Anti-littering communications campaign

Who was it for?

Devon County Council
Exeter City Council
East Devon District Council
Teignbridge Council

Background

Research we conducted with Devon County Council highlighted that, for many Devon residents, littering was seen as a significant issue which affected their everyday lives. Residents’ opinion was that littering was largely down to teenagers and was a bigger problem in urban areas.

Challenge

To address residents’ concerns and to encourage a reduction in litter dropping, Devon County Council - in partnership with the relevant local authorities - wanted to run a communications campaign in three key urban locations: Exeter, Exmouth and Newton Abbot. The campaign needed to reach everyone but have particular resonance with younger age groups.

Interestingly, teenagers themselves admitted that they didn’t like the impact rubbish had on their local environment but then failed to make the connection with their dropping litter. There was also a lack of awareness of bin locations and that there was a £75 fine if they were caught dropping litter.

Solution

Based on the findings from our research, including focus groups and depth interviews with teenagers, we developed the ‘Love Life, Hate Rubbish’ campaign.

The campaign featured creative showing young people in each location with litter prominently placed and spoiling their environment. A supporting message of ‘Be bothered and bin it - or face a £75 fine’ was used on buses and stickers were produced featuring ‘Trashman’ - a cartoon bin - asking people to ‘use me’ and placed on litter bins in each town.

As part of the surrounding publicity, people were rewarded for throwing away their litter responsibly. A life size ‘Trashman’ was produced and made several personal appearances - he has since gone on to star in various local authority events!

Outcome

‘Love Life, Hate Rubbish’ and ‘Trashman’ received extensive coverage across the local media including press, radio and television. Evaluation by Exeter City Council’s Citizen’s Panel showed that almost three quarters of them recognised the ‘Trashman’ logo with 99% of those seeing it on the city’s bins.

Post campaign research conducted in the 3 locations indicated that almost half those interviewed had seen the campaign and, especially amongst the younger age groups, there was an increased disinclination to litter.

Media

• Adshels
• BT boxes
• Promo bikes
• Bus sides
• Van sides
• Promotional stickers
• PR and press

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