Few public education challenges have been as significant in recent years as California’s implementation of SB 1383, which fundamentally changed how residents manage food scraps and organic materials. At the same time, waste and recycling agencies across the globe have been grappling with a growing threat from lithium-ion batteries, which are responsible for increasing numbers of fires in collection vehicles, recycling facilities, and landfills.
ReGen Monterey’s communications team developed comprehensive campaigns addressing both issues, earning four statewide awards from the California Association of Public Information Officials (CAPIO), the state’s leading professional association for government communicators. The honors included a Best in Show award for Sort with Heart, selected from more than 500 entries submitted by public agencies across California.
Presented during CAPIO’s annual conference in San Diego from May 11-14, the awards recognized two major public education efforts. Sort with Heart, a CalRecycle-funded collaborative campaign developed with Salinas Valley Recycles and Blue Strike Environmental to promote curbside food scrap composting, earned an Award of Distinction for Public Service Announcement, an Excellence in Public Information and Communications (EPIC) Award for Communications Campaign, and Best in Show recognition. ReGen Monterey’s Charged Conversations battery fire safety campaign received a Certificate of Excellence, marking the third CAPIO award for the project.
The recognition reflects years of work helping residents understand and adapt to changing waste management practices. SB 1383 requires residents and businesses to separate food scraps from trash, reducing methane emissions from landfills while creating compost that can be returned to local farms and agricultural lands.
Research and community outreach showed that many residents were either unaware that food scraps belonged in the green cart or viewed food scrap collection as inconvenient. ReGen Monterey and Salinas Valley Recycles responded by developing Sort with Heart, a countywide campaign that reframed composting as a familiar, easy, and culturally-rooted practice connected to family traditions, local agriculture, and community pride.
The campaign combined bilingual television and radio advertising, streaming and programmatic video, print and transit advertising, social media, a dedicated website, and two large-scale public murals by local artist Hanif Panni located in Monterey County’s coastal and agricultural communities.
While Sort with Heart focused on curbside composting, Charged Conversations addressed a growing safety issue facing waste and recycling facilities throughout the world. ReGen Monterey experiences approximately one fire per week, many linked to batteries and electronic devices improperly placed in trash or recycling carts.
The Charged Conversations campaign used documentary-style storytelling with facility footage and frontline worker testimonials to demonstrate the local and real-world consequences of improper battery disposal, while promoting convenient collection options available to residents. The campaign contributed to measurable increases in safe battery collection and has been featured as a case study at conferences across North America, including a plenary presentation at a national conference in Canada.
The success of both campaigns demonstrates the importance of sustained public education, regional collaboration, and creative communications in addressing complex environmental challenges. It also highlights the role special districts play not only in providing essential public services, but in helping residents understand how their everyday actions contribute to broader community goals.