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Case study

Reducing recycling contamination in Suffolk

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Organisation type

Public sector

Sector

Environment and sustainability

Service

Behaviour change

Campaigns

Content development

Design

Digital

Influencer engagement

Media buying

Media relations

Social media

Strategy

Video and photography

The brief

Suffolk Waste Partnership asked us to develop a behaviour change campaign to cut recycling contamination across the county. In 2021–2022, 28% of Suffolk’s recycling was rejected — an expensive problem for local authorities and one that increases the amount of waste sent for incineration or landfill.As a recycling communications agency, we were tasked with raising awareness of what causes contamination and helping people recycle correctly. We needed to reach households county-wide, with tailored focus on residents in flats and houses in multiple occupation where contamination rates were highest.

Insights and approach

Our insight was clear: simplifying the action required would make correct recycling easier. We centred the campaign on one memorable behaviour — shaking out recycling so it is clean, dry and loose, with no plastic bags.

We created #ShakeItOut, a playful, county-wide behaviour change campaign built around a hero animation and jingle inspired by the familiar rhythm of the Hokey Cokey. The upbeat tone made the guidance easy to recall and repeat.

To maximise value for this local authority communications project, we repurposed visual assets from the animation across all channels. Messaging was kept simple, positive and jargon-free — a proven approach for driving behaviour change.

This fully integrated behaviour change campaign combined paid and organic social media, PR, radio, cinema advertising and hyper-local out-of-home placements. Multi-occupancy buildings in hotspot areas received clear, practical signage to support residents on the ground.Digital activity ran for eight weeks, with bursts of paid social at the beginning and end to reach highly engaged audiences.

Results

The campaign delivered strong reach and engagement across Suffolk. Paid social content achieved 1.2 million impressions and 200,000 engagements, with the hero animation viewed half a million times on YouTube. Radio advertising ran across three stations for four weeks, reaching more than 23,000 listeners.

The animation was shown in five cinemas, reaching over 16,000 people — 46% more than planned. PR activity generated 17 pieces of coverage and 2.8 million opportunities to see or hear, including interviews on BBC Radio Suffolk and Radio West Suffolk and a front-page story in the East Anglian Times.Most importantly, contamination levels fell in the months following the campaign

1.2m

impressions from social ads

11k+

click-throughs to the campaign webpage

17

pieces of media coverage

2.8m

opportunities to see/hear

“

This fun and engaging campaign has been a great success, with bright, bold and impactful messaging, both online and offline, reaching tens of thousands of people across the county. Most importantly, we are now beginning to see measurable reductions as a result.

Barley has been great to work with, providing us with innovative designs as well as professional, reliable and adaptable project support. I would not hesitate to work with them again in the future.

Rob Cole

Suffolk Waste Partnership Manager

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