Get it Right on Bin Night Evaluation Summary
Get it Right on Bin Night (GIROBN) is an initiative developed by Sustainability Victoria and the
Metropolitan Waste Management Group (MWMG). The campaign seeks to educate
Melbournians about better recycling behaviours as a means to improve the rate of recyclables
recovered from households. Phase A of the campaign was delivered in May 2012 in
partnership with Melbourne’s 30 local governments.
The first phase (Phase A) of GIROBN comprised a three month communications and
education campaign that included television, radio and newspaper advertising, online and
social media, along with collateral and a media kit for use by the thirty participating local
councils.
Social research identified two target audiences who could potentially be assisted to increase
their commitment and/or overcome barriers to recycling:
 Melbourne residents aged between 16 - 39 years old.
 Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community groups, specifically, the more
recently arrived to Australia residents (Vietnamese, Chinese and Arabic speakers)
The broad aim at the beginning of the campaign was to generate a minimum 4%
improvement in resource recovery by:
- reducing household recycling disposed of in the garbage bin
- reducing garbage (contamination) disposed of in the recycling bin.
An evaluation was conducted at the end of Phase A to measure its progress towards this
objective. The evaluation also addressed the effectiveness of the campaign in achieving a
number of specific aims:
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provide consistent messaging for how to recycle correctly
improve the levels of knowledge about what to recycle from within the home
increase understanding of what happens to recyclable materials beyond the kerbside
increase awareness of the environmental benefits of recycling
improve confidence in the recycling system.
Evaluation of Phase A involved looking at:
 Media reach – to what extent did the media campaign reach the audience?
 CALD reach - to what extent did the media reach the CALD audience?
 PR activities – how much coverage of GIROBN was generated in the media?
 Communications activities– to what extent did the GIROBN communications have an
impact on those who were exposed to them?
 Website and social media channels – what level of community interaction was there
with the GIROBN website and social media presence?
 Bin audit data – what changes in recycling behaviour were evident in households’
bins?
Overall, the evaluation concluded that Phase A has provided an effective benchmark to
support Phase B and any future recycling activity.
Media reach
- 12% of the 18-39 year old target audience surveyed online (and 15% of those
completing a paper-based survey) indicated they had seen an advertisement
(television, print or online) about recycling
- 7% of the target audience surveyed online (and 10% of those completing a paperbased survey) recalled seeing TV advertising about recycling
- 9% of the target audience surveyed online (and 17% of those completing a paperbased survey) recalled having seen promotional material (excluding advertising) about
recycling.
CALD reach
- There were few visits to translated material on the website
- When seen and recalled, the advertising was found to be effective in communicating
the messages.
Public relations
- 34 pieces of media coverage about GIROBN were generated across a variety of
publications and news outlets (29 newspaper, 4 radio and 1 television).
Communications
- Findings suggest that level of knowledge about what can be recycled increased as a
result of the campaign.
Social research (post campaign)
Objective
Less than 43% of targeted age
group say they don’t understand
‘very well’ what items can be
recycled
Less than 50% say they sometimes
throw items in the garbage bin if
they are not sure whether they can
be recycled
Less than 10% of people report that
they dispose of their recycling in
plastic bags
Result from post-online survey
43% of targeted age group (exposed to advertising) reported
they don’t understand ‘very well’ what items can be recycled.
56% of targeted age group not exposed to advertising
reported they don’t understand ‘very well’ what items can be
recycled.
Inconclusive findings, however, exposure to advertising was
found to contribute to a greater level of awareness of what can
and can’t be recycled.
Mixed outcomes:
No notable reduction in respondents exposed to advertising
reporting that they dispose of recycling in plastic bags.
Bin audits however indicated a reduction in plastic bags and
bagged materials in the recycling stream.
Website & social media
- Over approximately six months, about 13,063 visits were made by 10,383 unique
visitors to the GIROBN website
- No strong correlation between TV advertisements and website visits
- 313 Facebook ‘likes’ as of 25 October 2012 and 279 Twitter followers
Bin audits
Residual waste stream:
- no noticeable differences in residual waste stream pre- and post-campaign
- useful data on key items for improvement: steel and plastic, and containerised waste
Contamination:
- bagged materials in recycling stream decreased from 28% to 20%
- total number of plastic bags counted decreased from 409 to 219 post-program
- overall however, no improvement in contamination rates.
Recommendations
Strengths
Opportunities & recommendations
Project team responses
Delivery model leverages the
strengths of all the partners
Retain overall delivery structure with the possibility of adding
more partners as specific audiences are targeted.
Phase B campaign to continue with centralised delivery supported
by local communications activity.
Explore partnerships/relationships with
1) REIV to reach people (moving house) and
2) AMES to reach CALD groups through ESL classes
Timelines must be realistic and communicated to and agreed
upon by all partners.
Communicate regularly with partners and provide support to
coordinate localised communications and activities before, during
and after the campaign.
Continue with current communications messages and
consider refining the target audience.
Refine primary target audience for centralised communication
campaign to 30-39 year olds with children.
An opportunity exists to create more messages targeting
specific behaviours or barriers.
Analyse bin audit data and social research findings and consult
APC and EC Sustainable to develop more messages targeting
specific recycling items and behaviours in metropolitan Melbourne
Develop a more detailed strategy to reach CALD
communities, and use existing networks for design and
delivery.
Host CALD workshop to consult with councils and other
organisations about methods for direct engagement with CALD
groups around recycling.
Communication toolkit
facilitated council
communications
Enhance the existing communications kit and allow councils
to customise media releases and collateral where
appropriate.
Improve the style guide within the toolkit, making a more flexible
and adaptable resource for councils to use in the production of
practical tools such as waste calendars and guides
GIROBN website provided
clear and concise information
Build on the current website and consider further ways of
attracting visitors to the site through linking with social media.
Shift communications strategy for metropolitan Melbourne away
from television media buy and toward channels (including online)
aimed at maximising reach among the target audience.
Clear and concise
communications messages