Case Study - Colchester Borough Council  Rats campaign reduced litter by up to 95 per centColchester Council launched a campaign to raise awareness that people who regularly drop food waste and litter, particularly from fast food, are helping to increase the rat population. The highlight of the campaign was locking a woman in a glass cage with 50 rats and rotten rubbish in a busy shopping street. Eleanor McDonald, the caged woman and a Technical Support Officer said:
‘Super rats’According to experts at the British Pest Control Association, dropped takeaway food and fruit peelings are providing rats with more energy. The resulting ‘super rats’ are bigger than normal and have a longer life span. Yet they still have the ability to squeeze through a gap of just over 1 cm, making it easy for them to get into homes, offices and shops. Street Care and Recycling Manager, David McManus said:
A widespread campaignThe launch was supported by a poster campaign on-street and in local schools and colleges. All the pubs and clubs in the high street were displaying posters as well. The accompanying Rats video was shown on plasma screens in two local nightclubs and in cinemas nationwide and was distributed locally on DVD. There was also a month-long radio campaign. On the evening of the launch, an ad was projected onto the side of a building on the high street. And, on the day, as well as the glass tank of rats, hundreds of waste bags were piled up to show the extent of just 24 hours’ worth of litter from the high street alone. With the help of ENCAMS, planning meetings to generate ideas and the supply of the rats tank, the campaign took less than six weeks to organise. Once the locations for the posters had been established, it only took a week to distribute them to colleges, the leisure centre and cinema, Colchester United Football Ground, pubs, clubs and fast food outlets.
Analysing the resultsThe campaign advertising through the cinema, posters, artwork and rats tank was funded by ENCAMS; Colchester Town Partnership donated £2,500; and the council picked up the bill for everything else. The council’s annual budget was around £5,000, but much of the extra funding came from fixed penalty notices’ revenue. ‘Rats’ was one in a series of three campaigns all aimed at food-on-the-go litter. The same areas, days of the week and time of day were selected for each of the surveys that took place before, during and after each campaign. This meant the success of each campaign could be monitored and the council could identify the reduction in litter as the campaigns progressed. The review date was three months after the campaign. The first campaign and the Rats campaign together achieved around a 95 per cent reduction in food-on-the-go litter. The third element was still being analysed at the time of writing. The campaign will continueColchester Council has just written a Street Care Strategy and Improvement Plan which consists of education, enforcement and operational initiatives for the next three years. The department has written future campaigns to remind people about the problem of litter into this improvement plan. A number of local authorities have been in contact regarding the planning and delivery of campaigns and the council is happy to continue sharing their experiences. For more information, please contact Eleanor McDonald on 01206 282727 or at eleanor.mcdonald@colchester.gov.uk or Dave McManus on 01206 282625 or at dave.mcmanus@colchester.gov.uk |
