CRRA 2022 Conference & Tradeshow

Senior Associate

Data is important for understanding baseline information and tracking trends, but it also directly informs education and outreach messaging. This session will focus on food scrap participation and will draw upon Gigantic Idea Studio’s survey and cart spot check results for the Cities of Livermore and Milpitas. We will look at eight years of cart spot check data from Livermore, compare a resident survey from 2014 to one conducted in 2022, and see how collected data has informed outreach content over the years.  A recent drop in organics cart participation prompted the Livermore Recycles team to take a close look at outreach efforts to see how to reinvigorate residents around recycling right. In Milpitas, changes in service and a new hauler led to dissatisfaction around rate increases, and confusion about the new food scrap recycling program. The Milpitas team used a survey to understand the community’s concerns and cart audits to check actual behavior and collect food scrap participation data. Using this information, a messaging plan was created to address barriers and benefits and increase a sense of value of the new and improved services.

Session participants will gain insight into how data can inform and improve campaigns at strategic and tactical levels and get some nuts-and-bolts tips about creating and interpreting resident surveys, including their uses and drawbacks.