Introduction

Thank you for taking the time to look over the final report for the NSCC Marconi
campus, social services year two behaviour modification project; #MarconiRecycles.
Through this report you will be given details of our plans, ideas, methods and success of
this project as well as outcomes and results. This project was the first of its kind and it is our
hope that using this report and the groundwork our class laid, that the project could continue
to grow and have future installments.
We hope you enjoy this report and the hard work the 2016-2017 social services class
put in to make this project a success. Throughout the report, the material you will be reading is
of the actual students who had worked on this project and compiled in an easy-reading
structure. Also included are observations, suggestions and ideas to make future projects, or
similar, smoother and more effective where they can be. Lets begin

Purpose
As part of the social services curriculum, students are enrolled in two classes designed
to inform and teach methods of identifying behaviours and attempting to change them. These
classes are Behavioural Learning Principles and Applied Behaviour Modification. Part of the
latter class that takes place in the final semester of the program is to identify a problem
behaviour within our school and attempt to create a plan to try to change this behaviour.
Our class decided to attempt to educate and reinforce the process of proper recycling
and garbage disposal and separation. After deciding on this topic, it was time to brain storm
ideas on how we would bring about this change. NSCC sustainability manager Martha
McGowan was invited to our class as a guest speaker. It was then she informed us of the fact
that both our campus and the Waterfront campus located in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, were the
two worst offenders of improper trash disposal, recycling and waste diversion. It was under
Marthas recommendation we aim to try to change the overall waste diversion rate of our
campus. We developed a mission statement as follows:

Our mission is to bring awareness to Marconi students and staff about proper waste
management. The hope is that we as a team can reduce our carbon footprint.

What is waste diversion?

Waste diversion refers to the process of ensuring as much waste is diverted from
landfills as possible. Waste diversion success is relatively easy to measure simply by comparing
these rates over time. A specific example would be to weigh the amount of recyclable or
compostable items and compare that to the overall total weight of the studied receptacle or
bag.
Marconis waste diversion rate at the time of taking on this project was a mere 57%.
Below, in figure 1, we have included a table we hope should make this information clearer.
 100%
90% 15% 18%
22% 24% 24% 25% 57%
26%
80% 45%
18%
70% 30% 34% 32%
17% 63%
60% 30% 57%
52% 54%
50% Recyclables
42%
40% 32% Compost
30% 58% Landfill
48% 68% 46% 43% 43%
20% 37% WDR
10%
0%
2011/2012 2013/2014 2014/2015- 2014/2015- 2015/2016- 2015/2016- 2016/2017-
1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st
semester semester semester semester semester

figure 1: waste diversion performance of NSCC Marconi campus

Our plan
Our plan involved various steps to achieve our goal. These steps would need the
creation and implementation of separate committees planning and coming together to reach
success. These committees would be comprised of (1) education, (2) media and social media,
(3) prizes and donations, (4) monitors, (5) games and (6) sorters. As a class, we had decided the
most effective way to get the results we want is to create a contest promotion and provide
incentives for campus participation and reception. An additional effort for promotion will also
rely on the creation and development of an official mascot to be present on campus during the
duration of the project.

The committees
Education the education committee consisted of students who would take on the task of
informing the student body of NSCC Marconi campus of our mission and goals, as well as the
promotional contest, instructions and incentives. Also included was basic stats and guidelines in
line with provincial and municipal legislation. This was achieved through presentations taking
place during lunch in the cafeteria. Subsequent days would have the same information only put
into a visual program such as PowerPoint to be played on loop. This way the purpose of the
project would not come off as overbearing or disruptive. Some materials used by the education
have been used and referenced in the writing of this report such as the table shown above.
Media and social media this committee was responsible for the development, maintaining
and tracking information online, as well as overseeing the content to be displayed on various
social media accounts for the sake of promotion and participation from the campus. Every
hashtag shared of #MarconiRecycles and any other public, social media post using the hashtag,
had to be tallied and verified by this committee to identify and award winners appropriately.
Signage and other promotional materials were designed and put into effect by this committee
as well. Included in this report are links to the social media accounts and the contest rules and
information, as well as promotional materials and signage also developed by this committee.

Prizes and donations to obtain incentives to make the promotion worthwhile to our target
audience, this committee wrote and delivered donation letters, as well as thank you letters for
those successful donations. Prizes and donations were to be inventoried, have their priority
assigned in terms of value and handed out to those on other committees or involved with
giving prizes to winners. Included in this report are samples of these donation letters as well as
a list of prizes.

Monitors the task of the monitors is to encourage participation and observe the success or
lack thereof during the events taking place. Monitors were to be stationed near trash bins with
information about the promotion and ballots to give out at their discretion upon identifying
those participating. Additionally, the monitors prepared costumes and a flash mob. The flash
mob was to encourage participation through cheers and friendliness to try to break the ice with
the students involved. Monitors were to prepare daily notes about any observations worthy of
recording during the promotion. It was a direct result of this committee that organic, compost
green bins were raised to a higher level and saw much more traffic and appropriate disposing
of trash.

Games in addition to the educational information and the online contest and social media
promotion, this committee was to develop games and interactive materials to determine
smaller prize winners and to help educate through fun and physical means. Photos of the
games and participations are included in this report.

Sorters this committee was consisted of monitors as well as any student involved in the
project willing to volunteer. The purpose of this step was to have us students work side by side
with facilities management staff and Martha McGowan, and to see how the rate of waste
diversion was measured and recorded. Photos of this day are included in this report. The results
of the project were also obtained by the hard work of this committee.

Results

With hard work and dedication, we worked together to educate our campus, students
and peers about proper recycling. We are proud to announce that during our waste audit, we
scored a remarkable 71% -- Marconi's highest rate yet! We are also proud that this was not just
a random number given to us, but we were there to see the actual process and results as we
sorted through the schools trash.
This was not an easy task, so included in this report are notes, issues and suggestions for
the project going forward in case of future instances. These positives, cons and suggestions
were pulled and compiled directly from a letter written to Marconi facilities management staff
lead Stuart MacDonald following the completion of the project purpose of being as proactive as
possible.

What was effective

As this project included heavy involvement from the entire class and many sources of
thorough observations and note taking, we were able to identify the projects overall strongest
points and compile them into an effective and concise list. Here are our findings:

The campus cafeteria was the area with the most traffic from students, as well as easily
the setting where the most garbage sorting behaviors were on the display.
Raising the green bins to a similar level of the other disposal bins brought more
awareness and attention from the students.
The presence of smaller prizes that were given out at committee members discretion
encouraged further participation from the students getting involved.
Using a strong online presence and taking advantage of social media allowed for a great
deal of active and continuous engagement from our target audience.
Including practical prizes that were chosen by keeping student needs in mind. Vouchers
for food, coffee and portfolio learning were particularly successful in gaining interest.
The implementation of a master schedule, which is also included in this report.

What was not effective

With any new project, there will always be bumps in the road and kinks in the chain. But
again, due to hard work and commitment from everyone involved these issues did not go
unnoticed. These are as follows:

There would be no need to include more than one presentation in the cafeteria. Any
other time we included stage presence, we felt strong negative feedback from students
who found the presentations too disruptive to their lunches.
While we did find the monitor engagement and encouragement was effective, it should
be kept to a minimum. Monitors should then become as unassuming as they can so they
can accurately track honest and unbiased data.
It would be wise to trust in the committees assigned by the students and to try to
interfere or manage as little as possible. Unnecessary meetings and planning often
results in confusion or the appearance of more issues.
Timing for the project could have been better. If held earlier or later in the school year more
events could be added with the presence of warmer weather. The Student Association
 wanted to include a volunteer grounds clean-up, but this would be disadvantageous in the
winter.

Suggestions going forward

In addition to the noted negatives above, we were able to keep the project continuously
constructive. Using these negatives and observations we generated a list of possible changes
campuses can make to help improve proper waste practices.
Fewer garbage cans to recycling bins should be on present in the school.
Larger bins that have easier to read signs with more examples of each type of waste
present.
At Marconi, there should be more paper stations as some wings had no paper stations
at all.
Bins should be more uniform, or share similar appearances to one another to maintain
proper disposal practices.
Trash sorting and proper guidelines should be presented yearly during orientation week,
including supporting literature with the other usual information packets given out.
The possible creation of a sustainability club on campus similar to other extra curricular
clubs and programs on campus.
Though the target of lowering the waste diversion rate is a noble cause and the
backbone of the project, we believe informing the campus of this could be an overload
of information. It should just be presented as education about cleaning up the school.

Prizes

Listed below are the prizes that were obtained and distributed during and upon
completion of the project. This could provide a guide as to what type of prizes anyone can
include in similar projects.

Games:

10 x $10 cafeteria vouchers

5 x NSCC breakfast vouchers
Tim Hortons cards

Media campaign (grand prizes):

2 x NSCC hoodies
2 x black portfolio
Pizza party
Mascot giveaways:

2 x $5 Subway cards
3 x $15 A&K Lick-a-Chik gift cards
3 x $5 Napoli Pizza cards
20 x $1 off Subway coupons

Monitors:

2 x NSCC golf tees

4 x NSCC tuques
2 x $25 Kitchen 1409 gift certificates
6 x NSCC bags
12 x NSCC coffee mugs

Conclusion

We believe this project was a huge success and we found it very easy to make the
project sustainable. The project is also quite basic in its nature and we think it is highly
customizable to fit almost any cause. Following the guidelines and details we provided, just
about any topic of behaviour modification can be achieved. We thank you for reading this
report and hope you found it informative and helpful in clarifying how the project worked and
was overall successful.

NSCC Marconi campus social

services, year 2 class and
faculty advisor, Jenny White
at the wrap-up pizza party,
provided by academic chair
Carolyn Toomey
Photos

Members of the social media team at

work
(L to R) Kelsey MacNeil, Ian, Makayla,
and Justin

Members of various committees during the planning stages.

(L to R) Madisyn, Leurette, Elyse, Garrett, Natasha and Emily

Left; project members and social services faculty

participating in the project.
Right; Gary Garbage the mascot with students and
Faculty advisor, Jenny White.
Classes at NSCC Marconi campus
participating and taking photos with
mascot Gary Garbage

Members of the sorting and monitor committees as well as project

member volunteers working with Marconi campus facilities management
and NSCC sustainability officer Martha McGowan on waste diversion results of the project
NSCC #MarconiRecycles promotion contest and rules

#MarconiRecycles is a promotional contest to help improve and reinforce proper waste

disposal practices as well as have a legitimate, on paper impact on the campus waste diversion
rate. For the contest, there were #MarconiRecycles social media accounts created for
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
For each share of the hashtag (#MarconiRecycles), participants would be entered in a
draw using ballots including the persons name, phone number or e-mail address, and their
program of study at NSCC. To increase chances of winning and continuous participation,
participants would receive two ballots if using the hashtag accompanied with a photo of
themselves or others displaying proper recycling. Participants can gain three entry ballots if
they locate our mascot Gary Garbage and take a photo with him to upload onto social media.
The grand prize for the event winner is a pizza party provided to their program class. Second
prize was a leather bound NSCC portfolio binder that are sold in the NSCC bookstore. Third
prize is a NSCC fleece hoodie, also from our book store, in the winners chosen size and color.
Additional prizes were handed out throughout the week. Those project members who
ran games through the week had Tim Hortons cards, NSCC culinary program breakfast and
coffee cards, Kennys Pizza gift cards and other such items to those getting involved with
games. Our mascot also had prizes on him such as Tim Hortons gift cards, Napoli Pizza gift
certificates and Subway cards to be given out to those participating in the event. Monitors also
were given prizes to give out at their discretion to identified participants displaying proper
recycling and disposal procedure, unprompted.
As you can see with our included social media profiles, we also developed quick
promotions to gain more involvement with giveaways of other similar prizes that could easily
be won by participants with fewer rules attached. Also included on these profiles is the
involvement, engagement and participation we garnered as well as all the wonderful photos
documented throughout the project.
Prizes were obtained by project members through means of community engagement by
way of donation letters and presentations to show our cause and goals. A sample of these
donation letters is included.

https://www.facebook.com/NSCC-Marconi-Recycles-175239872973379/
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015523953153
https://twitter.com/marconirecycles
https://www.instagram.com/nsccmarconirecycless/
Donation letter sample

Below is a sample of a donation letter used to obtain prizes from businesses and other
groups within our communities. This letter is left addressed blank and unsigned for you to gain
a sense of how general and customizable these letters can be, depending on who they are
being sent to. Donation letters and resulting thank you letters were developed and delivered by
members of the prizes committee.

Dear,

For a class project in Applied Behavioural Strategies, this years Social Services
graduates at Marconi Campus are developing a campus-wide project centered on
sustainability specific to Marconi. Through this project, we will be holding educational-
based activities and presentations to increase awareness among campus. All NSCCs across
the province partake in annual waste audits, and our campus has the second lowest waste
diversion ratio.
Through this project, our hope is to increase our waste diversion ratio and make a
general difference among the campus. We are hoping our efforts here make a long lasting
impact at Marconi for future students. Our number one goal is to decrease the amount of
waste that Marconi sends to our landfill. We realize the impact our campus is having on our
environment and the effects of poor waste management.
As an incentive to get our campus involved, we are looking for donations from the
community in the form of gift cards or any other contribution. We would like to thank you
in advance for your consideration. We would not be able to be successful without kind
community members like yourself.

Sincerely,

Social Services representatives

Credits

Education committee:
Samantha Kendick, Dana MacDonald, Donnelle MacKinnon, Kaela Ramsay, Natasha Rowe

Games committee:
Glenn Apesteguy, Reen Currie, Emily Donovan, Parker MacNeil, Georgina Walcott

Monitors/Sorters committee:
Mallory Axworthy, Elyse Biebesheimer, Lucia Canova, Madisyn Howell, Leurette Labobe, Brody
MacAskill, Morgan MacKinnon, April MacNeil, Angela Rudderham, Jenna Tobin

Prizes committee:
Katherine Birrette, Molly Cremo, Emily Donovan

Media and social media committee:

Sarah Barthiume, Justin Brewer, Kristen Burns, Kelsey Donovan, Paige Jardine, Makayla Ley,
Kelsey MacNeil, Ian MacQuarrie

Committee Liaison:
Tiffany Binns

Faculty Advisor:
Jenny White

Mascot:
Garrett Sears

Final report compiled by:

Garrett Sears

Report contributions by:

Elyse Biebesheimer, Reen Currie, Dionne Dermody, Parker MacNeil

Report cover and graphic design by:

Sarah Berthiume

Signage contributions by:

Katherine Birette, Paige Jardine

Photos collected and provided by:

Mallory Axworthy, Elyse Biebesheimer, Dana MacDonald