Moving from Directives toward Audience Empowerment: A Typology of Recycling Communication Strategies of Local Governments

Abstract

Recent changes in the global economy make it imperative for U.S. recycling programs to reduce contamination, however, little is known about how local municipalities are responding to this need. The implementation of the Chinese National Sword policy banned most U.S. imported solid waste in 2018, but there has been an increased focus on implementing recycling education campaigns. To date, there has been little empirical attention on how these campaigns are being developed and whether they are effective for increasing recycling and reducing contamination. The goal of the current study is to understand how recycling communication campaigns are being developed and implemented at the municipal level. To accomplish this, we conducted in depth-interviews with recycling coordinators, representing 30 counties within a large and diverse state to identifying the current message development and distribution strategies. Counties were selected to ensure the balanced representation of geographical (urban/rural) and recycling participation (low/middle/high). Findings illustrate six distinct types of recycling communication patterns employed in municipal solid waste county governments. We compare and contrast the benefits and challenges associated with communicating about recycling. The implications of these findings for developing a communication training to advance current campaign efforts in the local context are discussed.