Tacoma Boosts Safe Battery Disposal Awareness by 7.3% in Just Three Months
When Tacoma, WA saw a rise in battery-linked MRF fires, they implemented a campaign to educate their residents on the importance of correct battery disposal.
The Problem
With a 37% surge in lithium-ion battery-linked MRF fires since 2016*, Tacoma sought to intensify efforts in educating residents on safe battery disposal.
The Solution
Tacoma implemented a three-month-long campaign by integrating safe battery disposal guidelines with various content within the app. This strategy aimed to reinforce awareness of the risk of battery fires and how to dispose of rechargeable batteries correctly.
The campaign content focused on proper disposal of lithium-ion batteries, the “Dos and Don'ts" of battery recycling, and how to repair, reuse, and recycle old electronics; the blogs promoted during the campaign reflected these concepts. Accompanying these blogs was a learning module focusing on the importance of proper battery disposal, as well as weekly “We Wanted to Know” questions, such as “Can you add rechargeable batteries to your local recycling pick-up?” and “If you’re upgrading your phone, how should you dispose of your mobile phone battery?”.
The Results
- Correct disposal knowledge for rechargeable batteries rose by 7.3% over 3 months
- More than 42% of Tacoma Recycle Coach users interacted with the campaign via the mobile app
- Residents had 13,000+ interactions with safe battery disposal content
Overall, I think the campaign was successful in helping to further educate almost 10% of our Recycle Coach users on proper battery disposal and/or the impacts of improper battery disposal. The material question correct response rate gave us a good snapshot of how many of our residents currently know how to dispose of batteries.
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