Frederick County, MD spreads the word about Recycle Coach, ensuring their residents are informed and connected, resulting in millions of interactions with Recycle Coach content and increased knowledge about proper recycling practices.
Frederick County has created an audience for their multifaceted recycling and solid waste program, and it's a large undertaking for a small team. They have an engaged resident base that's dedicated to recycling and learning proper waste disposal practices, but the County runs into many issues with the all-too-common problem of wish-cycling.The Solid Waste and Recycling team in part blames the way that recycling has been painted in a rosy light, making it seem like an easy, one-step process. Frederick County residents want to learn and participate, but it's creating a bigger problem when individuals don't participate correctly.
Watch our full interview with Paul Varga, Communications Manager for Solid Waste and Recycling in Frederick County, MD, where we sat down to chat about their success with Recycle Coach.
As Paul explains, the Solid Waste and Recycling team at Frederick County's efforts all come down to engagement, and not relying solely on outreach alone. They are getting the word out about the Recycle Coach platform and making changes. Incorporating the web app and using the words Recycle Coach often, they are getting residents accustomed to their branding and marketing. For every post they make on their social media, they do their best to direct people where to go. Rather than overloading their residents with messages, they send out reminders once per week and are sure to keep their messaging standardized. In the past year, there were 3.1 million interactions with reminders and notifications, up from 2.5 million the year before. Every month, there are nearly 150,000 interactions with Recycle Coach content. 20,000 of these account for activities and quizzes, and not only that, but there is an 81% correct response rate when asked about disposal rules.
Conclusion
Frederick County has no plans to slow down, however. There is always room for improvement, says Paul. He explains that they strive to incorporate recycling information into their other communications as well and emphasizes that the important thing is to remain transparent, be engaging, and always tell the truth.
Being able to educate them along with other outreach methods, we’re able to really engage them.
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