Zero Waste in ACTION Blog tops 200,000 pageviews!

On May 12, 2015 the ZWA Blog topped 200K Views!

The 200,000 milestone for a niche blog is a monumental achievement, catapulting the published article collection into a prominent industry resource and respected journalism.

Launched in early 2009 as the Zero Waste Zones (ZWZ) Blog, the original posts chronicled the challenges and successes of the ZWZ program along with industry specific topics. When the National Restaurant Association purchased the ZWZ in 2012, the name evolved into the Zero Waste in ACTION (ZWA) Blog.

When the ZWA Blog surpassed 100,000 pageviews in July 2013, the ZWA Blog article, ZWA Blog: A Powerful Industry Resource & Voice, chronicled Elemental Impact's evolution from a zero waste cheerleader to current work in Recycling Refinement, moving beyond landfill diversion. Below is an excerpt from the article:

Authored by Ei, the ZWA Blog articles document the evolution of zero waste from concept to emerging industry standard, tell the story of zero waste pioneers and warriors who shifted paradigms in materials management, and shine light on fallacies within accepted recycling practices. 

The first 100,000 pageviews accumulated over 52 months - over four years. With accelerated readership, the second 100,000 pageviews occurred in 22 months - less than two years!

With a total of 322 blog articles, the ZWA Blog is a valuable industry resource and plays a leading role in Ei's powerful cyberspace voice. Over the past year, the average pageviews per article increased from 475 to 620 while the number of annual articles published decreased. In 2012, the ZWA Blog published 73 new articles, in 2013 31 articles and a further decline to 22 articles in 2014. To date 9 articles published in 2015.

In 2013, the ZWA Blog evolved into an on-line magazine as most posts are in-depth articles with readership continuing long after publication. The all-time most popular ZWA Blog articles are:

• Reduce First, Donate Second, Compost Third, February 2012 - 11.1K views
• Waxed Cardboard Boxes = Landfill Destination = $$ Lost, May 2012 - 4.3K views
• Plastic GYRE Symposium: Artists, Scientists, Activist Respond, April, 2015 - 1.5K views
• Food Waste too Valuable for the Landfill, December 2012 - 1.2K views
• Role Compostable Packaging Plays in Food Waste Systems, August 2012 - 1.1K views

Ei Chair Scott Seydel with
Laura Turner Seydel & Dianna Cohen

Within a mere six weeks The Plastic GYRE article soared into the third most popular post! In addition to Ei's FB and LinkedIN posts, Twitter played an invaluable role in the readership momentum. The Earth Island Institute (@earthisland - 72.6K followers) and the Plastic Pollution Coalition (@plasticpollutes - 18.1K followers) retweeted most of Ei's tweets on The Plastic GYRE article and were significant drivers for the impressive readership.

Ei was named the US Zero Waste Business Council (USZWBC) 2014 Conference Media Partner for the Atlanta-hosted event. In 2015, Ei was named the USZWBC Media Partner for the annual conference as well as the organization. ZWA Blog articles are vital to the media partner status with the USZWBC staff promoting the articles within the organization's network. Most USZWBC-related articles well exceed the average 620 average pageviews.

The ZWA Blog strong readership stats are grounded in Ei's powerful cyberspace network including the Ei website (average 5,000+ monthly visits), Ei Twitter (1,080 followers), Ei Newsletter (3,000+ distribution) and Ei FB page (nearly 600 likes & growing). In addition, Ei Founder Holly Elmore uses her significant personal connections and cyberspace presence to promote article readership.

Holly "shooting"
Photo courtesy of Scott Lutocka

Personal e-mails to those featured in articles are another important vehicle for driving readership and encouraging others to promote articles within respective networks.

In addition, the Ei FB Albums include over 150 albums documenting Ei's important work and serve as a valuable industry resource. Photos are often used by industry professionals in PPT presentations at national conferences and other events. In general, the photos are provided by Holly.

To date, Holly's "fingertip press" published each of the ZWA Blog articles.

The IMPACT Blog, the ZWA sister blog, stands her own in readership with 68,250 views for the 120 published articles with an average of 570 views per article.

With the monumental 200,000 pageviews benchmark surpassed, a well-orchestrated foundation is built to catapult into dimensions beckoning exploration and activation. Stay tuned, exciting times are around the corner!