No Comply - No Wi-Fi in Port Stephens

18 Jul 2019

Port Stephens Council worked with the community to reinforce anti-littering actions and make permanent changes in behaviour.

What was the problem?

• Port Stephens Council has recently invested a large amount of time, money, and resources in the redevelopment of Boomerang Park. One aspect of the redevelopment was the inclusion of a new cutting edge Skate Park which has attracted a high number of youths and 18-35-year-olds to the area (as intended).
• Litter in our recreational centres is of concern in Port Stephens. It creates a significant financial cost to Council and the community to clean up, as well as affects the environment and visual amenity of the area.

What did we do?

Port Stephens Council:

• Installed a Big Belly Wi-Fi enabled bin using Free Wi-Fi as a reward for users to keep the skate park clean.
• Provided compliance staff in-house Litter Prevention training with AELERT.
• Utilised an In-Car "Litter from vehicle" detection dash camera.
• Installed Permanent Litter Prevention signage and bin messaging.
• Locally distributed in-car litter bags, litter prevention mail-out flyers.

What did we achieve?

• Local Litter Checks show a 94% reduction in litter at the Boomerang Skate Park.
• Our target was a 40% reduction in litter and this was more than doubled.
• Our campaign has engaged the Boomerang Skate Park users to become part of the solution by depositing less litter through a positive reward system using free Wi-Fi.
• Our final Local Litter Check user surveys indicate that most people are aware that littering is an issue, noticed the range of activities Council was employing and made particular note of two main initiatives being the free Wi-Fi reward system and the Ranger/Compliance litter patrols.

How was the project evaluated?

• We recorded the actual activities/outputs delivered against those proposed in our plan.
• We utilised Local Litter Checks to determine the ultimate success of our project, in particular the 94% reduction in litter by volume.
• We used Local Litter Check site user surveys to determine whether people were aware of the project and its intended purpose. The surveys provided compelling evidence of the project’s success.

 

What did we learn?

• The free Wi-Fi delivered through the Big Belly self-compacting litter bin was highly successful in drawing interest to the grant and engaging the community in the campaign.
• Engaging the 18-35-year-old park users did build a sense of ownership of the issue, as identified by comments of park users when surveyed. In particular, the skaters indicated that the park was their "territory".
• In-car litter bags continue to have a greater benefit when used correctly than just their original purpose, starting conversations around litter.
• The Site user surveys arguably provided the best indicator (in conjunction with Local Litter Check data) of what we had achieved over the life of the project. 
• Survey Monkey as a link on the litter brochures did not work this time around.

What is the projects legacy?

The infrastructure that has been installed such as the Wi-Fi enabled Big Belly self-compacting litter bins, the signage and extended pathway to the bin will continue to deliver this projects litter messaging.

The education/engagement that has been delivered to the Boomerang Skate Park users on the importance of litter prevention will also have an ongoing effect, which will in turn be re-enforced by the above new infrastructure.

The newly developed relationships formed particularly with the 18-35-year-old Skate Park users have highlighted the importance of working together on issues such as litter prevention. We shared a common goal in working together to reduce the amount of litter deposited. The individual relationships developed here will be utilised in Council's future litter prevention campaigns to build on what we have formed in this round.