City of Nashville, Tennessee

Enlisting the right tools for the job

Harrman says a number of issues led Nashville to seek help providing robust program communications to the people they serve. “There’s been a lot of changes in the recycling industry” for starters, Harrman says, from the items that may be recycled to the places in which the recycling actually takes place. But the Metro is using those changes “as an opportunity to start communicating with people in a more transparent way.”

They also needed to communicate about what goes in and what doesn’t. “As many times as we say we only accept bottles, jars and jugs, people still ask about plastic tablecloths,” she says.

Taken together, industry changes and the need for more information provided an opportunity to double down and be “very clear that we only accept materials that actually are getting recycled with confidence in the markets that are currently available,” Harrman says.

Meanwhile, the Metro also faced a 46% recycling contamination rate in 2020. All of this combined became the catalyst for Nashville to create a resource “we knew residents wanted,” Harrman says. It was all about “meeting residents where they are while still being able to provide accurate information.”

Nashville explored a variety of tools to provide its community with a materials search function and more. “It was something that my colleagues had wanted for longer than I’ve been here,” Harrman says.

Harrman says the other options Nashville was finding didn’t have the functionality they needed. That changed when the team found the suite of Routeware tools — and made the tools their own.

The app and suite are “very tailored toward Nashville,” Harrman says. “Even though it’s a third-party product, it is a Nashville product,” she says. The interface includes a list of drop-off sites, information about what materials can be recycled in Nashville, and more.

A Winning Combination

In addition to adopting Routeware’s suite of digital tools for waste and recycling communication in the spring of 2021, Nashville also focused on a number of other education and outreach efforts for its community, from a Facebook group and social media posts to mailers, webinars and workshops. “We started off with making sure all of our materials were consistent,” Harrman says, including Metro’s branding, images and the language they used to talk about the services. Metro Waste Services was sure to include a multi-language aspect in its messaging as well, Harrman says, adding that Routeware allowed them to provide its materials in Spanish as well as English.

“By the middle of the summer of 2021, we had reduced that 46 percent contamination rate down to 28.6%,” Harrman says. “That was huge for us.”

“Even though we can’t attribute the change directly, we know that Routeware was part of it because of everything the tools enabled us to do in terms of outreach and education efforts combined,” she says.

People throughout the district say the app and tools are quite helpful, especially when it comes to keeping track of the once-monthly recycling curbside collections. For instance, if you’re a resident whose collection date is the first Monday of the month, it’s easier to keep track of, Harrman says. “But if you’re the third Thursday of the month, that gets really confusing for people.”

Now people can sign up for reminders or simply access their schedules from wherever they are, versus relying on antiquated printed calendars, she says.

Metro Waste Services was also excited to introduce the Waste Sorting Game, Harrman says. They previously had used another game, but the Waste Sorting Game seamlessly fit with Metro Waste Services’ other tools and efforts.

A One-stop Shop

Having multiple tools and modes of communication at their disposal has changed the game for solid waste and recycling communications in Nashville. Before rolling out the tools, Harrman says they pushed the categories of bottles, jars and jugs to teach folks what could be recycled. Now, with tools such as the Waste Wizard, people can just look it up.

In addition to the Waste Wizard, Harrmann says the Collection Calendar “has been huge for folks because of the reminders.”

These tools also integrate well with hubNashville, a comprehensive customer service system that helps community members learn more about their city-county services, ask questions and find answers.

“We’re able to send people to one place and know that they’re going to be able to really get the information that they need,” she says.

Harrman also enjoys the Metro Waste Sorting Game, which is “very Nashville,” she says. “It looks like Nashville. We put our Ghost Ballet (public art installation) sculpture in there. I love that we have the game, and people love playing it, too!”

The community also seems to enjoy the app as a whole, says Nashville Metro Water Services Public Information Coordinator Kevin Schmidt. “It’s been extremely helpful,” he says.

In the event that someone isn’t comfortable using the app, Schmidt says Metro Waste Services points them to the website to find the same information. Kevin explains, “as we go through all of our ways to reach people, the app is important for us to be able to meet people where they’re at, and I think that’s probably one of the biggest advantages for us (in) diversifying how we reach everybody that we serve.”

The Metro has also enjoyed the reporting capabilities of the tools, which help them quantify the success of their work. They can see how many website visitors and app users they’ve rallied and easily access this information to keep the city council and other entities informed.

We’re All in this Together

No matter the challenges a municipality or organization may face, Harrman says diversifying resources can go a long way. While the app is a “huge part” of the Metro Waste Services’ education and communication efforts, not every demographic has the technology or is comfortable using it to benefit from the tool.

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket; make your resources as robust as you possibly can,” she says.

She also suggests looking for grant money as well as external partners and others “that can help you amplify your message or implement these kinds of resources.” In the future, Harrman says, “we’re really trying to push toward more frequent, every-other-week recycling collection, which hopefully will happen in the near future.”

Using the app to convey that change in 2023 will be Nashville’s first chance to really see how the Collection Calendar and reminders can help communicate big service shifts. “I’m really excited about that,” Harrman says.

She’s is also excited to share information about Nashville’s work and their processes with other municipalities and organizations in the industry through conventions and organizations, such as the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA).