SWAG agenda 110415 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I Memnrandum To: Solid Waste Advisory Group From: Gayle Wilson, Orange County Solid Waste Director Subject: Results of User Surveys at Shred- A -Thons Date: October 23, 2015 On October 8`h Orange County Solid Waste and the Chapel Hill Police Department conducted the first half of its semi - annual fall shredding event for confidential paper at University Place (formerly University Mall). On October 101h at the recycling site behind Home Depot in Hillsborough, Orange County Solid Waste conducted the second half of the fall semi - annual Shred- A -Thon with help from the Hillsborough Police Department. At the SWAG's request, service users at each event were queried about the location from where the paper was brought and those responses were recorded on site by staff and volunteers. Each participant provided the address and the address and jurisdiction were verified by office staff later using GIS based data. Results are presented below and graphically on the reverse side along with results of a second question about how the users learned about the event. Approximately 1,000 people came to the two Shred A Thons, 614 to University Place and 385 to Hampton Pointe. Of those, 981 were surveyed. The less than 2% discrepancy between the total count of users shown on the mechanical hand held counters and number of surveys recorded could be attributed to the fast pace of the event, the rainy weather on Saturday, some users entering from other than the official event entry points and human error. Of the 981 surveyed, fifty eight percent were from within Town limits of the three Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill (including the part within Durham County) and Hillsborough. None surveyed reported being from the portion of the City of Mebane within Orange County. Thirty -two percent reported being from outside town limits, but within Orange County. Seven percent reported being from outside Orange County, including possibly some who worked for one of the four local governments or had a business in Orange County but did not live here. Two percent were of unknown origin or refused to answer. See charts 1 -3 next page. All paper was accepted resulting in over 21 tons recovered for recycling into tissue products. Results on how people learned of the event are shown below and were divided among many modes with no single mode predominating. Newspaper and radio advertising and articles were 27 %. Fifteen percent saw banners placed at all Waste and Recycling Centers, some recycling sites and two key intersections in Carrboro. Internet searches were reported by 19% and the three electronic newsletters from Solid Waste, Town of Chapel Hill and Orange County Sheriffs' Department as well as other emails from e.g. HOAs totaled 14 %. "Other" means of communications totaled 25% of users. See chart 4, next page. The conclusion is that it is effective to continue to use a broad range of media to reach the public.