This project's final report and evaluation was completed on 23 June 2021.

Project approach

East waste has worked with the LGA to leverage the Spotlight feature of the My Local Services App to deliver key educational messages on waste avoidance, disposal and recycling.  The tips are delivered to residents with weekly bin collection reminders at 6pm. This allows education to be delivered at a time that recycling and waste disposal behaviour is taking place.

The project has also involved improving the viewer interface, functions and usability of the app.

An Analytics platform was also developed to allow Councils could find out more about how people are interacting with the app and in particular, the reach and interactions with the ‘spotlight on waste and recycling’ tip notifications and waste screen information.

After realising the importance and value of the targeted tips, Green Industries SA (GISA) were very much in support of continuing the delivery of the tips after taking over the Which Bin website in May 2019. East Waste worked with GISA to transition the linking tip pages to the new Which Bin website as well as produce a new suite of images using the new Which Bin? brand.

In July 2019 City of Norwood, Payneham & St Peters saw the value of the added features and information and signed up to using the My Local app.

With all seven of East Waste’s Member Councils now using the app, there has been a total of 16,380 downloads and approximately 8,100 receive the tips each week.

Project achievements

• Deloitte was employed to program enhancement elements into the app. The new enhancements aligned the recycling, FOGO and waste reduction tips with bin collection reminders was implemented with enhanced image-rich notifications.
• User acceptance testing of the new enhancements occurred from 11-30 January 2019. This included testing and modifying images and reducing the text size on the home screen navigation to suit the various iOs and Android devices.
• My Local Services 1.4 went live on the App Store and Google Play on Monday 11 February, which included the new enhanced spotlight notifications.
  • Following this, we realised that the notifications did not link to the associated spotlights so further work was requested to rectify this issue. A ‘change request’ for additional enhancements was raised and signed for this on 28 March 2019. This also included a request for additional configurable links to the bottom of the waste screen as well as the implementation of additional analytics to determine how people interact with the tips and waste information on the app. This enhancement was deployed on the App Store and Google Play, 1 May 2019. However, it was apparent that the links between the notifications and spotlights were still not completely rectified as they intermittently would not work when deployed to the App Store, despite the previous testing.
• The 'Digital spotlights on recycling and waste reduction project was promoted at the LGA Best Practice Showcase event in a formal presentation on 11 April as well through an information booth 11-12 April 2019.
• The project did seek an extension has received a number of project extensions in order to insure that the app was successfully transferred to the Squiz Platform and also rectify the app design.
• However, the project has been delivered well below the budgeted amount of $35,000, due to an over-estimate and quoted amount from Deloitte. Total expenditure (cash) to date has been $22,437.50 with an unspent amount of $12,562.50 to be returned to the Local Government Research and Development Scheme.
• There are plans to develop the app further which may include providing a platform for reporting household collection data to residents to be linked to an incentives program. This is dependant on the data being made available through East Waste's bin weighing technology and reporting platforms which are currently being tested. It is therefore proposed that this may form a new project in the future.

Project outputs and outcomes

The overall goal of the educational tips and waste screen information was to make it easy for residents to access correct information about recycling, sorting materials and ultimately reducing waste. By reducing waste to landfill through increased recycling and reduced contamination we can reduce the associated costs for Member Council’s.

Each of the project outcomes has been achieved mostly through the content development of tips by East Waste which is delivered each week through notifications in the My Local Services app. East Waste has ensured that this information has been kept up to date, relevant and aligned with the new Which Bin? campaign and messaging.

Messages are also themed with specific times of the year eg. Christmas and Easter as well as national and international events such as Plastic Free July and National Recycling Week.

These messages are replicated on East Waste’s and Member Council’s social media channels and E-News bulletins. This allows for the ‘repeat drum beat’ of messages.

Delivering information at a time that behaviour is taking place as well as repetition of clear and simple messages are both very important aspects in effective communication for behaviour change.

The main outcomes included:

1. Providing easily accessible information for residents on waste avoidance, reduction, re-use, recycling and composting.
   • This has been achieved as residents can access this information easily each week through their waste notifications as well as access additional information on recycling options and hard waste collection bookings through the ‘Waste’ screen.
2. Communicate to residents when changes to collection services occur (ie. Extreme fire danger, public holidays etc)
   • Notifications are sent to inform residents about any changes to collections. These notifications are linked to further information on our website.
3. Increase usage of the My Local Services app.
   • The number of app users has grown significantly since the beginning of the project starting with only 3,361 downloads within East Waste's Member Councils in October 2017 to 16,380 as of June 2021. The approximate number of active users is 8,100.
   • Promotional materials including social media images and content, flyers, posters, email signatures, banners, website information and digital screen images have been provided to Councils to promote the app.
   • We encourage our Councils to promote the app more to further increase the number of users.
4. Efficient and cost-effective method of communication with residents.
   • Megan Bekesi, Education and Promotions Coordinator at East Waste, create tips and programs them into the Squiz platform, from here John Mundy, Manager of Web Solutions at LGA, uploads them into each of the Council's platforms. Whilst the creation and updating of the tips and images take some time, as the tips are the same for each Council, it is quite an effective and efficient method. There is a very minimal cost to Councils as this service is provided as part of East Waste's education services.
5. Reach to residents who may otherwise be disinterested or disengaged in recycling and waste reduction practice
   • Although the waste information appears to be the most utilised section of the app with 30% of users accessing this, other sections that people find useful are 'events', 'near me' and the 'report it' features. It is hoped that Councils will promote the app and utilise these other useful features more so as to attract and reach a wider audience.
6. Reduce waste and contamination issues as well as increase recycling.
7. Reduce waste to landfill costs for Member Council’s and improving contamination rates

Delivery of education through the My Local Services app has formed an important part of the overall delivery of education by East Waste and our Member Councils.

Contamination levels have decreased from of 14.9%  in 2017 to 12.1%  in 2019. East Waste also has some of the highest diversion rates in SA from 53.5% in 2015-16 to 55.5% in 2019-20. These results however cannot be solely attributed to the delivery of education through the app, as the education is delivered through a number of different platforms and methods.

Project distribution

Prior to commencement of the project, East Waste consulted with Council staff from it's seven member Councils to determine what information and functions they would like included in the enhancements of the app.

Permission from each Council was granted to East Waste and the LGA at the beginning of the project to allow for content to be uploaded into their platforms, allowing this process to be automated for them.

Regular updates on progress of the project were provided to Councils through East Waste’s Operations Assistance Committee Meetings and emails.

Councils were provided with promotional material for social media and websites as well as printed flyers, email signatures, posters and digital screen promotions.

A presentation about the project was provided at the LGA Showcase event on 12 April 2019, Councils from across the state attended.

Twelve months’ worth of content and images for the weekly tips has been developed by Megan Bekesi, Education and Promotions Coordinator at East Waste. These tips are reviewed and updated every few months.

The weekly tips are programmed into Squiz by Megan Bekesi. These are then programmed into each of the Council’s platforms by John Mundy or Simon McMahon from the Web Solutions team at the LGA.

Scheme acknowledgement

The Local Government Research and Development Scheme was acknowledged in the main public promotions of the project;

• The LGA Circular December 2017
• At the LGA Showcase event and presentation in April 2019

Evaluation

The weekly tips and waste and recycling information delivered through the MLS app were considered as an aspect of the education program delivered by East Waste:

• There have been two separate external reviews carried out. These were a wider evaluation of the overall Why waste it? and Which Bin? campaigns delivered by East Waste:
  • Ricardo: White Paper for East Waste: Review of Waste System & Scheme Education (September 2020)
  • BDO EconSearch: THE IMPACT OF EWMA’S ‘WHY WASTE IT?’ WASTE AND RECYCLING EDUCATION CAMPAIGN (April 2021)

A more specific review about the 'Digital spotlight on recycling and waste reduction project and its deliverables was carried out through a survey to East Waste's Member Council staff.

Evaluation outcomes

The report by BDO EconSearch: ‘EWMA’s Why waste it? Waste and recycling education campaign’ stated that overall, implementation of East Waste’s education program’ was estimated to yield a minimum net benefit of $3.7 million under conservative future adoption rate assumptions, and $7.3 million under expected future adoption rate assumptions.

The delivery of educational tips delivered through the My Local Services app replicated on social media channels was considered to be a valuable aspect of the wider campaign.

The Ricardo: White Paper for East Waste: ‘Review of Waste System & Scheme Education’ suggested that more 'social normative' language could be used for the tips. Substitute technical words like contamination for 'incorrect items'. They also saw an opportunity to promote more of what the correct behaviour is rather than just the incorrect behaviour.

The survey reported that most Councils consider that the app is effective at delivering targeted education and engaging with residents at a time when waste and recycling behaviour is taking place. They also consider that the information provided through the tips and waste screen to be very (or extremely) relevant, useful and up to date. Those that had used the Analytics platform considered it to be very useful and interesting information provided.

There were two separate reviews and survey for East Waste Member councils.

• Ricardo: White Paper for East Waste: Review of Waste System & Scheme Education (September 2020)
• BDO EconSearch: THE IMPACT OF EWMA’S ‘WHY WASTE IT?’ WASTE AND RECYCLING EDUCATION CAMPAIGN (April 2021)
• Staff from East Waste's Member Councils