Glass containers have gone from 75% diversion in 1992 to 82% diversion in 1996. Glass was clearly a major contributing factor to the success of meeting NaPP targets four years ahead of schedule!
Meeting the National Packaging Protocol Year 2000 targets four years early is one piece of good news and evidence that the packaging industry is taking product management seriously. Further investigation of NaPP shows interesting results relative to Canada's Total Solid Waste disposal data. (See Figure 1. Source: Environment Canada)
Figure 1: Total Solid Waste Disposals in millions of metric tonnes.
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Figure 2: NaPP Results of Packaging Diverted from Landfill 1992-1996
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Social marketing experts emphatically state that it is critical to empower each player by letting them see the results of their actions. Masking this relationship will reduce the players' ability to be successful.
Glass Works believes that for a system to be successful it must demonstrate certain characteristics. One, it should be reproducible or applicable to other situations. Two, it must involve all players fairly. Most importantly, it must be sustainable for Canadians. Doug McKenzie-Mohr, a professor at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, has developed Community-based Social Marketing. It has been applied very successfully in the introduction of User Pay.
There are five steps in the innovation process. The key elements to understand are diffusion of innovation and its relationship to communication.
| Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among members of a social system. Diffusion is a special type of communication concerned with the spread of messages that are new ideas. Ideas or inventions go through an improvement process or period and become an innovation. Innovation is a primary driver of growth. Let's use it to make our growth sustainable! |  |
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