The inaugural ZWA Blog post announced the Zero Waste Zones launch in Atlanta. ZWZ were the first such zones created in the Southeast (hmmm... or is it the nation?!) where recycling and food waste collection practices were industry-driven, not required by regulations. In early 2009 zero waste was in the conceptual stage with pioneers shifting practices from waste management to material recovery. Commercial food waste collection for composting was in its infancy and the Atlanta fore-runners played an integral role in developing efficient infrastructure for food waste collection and transport.
As the ZWZ matured, the ZWA Blog developed into a platform for sharing success stories, including the impressive ZWZ media coverage. ZWZ director Holly Elmore created a national spotlight with her debut as Compost, The Quiet Hero's spokesperson at the 2010 National Restaurant Association Show. The ZWA Blog post, The Quiet Hero Speaks, gives an overview of Holly's second national speaking engagement.
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| Buzz Chandler, Chris Moyer & Holly introducing Recycling Integrity in Chicago @ IFSS |
In a positive light, the ZWA Blog began exploring controversial topics in posts and witnessed a significant traffic increase. Some of the more popular posts in this arena are: Is Plastic Really Kin to the Devil?, The Continuing Glass Dilemma, and Single-Stream: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Another powerful contributor to the ZWA Blog accelerated readership was the Sustainable Food Court Initiative moving into ACTION mode with pilot announcements. The post, Atlanta Airport - SFCI First Pilot!, announces the world's busiest airport serves as the Airport Pilot while the post, Atlanta Airport Makes Bold Statement, chronicles the ground-breaking contract provision requiring airport concessionaires to use compostable foodservice packaging.Sharing ZWA Blog posts on Ei's Facebook page and LinkedIN expanded the blog following into international circles. Google searches remain the strongest referral source and word use is critical to consistent search engine links. For example, food waste results in strong referrals while food residual does not. Note almost every blog post includes "zero waste" somewhere in the copy. Another contributor to high search placement is frequent posting.
Ei Partners are another catalyst for blog post views via re-posting within their networks. Companies and | or individuals featured in the respective posts are sent links along with a request to share the link in their newsletters, include the link on their website and promote the post in other appropriate manners.
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| Food prep scraps @ composting site - makes a good PPT visual |
Creating a powerful industry voice is a mosaic of ingredients where consistency in the message and frequency are interwoven within the myriad of communication vehicles. Videos play a vital supporting role and speaking engagements are important as their physical presence evolves into cyberspace documentation.
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| Ei Partners on a recent Hilex Poly recycling plant tour |
... and the voice grows more powerful!
