Apr 27 2006
A new trial, funded by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme), will evaluate the effectiveness of a sales and marketing campaign in encouraging Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Edinburgh to recycle at work.
LEEP Recycling, which is part of the sustainable development charity LEEP, is a social enterprise that operates a recycling service for businesses in the Edinburgh area. They have been commissioned by WRAP to assess the impact of the ‘Our Boxes Mean Business’ campaign on local businesses signing up to the service. The campaign consists of mail shots, taxi and vehicle branding and a series of press adverts. The promotional materials to be used in the campaign have been produced in association with the Scottish Waste Awareness Group as part of the Waste Aware Business Initiative.
It is hoped that the trial will result in up to 180 businesses signing up to LEEP Recycling’s business recycling service, which collects paper, confidential paper, cans, plastic bottles and other business waste including: cardboard, plastic cups, printer cartridges, mobile phones and chargers and fluorescent tubes. The trial will also help to establish a good practice route for recycling companies across the UK to market their services to SMEs.
The project is one in a series of trials funded by WRAP to improve the capacity of SMEs to recycle their waste. Through the trials, WRAP is targeting a wide range of businesses including offices, retail and wholesale outlets, pubs, hotels and restaurants and glaziers and window replacement companies.
Tom Kenny, Head of Commercial Operations at LEEP said:
“Working in partnership with WRAP will enable LEEP Recycling to encourage more small businesses in Edinburgh to recycle. LEEP’s business recycling service is clearly easy, cost effective and convenient to use since it already diverts around 2,000 tonnes of waste from landfill every year. By recycling at work the business community can make a real difference to reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.”
Liz Morrish, SME Recycling Project Manager at WRAP said:
“This research will be extremely valuable to many in the industry. It will help develop good practice on whether to use promotional mail shots, telesales, press advertising campaigns or door to door sales in getting businesses to sign up to a recycling service.”