Large Community - Residential Education & Outreach Toolkit

THIS TOOLKIT IS PROVIDED BY RECYCLE, MICHIGAN—AN EDUCATION AND OUTREACH INITIATIVE OF THE MICHIGAN RECYCLING COALITION

RESIDENTIAL EDUCATION & OUTREACH TOOLKIT

LARGE COMMUNITIES • POPULATION >50K

QUICK LINKS

Guidance for Large Communities

If you're managing a program for a large community, you're likely dealing with a complex system and multiple pathways for communication and outreach.

But even if you already have a robust education and outreach plan, you can still benefit from the resources in this toolkit. Whether you're looking at starting a new program or education campaign or just leveling up existing infrastructure, the content of this toolkit is designed to make your job easier.

Navigating the Toolkit: Use the accordion menu below for resources curated for medium-sized communities. You can always click on the "Resources" menu at the top of the page for a full list of resources, which you can filter by topic. Not seeing what you're looking for? Fill out the resource request form on the "Support" page!

GETTING STARTED

Contamination prevention is a top priority in every community, but especially larger communities with denser populations and more material. Follow these best practices to get the message across as quickly and as thoroughly as possible.

Use standard language when talking about recyclables so that everyone is coming from the same understanding when considering whether an item is recyclable or not.

These resources can be used to create new content, or to update existing materials.

EDUCATOR CHECKLIST

EDUCATOR PLANNING

Good recycling for communities is all about behavior. What does it take to move people and provide them with the knowledge and motivation to improve? This Behavior Change Strategy Guide can help you craft a strategy to target the behaviors that could have the biggest impact, whether trying to increase participation, decrease contamination, or some other goal.

Think about using a Recycling Survey to residents to gauge their knowledge and interest in recycling in your community. This can help you figure out which areas are most important for targeting your education.

Leveling up your education and outreach can have an impact on one of the most persistent challenges faced by communities of all size - contamination. Best Practices in Recycling Contamination might be a helpful resource if tackling contamination is one of your goals.

And finally, if there's a specific need that your community has and, you can seek out opportunities for funding, or think about speaking with elected leaders and decision-makers about how to bring needed resources to your community.

COMMUNICATING WITH THE PUBLIC

If you're short on time or just want to keep it simple, these are resources you can directly copy and paste, print, or publish to get the message across to your community.

These Messaging Samples can help keep communication consistent throughout your program.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot - this resource can help you communicate along the hierarchy.

And if you're looking for materials to have printed to distribute to community members, take a look at the Marketing Materials and Social Media.