What Does It Take To Recycle A Box?
Boxes that are not broken down take too much space in waste receptacles, forcing other recyclables to be thrown out in garbage bins. Alternatively, the recycling bins will have to be filled several times, forcing more pickups and fuel usage from collection vehicles. This is a particularly prevalent issue in multifamily properties, where classic community-based social marketing techniques have not created significant impact on changing tenant behavior. In order to study and resolve this issue, I worked with the City of Redmond to educate multifamily properties on the significance and solutions to the problem. The aim of the project was to create significant and measurable behavior change in Redmond multifamily tenants, and to measure which of the outreach strategies yielded the best results. This was accomplished by measuring baseline and concluding data on property box ratios of broken down to not broken down over a period of time. During this time period, I worked with property managers to host educational events, distribute educational materials, and inspire personal property manager involvement. Final data analysis indicated two main tentative conclusions: property manager involvement strongly correlates with desired behavior change, while direct contact with individual tenants had no correlation with desired behavior change. While it is important to deploy several outreach methods in place in order to reach a wide demographic of individuals, the implications of this project indicate that community-based social marketing techniques should place a focus on the leaders of a particular target group, and not necessarily on its individual members.