San Francisco’s Department of the Environment came to us with a surprising ask: help lift recycling and composting rates. Turns out, 30% of locals are transplants from other states; many did not grow up recycling and composting.
We started off by refreshing ourselves with the latest behavioral science research. Social movements (“everyone is doing it!”) are effective, we learned. Soon we came up with striking ads to cover the city, engaging residents with humor rather than a lecture. We also coined the social handle #SFThingToDo to pair with a pop-up we created, made entirely of recycled boxes.
Commuters were rewarded with green travel mugs (and joe) for posting on social media.
Awareness and participation rates rose more than 20%, capturing the attention of locals and national press, alike.
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