Tulsa's trash board is preparing a $350,000 educational campaign aimed largely at reminding customers of the rules and services of the curbside trash and recycling program that began in October.
Liz Hunt, spokeswoman for the Tulsa Authority of the Recovery of Energy, said the campaign will focus in the coming months on promoting services such as bulky and green waste pickup, keeping residents informed of changes in the program and ensuring that they know what they can recycle, throw in their trash carts and leave for yard waste pickup.
That likely will mean printing brochures with the program's basic rules, setting up a website with frequently-sought information and advertising in media, she said.
"The launch of this new (trash) system was a monumental effort that affected more than 116,500 residential customers with 30 years of disposal habits," she said. "There are many programs and service options under this new program and we owe it to our customers" to make sure they're aware of them.
The trash board spent $1.2 million in 2012 on an informational campaign to help residents transition to the new system. The renewed campaign, which received most of its funding this week, will ensure that the information sinks in, officials said.
TARE is a ratepayer-funded public trust.
"Any time you switch to a new system, there are quirks in the system and people either don't understand or it could just be continuing to educate them that when there's a holiday, you're pushed up a day" in collections, trash board chairwoman Cheryl Cohenour said. "Until people get used to the habit, you need to have that educational service out there."
The trash board budgeted $350,000 for continuing education both in this fiscal year and next, but had approved only $79,000 of this fiscal year's allocation until Tuesday.
With the full funding available, the city will now begin using the allocation, Hunt said.
The cost is based on a standard set by the Solid Waste Association of North America, which recommends spending $3-$5 per customer on education for a new trash system, Hunt said. Tulsa has about 116,500 trash customers, bringing the educational campaign's cost to about $3 per customer.
Hunt said the city will have to find creative ways to spend the money, given that mailing a simple letter to every trash customer can cost in the range of $100,000.
Possibilities include using the city's planned mass notification system to send out messages about changes in pickup times due to holidays, creating digital applications, printing brochures for the trash hauler to distribute and reaching out to neighborhood groups and schools, she said.
"I know that (city) staff and TARE are going to conservatively use these resources and maximize the opportunities for public education and outreach," she said. "We need to be mindful."
July 4 schedule changes
Trash customers whose primary pickup days are Thursday and Friday will be moved a day next week due to the July 4 holiday. Thursday customers will be moved to Friday and Friday customers will be moved to Saturday.
Zack Stoycoff 918-581-8486
zack.stoycoff@tulsaworld.com
Original Print Headline: TARE has $350,000 to talk trash
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