2022/23 IMPACT REPORT
Introduction
Bristol is a leader when it comes to waste and recycling in England, taking the number one spot for recycling rates for the past seven years. Data released by the DEFRA shows Bristol ranks number one out of the English core cities, with a recycling rate of 45.6% for 2021/22.
Yet, like most towns and cities, it still faces challenges with litter.
Did you know that two million pieces of litter are dropped every day in the UK? In Bristol alone, picking up litter costs around £6 million and around 3,700 tonnes are collected every year: that’s the same weight as 300 double decker buses!
In November 2022, Hubbub together with Bristol City Council and Bristol Waste Company launched Bristol’s Binning, a campaign that challenged the people of Bristol to cut litter and bin big.
Ambitions:
• To reduce litter and increase on-the-go recycling rates in Bristol city centre by finding innovative new approaches to engage residents, visitors and local businesses.
• To educate key audiences in the city how they can get involved and what everybody can do to keep the city clean
• To position Bristol as a world-leading city and demonstrate that the council is showing leadership and trying new approaches to make the city cleaner and greener.
Six partners supported Bristol’s Binning:
tsunami with 90kg of rubbish new or rewrapped bins on-the-go recycling bins
34,542 reduction of aluminium and glass contamination in coffee cup bins 1 70 25 10 4 25 items of litter binned using LitterLotto® app
Only 14%
cigarette butt ballot bins giant general waste voting bins lamppost wraps
Loud and proud 31 pieces of media coverage with 161 million reach 690,483 social media engagements and impressions
38% of items binned were by our target audience of 16-25 year olds
*526kg of cans and plastic recycled 100%
“Love this creativity” contamination in recycling bins*
“Impactful. So shocking that this amount of litter is dropped in one street in one day”
“On street recycling is perfecto!”
Our approach
Define audience
Research shows that young males are most likely to litter. Hubbub polling in 2020 found that over a third of 16-25 yearolds had admitted to littering in the past month and that men were twice as likely to litter as women.
Create campaign identity
• We built on Hubbub research and insights from years of litter campaigns including our Big Boys Don’t Litter research, Treasure Your River, and Neat Streets in Bournemouth.
• We collaborated with students from University of Bristol and Bristol College to create messaging and design that resonated with the young people of Bristol, particularly young men.
• The main messages took a step away from the traditional ‘finger wagging’ tone and moved towards humour and aspirational messaging.
Everyone's winning when Bristol's binning
Making a splash
To spark conversation and raise awareness, we needed to grab attention, so we went big – really big.
We teamed up with eco-artist Wren Miller to build a 4m high Trash Tsunami.
It was made of 90kg of rubbish - the amount that is littered on Bristol’s Baldwin Street on just one Friday night. It floated on Bristol Harbour from November 2022 to March 2023.
90kg of rubbish used!
To officially launch the campaign, we invited the Mayor along with local media.
After the launch of the campaign, to make sure more people knew about the campaign
• Hubbub partnered with McDonald’s to display signage on their restaurant bins and posters at their drive thrus
• Hubbub partnered with Bristol Sport to encourage fans to keep the stadium areas litter-free on big match days
• Launched a targeted social media campaign including working with influencers such as The Anythink Show and the Plogman to reach our audience
• 31 pieces of media coverage
• Coverage including BBC Points West, Bristol Post and BBC News website
• 161 million media coverage reach
• 653,330 video views on Instagram and TikTok
• 26,688 reactions/likes on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn
• 10,465 impressions on LinkedIn
How we got Bristol binning
We tested a range of interventions to raise awareness and reduce litter across Bristol.
Three new voting bins got people talking...
60 rebranded Big Belly bins with vibrant design, playful copy and engaging sounds
Our ‘drum and bass vs. techno’ bin went completely viral on TikTok and Instagram once spotted by Bristol’s drum and bass community.
10 new giant general waste bins were added to litter hot spots and lively nightlife areas
On-street recycling bins with custom pyramid lids to introduce and test on-the-go recycling
10 Ballot bins
The Ballot Bin is a Hubbub invention that’s proven by Ellipsis Earth to reduce litter by up to 73% in litter hotspots.
Word on the street
We went out and spoke to local people...
“I’m really shocked by the amount of litter produced [after seeing the wave]”
“The colourful bins and extra wheelie bins are easier to see, I wondered where they had come from.”
“The wave is cool. It’s sad that there’s so much litter, but good that it gets collected.”
Word on the screen
Did people bin it to win it?
Litter
Bristol Waste recorded litter levels during the campaign via dilly cart collections, but we faced the challenge of measuring a reduction due to the higher amount of wet leaves and water content of the litter and bins during winter months, which would have affected the weight of collections. In the future we would look into more accurate ways to measure the litter levels.
Hubbub partnered with LitterLotto® and recorded:
• 34,542 items of litter binned.
• 38% of items binned were by our target audience within LitterLotto’s recorded age bracket of 1029 year olds.
We created a geofence around Bristol City Centre with prize money allocated specially for people binning in the area.
Hubbub partnered with McDonald’s who donated prize money so that Bristolians could win extra Bristolspecific spot prizes, plus entry into the national draw!
We also partnered with Bristol Sport and Ashton Gate Stadium, giving out five pairs of game tickets to people binning around the stadium.
34,542 items of litter binned
LitterLotto®
is a free app that rewards responsible binning of any litter with prizes from £5 to £10,000. Through a free to enter Prize Draw, users can win regular spot prizes and huge jackpots. To enter, you simply use the app to take a picture of litter as you place it in a bin. Each time you submit a new piece of litter it’s another chance to win.
Did people bin it to win it?
Plastic, cans and glass recycling
In a first for the city, we launched on-street recycling bins to encourage the recycling of plastic bottles, cans and glass.
Throughout the measurement period (25 November 2022 to 3 March 2023), we collected 526kg of plastic bottles, cans and glass, with a contamination rate of just 14%.
Where cup bins were placed next to recycling bins, we saw a 100% reduction of aluminium and glass contamination in the coffee cup bins.
This trial helped to demonstrate the feasibility of on-the-go recycling in the city centre. As a result of the trial, Bristol Waste have launched permanent on-the-go recycling bins around Bristol harbour.
526kg of plastic bottles, cans and glass collected
What happened next?
The playful bins remain a feature of Bristol city centre, and the Trash Tsunami sculpture has been visiting key locations around town, such as University of Bristol.
Bristol’s Binning demonstrated that Bristolians will recycle when they’re out and about if they can see recycling bins are available.
Following this trial, Bristol Waste Company were awarded an #InTheLoop grant from Hubbub, supported with funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation to scale up their recycling on-thego provision around the harbour.
In summer 2023, 24 new recycling bins were placed across the harbourside area. In the first three months of the project, they collected 533kg of plastic bottles and cans.
The intention is for recycling on-the-go to carry on permanently, and Bristol City Council have stated their desire to expand on-the-go recycling to other areas of the city.
Learnings
Measure litter carefully
• It can be difficult to robustly measure the impact of litter interventions. Tech solutions like Ellipsis Earth, who use drones and AI to map litter, do this effectively. If repeating the project we would seek this as an additional resource for measuring litter reduction.
• Consider the time of year and any seasonal impacts (e.g. leaves, busy periods) when timing the campaign. If seasonal impacts are unavoidable, see if comparisons to the previous year are possible - to identify any change compared to a similar period.
• Conduct visual assessments of the area before and after: grading/ counting of litter present.
Include the target audience
Engage your target audience in the design of the campaign materials – this was aimed at young people so we co-designed it with local students.
Bin placement is key
Litter, recycling and cup recycling are all interconnected and should be considered together. For example the recycling bins successfully reduced plastic bottle and can contamination from the cup bins.
Meet people where they’re at
If the right approach is taken then young audiences will engage with litter campaigns, both on the street and on social media.
Create a big moment
High visibility installations such as the Trash Tsunami are great at engaging local politicians, media and social media audiences.
Find new ways to engage
Litter Lotto effectively nudged young people to cut litter across Bristol via incentivisation gamification while accurately counting the number of items binned.
Reduce contamination
There is a demand for on-the-go recycling and it also helps reduce contamination in neighbouring cup recycling bins.
