A smiling woman with dark hair styled in a bun, wearing a green speckled blouse and dark skirt, waving, with red text above and below her reading "FUTURE WASTE!" and "GREENER GLEN EIFRA".
Illustration of a woman with curly brown hair standing outdoors against a backdrop of houses and a tree, with a circular logo in the top right corner that says 'Glen Elera - Future Waste! Greenener' and contains various icons of recyclable items.
A circular design with icons of waste items like a plastic bottle, T-shirt, washing machine, leaf, and bone, with red text around it that reads 'Green Europe Waste Circular Future' on a light blue background.
Text reading "Future Waste, Greener Glen Eira" with a wavy line underneath, on a light blue background.
Illustration of various waste items such as bottles, a bicycle, and leaves, with the text 'Future Waste, Greener Glen Eira' on a light blue background.
Illustration of a smiling woman with dark hair in a high ponytail, wearing a green top and dark skirt, waving with a background of simple line-drawn houses and trees, and pink text that reads 'Future Waste, Greener Glen Eira'.

Project Description

Future Waste, Greener Glen Eira — Community Engagement Campaign

A bold, public-facing campaign designed to bring the community into the future of waste, sustainability and circular thinking.

We partnered with Glen Eira City Council to create a strategic communications platform that could translate complex environmental and financial challenges into an open, accessible and participatory conversation with the community.

Services Provided

–Campaign & Messaging Framework
– Campaign Identity System
– Creative Direction
– Illustration System
– Print & Digital Campaign Assets
– Community Engagement Materials


Project Links

– www.gleneira.vic.gov.au
– Instagram

Two smartphones displaying content about future waste and environmental sustainability, with an illustration of a woman and logos related to green living.

The Opportunity

With major waste contracts approaching renewal, Glen Eira City Council faced a critical moment — a chance to rethink how waste services would operate for the next decade.

The opportunity extended beyond operational planning. It required engaging the community in shaping a system aligned with:

  • sustainability goals

  • circular economy principles

  • evolving expectations around environmental responsibility

The challenge was not just to inform, but to invite participation — bringing residents, businesses and stakeholders into a meaningful dialogue about the future.

Communicating Complexity with Clarity

Waste is one of the most visible and frequently used council services. It touches daily life — yet the systems behind it are complex, technical and often invisible.

The campaign needed to:

  • communicate nuanced, long-term planning

  • remain accessible to a broad demographic

  • build trust in a politically sensitive space

  • shift perception from passive service to shared responsibility

Our role was to translate this complexity into something people could see, understand and engage with.

A person shoveling mulch or soil in a garden on a split background, with greenery, trees, and a small town in the distance, under a sunny sky with clouds and flying birds.
A collage of nine social media graphics about future waste management and environmental sustainability, featuring illustrations of recycling, waste reduction, and eco-friendly initiatives, with text like 'Future Waste, Greener Glen Eira' and 'Greener
Post promoting future waste collection in Glen Eira, featuring illustrated diverse group of three people, with text encouraging joining the conversation and a URL at the bottom.
Digital poster about future waste and sustainability, featuring illustrated people discussing waste management, with logos of Glen Eira City Council and a website link at the bottom.

Campaign Strategy & Creative Approach

Our approach centred on creating a campaign that felt open, optimistic and human.

Rather than relying on compliance-led or purely informational messaging, we developed a platform designed to:

  • spark curiosity

  • encourage reflection

  • support community dialogue

  • position sustainability as participatory

The strategy reframed waste not as a background utility, but as part of a larger system shaped by collective action.

Visual Identity & Illustration System

At the heart of the campaign is a distinctive illustration system — anchored by a central “machine” concept surrounded by people.

This visual language:

  • represents the movement of materials through systems

  • symbolises collaboration and shared responsibility

  • keeps the focus on people, not infrastructure

Importantly, the campaign deliberately moved away from predictable “green” tropes.

Instead, we introduced:

  • fresh, contemporary colour palettes

  • bold, engaging compositions

  • an optimistic, forward-looking tone

The result is a visual identity that feels inclusive, modern and active — positioning sustainability as something people can participate in, not just observe.

Flyer titled "Future Waste, Greener Glen Eira" with an illustration of three women, one with curly red hair, and one with dark hair tied in a bun, discussing waste management and recycling, featuring environmental imagery like trees, the sun, clouds, and recycling symbols.

Multi-Channel Rollout

The campaign was designed as a scalable communication system, working seamlessly across:

  • large-format outdoor signage

  • print and community collateral

  • digital screens and web assets

  • social media and engagement platforms

Consistency across these touchpoints ensured the campaign remained recognisable and coherent, while still adapting to different contexts and audiences.

A person riding a blue bicycle past posters on a brick wall, with the posters promoting a waste management campaign in Glen Eira, Australia.

Supporting Community Participation

Beyond visual design, the campaign played a key role in enabling community engagement.

It created:

  • a clear entry point into complex topics

  • a sense of shared ownership over outcomes

  • space for dialogue rather than one-way communication

This helped shift the project from a traditional consultation process into a more inclusive, participatory conversation about the future.

Brochure titled 'Future Waste, Greener Glen Eira' with a cartoon illustration of two people discussing waste management, and symbols of various waste items and recycling. The brochures are fanned out on a gray surface.
A blurred person in a red jacket and jeans ascending an escalator in a tiled public space, with a poster on the wall promoting a community event about future waste management in Glen Eira.
A poster on a wall promoting future waste recycling and a greener Glen Eira, featuring illustrated people with trash bins and greenery, and a blurred person walking past.
Illustration of five diverse women standing in a line, each smiling and expressing unique personalities.
A colorful illustration of a group of people engaging in a science project outdoors, with a playground structure and a background of houses, trees, and clouds.

The Outcome

Future Waste, Greener Glen Eira established a strong and adaptable campaign platform for long-term engagement.

The work:

  • improved accessibility of complex sustainability messaging

  • strengthened trust through clear and transparent communication

  • supported broad community participation

  • positioned waste as a shared civic responsibility

This project demonstrates our ability to design communication systems that operate at the intersection of policy, community and behaviour change — translating complexity into clarity, and strategy into meaningful public engagement.

Collection of posters and an illustration displayed on a white background, promoting future waste management and recycling initiatives in Glen Eira, featuring a woman and diverse characters engaging in recycling activities.

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