Charter Communications Wins A ‘Keep America Beautiful’ National Award

Charter Communications’ Community Access Department, CommuniTyVision 21, has achieved national recognition for its efforts to conduct a video tape recycling program for the towns served in Charter’s western Connecticut franchise.

Keep America Beautiful, Inc is the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organization. With a network of nearly 1,000 affiliate and participating organizations, Keep America Beautiful forms public-private partnerships and programs that engage individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their community’s environment. Its annual awards recognize companies and organizations that create programs to reduce waste and promote recycling in their communities.

In early 2007, the staff at CommuniTyVision 21 developed a promotional campaign for community television by recycling video tapes. The staff of CTV-21 knew that, due to the advent of digital media (DVDs, Mp3 players), videotapes are piling up as they approach obsolescence.

Feeling they might make a difference by offering to recycle residents’ unwanted videotapes, a recycling company was found and Charter management agreed to absorb the cost of recycling. Spots, fillers, public affairs programming, and a website were created to promote the campaign.

Throughout April 2007 numerous tape collection events were held at transfer stations and recycling centers. The Newtown offices of Charter Communications served as the main tape drop-off location for unwanted tapes. Many partnerships were created with towns whose cooperation contributed to the success of the campaign. In all, more than 7,000 tapes were collected, preventing almost two tons of nonbiodegradable material from entering local land fills. Charter plans to expand the recycling program in 2008.