Social Marketing Report: Reducing

Landfill

Assignment 1 | MKT20025 | Semester 1, 2022

Due Date: 1st of April, 2022
Abbey Ferrer | 103614815

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Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to utilise segmentation strategies and the consumer based
social marketing framework to design a behaviour change program for the Brimbank
City Council that encourages community households to eliminate the usage of single
use plastics whilst grocery shopping. The purpose of the behaviour change program is
to combat the environmental issue of landfill, which is known to emit toxins and
hazardous chemicals into the environment, thus the behaviour change encourages
households to reduce how much waste they are producing.

Using segmentation techniques, the target market of this behaviour change program
was uncovered, which was identified as the environmentally neutral segment. Using
the consumer based social marketing framework, the change in behaviour was
identified, then the barriers and benefits were evaluated. The barriers to this behaviour
change include inconvenience, motivation and lack of knowledge, which is supported
by social cognitive theory. Alternatively, the benefits of the current behaviour were
also evaluated showing that the lack of knowledge produces the benefit of ignorance
and their current actions are more convenient, despite the environmental impact.
Additionally, the benefits that would accompany the adoption of the new behaviour
were also identified; reducing the amount of plastics going into landfill, thus
promoting environmental protection, decreased likelihood of health issues associated
with plastics, protecting other species and overall reducing individual households
carbon footprint.

The recommendations made to the Brimbank City Council are sending reusable
produce bags to each household in the suburbs under their jurisdiction, accompanied
by an infographic explaining the importance of the movement and statistics to back up
the information. The second recommendation made to the council is to put up posters
around the community, especially within shopping complexes, reminding citizens to
opt for reusable bag options instead of plastic, which is supported by exchange theory.
Overall, the behaviour change program aims to reduce the local communities carbon
emissions in order to protect the environment and themselves.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction and Background…………………………………………………4

2. Segmentation………………………………………………………………….4
2.1 Importance of Segmentation……………………………………....4
2.2 Segmentation Table………………………………………………..4
2.3 Segment Attractiveness…………………………………………4-5
2.4 Target Market……………………………………………………..5

3. Community Based Marketing Steps………………………………………….5

3.1 Select the Behaviour……………………………………………5-6
3.2 Barriers and Benefits…………………………………………...6-8
3.3 Recommendations………………………………………………8-9

4. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………9

5. References………………………………………………………………..10-11

6. Appendix…………………………………………………………………….12
Appendix A…………………………………………………………..12
Appendix B…………………………………………………………..12

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 1. Introduction and Background
In this social marketing report, the Consumer-Based Social Marketing Framework will
be utilised to design a program for the Brimbank City Council that encourages the
adoption of environmentally friendly behaviours from a household perspective. The
environmental issue being addressed in this report is the abhorrent amount of rubbish
going into landfill each year in Australia, which consequently emits greenhouse gases
and toxins into our environment. This is an extensive issue nationally, with 84% of the
plastic generated in Australia sent to landfill in 2018-2019 (Kurt’s Rubbish Removal,
2019). In the Brimbank City Council specifically, the Kealba Landfill has been on fire
underground for multiple years, thus emitting not only a putrid smell and fumes into
the air, but toxic and radioactive waste is also leaking into the Maribyrnong River,
which is home to a diverse population of species (Bachelard & Vedelago, 2020). This
report will use segmentation strategies and the CBSM framework to break down how
these issues can be addressed in individual households and recommendations will be
made on how to go about this directly.

2. Segmentation

2.1 Importance of Segmentation

Segmentation is important because it facilitates an increased understanding of the
target audience and enables messages to be tailored to them specifically based on their
desires, needs and interests (Lotame, 2019).

2.2 Segmentation Table

Environmental Spending Habits Lifestyle in Motivations
Values Community

Environmentally Spends minimally Active Living sustainably

conscious

Environmentally Careful with Somewhat active, Both own interests

neutral money, but still where relevant for and sustainability
splurges them

Environmentally Spends money Generally inactive One’s own

unconscious carelessly interests
Refer to Appendix A for in depth descriptions of the segments.

2.3 Segment Attractiveness

In evaluating which segment is most attractive for this proposed program for
Brimbank City Council, a variety of factors will be considered. The segment that is

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largest in size is the environmentally neutral segment, additionally, this segment also
is likely to see the most growth as the majority of citizens living within the councils
range will fit within this category comfortably, thus producing more people who also
fit here. Alternatively, the other segments, environmentally conscious and
environmentally unconscious, are much narrower groups with less people fitting
within these lifestyle, behavioural and psychographic factors, thus meaning the growth
in these categories will be slimmer as well. This segment also has the greatest
structural attractiveness, as the segmentation table shows, the environmentally neutral
segment aligns with other factors that show they are open to influence and have values
that indicate a potential interest in the program. Where the other segments' values
indicate that they are set in their ways and aren’t open to a lot of influence from a
council-run initiative.

2.4 Target Market

Based on the evaluation of the segment's attractiveness, it is recommended to the
Brimbank City Council to use the environmentally neutral segment as the target
market for this program.

Positioning Statement: The Brimbank City Council is passionate about the wellness of
the environment and is committed to seamlessly encouraging and enhancing the
communities contribution.

3. Community Based Social Marketing Steps

To initiate a behaviour change program, the community-based social marketing
framework has been utilised. This consists of four steps, selecting a behaviour and
identifying the barriers and benefits of it, and based on this, designing a program to
overcome these barriers. Recommendations can then be made accordingly to pilot the
program and an evaluation can be made post implementation (McKenzie-Mohr &
Smith, 1999).

3.1 Step 1: Select the Behaviour

Reducing single use plastics used whilst grocery shopping.

The behaviour that should be implemented by my household, which belongs in the

environmentally neutral segment, is reducing the amount of single-use plastics used or
obtained whilst grocery shopping. This can be done in a variety of ways, such as,
bringing reusable produce and shopping bags instead of using the plastic ones
provided by stores, additionally, avoiding any produce or items that come wrapped in
plastic that cannot be recycled is good practice. Alternatively, shopping at bulk food
stores significantly reduces the amount of waste that will be brought into the home as

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it’s a zero waste shopping alternative. These changes in behaviour help limit the
amount of waste that is going into landfill each year, ultimately the amount of toxins
and greenhouse gases released into the environment would be curtailed (Unisan UK,
2022).

3.2 Step 2: Barriers and Benefits

The selected segment, environmentally neutral, likely experience an abundance of
barriers that have prevented them from implementing this behaviour already. The
inconvenience of constantly having to remember to bring reusable and sustainable
produce and carry bags from home can be frustrating for most, leading to a resistance
to the idea (Smith, 2018). Furthermore, many people find themselves on spontaneous
trips to the supermarket that they haven’t prepared in advance for ultimately resulting
in them not being able to avoid the single use plastics in the supermarket, despite their
will to. Another major barrier that may be preventing this segment from participating
in this behaviour is the general lack of knowledge they may have regarding the
environmental impact. According to Hans Bruyninckx, the executive director of the
European Environment Agency, knowledge of the consequences of lack of action
against pollution and other environmental threats is the best asset in lowering carbon
emissions going forward (Bruynickx, 2018). Additionally lack of motivation is
another major barrier for this segment, although this segment tends to show interest in
environmental issues they have little internal and social pressures to motivate them
into efficiently taking action. Another cause of the lack of motivation is purely
because people don’t see immediate the benefits physically, although they know they
are decreasing their carbon footprint there’s no tangible proof of that, thus motivation
isn’t as high to continue with the behaviour (Markman, 2018). A behaviour such as
the suggested one can be hard to implement into the lives of those in the segment, thus
acting as a barrier to the adoption of this behaviour. Without community and/or
council support, it may be hard to source, for example, reusable produce bags, to use
whilst visiting the supermarket.

Social cognitive theory refers to how internal, external and environmental factors
influence an individual’s behaviours and lifestyle choices (Bandura, 2001). This
theory is relevant to the report because individuals whose personal characteristics
suggest that they are content in their lifestyle and decisions will usually maintain these
behaviours. Furthermore, if the people they surround themselves with socially, whilst
taking into consideration socio-economic and cultural factors, are also displaying
these behaviours, this can contribute to an individuals behaviour choice as well, as
people often mimic the actions of those around them. Finally, another major
contribution to the development of a behaviour is community norms, for example, if a
council were to promote a behaviour within their community, it is likely to be picked

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up by the citizens as the norm, however, the lack of encouraging for certain
behaviours, just consequently results in citizens ignoring that behaviour entirely.
Many of the barriers that have been identified have been reinforced by the social
cognitive theory.

On the opposite side to the barriers listed, the environmentally neutral segment may
perceive that they are experiencing benefits to their current behaviour. While
inconvenience is a barrier to the suggested behaviour change in this program, this
segment is currently benefiting from the convenience of their current behaviours. It is
convenient for people to not have to worry about bringing reusable bags on their
shopping trip and can just use whatever is needed in the store, even if it is a single use
plastic (Smith, 2018). Lack of knowledge isn’t a perceived benefit by the segment,
however their ignorance free’s them from any internal moral obligation to make
changes to their everyday lives that may decrease their carbon emissions. Similar to
the convenience factor, lack of motivation to adopt the behaviour doesn’t directly act
as a benefit but it just prevents the segment from needing to constantly think about
remembering to pack the reusable bags for every shopping trip.

Alternatively, the adoption of this behaviour by the environmentally neutral segment

has many new benefits. Firstly, by reducing the amount of single use plastics that are
brought into the household, consequently will reduce the amount of waste going into
landfill, thus, protecting the environment for not only ourselves but for future
generations. Landfill causes toxins and leachate to absorb into the earth and leak into
groundwater and waterways thus polluting our rivers and oceans, furthermore,
landfills are the third largest source of human caused greenhouse gas emissions
(Environment Victoria, 2013). Thus by reducing how much individual households
contribute to landfill each year they are ultimately reducing their contributions to this
issue. Building on this, plastic often ends up in our waterways, and thus, end up in the
ocean, endangering marine species who often get entangled in plastic bags, but also
threatening our own livelihoods because 99% of fish have plastic particles found
inside them, including many species which humans consume, thus putting us at risk of
exposure to harmful chemicals (Ocean Conservatory, 2021). This is relevant for the
next major benefit from reducing the usage of single use plastics which is the
protection of individuals general health and wellbeing. The use of plastic increases the
likelihood of the consumption of microplastics which contain harmful chemicals and
bacteria, increases the likelihood of diseases and health problems such as cancer,
cardiovascular disease and fertility issues (CIEL, 2021). Ultimately, the main outcome
and benefit from adopting this behaviour is the reduction of one’s carbon footprint.
This report is supported by exchange theory which refers to the idea that the adoption
of a behaviour or the cost of something tangible, is worth the benefits received

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(Lambe et al. 2008). In this report, the exchange being proposed is giving up single
use plastics whilst grocery shopping for the benefits of individual health risks being
decreased, environmental protection and a reduced carbon emission.

3.3 Step 3: Recommendations

Recommendation 1: Distribute Reusable Produce Bags via. Mail to Citizens of

the Brimbank City Council
See Appendix B for suburb list

Explanation: The Brimbank City Council using available community funds,

sponsorship agreements or fundraised money could invest in reusable produce bags to
distribute to each household they have jurisdiction over via the mail. Accompanying
the bags could also be an informative infographic outlining the movement that the
council is dedicated in making, why it’s an important cause (using relevant statistics)
and what exactly the bags are for.

Justification: This recommendation could work for the target market because it
directly battles the convenience barrier as now the bags have been provided to them
by the council, which saves the hassle of having to go and purchase some. It also
provides the knowledge that they may be lacking about the importance of this
behaviour change. Furthermore, it motivates the target market to take on this
behaviour because they know how to the tools to do so, also knowing that it is a
community wide initiative, their immediate environment, according to social cognitive
theory; peers, neighbours and potentially family, will likely adopt the behaviour as
well, thus indirectly encouraging other individuals to also adopt it also.

Implementation: To implement this recommendation the council will have to commit

heavily to it. Firstly, they must be able to fund it, thus meaning they either need to
allocate funds from what they already have, work with a sustainability company or
any other company willing to participate to gain a sponsorship or complete a
community fundraiser. The council will need to organise getting the produce bags,
making the infographic to accompany it and then mailing them out to every house in
the community. The council should also be available to offer any additional support
for citizens who may be confused or have further questions regarding the program,
perhaps a page on the community website can have a FAQ’s sections as well as
additional information, and a question box for citizens to insert their queries.

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 Recommendation 2: Encouraging Posters Put Up in the Community, Especially
Supermarkets

Explanation: The Brimbank City Council could formulate some posters that have
reminders to use reusable bags instead of single use plastics, they could also include
some reminders of the benefits as well in order to continue to motivate their
community to adopt the behaviour.

Justification: This recommendation would work for the target market because they are
being motivated by their wider community, consequently counteracting one of the
initial barriers to the behaviour. Furthermore, the target market is being reminded of
the benefits they receive from adopting this behaviour, which according to exchange
theory, creates a clear trade off and thus because the segment will see that the benefits
are worth adopting the behaviour, they will likely do so.

Implementation: To implement this recommendation the Brimbank City Council will

have to allocate someone to curate the poster and then put them up around the
community. They may require support from local shopping centres in order to
facilitate putting up the posters inside.

4. Conclusion
To conclude, the scope of this report was to use segmenting strategies and the
consumer based social marketing framework to design a behaviour change program
for the Brimbank City Council to encourage the avoidance of single use plastics whilst
grocery shopping, from a household perspective. The recommendations made to the
council include distributing reusable produce bags to their community with an
infographic explaining the importance and benefits, as well as putting up posters
around the community, particularly throughout local shopping centres to remind
citizens to make that behaviour change and remember to opt for reusable bag options
while they shop. If these recommendations are implemented, citizens of the
community will be encouraged and motivated to make the change and will likely
adopt this new behaviour, ultimately resulting in decreasing the carbon footprint of the
participants and contributing to a safer environment.

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 5. References
Bandura, A, 2001, Social Cognitive Theory: An Agentic Perspective, Annual Review
of Psychology, vol. 52,
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.1

Bruyninckx, H, 2018, Environmental change: knowledge is key to mitigating impacts

on people and nature, European Environmental Agency,
https://www.eea.europa.eu/articles/environmental-change-knowledge-is-key

Centre of International and Environmental Law, 2021, Plastic and Human Health: A
Lifecycle Approach to Plastic Pollution, viewed 28 March 2022,
https://www.ciel.org/project-update/plastic-and-human-health-a-lifecycle-approach-to-
plastic-pollution/

Environment Victoria, 2013, The Problem with Landfill, viewed 28 March, 2022,
https://environmentvictoria.org.au/resource/problem-landfill/

Kurt’s Rubbish Removal, 2019, Landfill in Australia: Facts and Statistics, viewed 28
March 2022,
https://kurtsrubbish.com.au/landfill-australia-facts-statistics/#:~:text=Landfilling%20
Rate,wastes%20straight%20to%20the%20landfills.

Lambe, C, Wittman, C & Spekman, R, 2001, Social Exchange Theory and Research
on Business-to-Business Relational Exchange, Journal of Business-Business
Marketing, vol. 8
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J033v08n03_01

Lotame, 2019, What is Market Segmentation?, viewed 28 March 2022,

https://www.lotame.com/what-is-market-segmentation/#:~:text=Segmentation%20ena
bles%20you%20to%20learn,targeting%20an%20overly%20broad%20audience.

Markman, A, 2018, Why People Aren’t Motivated to Address Climate Change,

Harvard Business Review, viewed 28 March 2022,
https://hbr.org/2018/10/why-people-arent-motivated-to-address-climate-change

Marsh, J, 2021, The Benefit of Reducing Plastic Waste, Environment Co, viewed 28
March 2022, https://environment.co/the-benefits-of-reducing-plastic-waste/

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Ocean Conservatory, 2021, I Eat Fish, Am I Eating Microplastics?, viewed 28 March
2022,
https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2021/10/18/eating-microplastics/#:~:text=Around%
2074%25%20of%20fillets%20and,of%20the%20three%20studied%20tissues.

Rodriguez, K, 2022, Landfill, Unsplash, viewed 28 March 2022,

https://unsplash.com/photos/qsVWEGNnIrM

Smith, R, 2018, We Know Single Use Plastics are Bad. Why can’t we stop using
them?, IndyStar, viewed 28 March 2022,
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/07/29/plastic-waste-pollution-people-cant-
resits/818703002/

Unisan UK, 2022, What is Landfill? Why are landfills bad for the environment?,
viewed 28 March 2022,
https://www.unisanuk.com/what-is-a-landfill-why-are-landfills-bad-for-the-environme
nt/#:~:text=a%20major%20source%20of%20pollution,toxins%2C%20leachate%20an
d%20greenhouse%20gases.

Vedelago, C & Bachelard, M2020, Toxic Landfill in St Albans has been known about
and not talked about for years, The Age, viewed 28 March 2022,
https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/toxic-landfill-in-st-albans-has-been-know
n-and-not-talked-about-for-years-20200227-p5454l.html

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 6. Appendix

Appendix A
When discussing values in relation to the environment, the three segments of
categorisation are as follows; environmentally conscious, environmentally neutral and
environmentally unconscious. An environmentally conscious person will act actively
in favour of protecting the environment, are well versed in environmental issues, and
are taking action in their everyday lives and continuing to find new ways to reduce
their carbon emissions. An environmentally neutral person does the standard action
for the environment such as recycling where possible, potentially composting if
applicable for their circumstance and generally are aware of the issues the
environment face, but lack motivation to actively seek new ways to contribute
themselves. An environmentally unconscious person is someone who lacks the
knowledge and will to take action in protecting the environment, they generally will
not take any steps to reduce their carbon emission.

Appendix B
Albanvale, Albion, Ardeer, Brooklyn (part), Cairnlea, Calder Park, Deer Park,
Delahey, Derrimut, Hillside (part), Kealba, Keilor (part), Keilor Downs, Keilor East
(part), Keilor Lodge, Keilor North, Keilor Park, Kings Park, St Albans, Sunshine,
Sunshine North, Sunshine West, Sydenham, Taylors Lakes and Tullamarine (part).

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