Terracycle: Outsmarting Waste

Do cities and other places have to pay to recycle?”Despite decades of exhortations and mandates, it’s still typically more expensive for municipalities to recycle household waste than to send it to a landfill”(The Reign of Recycling). Recycling is more expensive but has more benefits than sending garbage to the landfill. Sending garbage to a landfill causes land pollution people need to be educated, have changed attitudes, and motivated to change and solve this problem.

Robert Swan once said “the greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” Two companies that understand this concept are Patagonia and Nike. How they address these issues regarding sustainable business practice vary, however. Both have made it their mission to deliver excellence and make the best quality products within their industries, Patagonia focussing more on outdoor active wear, while Nike is more sports oriented. Part of this process has been developing products from sustainable sources. Patagonia, for example, actively took a stand against chemical intensive cotton in 1994, and has since switched to less harmful means of organic cotton within all their cotton-based products. They are even going the extra

Sibelco sand mining company was founded in 1872 and have become a multinational business. They use raw materials from the environment to “provide solutions for society and support the cradle to cradle loop” (Sibelco, 2018). “Cradle to cradle is a sustainable business strategy that mimics the regenerative cycle of nature in which waste is reused” (Winston, n.d.). Sibelco utilises the cradle to cradle loop in order to maintain environmental mindfulness whilst working closely with local authorities and optimising their operational performance, ensuring the smallest amount of disruption (Sibelco,

Recycling is presently one of the most controversial topics, considering that while most individuals put across their support regarding the act the number of individuals who actually do something in order to recycle is much smaller. Many people are currently unable or unwilling to recycle properly because the process often requires a series of changes in one's life. It is thus essential for the authorities to provide educational programs meant to assist individuals in understanding why recycling is important and in learning how to recycle effectively. People need to accept the fact that the benefits of recycling will reflect on the future and that conditions are currently critical as a result of the fact that the masses are generally unacquainted with the importance of this process.

Wal-Mart uses its resources in research since before (2011-2012) for the sole purpose of coming up with new ideas and new ways to sustain itself in the local and global community. Locally it provides electricity in stores from solar panels and wind turbines. “Wal-Mart has taken strides to obtain its sustainability objectives. It has opened two environmentally friendly stores in McKinney, Texas, and Aurora, Colorado.” The company hopes that these experiments will conserve natural resources, save energy, and reduce pollution. In addition, Wal-Mart is attempting to reduce fossil fuel. Its fleet of hybrid trucks is a new technology for going “green (Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell, 2011).” Similarly, Wal-Mart is “Currently working on four main green areas: waste improvement and recycling, natural resources, energy, and social/community impact. Wal-Mart’s long-term goals are to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, create zero

Fresh Kills Landfill, the largest landfill in the world (former), is located in Staten Island, New York. It is a total of 2200 acres where it opened in 1948 and lasted until March of 2001. The initial goal of the landfill was to remain open for five years, yet it was open longer, if not for a few decades. This landfill was one of the dominant landfills for storing garbage collected around New York City.

How will I help our environment? I will be partnering up with Karlie Ramirez, we have decided on the 21st of October to head up to Giant Rock, located in Lucerne Valley. Over the years mankind has polluted our air drastically, consequently we throw trash on the ground and in our oceans. At worst is air pollution. Exhaust fumes, Radiation spill or nuclear accidents It creates an adverse effect on the overall environment. We put fumes and gases in our air on a daily base and How does this affect our environment? As some of us have seen It kills wildlife and is currently putting a hole in our Ozone Layer. Karlie and I will be heading to pick up trash, approximately for about 5 hours. Before we can move forward, there are a few steps we will need to complete before the 23rd of September. Moving Forward to our first step, will need to speak to our parent about purchasing a few items. Such as, trash bags, gloves and water. Moving on to our Second step, discussing where we will be disposing of all trash we pick up. When you make a point of doing everything you can to help your environment by recycling, your actions make you part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Our third step, talk to our parents about transportation and Location in Giant Rock. After these steps, Karlie and I will be ready to help our earth function and breathe, on the 21st of October. (Here we come Giant Rock!) Everyday items such as soda cans and plastic bottles can be deadly for unsuspecting wildlife.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the sustainability practices of two companies in the same industry. The two companies chosen for comparison are The Hershey Company and Coca-Cola Enterprises, both of which are in the consumer staples industry. These two corporations are ranked sixth and eighth, respectively, on the Newsweek Top Green Companies in the U.S 2015. They have taken pride in creating sustainable product designs, having environmentally sustainable processes and supply chain management.

It is a wireless and broadcast communications infrastructure company that owns, operates and develops communications sites. Its primary business includes leasing antenna space on multi-tenant communications sites to wireless service providers, radio and television broadcast companies, wireless data providers, government agencies and municipalities and tenants in a number of other industries.

Recycling is known very well to most of the United States. It has been a buzzword since my childhood in the 80's. However, many towns and metropolitans, including my home town of Savannah, have trouble getting their residents to actively participate in the recycling programs.  There are many reasons people can site for not participating, some are personal issues, and some are those of the city itself. The first that comes to mind far too often is even though most solid waste can be sorted and recycled, the amount that is picked up is not even half as frequent. From a city stand point, expansion of the program itself may cause a hemorrhaging of money that can't be undone. Landfills have been an environmentally sound option for years, but they all have the same problem of finite space. On the surface it seems simple, but nothing is ever that easy. Both recycling programs and landfills cost large amounts of capital to maintain. With the goal of an environmentally stable city, landfills and their finite space will always be a problem. With vision and drive maybe the tables can be turned.

The industry can be very susceptible to environmental issues together with other manufacturers. With the advent of campaigns toward saving the environment and “going green”, the society is now more concerned with how the industry’s wastes and other by-products are being managed. Using recycled materials and recycling one’s wastes can affect the industry’s over-all image as an environmental advocate.

Patagonia’s value proposition is based on embedding environmental sustainability in every business decision it makes. Its core strategy is differentiation by focusing on durability and quality of products whilst minimising its carbon footprint and use of synthetic ingredients (what). The business model revolves around developing innovative technologies and influencing competitors and suppliers alike to adopt environmentally-friendly processes (how). Commitment to these causes while maintaining quality has allowed it to develop a loyal customer base amongst high income groups and athletes (who) and significantly increase customer’s willingness to pay.

We have focused our business towards meeting the demands of the consumer and not solely on the profits. Although, with the implementation of new programs over the years and the work towards developing new ones, we have been able to retain customers and gain new ones which drives our gross margins up. Blue Orb Recycling has drafted a strategic plan to meet the needs of the business

The article “Our E-Waste Problem is Ridiculous, and Gadget Makers Aren’t Helping” by Christina Bonnington clarifies the damaging effect of dumping electronic fragments into landfills and how recycling is healthier besides the diverse types of companies that are eco-friendly. When customers change to a new phone or get an upgrade 70-80 percent of the ancient phones ends up in landfills. Throughout the years technology has gotten better it has become firmer to disassemble. Next Bonnington Shares the recycling process, and how certain companies determines if it’s worth reselling, if the electronic is not worth reselling it’s shredded so the materials inside can be recycled such as steel, copper, etc. It also can be tough to get this material out

In other efforts to be environmentally conscience, PepsiCo has reduced the packaging weight of their products by more than three hundred fifty million pounds, which exceeded their goal by more than twenty percent. In addition, PepsiCo has recycled approximately ninety-one percent of the waste, allowing less than nine percent to be sent to landfills. In some of the company facilities around the world as little as one percent of waste is sent to the landfills. Recycling of packaging is another commitment of PepsiCo. This commitment is being accomplished by using materials that are compatible with readily accessible recycling systems. (Environmental Sustainability)