Many of the industry’s leading commentators have noted the general decline in waste and recycling communications of late and the negative consequences on recycling rates, participation and costs (amongst others). Like many public-sector initiatives, austerity has become the ‘go-to’ reasoning but Behaviour Change Communications expert Stephen Bates from EnviroComms looks at another reason that might also explain the problem.
Budget cuts are regularly cited as the reason for there being less communications but I’m not so sure it’s that simple. Comms has long proven to be vital and effective in minimising disposal and delivering cost savings; in other words, an investment. In 2007 David Mottershead, then head of Waste Planning and Policy at DEFRA said that “waste is a communications business, not just a logistical one”. And interestingly, the most abundantly funded campaigns EnviroComms have worked on have all been delivered since 2014 so clearly the money is available – in some quarters at least. But some of the dynamism has certainly been lost and the campaigns, whilst need remains, are fewer and farther between. Those that are deployed are still effective but tend to be more technical in their structure and the scope for creativity is limited, all of which subdues the affect they might otherwise have had. So what else has changed since the early 00s beyond money that’s impacted on Councils’ ability to engage the population?
Between 2003 and 2010, EnviroComms and others like us delivered some of the most striking and effective communication campaigns; campaigns that won awards, defined best practice and made hugely significant positive impacts on recycling and other related behaviours. During this period, Municipal Waste Professionals fully understood the need for and the mechanics of communications. They understood the difference between behaviour change communications and the sort of work done by the Council internal comms team and as a result, they fully embraced the practice.
As a result, tenders were appropriately specified and the client-supplier relationship was truly collaborative. This meant that we had the headroom to really drill down to what would work and explore the full spectrum of creativity. Because clients had insight on communications, they recognised we knew what we were doing and allowed us to do it, with minimal controlling influence.
That level of confidence, trust, insight and knowledge came about as a result of education and learning opportunity; conferences, seminars, training; all on the subject of behaviour change communications, abounded. In 2008, I participated in seven conferences on waste communications, all very well attended, many; oversubscribed.
Today, no such learning opportunity exists. We find no inclusion of the subject in any of the CIWM waste management courses or across any waste management degree modules. Given the importance of communications in municipal waste management and its evidential positive economic impact when properly applied, this lack of learning opportunity for waste professionals to build understanding of the subject is rather shortsighted. Whilst many of those clients from the halcyon 00s remain in post, there is a generation of new waste professionals rising through the ranks with no formal insight of what remains a vital component of modern waste management. The impacts of this are manifested in several ways:
- Poorly specified tenders
- Difficulty in arguing internally for appropriate budget allocation
- Increasing reliance on market testing to gain confidence in creative approaches
- Short-term campaigns with no legacy capacity
- Subdued creativity
- Comms for comms sake - a ‘just do something’ mentality
- And ultimately, under-performing recycling services and increased costs
Solution? Education! Get Behaviour Change Communications back on (and up) the training agendas. Give it a presence within degree courses and create a forum for discussion. We’ve pushed this ourselves previously, offering to provide content, speakers and course leaders to various institutions but the response has always been luke-warm at best - the reasoning generally given being that; “councils have no money for comms any more” – which, as we’ve seen is not necessarily the case. They just need the confidence to ask for it and spend it and that confidence comes from knowing how it all works.
Then and now: Demonstration of the permanent role communications plays in SWM. Rotherham’s new service campaign launch in 2004 (top)
and Hounslow doorstepping to communicate their new service in 2017. 13 years apart; same need, same budget, same brilliant outcomes.
Stephen Bates is the co-founder and Director of EnviroComms. He is a global Behaviour Change Expert working in the waste sector. Stephen’s worked with over 140 UK local authorities and was a spearheading figure in supporting the country’s transition to resource recovery. Internationally, he’s worked in over 20 countries developing communication programmes and strategies in support of waste sector reform in post-conflict, low-income and emerging economic regions
NB: Non-LARAC bloggers are expressing their own views and not those of LARAC
