Abstract
In the City of Jaslo (Poland), a separate household waste collection system was introduced
in 1993. Although the system was extensi
v
ely promoted, quality and quantity of recyclables
remained low. The City Council looked at alternati
v
e ways of increasing residents’
participation in the City’s integrated waste management ser
v
ices. The UK approach to public
education (‘the Recycling Roadshow’ programme) has been modified and adopted by the City.
The programme is based on
v
isiting as many households as possible by home ad
v
isors-
indi
v
iduals selected from the local secondary schools and carefully trained in MSW
management and communication principles. Home ad
v
isors inform residents about the local
waste recycling system, conduct a short sur
v
ey and pro
v
ide people with specific educational
materials. To date, ad
v
isors ha
v
e
v
isited 14% of the City’s households including the tenement
block estates. The sur
v
ey results show that nearly 75% of respondents acti
v
ely recycled at least
one type of scrap material, whilst of those that did not, 50% claimed they would. The
educational campaign produced not only an increase in recycled tonnage, but also in material
types and recycling rates from both the tenement block estates and the pri
v
ate housing areas of
the City. The impact
v
aried for the different materials in the domestic waste stream, with the
greatest impro
v
ement in paper recycling, and a significantly lower impact for glass. The City
Council was so pleased with the campaign results that it has decided to extend the programme
and the funding for another year. This paper discusses in detail the programme and the results achieved. Recommendation are made regarding those features of the campaign that need to be
included in other local MSW management campaigns and programmes across Poland in order
to maximise their effectiveness