Leveraging Tech & Partnerships to Increase Guest Engagement

Guests seek entertainment to escape the everyday. But research shows consumers don’t necessarily want to escape responsibility from sustainability. The psychological relief of seeing waste reduction efforts in action help guests have a better experience visiting their favorite entertainment facilities. Leveraging technology and partnerships can help increase guest awareness and engagement on waste efforts. It also helps create a more educated consumer base for future sustainability initiatives.

3 quick consumer facts from “Meet the Consumer” by IBM:

• 6/10 consumers are willing to change their shopping habits to reduce environmental impact
• 8/10 respondents indicate sustainability is important for them
• 70% would pay a premium of 35%, on average, for sustainable and environmentally responsible brands

To fully engage guests on their desire to be more sustainable, two areas can be leveraged: 1) innovative waste reduction technologies and 2) waste reduction partnerships.

Waste tech for entertainment facilities of the future

On-site sorting efforts have been a stumbling block for entertainment facilities of all sizes. Human error, speed, and staff buy-in play a part in these challenges. Advancements in recycling systems like AMP Robotics are swiftly adopted to remove the block and give way to increase sorting efficiency and single-stream recycling efficiency of high-volume facilities.

Digital bins improve guest engagement in entertainment spaces. As guests toss items into a smart bin, a message pops up on the digital sign informing them about their contribution to reducing waste, whether they recycled properly or added items to the compost bin. Companies like EvoEco are elevating the guest experience through quick, impactful education and messaging.

IoT bins for entertainment facilities make bin management easier. They deliver intelligent monitoring and status updates for fill level, temperature, fire, tilt, or vibration detection. IoT bins help staff focus on other responsibilities and cut down on time and resources.

To guests, underground trash vacuums might sound like tech from the future. However, it is a technology whose time has come and is playing out in pilot projects around the world. Entertainment facilities that can adopt such technology will be able to save on maintenance crews and prevent overflowing bins. Powered by air compressors, waste, recycling, and compostable items are collected above ground from separated bins and travel below ground for further processing.

Leveraging partnerships to promote waste reduction initiatives

Buy-in is a major hurdle for the success of waste reduction initiatives. Management, staff, and guests must be engaged and educated to participate and support waste programs.

While partnerships aren’t a new concept, leveraging partnerships for waste reduction and educational efforts is a trend that is growing in popularity. As more brands develop their waste reduction initiatives, partnerships help drive awareness of waste reduction efforts by levering multi-brand audiences. Entertainment facilities that explore new sustainable vendors can leverage their vendor’s knowledge and educational efforts to develop strategic campaigns. Whether it’s a staff educational campaign on reusable cutlery, compostable containers, or refillable water bottles, leveraging a partnership or cross-promotional campaign has proven a win-win for all parties involved and a driver for staff buy-in.

Since new sustainable products are often younger than the entertainment facilities they serve, they have more flexibility and creativity in how they deliver sustainable marketing campaigns. They also need to help educate and promote their solutions, which means they will be more willing to implement campaigns and programs to drive success.

A partner for a zero-waste future

National Waste Associates (NWA) delivers innovative zero-waste plans to meet the sustainable goals of the future. Our team of experts identifies opportunities to reduce waste, improve sorting, increase engagement, and monetize waste streams.

Find out how NWA can optimize your waste management operations across many locations effectively and efficiently to save you money and improve your environmental reporting.

Contact us at 1-888-692-5005 x6, or email us at sales@nationalwaste.com

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