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Objective

An Op-Ed piece can raise public awareness of Zero Waste, influence elected officials, prompt dialogue, and suggest solutions to the problems that result from conventional wasting practices. Eco-Cycle's Zero Waste Op-Ed was published in the Sunday paper (which typically has the greatest circulation) five days before Eco-Cycle's big Zero Waste event.

How To Do It

Step 1 (4 weeks before event or intended date of publication): Contact newspaper(s) and determine their willingness to consider or accept your op-ed. You may have to submit an outline or draft at this stage. Find out the appropriate format (e-mail is becoming more and more acceptable these days), and exactly when the newspaper needs your op-ed for publication. Typically this will be four days before your preferred publication date.

Step 2 (1-4 weeks before intended date of publication): Write the op-ed, and edit it! Determine who will be indicated as the author. Op-Eds from community leaders, government officials, and better-known journalists in the area tend to have a better chance of getting published. If you are hosting a Zero Waste event and have a guest speaker, consider using this individual as your author, as this will expose that person to your community and present them as an expert. "Ghostwriting" is also okay-just be sure that the person for whom you are writing has a chance to look over the piece thoroughly before it's submitted.

Step 3 (4 days before intended date of publication): Submit the op-ed to the newspaper. Follow up with a phone call to the editor to make sure the piece was received.

Step 4 (Day of intended publication): Check the newspaper to be sure the op-ed was published. Check the piece for errors.

Tips

• Most papers prefer that Op-Eds be around 750 words in length
  
• Check with the paper(s) well in advance of when you wish to have the Op-Ed published, to determine their policies and procedures
  
• Use stories or anecdotes to illustrate abstract concepts
  
• In the text, propose some solutions to the problems identified; don't just criticize
  

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