The WA Bag Smart campaign employs many of the concepts and principles of community based social marketing

Recognizing that behavior changes are most effective if they are encouraged and supported in response to calls from within existing social networks, the program supports  a range of  tools  and strategies for successful change based on community based social marketing models.

For plastic bag reduction strategies to be successful, a multi-partite approach is seen as being critical.  Local government, the business community, schools and the community itself are all essential stakeholders and are brought together early in the planning processes of the strategy.

As with social change, community leaders and leading community organisations are a critical to help people:

• Understand why the need for change
• Connect people to what is happening to affect the change
• Help people make the change
• Reward people for making the change

Whilst the following prompts and suggestions on approaches could help reduce plastic bags in your community, they will also build the capacity for your community to embrace and manage change for itself in the future

This section covers the following topics

• Setting your objective
• Strategies and approaches
  - Community Education
  - Social and Behavioural change
  - Possible Initiatives by local government
• Identifying your partners
• Monitoring Results
• Possible phases
• Community Snapshots
• Bag Smart Services and Resources