GrowNYC’s La Marqueta Community Drive a Success
As many of you already know, we are so lucky and grateful to work with GrowNYC’s Office of Recycling Outreach and Education. After a recent, very successful clothing recycling drive at La Marqueta in Harlem, we asked OROE’s Ermin Siljkovic what he thought about the outcome:
WC: Community Response
How would you describe the response to the Wearable Collections recycling initiative?
E: It was great! The community came out in droves. We collected over 1 ton of material.
WC: Previous Experiences
How has this experience compared to other events you have hosted?
E: This is was on par with an event the previous April which tallied about the same amount. This time there was more going on at the market, like a Thanksgiving food bag sale and cooking demos which certainly added an awesome element to the event.
WC: Timing: How do you feel planning/timing effects the outcome of your drives? Some folks tell us they schedule their events near specific holidays. Others aim at strategic points in a school year or fiscal year, or to fall onto the same date as a popular community event. What is your winning formula?
E: Fortunately we had a ton of community partners on our side including the NYC EDC, The Manhattan Borough President’s Office, Community Board 11, some local electeds and a number of community based orgs were involved as well. So the wider the participation, the better.
WC: Promotional Tips
There are so many niches and so many opportunities in a community to raise awareness of a cause- and just as many opportunities for your messsage to get lost. Since your efforts were so successful, can you tell us a little bit about how you were able to generate so much participation?
E: Each event partner posted announcements on their websites, community calendars, newsletters and in email blasts. The most crucial of all, I believe, was the face-to-face flyering in the days and weeks before the event. A few committed partners handed out flyers during rush hour outside of the subway stops nearest to our event location.
WC: Bin Drop Leads
Are there any spaces in your community that might be good candidates for a bin and permanent collection service? Please provide a location address, contact name, phone #, and email if possible. Also, our chances are best if you give the contact person a heads up to expect our call.
E: We anticipated from the success of the first event we held in the spring that this location would be a great place for a permanent bin so we arranged for one to be placed around the time of the second planned event. During this event we promoted the permanent drop-off to people who came with materials and since then we have learned that plenty of folks have been taking advantage of this installation and that it has been a success thus far.
WC: Future Plans
Shall we schedule you another drive?
E: Being that there is already a permanent bin on-site we are thinking of organizing other types of recycling events (eg. electronics waste recycling) as a compliment to what already exists. I feel occasional events like these would go a long way in establishing certain places as “green” hubs in the community.
WC: Any other thoughts or comments?
We’d love to hear anything else you’d like to share about your clothes recycling drive experience.
E: Set goals, plan and work hard but most of all HAVE FUN! There’s nothing like doing something that the community really wants/needs, together WITH the community AND having fun doing it. After the fun subsides, try to find ways to diversify and do more similar events with different twists. Being dynamic encourages enthusiasm– and SUCCESS!
