Recycling publicity campaign for the Isles of Scilly

Resource Futures was appointed by WRAP to support the Council of the Isles of Scilly in carrying out effective public engagement and communications about waste and recycling.

This work was driven by the targets set out in their ‘Waste Reduction Strategy 2020-2030’. The project started with a review and alignment of relevant council strategy documents. Resource Futures then developed a messaging framework suited to the island context, followed by a communications action plan, a suite of editable highly visual campaign materials, and an accompanying design guide to enable future iterations to be conducted inhouse by the Council team.

Objectives

The Isles of Scilly is made up of five inhabited islands based 45 km off Land’s End. The Council was keen to encourage more residents and businesses on the islands to recycle to meet the aims of the Council’s Waste Reduction Strategy.

Recycling provision has significantly improved in recent years and further improvements to island collections now in planning stages. In preparation for future service changes, there was a need to produce new communication materials to help establish strong participation in the current recycling system; setting up good habits to maximise participation going forwards.

Due to high numbers of seasonal visitors to the islands, any communications needed to be designed with both islanders and tourists in mind.

Approach

Resource futures first reviewed the Council’s existing waste strategy and communications plan, providing advice to strengthen and increase strategic alignment. Following this, with WRAPs support, the team assessed the best approach to engaging and communicating with businesses, residents and tourists. It was agreed that normative messaging provided by WRAP would provide the best strategy considering the island context: Recycle Now’s social norming campaign.

Resource Futures then commissioned a photographer to capture high quality images of people, businesses, and locations that would resonate with all target audiences. Photographs were used to develop a set of campaign assets including billboards, posters, social media assets and instructional leaflets. All were aimed at inspiring action, increasing recycling and reducing contamination.

All campaign assets were designed as templates in an accessible and easy to use format and provided along with an accompanying design guide. This approach allowed council officers to continually build on brand materials after project completion.

Outcomes

“Resource Futures delivered a new look and feel for the Council’s communications, focusing on the role local citizens and tourists can play in increasing recycling and reducing waste on the Islands.”

Resource Futures produced a visual report outlining all the final deliverables. This was produced in an accessible format suited for audiences including elected members and used to support decision making within the Council.

Project Information

Services involved

Behaviour Change

Team involved

Sarah Hargreaves
Behaviour Change Lead / Principal Consultant

Sally Scholefield
Senior Consultant / Designer