Some of the Best Litter Prevention Campaigns from Around the World
A finely-tuned litter prevention campaign gets people talking.
It tackles the challenge of changing behaviour, and brings communities together to do good. Get it right, and a campaign can also become a vehicle for long-term sustainable change.
We’ve picked some of the best campaigns from around the world, including our own Scotland is Stunning campaign – they’re here to inspire you, and to help you engage effectively with your communities.
Who: Zero Waste Scotland
Where: Scotland
The award winning Scotland is Stunning – Let’s Keep it that Way campaign tackled an unexpected challenge of the coronavirus pandemic.
After months of lockdown, restrictions began to ease in July 2020, coinciding with the reopening of Scottish tourism. A rise in daytrips and staycations saw an alarming increase in littering - parks were overtaken by face coverings and food packaging; bins were overflowing with rubbish beside them and beauty spots overtaken by waste as people socialised.
Restrictions saw us appreciating the positive impact lockdown had on the planet, people were back out and littering rates became the worst they had been in years. Zero Waste Scotland - in partnership with Scottish Government and Keep Scotland Beautiful – decided to act.
The messaging was crafted to inspire positive reinforcement, repeating the term ‘our’ throughout, to cement the sense of collective responsibility and pride for our public spaces. The campaign was careful not to antagonise the audience by evoking a sense of guilt or shame.
Scotland is Stunning set out reset Scots’ appreciation for outdoor spaces and influence them not to litter. The campaign used different context imagery including parks, lochs, beaches and hillsides, it was aspirational and uplifting, emphasising Scotland’s beauty and encouraging people to make positive choices about their waste. By focusing on the beauty that we can enjoy by doing our bit, rather than the litter itself or the action, we celebrated the majesty of Scotland’s spaces, leading into people’s excitement to get back out there. By focusing on the impact rather than the problem, we instilled a sense of positive connection to the environment around us, and thus inspiring audiences to make the right choices.
Why does it work?
The campaign achieved recognition, support and buy-in from a plethora of organisations, communities, political parties and partners including transport and tourism bodies - many reporting seeing a reduction in littering levels during the campaign. It achieved the ambition to reset Scots’ appreciation for our outdoor spaces and influence them not to litter.
Part of the progress towards tackling the littering issue was to reinvigorate people’s feeling of positivity about our environment, so that in the right moments they’d make smarter decisions about littering. A post-campaign survey of partners validates that Scotland is stunning absolutely achieved this.