Save Money and the Environment Too

The Save Money and the Environment Too Campaign combined the efforts of 110 cities and counties in the 10-county Bay Area region with more than 400 supermarkets to bring shoppers messages about the importance of waste prevention and buying reusable products. The campaign was a unique award-winning partnership bringing together local government and private industry to educate consumers on the importance of waste prevention - stopping the generation of waste before it happens, and reuse - the reuse of products and packaging.

The campaign focused on television and radio commercials to get its message across. During the past five years, these tools were enhanced by messages on banners at most heavily traveled regional public transit stations; ads in newspapers and coupon books mailed to consumers; messages on up 8 million grocery bags each year; ads on milk cartons; in-store advertising, including displays, brochures, bag stuffers, posters and shelf-tags; grocery certificate drawings and telephone hotline messages. The regional media strategy was designed to maximize frequency of television and radio coverage by combining paid advertising, donated advertising, public service announcements, and local print features to achieve high visibility for the campaign.

Through regional media campaigns BayROC promotes personal action and behavior change to reduce waste.

The campaign has had a significant impact, not only in educating shoppers, but also in influencing buying habits. It is a model of how local governments and industry can work together to increase awareness of consumers about how their actions impact the environment. The campaign promoted simple, money saving tips for shoppers to stop producing waste and buy reusable and long-lasting products.