressive in reaching out to media, taking advantage of existing community events, partnering with community organizations, leveraging community outlets and reporting data collected. Coupled with strong local political support and a desire to see their program succeed, Brevard County was a shining example of successful low-cost communications.
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Denver, CO - "ReThink Recycling"
In the fall of 2005 the city of Denver switched to single-stream collection. City officials partnered with the CVP to help communicate the change to residents. To date, Denver homeowners have been reached via news coverage surrounding the switch, through a TV PSA campaign featuring the Mayor, direct mail to homes, cart delivery containing a "goodie-bag" of information and freebies, ads in community publications and revamped Web site information. Additionally new recycling trucks serve as rolling billboards with the campaign slogan "ReThink Recycling" reminding residents of the change and asking them to participate.

Since the phased-in roll-out of new 96-gallon carts to residents began in late 2005 the city has seen an impressive increase in recycling. To-date, Denver has seen a 12% increase in participation (as measured by set-out counts), a 3.3 pound per household per route increase in volume collected and a six percent increase in aluminum can recycling.
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Orlando, FL - "Take it to the Curb!"
The CVP partnered with the city of Orlando in two ways: first to communicate to a city-wide audience about how and where they can get a bin and secondly to study and analyze the impact of a single-stream pilot program on an 800-household area. The first phase kicked off in the spring of 2004 with a press event and photo-opp featuring the Mayor conducting one of his famous "ride alongs" with a recycling truck. The Theme "take it to the Curb!" was utilized and placed on new curbside bins, on recycling trucks and on door hangers. These efforts, coupled with ongoing media relations netted a 1,000% increase in bin requests. The single-stream test will kick off in November 2006.

Further results are pending.
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Kansas City, MO - "KC Recycles!"
The curbside recycling program in Kansas City is less than two years old. In that time participation has spiked to close to 60%. The CVP partnered with them on a number of fronts: to reach their "urban core" who seemed less likely to embrace the program, to educate residents overall and keep them energized and to communicate the value of aluminum in the recycling stream.

To better understand the "urban core" research was conducted and co-funded by the CVP. We used the findings to tweak our outreach strategy and to-date have successfully partnered with area radio stations, newspapers and homeowner organizations to communicate more effectively with this diverse audience. Additionally, media relations on a city-wide level have netted several favorable news stories and participation continues to climb. Additional activities included partnering with the utility company to include information in their paper statements, participating in school events, re-vamping Web site content and placing Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor.

And the results are in! Over the past year, recycling in Kansas City has increased by a whopping 36 percent, saving the city over $390,000 in waste disposal fees. Additionally, pounds per household increased by an average of 20 pounds per month.
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Indian River County, FL - "Bin There. Done That!"
During the pilot, the CVP worked with Indian River officials to reach out to media, engage third parties and communicate directly with residents about where to get a bin and why they should use it. Our campaign was named "Bin There. Done That!"

Critical to our campaign was the use of five area Convenience Centers where residents throw away their own materials if they chose not to contract with the county's two haulers for garbage collection. On-site staff were educated on the campaign and distributed monthly fliers to residents letting them know that recycling is available at no additional cost. We also joined forces with Keep Indian River Beautiful (KIRB) to spread the word about the value of curbside recycling to critical audiences including students, parents and teachers. Pilot activities included media outreach and school visits. Special guest appearances from "Garbby," the county's recycling mascot were made at area schools, Earth Day gatherings, and other special events. Additionally, through an arrangement with KIRB and Dodgertown, recycling messages were conveyed at the L.A. Dodger's Spring Training Games.

This pilot confirmed that ongoing and consistent communication and education to residents about the importance of recycling and the availability of curbside will lift participation. A 22% lift was realized in beverage containers recycled at the curb, as well as a 37% lift in fiber.
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Omaha, NE - "Recycling...it's O! so Easy!"
In January 2006, the city of Omaha launched a new single-stream curbside recycling program. After several months, officials noted that recycling had not increased as much as they had hoped. They knew they needed to better educate residents to get more bins on the street.

So they partnered with the CVP and on August 1, 2006, city officials unveiled a new education campaign at a press conference with the city’s mayor Mike Fahey and a representative from the CVP. The event kicked off their new campaign Recycling… it’s O! so Easy!” aimed at increasing participation in the city’s new recycling program. As part of the effort, the city will place English and Spanish billboards on area roadways, engage Keep Omaha Beautiful to educate area school children, reach out to homeowner associations in key areas, educate the press on efforts and mail relevant news and information to residents via their regular newsletter and a new postcard campaign, among other activities. To date, the campaign has already led to a 35 percent increase in bin requests. Full results from the campaign are expected in November 2006.
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