Statiegeld Nederland x Barter: Local UGC Driving 12M+ Views & Behavior Change Around Recycling
Statiegeld Nederland
Industry: Sustainability & Recycling
Campaign type: Festival awareness pilot campaign
Content type: TikTok & Instagram Reels (festival stories, walkthroughs, educational content)
About: Statiegeld Nederland places recycling bulkmachines at large events and festivals: machines where visitors can return an entire bag of bottles and cans in one go. While these machines are fast, efficient and easy to use, many festival visitors simply didn’t know they existed or didn’t notice them among the crowds and activities. To make the machines more visible and encourage festival-goers to recycle more, Statiegeld Nederland launched a pilot awareness campaign that used creators to show where the machines were located, how they worked and why it was beneficial to use them during the event.
Brand goal: The main goal was to increase on-site awareness of the bulkmachines at festivals and stimulate real recycling behavior: more bottles and cans being returned during the event. The campaign focused on practical impact, not mass reach.
Challenges:
Even with strong sustainability goals, Statiegeld Nederland faced several festival-specific challenges:
- Festival visitors often didn’t notice the bulkmachine or didn’t know what it was
- Noisy, crowded environments make communication difficult
- Recycling behavior varies greatly at festivals and requires strong, clear messaging
- Content had to be helpful, fast, visual and easy to understand during a busy event
- Limited ad budget meant the campaign needed to rely heavily on organic creator trust
What we have done:
Barter supported Statiegeld Nederland in developing and running a festival-focused UGC pilot campaign.
- Selected creators with festival, lifestyle and sustainability-oriented content styles
- Launched the campaign through the Barter platform with an average of 38 creator applications per month
- Sent clear, instructional creative briefs including: where the machine is, demonstrate how it works, festival touchpoints
- Managed the full creative workflow: creator selection, coordination, communication, approvals and delivery
- Focused on geo-based results, not mass views
Ensured all content aligned with the campaign’s behavioral mission: making recycling simple, visible and rewarding
avg. 38
applications monthly
12,000,000+
total views
€0.56 CPM
estimated
70+ posts
on TikTok
10+ locations
activated
To bridge this gap, Statiegeld Nederland launched a local pilot campaign to raise awareness, demonstrate how the machines work and make recycling more accessible, visible and culturally relevant.
What made it work:
Festival creators with real influence among event-goers
Clear, easy-to-follow creative briefs ensuring correct, helpful storytelling
Strong hooks like “did you know this existed here?” and “here’s how to recycle and get money back”
Short, visual videos showing exact locations and easy user flow
Barter’s workflow ensured smooth coordination and fast delivery
Barter’s UGC platform tools made creator selection, communication and approvals simple and scalable.
Click here to read more about how we streamline this whole operational process.
Final thoughts
Through Barter, Statiegeld Nederland turned festival recycling into an accessible, visible and engaging experience. By working with on-site creators, the campaign achieved strong awareness, meaningful engagement and encouraged visitors to use the bulkmachines directly during the event.
👉 If your organization wants to drive awareness or behavior change through authentic, local creator content, Barter is ready to help.
Start empowering real communities with the stories that matter.
Corina Puscas
Content Marketer @Barter
