Outreach
Control Your Positive Message: Communication Techniques
The approval of any waste facility is an uphill battle. However, with ample planning and coordinated outreach, waste companies can charge up the hill towards victory.
Daniel Larrison
A nationwide survey on waste issues was recently conducted.1 Not surprisingly, the results showed that landfills are not a popular land use among the public. Specifically, 62 percent of respondents said they would oppose a new landfill in their community. This number is startling and demonstrates the challenges in securing approval for new waste sites.
It is important to recognize that the approval of waste facilities is often a political decision. As such, ultimate decision makers (county commissioners, city councils, state regulators, etc.) are susceptible to influence. This fundamental is key to understanding the best way to approach the approval of waste projects.
The Opposition
The opposition to landfills is intense and ferocious. In most cases, emotional residents will begin an organic grassroots campaign to oppose a waste project. This opposition is fueled by NIMBY (not in my backyeard) sentiment and general fear of the unknown. This opposition can quickly spread throughout a community. Therefore, it is paramount to counter the opposition with an adequate level of support in order to provide political cover for decision makers to approve the project in the face of intense and hostile opposition.
No waste project is immune from opposition, whether it’s a transfer station, waste-to-energy facility, sludge plant or even a recycling facility; building support for waste projects is no easy feat. Indeed, it is an enormous challenge that requires both time and an advanced outreach plan—a plan that is similar to the approach used in traditional political campaigns. A typical public relations approach is not good enough—these types of projects require on the ground grassroots outreach.
Daniel Burnham, the famed architect who helped mold the development plan for the city of Chicago, said: “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized.” That same sentiment can be applied to outreach campaigns for waste projects. A full campaign involves several, integrated components: message development, direct mail, door-to-door canvassing, digital media (online advertising, social media platforms, website), print advertising, multi-media presentations and telephone outreach.
Effective Message Development
Any successful project begins with effective message development. The odds of success are increased with message discipline. For landfill projects, this includes a reframing of the message. Companies should avoid using the word landfill. Instead, replace it with disposal facility. Surveys and focus groups prove that this subtle change dramatically increases the public’s reception to waste projects.
It is key to make the approval of a waste facility into a referendum on economics. A crafty communication effort can shift the debate into more than the need for a disposal facility. It can become a debate on whether the public will support, for example, 10 new schoolteachers and five new police officers—a landfill can provide via hosting fees and tax payments. If this is done properly, decision makers will feel pressured into voting on whether they support hiring more teachers and police officers, and not merely on the issue of waste.
It is difficult to move the public by digging too deep into the technical aspects of a project. People have limited attention spans so the prevailing messages must fit into quick, concise talking points. However, there is still an importance in educating the public. Here’s an eye-opening fact: in the national poll, only 26 percent of respondents knew that landfills contain liners.2
Identifying Supporters
When it comes to waste projects, a segment in the community will always be likely to support the project. However, this is meaningless without action. It is not sufficient to have generic support. A waste company must publicly demonstrate that support. Remember and heed the often-mentioned axiom: perception is reality.
Even with a perfect communication and outreach campaign, the opponents of a project will almost always outnumber the amount of supporters at public hearings. Supporters have less to gain relative to what opponents feel they will lose. Therefore, broad support does not form by itself. It takes dedicated outreach to achieve and sustain support.
Finding support for waste projects can be a formidable obstacle. It is critical to use adequate resources to maximize returns when attempting to identify supporters.The most effective avenue to identify supporters is through direct one-on-one interaction. This can take place in a variety of arenas: open houses, civic meetings and door-to-door canvassing. This method is time consuming but also affords the opportunity to persuade people.
Phone Calls
The quickest way to identify supporters is with phone calls. A call center can contact thousands of residents in one night and ask a series of questions to identify possible supporters. The results of the calls can be used to rank residents into various tiers based on their level of support. Once supporters are identified, efforts can be made to turn passive supporters into engaged, active supporters.
Informational Articles
A waste company can demonstrate broad community support by collecting articles of support, including petitions, letters to the editor, video testimonials, resolutions from nearby jurisdictions or civic groups, and letters and e-mails to decision makers. These items should be placed into the public domain as a demonstration of support.
In most instances, a coordinated on-the-ground presence is required to collect a sufficient amount of articles of support. Companies cannot sit back and expect supporters to find them. Savvy professionals understand that companies must generate action; they must make things happen. That is why it is necessary to proactively engage supporters at their homes. Companies must make it easy for residents to demonstrate support without leaving their front porch.
Events
It is possible to bring some potential supporters to you. This can be accomplished with job fairs, informational sessions, home events and picnic receptions. However, it is unlikely that these events will generate an adequate amount of demonstrated support.
Public Hearings
Public hearings are like Election Day. The entirety of the outreach plan revolves around the dates of public hearings (aka decision days). It is, of course, difficult to match the level of opposition at public hearings. Therefore, it is critical to turn out supporters for hearings, and to carefully orchestrate the meeting. Speakers should be given talking points to address and counter the opposition’s arguments.
It is important to encourage all supporters to attend hearings even if they do not speak. Decision makers can quickly identify supporters if they wear matching t-shirts or lapel stickers. In addition to having supporters at hearings, a waste company can turn in petitions and letters from the community as an additional measure of community support.
Building Community Goodwill
Outreach should not be limited to the initial approval process. It is always prudent to engage the public in ongoing outreach. As it becomes more difficult to site new waste facilities, there will likely be a greater focus on expanding existing sites. As a result, companies will need to expand their existing footprints in communities. Therefore, it is important to continue to build good will in the community. This can be accomplished a few ways.
Contributing to Community Causes
For starters, it is always prudent to financially contribute to community causes. This is certainly a gesture that shows a commitment to the community. But there are other things that can be done: create a hotline for people to report issues, designate one person as the primary contact for neighbors, give tours of the facility to members of the community and have employees conduct community service.
Creating a Web Site
Waste companies should consider the creation of a Web site for each community where they have a presence. The Web site can offer basic information about the facility including contact information. In addition, it can highlight the positive things the waste company is doing in the community.
Newsletter
Another way to promote community involvement is with a quarterly newsletter. A representative from the waste company can deliver the newsletter by going door-to-door. This gives residents an opportunity to mention any problems that need to be addressed. This proactive communication will result in a positive track record for the waste company.
Planning and Outreach
The approval of any waste facility is an uphill battle. It is foolish to think otherwise. But with ample planning and coordinated outreach, waste companies can charge up the hill towards victory.
Daniel Larrison is Managing Principal for Ashton Strategies (Tampa, FL). He can be reached at (888) 699-9515, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.ashtonstrategies.com.
Notes
Survey conducted by Ashton Strategies.
Survey conducted by Ashton Strategies.