Take Care Campaign Aims To Keep Cape Litter-Free
The morning sun shining over Buzzards Bay Park and the Railroad Bridge made a picturesque backdrop for the unveiling of a new Capewide Take Care campaign featuring anti-litter messaging from CARE for the Cape and Islands and the Cape Cod Anti-Litter Coalition on Tuesday morning, July 19.
The organizations were joined by the Massachusetts Beverage Association to launch a summerlong anti-litter campaign that supplements messaging introduced last year that featured a smiling whale and a seagull as mascots.
The new campaign, complete with a friendly pirate wielding a cutlass with a water bottle speared on the end, is aimed at promoting the three Rs—or in this case, ARRRs—of recycling: reduce, reuse, recycle.
“This messaging campaign is something that was an outgrowth of our summits that we’ve been holding bi-annually since 2018,” said Jill Talladay, founder and executive director of CARE for the Cape and Islands, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. “When we met the first time, it was identified that the Cape could really benefit from a universal messaging campaign that people can see from town to town.”
With support from the towns of Chatham, Yarmouth and Bourne, three new posters were unveiled, each bearing anti-litter and pro-recycling messaging delivered using pirate speak. For example, one slogan reads “Turn yer old bottles and cans into new bounty.”
Meg Morris, co-founder and chief executive officer of the Cape Cod Anti-Litter Coalition, took a moment to address misinformation that has been on the rise surrounding recycling, which claims that only about 3 percent of plastics are actually being recycled.
“That’s not what’s going on on Cape Cod,” Ms. Morris said. “I decided to follow up on it because I got sick of hearing it; I was sure it was inaccurate. I checked with [the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection] and of the materials that go to our [material recovery facilities], which most municipalities go through here in Massachusetts, between 80 and 90 percent of the material that goes into [there] is recycled.”
Phil Goddard, manager of facility compliance and technology development for the Integrated Solid Wast Management (ISWM) facility in Bourne, said that recycling is a collaborative effort in Bourne between the Bourne Recycling Commitee and the Department of Public Works and ISWM. The DPW tends to the pickup of recyclables, ISWM manages the collected items, and the recycling committee is largely dedicated to promoting initiatives and providing education.
“You’ll see the signage that has the branding here all over Bourne in the near future,” Mr. Goddard said. “We’re going to put out signs for anti-litter, for recycling. We want people to recycle but recycle correctly.”
CARE member Debbie Clarke said making recycling education and messaging seem inviting rather than condescending or shaming makes for a sense of shared responsibility that appeals to both full-time residents and tourists.
Marie Oliva, president and chief executive officer of the Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber of Commerce, echoed those sentiments and emphasized the importance of a collaborative effort.
“You have to work with everybody,” she said. “It’s really truly a comprehensive and collaborative program, and it’s something that we need to work on year after year after year because even though this has [effort] been going on for many many years, you have to constantly educate people. It’s a process that you have to work with, and hopefully we can continue that energy and enthusiasm.”
The promotional messaging will be placed in visible locations Capewide, including certain town guidebooks, convenience, food and retail stores.
According to Steve Boksanki, executive director of the Massachusetts Beverage Association, more than 2.2 viewers consumed ads from the Take Care campaign, with 12 million impressions and 36,000 click-throughs to the Take Care website. Education, access and awareness are the three keys to making sure recycling happens and happens well, he said.
“It’s so great to be here with Jill and Meg because they’re the people that get things done,” Mr. Boksanki said. “They’re the ones that make these programs work, and we all know recycling can work, but we need people to be aware of what can and cannot be recycled and we need people to know how to recycle and to have access to recycling.”
Protecting Cape Cod’s ecosystem and keeping it litter-free is the name of the game for the Take Care campaign and is something that Ms. Morris and her partners believes is in the hands of all who visit and reside on Cape Cod.
“We all need to take care of Cape Cod,” she said, “because if we don’t, who is going to?”