Challenge
With the launch of the Commercial Recycling Toolkit, the City of Philadelphia’s Recycling Office had a vehicle to reach out to Philadelphia businesses and further engage them on commercial recycling. To take advantage of that opportunity, the Philadelphia Recycling Office (PRO) wanted to embark on strategic and organized outreach to ensure that businesses were aware that the toolkit exists, that there are resources for those businesses to implement or improve their recycling efforts, and that PRO is there to help. The effort had two initial main goals:
- Increase awareness among business owners, building managers, CDC personnel, business district staff, and other business-focused community organizations of the toolkit’s existence and the resources available through PRO.
- Create a network of business owners and property managers throughout the city to serve as neighborhood- and business-centric recycling resources.
Project Description
In Phase I of the outreach efforts (conducted in Spring and Summer 2015), iSpring led the creation of a master list that included business improvement districts (BIDs), community development corporations (CDCs), general business networks, chambers of commerce and trade organizations that could be targeted for outreach. After creating and prioritizing the master list, iSpring contacted prioritized organizations and conducted meetings to raise awareness of the toolkit’s existence, disseminate printed materials from the Philadelphia Recycling Office and enlist organizations’ help in reaching out to their constituents in-person and via e-mail.
iSpring also presented on commercial recycling and the new toolkit at various events in Philadelphia hosted by organizations it had forged relationships with, such as the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and the Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC).
In Spring and Summer 2016, the residential multi-family outreach team identified six different districts throughout the city for outreach, and iSpring and Community Marketing Concepts (CMC) targeted businesses in those districts in roughly the same timeframe to amplify the recycling message.
To build upon Phase I outreach efforts, iSpring continued to work with the PRO outreach team during Phase II to develop and implement a business outreach plan that would increase the number of recycling plan submissions by businesses along commercial corridors in the city. In conjunction with PRO staff and CMC, iSpring designed and completed a pilot initiative along the East Passyunk Avenue commercial corridor that involved meeting with the local CDC and then canvassing the corridor to meet with business owners and help them submit their recycling plan to the city.
iSpring then trained CMC staff on the approach used in the pilot, and the same approach was then replicated along commercial corridors in other parts of the city.
Also during Phase II, iSpring helped PRO draft new commercial recycling regulations for the first time since the mid-90s. iSpring reviewed existing work to date on the new regulations, conducted a benchmarking analysis of business recycling regulations from other cities across the U.S., held meetings with city-wide stakeholders to gather input into what should be included in the new regulations, and drafted the new commercial recycling regulations.
Results
During Phase I, iSpring contacted 17 BIDs, CDCs, and other business organizations throughout the city, presented to representatives from hundreds of commercial businesses, distributed almost 700 commercial recycling quick-reference cards, drafted language for e-mails to Philadelphia businesses and reached over 2,200 businesses via e-mail.
During Phase II, iSpring achieved a 56% conversion rate on recycling plan submissions for commercial businesses it canvassed as part of the business recycling outreach pilot. The success of the approach and increase in submissions led PRO to follow the same approach in other areas of the city.
iSpring also delivered a complete new draft of commercial recycling regulations for the city’s review that reflected best practices from across the country and garnered buy-in from stakeholders within city government.