Facebook Messenger empowers US consumer recycling with personalized “hyper-local” information
19 Mar 2021 --- The Recycling Partnership has joined forces with Facebook Messenger to provide US consumers with real-time and personalized recycling information.
Under an initiative called Communities for Recycling, the partnership provides residents of Atlanta, Georgia and Fort Worth, Texas with location-specific guidance on how to recycle everyday items like plastic bottles, cardboard and metal.
Typing questions into the Messenger app also allows users to learn about the recyclability of less commonly recyclable items, such as yogurt cups, pizza boxes and egg cartons.
Participating brands, such as PepsiCo, will help amplify the recycling education message by featuring information about their fully recyclable products in the pilot communities.
“US Americans want to recycle, and they want to recycle the right things. Frequently, the public is just confused because recycling varies from place to place,” says Keefe Harrison, co-founder and CEO of The Recycling Partnership.
A nationwide gap in recycling education
There is no national law in the US that mandates recycling. State and local governments often introduce their own recycling requirements, resulting in various community-specific recycling programs across the country.
The Recycling Partnership highlights despite decades of recycling, there is also no centralized guidance to inform US residents about correct recycling practices.
Communities for Recycling is trialing in Atlanta and Fort Worth, US, aiming to expand nationwide later this year.Recyclers have no other option than to “check locally” on whether or not a specific material is accepted in their neighborhood program – an increased barrier to participating in recycling.
“That’s what is so exciting about Communities for Recycling,” says Harrison. “It allows the public to know what is recyclable in their town and connects with companies who are doing more to design their products to be more recyclable.”
Finding hyper-localized solutions
The digital tool was launched this month to Atlanta and Fort Worth Facebook and Instagram users in both English and Spanish, with the wider goal of nationwide expansion later this year.
“Knowing how to recycle everyday items is a complex problem, but also an empowering opportunity to equip people with hyper-local solutions to play a role in shaping the future of sustainability,” says Arielle Gross Samuels, head of global business strategy and engagement at Facebook.
Besides the education feature, Communities for Recycling will showcase “local heroes” who give back to their communities. The aim is to capture and publicize all three stages – access, knowledge and engagement – required to influence positive recycling behaviors.
Preliminary feedback from Atlanta and Fort Worth
Kanika Greenlee, environmental programs director for the City of Atlanta, Department of Public Works, maintains Communities for Recycling is “a foundation for what is likely to become a new national standard.”
“Communities like Fort Worth realize that social media is a progressively important communication tool to connect with new audiences for specific programs such as recycling,” adds Robert Smouse, assistant director code compliance at Fort Worth’s Solid Waste Services.
“Fort Worth is proud to be one of the pilot cities chosen to share this personalized, hyper-local recycling information to our residents. To reach the largest audience possible, who better to do that with than Facebook?”
By Anni Schleicher
