New Jersey residents put up with a lot when it comes to their neighbors in Manhattan: Unfavorable comparisons and constant New Jersey jokes are one thing. But when it comes to
New York City's garbage, New Jersey residents put their feet down, refusing to have tons of NYC waste trucked through their state each day on its way to landfills farther
south.
It was up to The Marcus Group to turn a staunch refusal into an open-armed welcome for 6,000 tons of Manhattan's waste per day.
The Case
Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI), a waste management company, planned to build a $350 million barge-to-rail transfer station in Linden, N.J., to process more than 6,000 tons of
New York's waste each day. Fresh Kills landfill, a 50-year-old depository for Manhattan's garbage, located on Staten Island, was closing, and the city would be sending its trash
to landfills in Georgia and South Carolina. The reality was that the garbage would have to pass through New Jersey at some point in order to reach the southern states. The plan
was to build a facility in New Jersey that would receive the garbage by barge, transfer it to steel containers and place it on trains heading through New Jersey to destinations
farther south.
The Linden site was the third New Jersey site the company had selected for the facility (both other sites had rejected the plan), and it needed approval from the county
governing body in order to persuade other authorities to approve the facility.
Linden officials needed no convincing: They stood to gain millions of dollars in host community benefits. But citizens in Middlesex County - the county board's constituents -
were an entirely different story.
As it searched for a site, BFI had begun taking the only other route it could to get the trash to the new landfills: trucking the trash through New Jersey on long-haul tractor
trailers. New Jersey officials launched an all-out war, ticketing drivers for minor offenses and searching for legal ways to halt the flow of trashy traffic.
Trucks vs. Trains
When The Marcus Group realized how adamantly opposed New Jersey citizens were to the trucks, the team found the hook for the campaign. Truck traffic was a growing problem in
New Jersey. Tractor trailer accidents had become so common, the trucks were banned from many secondary highways.
The team immediately launched a campaign positioning the BFI barge-to-rail transfer station as the cleaner, safer solution to heavy truck traffic.
In January, a press release was issued, and the plan was quickly approved by Linden officials. Next, The Marcus Group began work on Middlesex citizens, who were already plagued
by railroad noise and concerned by the potentially dangerous contents of the garbage trains.
A video was produced showing the dangers of a daily influx of 1,000 garbage-laden trucks, describing the barge-to-rail system and showing what the trains would look like. The
video went to elected and appointed officials, editors and TV news producers.
Three local newspapers were so impressed by the train option that when a state senator introduced a bill attempting to block the plan, they ran editorials criticizing him.
Other politicians took the cue and swallowed their own protests. The Marcus Group continued to meet with local politicians as well as congressional candidates to explain why
they wouldn't win if they raised this issue.
A few diehard Middlesex officials continued raising issues: smells and noise, the train route's proximity to hospitals and schools, derailment fears and other problems. The
team responded to each individual complaint within the same news cycle and religiously attended opposition news conferences where they conducted non-confrontational follow-up
conferences reiterating that the issue was "the trucks, not the trash."
At the council hearing where the issue would be decided, the team used half its allotted time to discuss the plan. The second half was used to address opposition concerns. When
opponents raised those issues later in the meeting, they had already been addressed.
Results
County officials approved the project by a vote of seven to zero. BFI got the go-ahead to begin work on the facility, which is expected to be operational in a couple of
years.
The company currently spends $2 million a week shipping garbage through New Jersey via truck. The new barge-to-rail transfer system is expected to save the company millions.
(Contact: Tom Kilkenny, The Marcus Group, 201/902-9000, [email protected])
Campaign Stats
Timeframe: January-November, 2000
Budget: $250,000, with $40,000 for production of the campaign video
Team: Alan Marcus, President; Kathryn Forsyth, VP; Tom Kilkenny, VP; David Iverson, BFI Transfer Systems of New Jersey
Open, Honest Communications
The "Garbage In, Garbage Out" campaign was a simple, grassroots community relations campaign. The video was as "cutting edge" as the team got, with no Web site or other high-
tech communications.
Instead, team players preferred to get into the community, make appearances at meetings and get to know reporters, officials and citizens as well as community opponents
did.
They also coordinated carefully with the New York City Department of Sanitation so that BFI and New York city messages would be united and consistent, making sure no messages
were harmful or derogatory.
The Marcus Group received an Honorable Mention in the PR NEWS Platinum PR Awards Community Relations category for this campaign.