From the Sustainability Director’s Desk: Sort it Out

Q.  Dear Champlain College, SortItOut

I am the Community Recycling Officer for Croydon Council in South London, UK, and I came across your ‘Sort it out’ recycling pages educating and explaining recycling to your students, and found it to be of particular interest.

We are considering running a campaign aimed at householders within the borough to encourage them to recycle as much as they can, using the tag line ‘Sort it out’.  I was wondering if you might have any more campaign details (how long it has been running, how was it introduced) and information on how successful your campaign had been, any hints, tips and ideas or stumbling blocks you have come across in implementing this campaign?

Any information or advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.  If you would like any information regarding the services we offer our residents please refer to www.croydon.gov.uk/recycling.

Kind regards,
Joanna Dixon-Fillingham
Community Recycling Officer

A.  Hi Joanna,

This has been a long-going effort, but more ramped up in the past three years – with a combination of the right infrastructure in the right places and education and awareness. Some of the things we do around this include:

  • Waste sorts
  • Student Eco-Reps doing peer education in residence halls
  • Time on agenda during new employee orientation
  • Time on agenda during new student orientation
  • Green Team volunteers helping during large events – standing at waste stations

You can see a bit more here:  https://sustain.champlain.edu/category/stories/recycling/

I also highly recommend the Community Based Social Marketing Strategy – learn more here https://www.cbsm.com

Hope that helps, and good luck with your efforts!

~Christina