Recycle Right & Natural Gas Safety Messaging Evaluation

As a city of over 500,000 residents, the City of Mesa is dedicated to fostering a safe and sustainable future for all by offering high quality services from all municipal departments, including the Solid Waste Department and Energy Resources Department. Both departments interface frequently with Mesa citizens via a variety of communication media to advance departmental goals. The Solid Waste Department shares goals and strategies around how to “Recycle Right” via a municipal website accessible to residents and businesses, as well as print tags shared directly with homeowners on recycling containers. The Energy Resources Department shares customer safety information with affected publics, including those who live or work near natural gas pipelines, via customer letters and surveys. To evaluate the effectiveness of existing “Recycle Right” and natural gas safety messaging, the City of Mesa collaborated with graduate students studying User Experience to identify and recruit target audiences and develop messaging evaluation interview protocols, then interview key individuals to gather user experience data. Students then analyzed collected data to develop and propose strategies for improving future messaging around recycling and natural gas safety throughout the City of Mesa.