THE PROJECT
In April 2018, the Allen County Department of Environmental Management (ACDEM) launched the “No Straw, Please” campaign, which challenged residents and businesses in Allen County, Indiana, to stop using plastic straws. Between April and September, ACDEM handed out 2,000 steel straws to the community at various events, encouraging reuse habits vs. using disposable plastic like straws and utensils because they are not accepted in recycling bins. Going into 2019, the campaign against single-use plastic continued, but this time focused on plastic utensils.
ACDEM collaborated with a video production company to create a video as part of ACDEM’s new PSA, encouraging residents and businesses to BYO (bring your own) reusable utensils and ditch the single-use plastic.
The “BYO Utensils” social media campaign resulted in over 9.5K video views on Facebook. Feedback from local businesses was overwhelmingly positive, with many residents and business owners eager to learn about the significance of the switch.
THE DESIGN PROCESS
The ACDEM staff brainstormed ideas for a new PSA concept and collaborated with a local video production company to produce the campaign’s video. A social media campaign produced by ACDEM followed the release of the PSA via local news stations.
MY ROLE
As the communications and outreach coordinator at ACDEM, my role in this project included collaborating with ACDEM’s sustainability coordinator to design a PSA video concept, create original content for the PSA’s social media campaign across multiple social platforms, and communicate with local media to get the word about the new PSA.
