1. Recycling + Composting Participation Strategies for All of Oakland’s Residents
Presentation for CRRA Conference August 8, 2016 Andrea Deleon | Cascadia Consulting Group

2. Project Background
Oakland rolls out organics collection to all multifamily dwellings (MFD) on July 1, 2015
Cascadia Consulting is engaged by Oakland Recycles to provide outreach to MFD property owners and residents
NCRA gets EAB grant to do outreach to MFD residents in Oakland
NCRA and Cascadia work in collaboration
City of Oakland, haulers, NCRA, and community based organizations continue to provide outreach to MFD and currently assessing how to build the program going forward

3. Multi-ethnic, Multicultural, Multilingual Population
City of Oakland Demographics
125 languages
40.3% language other than English spoken at home by persons age 5 years+
Do your homework and understand the communities you’re trying to reach before you develop your outreach plan.
There are 7 districts in Oakland and each district has its own unique culture and community demographics.
Other helpful demographic facts:
During our 6 months Cascadia’s ZW Ambassadors worked with
21% low-income housing properties
12% senior housing
25% MFDs occupied by families
During our outreach the most common languages spoken besides English include Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese
Source: Census Bureau

4. The Goal
Oakland Recycles is a collaboration of many stakeholders committed to providing the services and information residents need to recycle right.
July 1, 2015: Oakland launches new contracts and new program services with a commitment to collaboration, service, and grassroots education. New services include compost service for all Multifamily buildings for the first time.
The goal was to work collaboratively to develop an actionable outreach plan to conduct multifamily outreach to promote Oakland Recycles campaign.
CWS, WM and City of Oakland – members of Oakland Recycles campaign to build cohesive educational material and increase resident clarity on who would be handling what materials
NCRA and Cascadia – outreach partners
EBRHA – instrumental in getting the word out to property managers
Civicorps – assisted in outreach and providing recycling caddies
City of Oakland
Waste Management
California Waste Solutions
East Bay Rental Housing Association (EBRHA)
Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA)
Cascadia Consulting Group
Civicorps

5. We are the heart of Oakland Recycles’ grassroots campaign for multifamily properties.
Cascadia and NCRA were the team that were the “boots on the ground” and out in the neighborhoods as the heart and face of the Oakland Recycles campaign.

6. Zero Waste Ambassadors
Two Essential Roles
Provide technical assistance for property managers and outreach to residents
Provide door-to-door educational outreach to residents at apartment and condo buildings with 5+ units
In particular, Cascadia’s Zero Waste Ambassador Team focused to promote recycling and composting within the Oakland community by providing technical assistance to property managers and door-to-door outreach to multifamily residents.

7. Cascadia Zero Waste Ambassador Team
Our Zero Waste Ambassador Team consisted of a total of 11 part-time and full-time paid Cascadia team members who were from Oakland or were familiar with Oakland, may have spoken another language besides English, and were excited to be out in the field to help us better connect and reflect the communities we were serving.
Cascadia Zero Waste Ambassador Team

8. NCRA partnered with trained outreach volunteers from ILWU Local 6, youth organizations, and Oakland Unified School District students.
NCRA Volunteer Team

9. Door-to-Door Outreach
A couple other stories we loved…There was a lot of pride among the NCRA recycling workers to do this work. They loved being able to share what they knew more than anything (proper sorting of waste) with their communities and neighbors. Doors opened for much longer with these workers than they would with non-native Spanish-speakers like myself (2-3x as long).
Also we went back to deliver pails at a couple of apartment buildings and those who were waiting for pails had taken the stickers we gave them that said “I Compost!” and put them on their front door so we knew where to deliver their pails.
Door-to-Door Outreach

10. Cultural Competency in Multi-Family Outreach
Best Practices
Notice differences in communication styles and values
Remember that non-verbal communication is just as important
Door-to-door outreach is the most effective method for engaging residents, but it is dependent on the right outreach approach, infrastructure, and service levels being in place. Cultural competency is another lens that helped us better understand and serve the residents and property managers we were assisting.
It first starts with respecting the community you are reaching and trying to learn about.
Notice differences in communication styles and values
Remember that non-verbal communication is just as important
For example, in some cultures direct eye contact is considered rude, and for other cultures talking with your hands is common. Take verbal and non-verbal cues with the person you’re communicating with to best gauge what kind of communication style they’re more receptive to.

11. Cultural Competency in Multi-Family Outreach
Best Practices
Include team members who understand cultural nuances and live and/or work in the community
Identify culture-specific barriers, needs, and benefits to motivate participation
Include team members who understand cultural nuances and live and/or work in the community
It helps to have team members who are familiar with the neighborhoods you are serving because they often can easily more connect with residents and bond with familiarity
Identify culture-specific barriers, needs, and benefits to motivate participation
There are different motivations for each person. Asking questions and listening can help you gauge how or why recycling or composting can have a personal connection and for value for that person.

12. Cultural Competency in Multi-Family Outreach
Best Practices
Engage with local community organizations and leadership
Don’t assume that residents do not want to participate
Engage with local community organizations and leadership
Don’t assume that residents do not want to participate

13. Cultural Competency in Multi-Family Outreach
Best Practices
Be careful of literal translations and keep in mind what words you use because words may have different meanings for different cultures
Develop outreach tools that are accessible for non-English-speaking residents
The terms “sort” vs “separate” were confusing for some residents
Formal vs. informal communication style
For example, in Chinese communities the concept of “food waste recycle” is better understood for explaining composting and describing the process of food scraps, food waste = compost
Misconception that the new composting program meant that they were making fertilizer in the building
In the Latino community we found that it was common to hear that they don’t like to waste food, cook at home often, and food has a connection with family
Connect and reflect with compost helping to grow healthier food, good for soil, good for everyone, garbage creates greenhouse gas
Connection with family, more likely to listen
Make it positive message
Helping your family and the environment, how it’s related
Most affected by environmental impacts
“Abono”
Family task of separting waste together

14. Oakland Multi-Family (5+ units) Residential Recycling
Chinese Program Guide

15. Oakland Multi-Family (5+ units) Residential Recycling
Spanish Program Guide

16. Oakland Multi-Family (5+ units) Residential Recycling
Vietnamese Program Guide

17. Various Ways to Reach Oakland Residents
Websites, social media, newspapers, magazines, transit shelter ads

18. Cultural Competency in Multi-Family Outreach
Lessons Learned
2 team members working on the same floor together can support one another and provide safety
Your biggest compost and recycle ally in the household may be a child
There should always be at least 2 people together conducting D2D in a building (and preferably on the same floor at the same time) for safety and support.
Your biggest compost and recycle ally in the household may be a child. The residents we encountered with families often had children who were learning about waste reduction, recycling, and composting at school and would bring that behavior and education to their home and often teaching their family members how to get on board.

19. Cultural Competency in Multi-Family Outreach
Lessons Learned
Residents are more receptive when:
Team members speak and understand the same language
Residents are provided with recycle and compost separation instructions and free tools
Residents are notified ahead of time by their property manager to expect your outreach visit
Residents are more receptive when:
Team members speak and understand the same language
Residents are provided with recycle and compost separation instructions and free tools
Residents are notified ahead of time by their property manager to expect your outreach visit

20. Cultural Competency in Multi-Family Outreach
Lessons Learned
Trust is built by setting in place a plan to share resident feedback with the property manager, hauler, and/or City
Be willing to accept guidance from the community
Trust is built by setting in place a plan to share resident feedback with the property manager, hauler, and/or City. Residents want to know they’re being heard and their feedback is shared with the appropriate decision makers.
Be willing to accept guidance from the community

21. Cultural Competency in Multi-Family Outreach
Lessons Learned
Develop alternative engagement strategies to reach residents where they are most comfortable
Determine if door-to-door outreach or group presentation is the best method
Ask the property manager how residents prefer to communicate with him/her or other residents
Develop alternative engagement strategies to reach residents where they are most comfortable.
Determine if door-to-door outreach or group presentation is the best method
Respect the culture of the building and ask the property manager how residents prefer to communicate with him/her or other residents. Some residents are very uncomfortable and not used to having someone knock and approach their door. Some residents have their own ways to best learn about changes in their building through , text, flyers, or face-to-face.
depending on the building and residential community
, text, flyers, or face-to-face

22. Door-to-Door Outreach Method
So what does “door-to-door” look like? It looks something along the lines of this photo.
After speaking with the property manager and conducting an on-site assessment and providing technical assistance to help them with their compost, recycle, and trash service setup, Cascadia worked with the property manager to schedule a day and window of time for our team to come back and visit their residents. We also asked the property manager to notify their tenants (posted letter in a central area, , or text) to expect our outreach visit.
Depending on the size of the property we would have at least always 2 Zero Waste Ambassadors at a building together, and prefer to move from floor to floor together.
We’ll knock on the doors and spend a few minutes reviewing how to compost and recycle in Oakland, offer the kitchen pail and show them how to use it, and most importantly instruct residents where they can find their new compost cart in their building.
Most green compost carts are next to the existing trash and recycle bins, but sometimes due to space constraints or trash chutes the compost cart may be stored in another location in the building and residents are not aware of this.
Door-to-Door Outreach Method

23. Group Presentation Outreach Method
However, sometimes a group presentation worked better for the residents than door-to-door outreach.
This worked well especially for a building that had a community room on-site and very engaged residents that enjoy group meetings or events with their neighbors. For example, senior homes or residents who primarily spoke and understood another language besides English were a great audience for this.
Here we have Kevin conducting a presentation showing actual examples of common residential waste and what items are acceptable in the compost, recycle, and trash.
Group Presentation Outreach Method

24. Group Presentation Outreach Method
After the training presentation we then had our team like Freddy, Jessica, and Vance in this photo here ready to pass out kitchen pails and brochures to residents
We tracked which apartment units attended the presentation and picked up their outreach materials at our table.
This was helpful because we could share the attendance list with the property manager and he or she would either go back to make sure they visited those apartment units or our team visited those units to conduct door-to-door outreach.
Also talk about EBRHA workshop (sending) to discuss targeted outreach to property owners to explain the Oakland Recycles programs and benefits to owners and residents –More than 100 owners and/or managers attended four workshops (2 in June and 2 in July)
Group Presentation Outreach Method

25. Closing Thoughts Incorporating Cultural Competency During Outreach
Cultural competency goes beyond being open minded and accepting of others and also includes understanding “where people are coming from”
Build your knowledge of the influence of history, culture, and the current systems of privilege and preference that impact the people and communities we work with
Ask questions, listen for understanding and empathy, and value the needs and priorities of others to develop buy-in and explore how to best work together
We learned that cultural competence is knowledge of other cultural ways of being and that compentency goes beyond being open minded and accepting of others and also includes understanding “where people are coming from.”
To do this individuals need to build their knowledge of the influence of history and the current systems of privilege and preference that impact the people and communities we work with. Asking questions, listening for understanding and striving to understand the impact of our actions or words on others are key skills we need to develop to become culturally competent.

26. Thank You!
For more information: Contact:
Andrea Deleon