Public Relations Report: Analyzing Waste Recycling in Murphy Town

This report examines a public relations case study focusing on the challenges faced by Murphy Town in its waste recycling program. The report identifies key problems such as low participation, incorrect waste sorting, and overloading of containers. It proposes a multi-faceted strategy to improve public engagement, including social media campaigns, celebrity endorsements, demo runs, penalties, and rewards. The report also suggests innovative solutions like portable recycling machines and increased waste collection frequency. Furthermore, it outlines a project management approach to analyze the program's failures and implement necessary changes, emphasizing the importance of public awareness and environmental sustainability. The student's analysis provides valuable insights into effective public relations strategies for promoting recycling and waste management.

Running Head: Public Relations
Public Relations
Media

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Answer 1
The case study here depicts the problem faced by non-profit public
relations which is persuading the citizens of Murphy town to contribute
some time and energy to reduce, reuse and recycle their household
garbage. The problems as identified in the case are:
 People are not recycling the waste.
 Forgetting to put the recycling bins on time.
 Overloading the waste containers.
 Incorrect sorting of the waste.
 Many citizens are compositing yard waste and putting non-recyclable
waste into bins.
These are some of the problems faced by the Public relation authority,
which has deemed the recyclable programme as a big failure. The inability
of the publics to understand the importance of recycling and shying away
from their problems is the biggest reason for the failure of the programme.
The publics which have to be considering here is the citizen of Murphy
town, they have to understand the importance of recycling for the economy
of the town and also what good it would do to the environment of Murphy
town.

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The best way to communicate with them is through the use of Social media,
big billboards in the localities or the highways and plea to the citizens of
Murphy town by use of Newspaper articles.
Answer 2
It is certainly not an easy task to convince the public of such a state which
has a culture of throwing away the waste and thinks that recycling and
composting are time and energy consuming. Thus, to persuade such public
a strong strategy has to be implemented which has to rely on the pillars of
motivation, environmental sustainability and the spirit of doing good or joy
for the future community. In order to do so, a 4 phased public relation
strategy has to be created, which would look like:
 Creating awareness regarding waste recycling and the demerits of
throwing away waste in the open. The awareness has to be driven on
Social media platforms, Billboards, Newspaper articles and road
show.
 Roping in a public celebrity or a public figure as a brand ambassador
for the recycling program, and using his influence and fan base to
drive awareness of the campaign and other deliverables.
 Demo-run of the program for duration of 2 month, the demo run
would ensure that people drop their recyclable material on time and

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in a proper way. Thus, in two months people will develop this habit
of waste management, which they can contain for life long.
 Penalties to the household, who do not follow the rules after 2
months. This will make them do things with fear, but would still
benefit the environment and do good for the economy.
 Creation of a system wherein the people who did not miss throwing
away their garbage for the last 6 months will be rewarded and
appraised in a public ceremony. This would motivate them to throw
their garbage in the bins.
I am certain that people do have a tendency of following people; it is also
termed as the jungle rule. People seeing other people following their
responsibilities will get in line and starting obeying the rules. Moreover,
with time people will start appreciating the change in the air they breathe
and the environment near their house, they would automatically be drawn
towards the success of the program and start contributing. I am certain that
initiative in promoting the recycling programme will push the public to
contribute in a positive manner.

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Answer 3
If given a chance to make a change or the entire organizational process, I do
have a lot of innovative ideas which would help the process. For instance
some of the ideas contributing to the change are:
 Creating machines which can be deployed at home and are portable,
handy to use, cost efficient and helps in fast recycling of the waste.
Such machines would contribute to the economy as well as the
environment.
 The second change would be increasing the frequency of the waste
collection programme, instead of picking up the waste every two
weeks; I would ensure that the waste is picked after every single
week.
 If I get enough volunteers, I would scout for some top 10 areas which
have maximum waste, and are resistant to change their habit. I would
along with my team, visit the locality and conduct a programme
myself, emphasising on the importance of this coherent programme.
Finding out the Change
I have a strategy to find out the change, I would do a detailed analysis of
where exactly the programme has failed. I would identify the critical parts
or the elements responsible for the failure of the programme. After analysis

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the points, I would undertake a project management to solve the problem.
The project management will be a function of the scope, time, cost and
performance and find alternatives to the problem in the programme, thus
implementing the change in the end.