Recycling Resources For All Ages

The N.C. Division of Environmental Assistance and Outreach has three social marketing campaigns to promote recycling. Social Marketing is the use of commercial marketing techniques for projects that benefit society. Each of our campaigns is described below.

Recycle Guys

North Carolina adopted the Recycle Guys campaign from South Carolina for North Carolina elementary and middle school children in 2000. It includes an activity book, commercials, posters, stickers, tattoos and trading cards. They are a very cute group of characters that sing and dance.

RE3.org

The RE3.org campaign kicked off in 2005 for high-schoolers, college students and 20-somethings. Original funding for the creation of the campaign was through an EPA grant. The campaign includes bottle openers, commercials, posters and T-shirts. This campaign may differ from other recycling campaigns in that it uses different messaging, graphics and media outlets.

Recycle More NC In 2010, DEAO embarked on a new campaign called Recycle More NC for the 35-year-old and older demographic. The goal is to not only increase the amount of curbside recycling, but also increase recycling participation at work and while out-and-about.

These campaigns are available for use by all North Carolina local governments and nonprofit agencies for free. Other out-of-state organizations are able to use the RE3.org and Recycle More NC campaigns once they complete and receive a signed Memorandum of Understanding from DEAO. The Recycle Guys campaign can be adopted from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

DEAO partners with both public and private organizations on the sponsorship of the campaigns.

All three campaigns can be found on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

Thanks for Visiting Our Booth at the NC State Fair!

By Kristen Aubut

Thanks to everyone who came to visit us at the Environmental Assistance and Outreach recycling booth in the GreenNC tent at the N.C. State Fair! We enjoyed hearing the recycling experiences of our booth visitors. We got some great questions about curbside recycling, the separation process of recyclable materials, accepted materials in your community and much more. We hope you learned a lot about waste reduction during our daily stage shows. We appreciate everyone who took the America Recycles Day pledge and our recycling survey. Check our Recycle Guys Flickr page or our RE3.org Flickr page to find the photo you had taken with Can Guy or the new RE3 avatar. We’ll see you next year at the N.C. State Fair! Keep reducing, reusing and recycling!

NC Launches Social Marketing Campaign Targeting “On the Go” Recycling

Recycle More NC is North Carolina’s third social marketing recycling campaign to launch in 2010. While previous campaigns targeted children (Recycle Guys) and 18-34 year olds (RE3.org), Recycle More NC is designed for the 35-55 demographic that has access to curbside recycling, but may not be recycling away from home. With Recycle More NC, the N.C. Division of Environmental Assistance and Outreach (DEAO) hopes to increase the amount of curbside recycling, but also recycling at work and when people are on the go.

Recycling “On the Go” is more than just finding a bin nearby. It’s about holding onto your empty bottle until you get home, or asking the manager of your favorite restaurant to provide recycling. It’s about keeping that valuable commodity out of the waste stream and into a recycling bin where it can be remade into a new product, like glass bottles or jars.

All three social marketing campaigns are available for use by all N.C. local governments and nonprofit agencies for free. Other out-of-state organizations can use the RE3.org and Recycle More NC campaigns after completing a Memorandum of Understanding with NC DEAO. For more information, please contact Kelley Dennings at Kelley.Dennigns@ncdenr.gov. Follow along on Twitter or Facebook.

New Recycling Campaign Targeted at Older Adults

Guest Blogger – Scott Mouw

Originally posted on the N.C. Governor’s blog April 23, 2010

Gov. Perdue signed Executive Order No. 54 March 30, directing state agencies to develop strategies and proposals to strengthen their preparedness for and response to North Carolina’s aging population. While that will include improving services to recognize and meet the special needs of this unique population, it will also include improving how we communicate with our older citizens.

DENR’s Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance is ahead of the game. It recently launched Recycle More NC, a recycling campaign aimed at those 35 years of age or older.

The division already promotes recycling through the Recycle Guys for the kids and RE3.org for the 20-something age group. The goal of Recycle More NC is to not only increase the amount of curbside recycling, but also increase recycling participation at work and while out-and-about. It’s the next natural step in the recycling education process.

With this campaign, the division will keep the state’s citizens involved in recycling and in their community as they grow older by providing them with information about recycling outside the home.