Using the materials in the REI Tool Kit, recycling coordinators, state recycling organizations officials, state market development officials, trade associations, and other organizations can reach a variety of audiences in the short- or long-term, depending on their budgets and planning priorities.

Following are just a few possible strategies that can be used to promote the information in the REI tool kit. This information is also organized in an REI Outreach Matrix (10 KB pdf).

• Short-Term Strategies
• Long-Term Strategies

Short-Term Strategies

• Add materials to existing Web sites: Pieces from the REI tool kit can easily be adapted to a state recycling organization Web site or tailored to highlight recycling's impact in one elected official's district. Likewise, state trade associations and recycling organizations could make REI data a "hot button" on their sites to draw attention to it when media or the general public are researching recycling information in the state.

• Coordinate with America Recycles Day: Held in mid-November, America Recycles Day offers an opportunity for state market development officials to release this information in conjunction with a national REI promotional effort.

• Hold state and/or local press events: REI data can be announced at a press conference at the capital or in conjunction with a major recycling employer in the state/local area.

• Issue a statewide press release: Using the tool kit materials as a guide, state EDAs, recycling officials, or organizations should issue a press release and include a packet with more detailed information. Quotes from high-ranking officials will add cache to the announcement.

• Write a newspaper op-ed: Using the information in the tool kit as a guide, a recycling organization or EDA could place an op-ed in major daily newspapers around the state, authored by a high-ranking official. Op-eds could be timed to coincide with the release of other related data, such as the state's unemployment or recycling rates.

• Provide briefings or testimony: As necessary, the state-specific information coupled with the general messages in the REI tool kit can serve as the basis for a briefing packet to state legislators or written testimony during recycling debates within the state legislature. To reach the investment community, market development officials/EDAs could hold "breakfast briefings" with banks or other investors to share the REI information.

• Recognize "sustainable" workers or businesses: In addition to releasing the numbers, recognizing specific businesses or workers that have been involved in recycling in the state can add a personal touch to press events, letters to the editor, legislative testimony, and other promotional activities.

• Link REI to state economic data: State EDAs may want to analyze their REI data to look for any correlations between them and other economic indicators in the state (i.e., has the state's economy improved as recycling businesses have grown?).

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Long-Term Strategies

• Speak at key conferences: In order to secure speaking engagements, conferences will need to be researched ahead of time and abstracts may need to be submitted. At the national level, elected officials may be best reached through national organizations, but statewide conferences are also useful. The investment community also has its own conferences, as do the various trade and professional associations representing economic development groups and recycling industries.

• Place articles on REI results: Articles using information from this tool kit can be tailor-made for a variety of audiences, including trade journals, banking newsletters, company newsletters, or publications that reach state legislators.

• Write case studies/success stories: Using examples of successful recycling businesses and employers in the state or local area will help add credibility to placed articles. A compendium of case studies across the state would also be useful in a briefing packet.

• Host a Labor Day event: Planning over the next year could result in a successful Labor Day event that promotes recycling businesses and workers at the state capital or a state fair. Special promotion could be provided to banks that support these businesses, as an incentive for other investors to consider recycling projects.

• Create exhibit, table top display, or signage: The state EDA could exhibit a "Recycling Is Working" booth at a state recycling conference or investment forum. A group of recycling businesses could cooperatively staff a tabletop display to a local job fair. Construction site signage could be produced to promote a bank as financing a recycling business as a "sustainable investor" in a new materials recovery facility or paper mill.

• Partner with local banks or vocational education programs: Banks or other investors in recycling could be encouraged to co-sponsor local events related to recycling business promotion, including job fairs or Earth Day events. State EDAs or recycling organizations could co-sponsor programs to link vocational education students in community colleges or high schools with businesses in the recycling field.

• Develop an awards program: The state EDA could recognize a recycling investment champion each year, or a bank could co-sponsor an award to an outstanding recycling business in the state. In conjunction with state recycling organizations or trade associations, unions may also want to recognize outstanding workers in the recycling field.

• Produce a public service announcement: Based on the slogan "Recycling Is Working!" a 30- or 60-second radio or television spot could be created. State trade associations or investment banks might be willing to pay for placement if their name is mentioned.

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