Simple Educational & Promotional Ideas

*Create a program logo: Use this on all program materials and promotional events, signs etc...

*Create a program brochure: Program brochures are very useful for handing out at promotional events and more importantly for use in new employee and student packets. The brochure should have information on why recycle, where to recycle, material sorting guidelines, special materials handling and other program services.
Click HERE to see all the brochures

*Get the word out!: create a web site with all pertinent information for the campus community to easily access on program opportunities, operations and material guidelines. Make it easy for folks to access that information and you will find that people will be more effective at utilizing your program services.

*Collection sites: creating and maintaining aesthetically pleasing, fire safe and easy to use recycling stations is the best program promotion. Sites should be strategically placed in areas that enhance recycling opportunities. All program containers should have easy to identify decals and "how to use" guideline posters.

*Design various posters for specific collection areas. This will help folks recycle properly in those areas and easily identify recycling areas and recyclable items. Here are a couple examples. REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE POSTER 10 THINGS YOU CAN DO TO CONSERVE ENERGY POSTER

*Multi-lingual information: When creating promotional materials, especially posters, create multi-lingual guidelines and brochures as needed for international students. Work with international student groups to educate them at their functions.

*Universal Recycling posters: A picture is worth a thousand words. Make labels with photos of items for bin labels. This is particularly effective in family housing areas.

*Outfit your staff with program T-shirts with the program logo. (Everyone will want one!!)

*Department Presentations: Actively offer departments free campus recycling 10 minute info and Q&A sessions. Additionally, you can train a student to do these and actively contact individual departments to include a campus recycling presentation in a staff meeting. This can be tailored to the department waste generation or request for particular information.

*Department and Student Recycling Listserve: work with the administration to establish recycling department contacts in each department including student programs. At the University of Oregon the Program Manager is the only one who can post to the list. This is an effective mechanism for keeping departments informed and inspired. Hopefully, these folks pass the information along to the department and help students and faculty do a better job of working with the Program operations. Reward these contacts with promotional items if possible.

*Refillable mugs: At UO, each new residence hall student receives an in-room collection bin, a program brochure and a refillable mug. Each new employee receives a deskside collection box, a refillable mug, a program and a ROSE brochure. The refillable mugs end up saving the University thousands of dollars in reduced disposal costs from disposables. Additionally, work with the food service concessions to offer discounts on refills and encourage them to sell the program mugs in those areas. "If every person at the University of Oregon, reused a refillable mug once a day, we'd save 20,000 disposable cups/day, 140,000/week and 7.2 MILLION DISPOSABLE CUPS A YEAR!!!"

Reduce Reuse Refill - Refillable Mugs Campaign

*Table Tents: create a variety of table tents to put in all food service areas on tables. Work with the staff in these areas to get these distributed and recycled or reused for future use. Table tents keep people busy while they're munching. Make these creative, with graphics and putting facts on these works well and inspires people to make a difference. At the UO, a table tent was distributed on napkin use reduction. This included facts of resources used in producing napkins. This was so effective that disposable napkin use was cut in half in one month!

*Door Hangers: In the Residence Halls and Family Housing areas, door hangers are very effective in getting information out at the beginning of the year on the recycling system available in those areas and also at the end of the year to give folks information about reducing waste in move-outs.

*USE WISELY, PAPER=TREES campaign:

Create decals that say "Use Wisely, Paper=Trees" and distribute these on all paper towel dispensers. In areas where you have tried to create operational systems that reduce waste, but have been resisted, use educational opportunities to at least encourage waste reduction. A lot of paper towels are wasted but changing to electric hand dryers or cloth towels are often a hard sell. Put these up on paper towel dispensers to get folks to think about this idea.

*USE WISELY, HOW TO DOUBLE-SIDED COPY: Make up decals to be placed on all campus copy machines that remind people to make double-sided copies and also provides instructions on how to do it!

*Newspaper Ads: create a variety of newspaper ads for the student newspaper. At the University of Oregon, journalism students create these ads and the Campus Environmental Issues Committee, sponsors these monthly. Tip: people love factoids!

*Newspaper Column: work with the student newspaper to get a student to write a monthly column on waste reduction and recycling. Many colleges have environmental journalism students who would love the opportunity to write a monthly column. There is an opportunity for environmental topics to be featured. This is a current topic and many readers are interested in learning more.

*Newsletter: If you're really ambitious, work with other departments that have environmental messages and send out a quarterly newsletter. This can be included as an insert in the student paper. Even better if you can do this on-line. Additionally, a short behind the scenes newsletter directed at staff to better assist them in sorting and preparing materials.

*Radio Ads: Many colleges have student radio stations. Short ads are very inexpensive and present a good medium to reach the students. Additionally, many radio stations offer public service announcements. This is another resourceful inexpensive method to get the message out.

*Press Releases: Promote your program through regular press releases especially on special events or projects going on. These are well received as they are great "feel good" opportunities for the media.

*Messages on University literature: Universities often put out lots of printed items to staff, students and admin. on campus. Identify these items (campus newsletters, paychecks, course schedules...) and work with the folks who produce these to get a special waste reduction message included on the envelope or as a filler.

*Displays and display cases: Making portable displays is a great way to get the word out. Using sandwich boards and moving them around to various campus locations is another effective tool for promoting waste reduction and recycling practices and projects. Additionally, there are often display cases around campus that are available to check out for a week at a time. These are another good opportunity to provide a reminder to the public. See some examples in the section "Beyond Tabling."

*Other Printed Materials: There are many opportunities to get the word out on print. Give away bookmarks with info on the recycling program, at the beginning of the year. Key chains, pencils and other inexpensive promotional items are great to handout to new students and staff.

*Fleet Advertisements: Make-up some magnets with a recycling/waste reduction message and adhere them to various University vehicles that are traveling around campus.

*Phone Messages: on your program phone, leave insightful, catchy facts and thank people for recycling. Be sure and change these periodically. (For example: Hello, you've reached Campus Recycling. Just think: if everyone at the UO reused the back side of a piece of paper once a day instead of taking a new one, this would save 20,000 pieces of paper a day, 140,000/week and 7.2 million/year! Thanx for reducing and leave a message at the beep!) This is educational and much more interesting then your standard "leave a message at the beep"!

*Stop the Junk Mail campaign: Make up your own stop the bulk mail postcards for unsolicited mail sent to campus and also for the general public on all the unsolicited bulk mail they receive. Have printing stock the department ones and promote these to the departments. With this system, the postcard is sent from a University department to the company. All you do is address it and affix the mailing label from the unwanted item. For the general public, address the cards to the Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, PO Box 9008, Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008. On the body of the postcard, have a place for folks to write their address. Print these with a message that says: Please register my name with Mail Preference Service.

ALSO did you know that the DMV sells mailing lists with your name on it? Contact your local DMV and see if they have free postcards for folks to send DMV to get their name off of lists sold to companies for advertising. At the UO, there are two dispensers in the on-campus post offices, for folks to take these cards. The UO gives out 1000's of these annually and has reduced the burden of this mail to the public and also to the on-campus community. It saves $1000's of dollars in mail receiving, delivery service and recycling.

Go to our "Stop the Junk Mail" section for more information.

*Announcements at events: Work with Events Coordinators at on-campus events and athletic events to have them remind folks to recycle at the events. This will provide support from the event staff for recycling and also give folks a reminder.

*Getting Awards: Take the time to promote your program and staff by applying or nominating the program or staff for awards. Getting awards is a great way to promote your program. Award winning programs get some great PR and folks at the University take ownership of award winning programs. Winning awards is another support mechanism for University programs.

There are several award opportunities, here are some examples: University City, State, County State Recycling Organizations SWANA American Forest and Paper Association EPA Wastewise Campus Ecology Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education Look around, there's many opportunities out there

*Giveaways: People somehow love free stuff. Reusable mugs are inexpensive, a good place to advertise the Recycling/Waste Reduction Program and these are assisting the effort by giving folks a tool to further reduce waste on campus. This is an opportunity to get folks to come to you, ask questions and get other information to assist them with this effort. Getting folks to do an activity and get a free gift is a great way to educate folks! Other items that are inexpensive are: pencils made from recycled jeans (folks love those!), key chains, desk pencil holders, binder clips etc...Click here for some promotional item companies.

*Information center: Set-up a small information center in the student union or in a well-traveled public area. Be sure and keep materials in the racks. Expand the area to include other sustainable information such as energy conservation, how to become a member of the Campus Environmental Issues committee, transportation resources and other community resources that compliment resource conservation. Additionally, if there is a room, a bulletin board with current announcements also is effective. If you can put a computer in the area, links can be setup for information on all campus environmental issues.

Earth Facts

•  The industrialized nations, comprising one-fifth of the world's population, use four-fifths of its resources to achieve their current standard of living.
—Consumers Association of Penang , Malasia

•  In 1988, U.S. industry legally expelled 22 billion pounds of toxic waste into the air, soil, and water.
—The Environmental Protection Agency

•  The average American car driven 10,000 miles will release approximately its own weight, one to two tons, in carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
—World Resources Institute

•  By the late 1970s, air pollution caused 13,000 deaths and 7 million sick days annually.
—The Environmental Protection Agency

•  There are currently two holes in the ozone that develop annually over the two poles; the one over the Antarctic is approximately the size of the United States .
—The Sierra Club

•  Number of additional skin cancer cases in the U.S. expected in the coming year due to increased ultraviolet rays from ozone loss: 250,000.
—ABC Nightline

•  In California , nearly 130 million pounds of ozone-producing chemicals are emitted into the air each year, representing 5% of the world's output.
—Citizens for a Better Environment

•  There are enough chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) embedded in a single styrofoam cooler to destroy all the ozone over an area the size of 20 football fields.
—National Toxics Campaign

•  The styrofoam cups Americans use each year could form a chain that would circle the Earth 436 times.
—National Toxics Campaign

•  In 1988, McDonalds Restaurants used 1.5 billion cubic feet of styrofoam.
—Harper's Index

•  Amount of meat imported annually by the U.S. from Central America : 2 million pounds. Amount of meat eaten by the average person in Central America : less than the average American house cat.
—Diet for a New America

•  Every quarter pound hamburger from a steer raised in Central America represents the loss of 55 square feet, or one half ton of valuable tropical rain forest.
—Chris Uhl, Forest Biologist

•  Rain forest acres cleared every minute: 53.
—Harper's Index

•  Disposable diapers represent 2% of all municipal solid waste in America .
—The Environmental Protection Agency

•  Today, we dump 80% of all solid waste into 6,000 landfills. In the last five years, we have closed one-third of them. Within the next five years, another third must be closed.
—TIME

•  A landfill receiving 1,000 tons of waste per day will produce 11 tons of pollutants and toxic leaching each day. After a landfill closes, it is estimated that emissions could remain constant for as long as 30 years.
— Los Angeles City Lancer

•  Every day, Los Angeles generates enough sewage to fill the Rose Bowl and the L.A. Coliseum.
—Heal the Bay

•  The outflow from the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant near the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the tenth largest river in California .
—Heal the Bay

•  Animal agriculture has been responsible for 85% of our topsoil loss, 260 million acres of forest destruction, and 53% of the world water consumption.
—U.N. Environment Program

•  Water needed to produce one pound of wheat: 25 gallons,
Water needed to produce one pound of meat: 2500 gallons,
Cost of hamburger meat if water used by the meat industry were not subsidized by U.S. taxpayers: $35 per pound.
—Diet for a New America

•  Number of people who will starve to death this year: 60 million
Number of people who could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10%: 60 million
—Diet for a New America

•  It takes 40 times the amount of fossil fuel to produce a pound of feedlot beef than to produce a pound of soybeans.
—Diet for a New America

•  1976 random testing of nursing mothers' milk showed almost all samples contained traces of DDT and PCBs.
—The Environmental Protection Agency

•  Percentage of male college students sterile in 1950: 0.5%
Percentage of male college students sterile in 1978: 25%
Sperm count of average American male compared to 30 years ago: Down 30%
Principle reason for increased sterility and sperm count reduction in U.S. males: Chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides (dioxin, DDT, etc)
—Diet for a New America

•  Annual world military budget: $900 billion
Annual budget necessary to reverse the world's most pressing environmental crises: $149 billion.
—World Watch Institute

Environmental Facts

•  Each year Americans discard 18 billion disposable diapers, enough to construct a trail stretching from the Earth to the Moon (240,000 miles away) and back again seven times.

• Americans throw away enough glass bottles and jars to fill the 1,350-foot twin towers of New York's World Trade Center every two weeks.

•  Consumers and industry throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial air fleet every three months.

•  Each recycled aluminum can saves the energy equivalent of half a gallon of gas.

•  Americans go through 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. That is one for every resident in the state of Iowa.

•  The United States discards enough iron and steel every day to supply the needs of all the nation's automakers.

•  An automatic dishwasher generally uses less water than washing dishes by hand. A dishwasher uses 11 gallons of water; hand washing uses about 16 gallons.

•  The average shower uses 12 to 14 gallons of water; the average bath, in a tub half full, uses 20 gallons.

•  The average American uses 60 to 80 gallons of water a day.

•  In home usage alone, each American uses the energy equivalent of 22 barrels of oil a year—two and a half times the amount the Japanese use.

•  If every American family recycled their newspapers, approximately 500,000 trees would be saved weekly.

Taken from The Derrick/The News-Herald Newspaper: Friday, October 30, 1998. Page 12.

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