NCRA through Gigantic Eyes: Resource Recycling Conference Takeaways

March 26, 2025 The Gigantic Team

The annual Northern California Recycling Update conference is a wonderful introduction to the vast array of efforts around waste reduction happening in our area. Every year the Gigantic team attends to absorb 10-minute presentations on all aspects of waste from speakers local and from farther afield. The presentations drew an array of reactions from the Gigantic team members. Here are some of the highlights as submitted by each Gigantic team member:

Kas focused on some of the visual aspects presented. For the session, “Cooperative Reuse: Student-Led Furniture Exchange,” she noted, “I love their clever logo and I have been following this program for a number of years. It is so great to see how this has developed into such an impactful contribution to campus-led sustainability efforts.”

For the presentation on Petaluma’s Reusable Cup Pilot presented by Leslie Lukacs of Zero Waste Sonoma, Kas said: “From my graphic design and marketing perspective, I appreciated their ‘Sip, Return, Repeat’ slogan and loved the angular, repeated graphic as well. They did a wonderful job of being clever and reinforcing the message through design. Kudos!”

Lisa focused on Miriam Gordon (Reuse Program Director with Story of Stuff Project)’s session: “Hamburglaring Reuse: McDonald’s Disinformation Campaign About Recycling.” The Story of Stuff Project will be publishing a report to help the U.S. refute the disinformation used in the EU to to derail state and local reuse. Lisa notes, “We can try to refute McDonalds’ effort with facts, which are helpful to have on deck. However, the disinformation war is won in the U.S. with more emotion-based, simplistic messaging. Let’s join Story of Stuff to begin a proactive messaging effort and seed the fields with positive messaging before they can Ham-burgle U.S.-based efforts supporting reusable foodware.”

Peter noted: “(Virtually) attending NCRA was a breath of fresh air and inspiring! Despite what we’ve been reading in national news headlines the last couple of months, I was beyond impressed to see the incredible work that is being done on a variety of topics in Northern California. As an AmeriCorps and Peace Corps alum, it was great to hear Lexie speak in the morning about the success stories of San Jose Conservation Corps members and reminded me of my own personal growth and the value of these programs. Ravyn Williams’ presentation on PFAS and health was sobering — I ordered a stainless steel spatula to replace my black plastic one before the presentation was over!”

Stef gave a personal take: “I am allowing myself to have a very subjective filter on this year’s NCRA Update, and sadly that filter is darkened by my anxiety about current events. The presentations, as always, covered a lot of ground and reminded me of this community’s dedication to a better world, but I feel that few presenters acknowledged or directly addressed head-on the devastating blows already served to our industry and more roadblocks ahead. All this said, I was very grateful for the one-on-one conversations in the limited sunshine on the palace balcony and knowing that this community, if anything, is what will get me through these scary times.”

Nancy noted: “Like Stef, I found it hard to focus on the details of the very important issue of waste, given everything that is going on at the national level. I have family and friends that have been directly impacted by the government cuts, and I fear that worse is to come. But I am delighted to be working in a community of relentless, resilient, dedicated solution-seekers…there is hope!”

Laura-Lee writes: “I was inspired by the passion and conviction with which the speakers delivered their messages. As an older person who tends to be more of an ‘Eeyore” than a “Tigger,’ I was encouraged by the messages of ‘let’s be brave’ and ‘think big’ and ‘be together in all the ways that count.’ We should continue to highlight successes, find solutions to challenges, remain vigilant and encourage the next generation of reducers, reusers and recyclers.”

Myer found Shira Lane’s presentation, “The Power of Creativity in Sustainable Behavior Change,” particularly impactful. He was impressed by Atrium 916‘s innovative approaches, like the “Sustainable Santa” concept for children and other community-based events. “The upcycling of political signs was a novel and thought-provoking idea; I’d never really thought about what happens to old signs after the election. The art installations that doubled as collection points for cans and bottles, accessible to the unhoused, were both visually engaging and socially beneficial. When she said ‘waste is a design flaw, bring in the creatives’…that resonated deeply, highlighting the need for creative solutions and ‘out of the box’ thinking.”

Petula Clarkson character looking odd — Petula Clarkson sings about landfills.

Then there was that inspiring session, the last before lunch, when a little-known authority from the Royal Academy of Arts, a Petula Clarkson, presented on “The Restorative Power of Landfills, An Underutilized Resource.” An interestingly dressed, singing-bowl-playing, very familiar looking person emerged, performing her song, “Landfill.” Wait…isn’t that Gigantic alumna Shana McCracken??? Sure enough! As she was joined by dancers on stage with an AI generated landfill illustration as a backdrop, the crowd came to life, just in time for lunch.

RIP, Arthur Boone: Bay Area Recycling Champion

December 11, 2024 The Gigantic Team

creative NCRA sign made with all recyclable materials — The Gigantic team worked with Arthur Boone to create this sign for NCRA

The Gigantic team would like to take a moment to salute and honor Arthur Boone, who passed away in October at the age of 86. Boone was a pioneer and force of nature for recycling education and outreach in the Bay Area since the 1980s.

Described in Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA)’s remembrance as “an innovator, visionary, and somewhat of a crank” Arthur Boone started out as an Episcopal minister, then a civil rights worker, before founding the Oakland Recycling Association.There, he brought active questions and a constant search for improvement to the local recycling scene, tirelessly calling out “Obstacles to Zero Waste” and working to eliminate them. In the following years he would serve NCRA in various positions, including some 30 years on their board, and came up with the idea for the Recycling Update Conference, an annual “speed dating” event featuring 10-minute presentations for and by industry professionals that is valued to this day.

One memorable collaboration – partially built on Boone’s front lawn – occurred in 2011 when he tasked us with creating a NCRA conference sign out of recycled materials to celebrate recycling and composting. It was a true team effort to cut the recycled metal, attach the glass pieces and cardboard curls, and hot-glue the fake leaves and orange slices. The sign keeps on going – helped by several repairs over the years. It’s a joy to see it (and get a team photo with the sign) at every NCRA Recycling Update. All in all, a great and ongoing reminder of the creative and can-do spirit of Boone.

Boone’s achievements, including credit for planting 1,000 trees in the Bay Area—several just a block from our office – have been noted in a Proclamation by StopWaste issued on his passing. After all his good work, may he rest in peace.

Gigantic team members with the sign at NCRA 2023

OOPS! Tags Tackle Cart Contamination

November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 Nancy Roberts

In environmental outreach work, reaching people when they are most open to effective feedback is always a challenge. Many waste agencies are using “oops tags” to indicate to residents that they have put the wrong items in the wrong carts, e.g. “OOPS – this item belongs in recycling” or “OOPS – only food scraps in the green cart, please!”

The Gigantic team has been working with clients on various kinds of OOPS tags for some years now. While we believe that customized, one-to-one outreach is effective, it is difficult to measure if the tags are responsible for positive impact.

We would love to experiment with taking the feedback one step further, by having haulers NOT pick up contaminated carts. This has been tried elsewhere, with positive results.

For now, we are continuing to refine and test various cart tags. Our latest effort: placing “OOPS” tags on Garbage carts, to draw attention to the large presence of food scraps and other items in the Garbage that should be recycled or composted.

Below are some examples of oops tags that Gigantic has created with various clients. We would love to discuss OOPS tags and the strategy behind them with you:

This tag, to be placed on Organics carts, is simple:

In 2023, we made a more elaborate tag that the outreach team could “customize”, depending on the contaminant. We understood from resident surveys that people were unsure or even skeptical about what happens to food scraps in the Organics cart. This tag also confirms that rich compost is made from the food scraps, and connects correct use of the organics cart with making healthy compost for farmers:

We are experimenting this year with placing an “oops” tag on the Garbage cart, calling out the items that should be in Recycling or Organics:

For Milpitas, we helped refine their tag design, which uses the same tag for all carts. Audit staff circle the appropriate cart, and provide very specific feedback on the types of items found (see image below). Milpitas staff have reported the tags are working work well, especially when they have the opportunity to speak directly with a resident, but that they need to add a few additional categories of contaminants.

While difficult to tie results directly to cart tagging, City staff noted that they are seeing some positive trends in households selected for a pilot project. The pilot area received food waste prevention outreach and then OOPS tags shortly thereafter. Follow-up audits over two years show some improvements. The fullness of the food scrap compartment increased from 8.8% full to 24% full. At the same time, contamination decreased by 42.5%.

There’s no one right way to use OOPS Tags, but they’re one of the most evidence-based ways to address contamination. They make a great addition to a cart-contamination reduction strategy.

Applauding Green Accomplishments to Keep Them Growing

July 9, 2024October 11, 2024 Stefanie Pruegel

Eight champions from five organizations were honored at StopWaste’s award ceremony—truly inspiring individuals.

Most of our work here at Gigantic is about helping our clients nudge people toward certain environmental behaviors—preventing food waste, composting organics, keeping dirty car wash water out of storm drains, and so many more. No matter the topic, it’s easy to focus on the need to change behavior more than the need to celebrate when we do see progress. But that acknowledgment, or “confirmation messaging”, is just as important as all the calls to action.

I was reminded of that insight recently when working on StopWaste’s Environmental Leadership Awards that each year recognize a handful of organizations for innovation and achievements in waste prevention, climate resilience and other areas of sustainability.

As part of the preparations for the award ceremony and presentation, I get to interview the champions at each of these organizations. What makes them prioritize environmental practices well beyond legal requirements? What are the keys to success? And how can local government agencies support and amplify their good work?

What I find is that without exception it is the initiative and commitment of individuals that makes these businesses, nonprofits, schools and other entities leaders in their field and can have ripple effects throughout their organizations and beyond. At Drake’s Brewing Company, champion Hal was a cellar master for years, consistently finding greener ways to do thi

Stef notes that it’s been fun working on the annual awards promo with Michelle Fay from StopWaste for all these years.

ngs that also benefitted the company—and becoming the company’s first Sustainability Manager. Champion Becky at Spectrum Community Services was successful in switching the nonprofit’s senior meal service from disposable to reusable foodware with partner Sparkl Reusables and support from her ED. At Mohr Elementary School, teacher Sarah and PTA lead Susanne created an outstanding, hands-on environmental and climate literacy curriculum that helped move their school district to pass a district-wide waste resolution.

Sharing and celebrating these accomplishments at the award ceremony was truly inspiring. It was clearly gratifying and energizing to the champions who had put so much effort and passion into their work, and amplifying their success will surely inspire others.

Recycling: Hero or Villain? The Public Is Confused

April 18, 2024October 11, 2024 Nancy Roberts

Environmental specialists are working, like everyone else, in a polarized world where distrust of media and “truthiness” can make us question absolutely everything.

You’ve seen the headlines in everything from business press, public radio …

“Recycling Doesn’t Work”

“Plastic Recycling Doesn’t Work and Will Never Work”

“You Can’t Recycle Your Way Out”

“America’s Broken Recycling System”

At Gigantic, we work with clients whose jurisdictions:

Don’t accept “compostable” plastic
Do accept “compostable” plastic
Only accept Plastics # 1, 2, 5
Only accept “rigid” plastics
Ask you to put plastic bags in the Garbage
Ask you to put plastic bags in the Recycling
Accept paper cups in Recycling
Accept paper cups in the Garbage
Put pizza boxes in the Recycling
Put pizza boxes in the Organics

And on and on…

We can't recycle our way out of the plastic crisis - Insta post from Story of Stuff — Source: Story of Stuff Instagram

Is it any wonder that residents are wondering what’s going on?

If we had a magic wand, we’d wave it and make all this a lot simpler: focus on just a few of the most easily identified recyclable materials so that “waste” streams are clean and easily processed. We’d like to see:

All jurisdictions’ carts be the same color and labels as in other jurisdictions.
Every jurisdiction have the same “what goes where” instructions and
VASTLY simplify “what goes where” messaging to focus on the most recyclable items, in order to cut down on contamination. We have seen over and over that “wishcycling” is a real thing, and a real hassle for materials facilities.

But we don’t live in a perfect world. For now, environmental communicators need to be honest about the challenges of recycling, while reassuring the public that many problems can be solved and not to give up hope.

Recycling Is Not Broken, but Can Use Some Help: A National Zero Waste Conference Session

January 19, 2023February 24, 2023 The Gigantic Team

While recycling has been getting a bad rap recently, the recent National Zero Waste Conference offered some fresh and hopeful perspectives. Gigantic Team Member Dennis Uyat coordinated the session: “Recycling Is Not Broken, But Can Use Some Help.” The conference was attended by over 400 people, and the session was moderated by Maurice Sampson, Eastern Pennsylvania Director of Clean Water Action.

Recent years have seen a shift towards upstream solutions like source reduction and reuse, however, recycling still has a place in the transformation of materials like paper, glass, metal, and plastic into new and useful products. Neil Seldman of the Recycling Cornucopia Project and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, opened with an overview of an increase in domestic recycling markets and infrastructure since the National Sword Policy began to be enforced in 2018 in China. He writes, “Despite the fact that China had been warning for years that this cut-off was coming, U.S. recyclers were stunned and unprepared. But eventually, as prices for secondary materials fell in the tumult caused by the Chinese ban, private investment began re-building the U.S. manufacturing sector, and end-use capacity that had languished during the years that recycling collectors shipped a large percentage of materials to China rather than supplying domestic mills, returned to use.”

Many cities in the U.S. have implemented single-stream recycling systems, but they are not the only, or most cost effective, option. Speaker Joanne Schafer, Deputy Executive Director of the Centre County Recycling and Refuse Authority (CCRRA), spoke about their curb-sort recycling program in rural central Pennsylvania.

Municipalities that implement recycling often consider going with a single-stream system, and CCRRA hired MSW Consultants to see if it would be more cost effective to centralize recycling. They found that with the current weekly collection and 90% participation, the capital costs – a new MRF and truck fleet along with future costs of an education campaign – did not justify a system change. In this case, source separation of glass, cardboard, mixed paper, recyclable plastics and metals at the curb was more effective for residents and collectors.

Centre County, Pennsylvania is a good example of how grassroots recycling efforts in prior decades turned into a viable financial model. The decision to invest in labor over capital proved fruitful in the development of more localized recycling economies, which are less vulnerable to the whims of international global markets and commodity prices.

The session ended with Gary Liss, of the Recycling Is Infrastructure Too Campaign and Zero Waste USA, who laid out the American Recycling Infrastructure Plan, which vies for federal funding for community based recycling programs. It covers 50 initiatives with $18.3 billion allocated for the build-out of recycling infrastructure over three years. The Plan advocates “for the inclusion of waste reduction, reuse, recycling and composting infrastructure and programs that will stem climate disruption, address racial injustice, and create thousands of jobs throughout the country.” Gary detailed a number of current EPA Green Infrastructure Funding Opportunities.

Recycling is often dismissed as big industries continue producing plastic and waste by design, which invariably ends up being burned in incinerators or buried in landfills. The Second Recycling Revolution is driven by grassroots efforts to build local community power, to redesign a more circular economy.

Regular people are finding big and small solutions to municipal solid waste problems. Gary ended with a question for the audience, “How much waste are you for?,” and the audience responded, “Zero!”

Find out more about the National Zero Waste Conference.

Which Message is Best? Results from a Pilot Cart Tagging Project in Sunnyvale, California

November 2, 2022November 2, 2022 Lisa Duba

Gigantic Idea Studio teamed up with Sunnyvale, California with the challenge to refresh their “FoodCycle” food scrap collection program outreach and improve participation rates. The question was, how?

social norming message tag — One tag version had messages of social norming and the benefits of foodcycling.

After surveying residents, we found that self-reported participation was actually fairly high at 63%, but cart audits showed a lower citywide participation rate of 57% and weekly participation of 45%.

The City wanted more program collateral, how-to videos and a presentation to help them communicate about the program, but also wanted to explore behavior-change tactics in a pilot program. Our team proposed a communications campaign as a baseline strategy, that would be supplemented with cart tagging in two pilot areas. The pilot would determine whether or not cart tagging improved participation more than advertisements, articles and videos. Together, we set a goal to raise weekly participation by 5%.

The two pilot areas were given two different messaging strategies: Social Norming and Benefit messaging vs. Addressing Barriers messaging. The social norming tag showed residents and their quotes about why they FoodCycled—and then listed the benefits of participation, such as reducing waste and fighting climate change. It also clearly stated that 63% of residents participate, a clear majority of support and enthusiasm. The second group received messaging related to overcoming barriers to participation, such as tips to avoid mess, smells and pests, and alternative collection containers for smaller kitchens or those concerned with aesthetics.

The more effective tag addressed barriers to food scrap recycling.

Although both strategies are part of the popular “Community-Based Social Marketing” practices, the cart audits showed that the “Barriers” messaging worked better in Sunnyvale. The households that received a cart tag with tips saw an increase of 9% (from 44% to 53%) in weekly participation and 7% in overall participation, when compared to the baseline.

Both types of messages were included in the communications campaign, but the pilot project shows that cart tagging adds effectiveness that can be measured. This is likely related to the personal and contextual message delivery method—the cart—which is related to the behavior change we are asking for.

Many cities will be conducting cart audits as part of SB 1383’s statewide requirements. Adding friendly, yet effective messaging designed to increase participation in organics programs is a good way to maximize the investment of labor required to do these audits. This messaging can be combined with contamination feedback and included on the back side of any cart tag.

We have experience designing these tags and providing guidance on how to determine messaging that resonates in your community. We’d love to hear from you!

Hard Numbers, Hard Truths: How Data from Spot Checks, Surveys and More Guide Outreach

September 19, 2022 The Gigantic Team

We know it’s best to base outreach on data that we get from research. Formal research can be costly, but actionable data is all around us – and it can help make public outreach more effective.

For the 2022 California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) Conference, Gigantic participated in a session about the use of surveys and spot checks to guide outreach. Our presentation gave examples from two of Gigantic’s clients: Cities of Milpitas and Livermore.

Among the suggestions:

Integrating some research into your outreach plan is better than none. Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good: include lid flips and surveys into your budgets as feasible. There’s also data that does not need a specific budget because:
Outreach data is all around us. Your agency may not be able to afford a statistically rigorous survey, but quantitative data from hauler reports or lid flipping can be useful guides to what is working and what challenges arise. Qualitative data (individual questions or reactions that represent the concerns of a larger audience) can be gathered from phone help lines, comments at public meetings or from social media posts. Website statistics show us which content is or is not being accessed, what users are searching for and how/when they accessed the site; this is all guiding data for outreach.
Use data to react in real time. Are you getting a lot of questions on your social channel about plastic bags? Are lid flips showing an increase in a particular item of contamination? Respond to these questions with blog or social posts, or additional newsletter content, as promptly as possible.

See the full presentation here:

Learn more about CRRA here.

California’s SB 1383: Communicating about Food Recovery

June 15, 2021 The Gigantic Team

Food recovery cuts waste and eases food insecurity.

California SB 1383 looms large on many of our clients’ minds—and on ours, as we help with the outreach portion of implementing the law locally. It’s an exciting prospect to see not only downstream measures like organics recycling mandated statewide but also upstream prevention, with the requirement to recover 20 percent of currently disposed food that’s edible to feed people. In this blog, we share some of our experience creating outreach tools for food recovery.

For local jurisdictions, this means not only figuring out the nuts and bolts of a functioning food recovery system, but also how to communicate to the affected parties. And the clock is ticking—by or before February 1, 2022, jurisdictions need to provide “outreach and education” to the first wave of affected commercial edible food generators as well as food recovery organizations and services.

The law may seem overwhelming, but fortunately a lot of the basic principles of good outreach are helpful here:

Segment your audience(s)

Consider your outreach and messaging to the different audiences as separate efforts. For example, the content, timing and channel of your outreach to the first wave of large food businesses (the state calls them “Tier 1” businesses) will differ from the second wave of smaller food businesses (called “Tier 2”), and both will differ from food recovery organizations.

There will likely be only a small number of Tier 1 businesses for most counties, and they will require direct outreach—phone calls, web meetings, emails and visits. Your learnings from reaching out to Tier 1 can help streamline your efforts for Tier 2. Consider this a test run!
Engage stakeholders

Put yourself in the shoes of businesses — they are not steeped in “1383” like we are. Since this is new territory for all parties, consider having interviews or web meetings with businesses to help you develop your content and/or test your messaging to see if it is clear.
Create outreach tools with clear and inclusive language.

Craft messaging with an eighth-grade reading level in mind—which is what magazines and popular literature generally use.
- Avoid regulatory terminology as much as possible and translate industry jargon into everyday terms anyone can understand.
- For example, define the term “recovery.” This is a term unfamiliar to businesses. Our clients have found it preferable to using the term “donation.” If that’s the case for you, help your audience understand what “recovery” is and provide context. For example, say, “Separate edible food that would otherwise be composted or landfilled so it can be “recovered” to feed people.”
- Be considerate and inclusive in your language e.g., say “food insecure” rather than “hungry.”

Plan a “multi-touch” outreach effort.

- Start with an official notification letter, mailed 6 months in advance. Keep your first “touch” simple, high level and focused on what’s coming. Rather than overwhelming them with details, get people’s attention first.
- Create a web page or site to hold detailed information, including any legal documents such as a local ordinance or a model contract for edible food collection services.
- Follow up your letter with direct outreach to affected businesses and food recovery organizations. Business outreach best practices have always relied on phone calls, emails, meetings and technical assistance to get results.
- To build general awareness of 1383 in the business community, consider partners like chambers of commerce, business associations and environmental health departments, and ask to be included in announcements using their email lists and social media channels.

SB 1383 is a complex law and an exciting prospect with laudable goals. Using the basic rules of good outreach and remembering that businesses need direct outreach, you will be on your way to helping California put edible food to better use—all while fighting climate change!

Selling Nothing: Can Re-Homing Replace Discarding?

February 2, 2021 The Gigantic Team

One of the challenges of zero waste outreach is how to convince people to NOT do something: buy new stuff. Every day Americans are bombarded by thousands of slick, seductive ads encouraging the purchase of shiny new things that they may or may not need. Helping the public to understand that “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is a list in priority of importance is tricky. How can reducing consumption be positioned as a positive?

While residents contemplate a New Year clean-out, our recent “Re-Solve to Re-Home” campaign for Zero Waste Marin introduced three alternative solutions to throwing away: “Swap. Donate. Share.” This messaging allowed us to position a positive, feel-good message to finding new homes for old items. We were able to take advantage of the recent uptick in “Buy Nothing” groups and other social media outlets for neighbor-to-neighbor ways to swap stuff.

We also experimented with the message that we all learned back in kindergarten: the feel-good advantage of sharing. We incorporated this into the Marin campaign with a pitch for cooperative ownership and neighborhood tool lending libraries.

Encouraging source reduction in a consumer society is an uphill battle but reframing “not buying” as doing something more social and fun or helpful is an important part of the effort!

Segment your audience(s)

Engage stakeholders

Create outreach tools with clear and inclusive language.

Plan a “multi-touch” outreach effort.