Selected Results

Using its extensive expertise, Aceti Associates has produced the following results for clients:

Literature Reviews

For the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection:

• Compiled inventories of the barriers and motivations associated with participation in:
  • curbside and drop-off recycling;
  • recycling in multi-family buildings;
  • green buying; and
  • reducing pesticide use in lawn care.
• Identified proven strategies for increasing recycling participation.  Produced strategy fact sheets in engaging and comprehensible language for recycling program managers.

For the Office of Continuing Professional Education, Cook College at Rutgers University:

• Utilized studies completed by social scientists to compile an inventory of the factors that influence whether or not people take action to mitigate high levels of radon in their homes.
• Identified messages and programs that increase the likelihood that people will take action to reduce high levels of radon in their homes.

For the Northeast Waste Management Officials Association:

• Conducted a nationwide survey of best practices for promoting fluorescent lamp recycling in commercial buildings.

Focus Group Research

For the Town of Concord, Massachusetts:

• Conducted focus group research among the top 10% of residential water users in order to understand the barriers and opportunities for reducing outdoor water use.

For the City of Milwaukee:

• Prepared a focus group discussion guide that was used to explore key factors influencing recycling participation with Milwaukee residents.

Phone Survey Research

For the Tunxis Recycling Operating Committee:

• Conducted phone survey research to improve the Tunxis Operating Committee's understanding of the factors that influence participation in curbside recycling among the residents of their thirteen member communities in Connecticut.

For the Greenscapes Coalition:

• Conducted phone survey research to evaluate the effectiveness of the Greenscapes public education program in changing landscaping behaviors among homeowners in southeastern Massachusetts.

Interview Research

For the Town of Concord, Massachusetts:

• Conducted interview research with irrigation and landscape contractors, their trade associations and the university extension agents who provide them with training and technical assistance. These in-depth interviews explored the possiblilities for a collaboration between the Town and the landscape and irrigation industries to promote outdoor water efficiency on private property in Concord.

For the Northeast Waste Management Officials Association:

• Conducted interviews with commercial property managers and representatives of energy efficiency organizations, utilities and energy service companies in order to understand current fluorescent lamp management practices and opportunities for promoting recycling.

For New Ecology, Inc.:

• Conducted interviews with government and non-profit staff to determine the most effective mechanisms by which energy efficiency practices become institutionalized in municipal government operations.

For the Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative:

• Conducted interviews with builders and architects to understand their experiences and the barriers and needs they face in using green building practices in their work.

Strategy Design and Implementation

For the Town of Dedham, Massachusetts:

• Designed a neighborhood recycling campaign to increase participation in the Town's curbside recycling program;
• Convened and worked with a citizen advisory committee to refine the outreach campaign;
• Recruited and trained volunteers to carry out the campaign;
• Recruited private sector campaign sponsors;
• Planned and coordinated every aspect of the campaign, including data collection and evaluation of the results; and
• Achieved a 17% increase in the amount recycled during the campaign period and a 10.5% increase during a 7½ month follow up period.

For the Town of Concord, Massachusetts:

• Developed a social marketing strategy for promoting efficient outdoor water use among Concord residents, with a focus on high water users; and
• Developed recommendations for a collaboration between the Town of Concord and the irrigation industry on promoting outdoor water efficiency on private property.

For the Tunxis Recycling Operating Committee:

• Developed recommendations for a multi-pronged media strategy to increase the number of people participating in recycling and the amount of material recyclers divert from the waste stream.

For New Ecology, Inc.:

• Prepared detailed recommendations for assisting municipalities in improving their capacity to adopt energy efficient practices.

For the City of Milwaukee:

• Developed a multi-faceted approach to increasing recycling participation in this diverse city.

For the Greenscapes Coalition:

• Laid out a new direction for the Greenscapes Coalition's efforts to promote sustainable landscaping, based upon audience research and principles of behavior change.

Tool Development

For the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection:

• Developed market research tools for environmental program managers, including:
  • model bid specifications for contracting for focus group research, phone survey research and pilot project evaluation; and
  • instructions for conducting focus group research in-house.

Training

Aceti Associates has delivered engaging, practical workshops on community-based social marketing for a diverse group of organizations, including the National Recycling Coalition, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Association for Commuter Transportation, the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, the Council for Environmental Education and the National Estuarine Research Reserve System.  Aceti Associates has delivered both introductory workshops on community-based social marketing (CBSM) and outcome-focused workshops, in which participants develop a CBSM strategy to foster a particular behavior change that furthers a specific environmental protection or public health goal. In all, over 1,500 program managers and activists have benefited from workshops delivered by Aceti Associates.

Jan Aceti served as a lecturer on social marketing in Tufts University's Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from 2004 through 2007.  Student evaluative comments on her graduate-level class, "Strategies for Social Change," include the following:

• "Jan was enthusiastic, experienced and really articulate and interesting. She had a tough time slot, but I never felt tired or bored. Great class!"
• "The second most useful aspect of the class was the mini-project. Excellent to learn the process by doing it."
• "Class discussion was fun and interesting. All discussions were open, and I felt encouraged to participate."
• "Instructor was excellent -- clear, incredibly well informed, a great listener, very even-handed in treatment of students. And excellent guest presenters, too."