CASE STUDY: This Doesn’t Smell Right! Campaign

When a San Francisco-based garbage company, Recology, was approved for a conditional use permit to process food waste in the heart of Lents in Portland, Pac/West was hired to spearhead a powerful public information campaign that would rally neighbors to support an appeal of the permit and put a stop to the company’s harmful activities. Pac/West’s campaign, dubbed, “This Doesn’t Smell Right!” effectively mobilized the community to speak out against Recology and the city’s plans to allow a food waste transfer site to be located in residents’ backyards. Before the appeal was filed, only a handful of neighbors were aware of the garbage company’s plans to stink up the community. But, in a period of only a few weeks, Pac/West reached out to thousands of residents and put the spotlight on the issue.

Pac/West’s public outreach campaign included direct mail, canvassing, phone calls, lawn signs, an interactive website, and social media to reveal flaws in Recology’s proposal, controversial litigation in the company’s history, and notices of violation of permits, regulations, and environmental laws at similar Recology-operated facilities in the Northwest. Our team encouraged hundreds of residents to attended public hearings and meetings, write letters, emails, and make phone calls to Portland City Councilors, land use officials, and other organizations to support them in the fight against Recology.

Pac/West was overwhelmingly successful in forcing a city-wide discussion on an issue that would have otherwise slipped through the cracks unnoticed. The team reached out to local advocacy groups, the business community, elected officials, and city council candidates. The Lents Neighborhood Association, Multnomah County Commissioner Judy Shiprack, and State Senator Rod Monroe all submitted letters to the Portland City Council vehemently opposing Recology’s food waste proposal. The campaign attracted significant media attention from news outlets including KOIN 6, KGW, KPAM, Neighborhood Notes, The Oregonian, and Willamette Week, who were all fascinated by the debate.

Even the manager of Recology himself could not deny the impact Pac/West’s This Doesn’t Smell Right! campaign made, admitting to The Oregonian, “In 23 years in the industry, I’ve never come up against an orchestrated opposition group like this.”

Currently, the citizens of Lents are continuing the fight, challenging a ruling by the City of Portland, which is now at State of Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals, to uphold Recology’s permit.