Sustainability Case Analysis: Recycling Practices in Seattle Companies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of recycling practices within companies in Seattle. It begins by outlining the current state of recycling in Seattle, including the processing and transportation of recyclable materials. The report then delves into the challenges faced by companies in implementing effective recycling programs, such as a lack of employee awareness, negative employee attitudes, the use of outdated equipment, and insufficient employee training. To address these issues, the report recommends several initiatives, including establishing recycling programs, creating dedicated recycling departments, and offering incentives to encourage employee participation. It also emphasizes the importance of proper employee training and management. The report also explores the future of recycling, highlighting emerging technologies like thermal pyrolysis and plasma gasification for waste-to-energy production, as well as the development of innovative materials from recycled plastic waste. The conclusion underscores the importance of continuous improvement in recycling strategies for environmental sustainability.

Running Head: RECYCLING 0
Sustainability Case Analysis
Recycling
Student’s Details
9/9/2019

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Abstract
The following report discussed about the recycling processes in companies of Seattle and
also introduced some problems which faced by the companies to implement the recycling. The
major issues which are faced by the companies are lack of awareness about recycling, bad
attitude of employees, use of old machines and less trained workers. To solve these all issues,
report recommended some ideas. The following report suggested that companies should start
some initiatives related to recycling such as recycling programs, create new department and give
incentives. The report also included the future research of recycling which highlighted about the
new techniques related to recycling.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Recyclable of Seattle....................................................................................................................3
Recycling problems of companies...................................................................................................3
Recommendations............................................................................................................................4
Important points related to recycling...........................................................................................5
Future Research...............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The amount of waste material is increasing every day and the workplaces or industries
play very important part to produce wastage. To reduce the wastage, it is very important to use
recycling in companies. Recycling has many advantages as it helps to reduce the pollution in air
and water, reduce the demand of minerals, saves energy and emissions of greenhouse gas. It is
not only beneficial for the environment but also for the companies (V. & Shari, 2010). In today’s
time, most of the companies are using recycling to save money. Some time ago, the recycling
condition of companies was very bad in Seattle. But with the changing time, companies are
improving the recycling conditions. Recycling in the workplace creates very effective and
positive impact on the cohesiveness of the group (Abbott, Nandeibam, & O'Shea, 2017).
The following report will highlight the recycling condition of companies in Seattle and
also discuss about the problems which are facing by the companies to use recycling in the
workplace. The report will recommend some ideas about the use of recycling to save the
environment and increase the productivity.
Recyclable of Seattle
Seattle's recyclable keep on being handled and transported, both locally and globally
Destinations and markets for recyclable of Seattle differ from year to year. 66% of Seattle's
reusing is prepared locally. Around 40% of the blended plastics are prepared locally, including
another handling organization in British Columbia. Over half of Seattle's blended paper and
cardboard is handled in Eastern Washington. Recycling of all metal is neighborhood and 100%
of Seattle's glass reusing is prepared in Seattle. The other 33% of Seattle's recyclables are traded,
generally to other assembling offices in Southeast Asia, including Korea, Indonesia, India, and
Thailand (Hara, 2019).
Recycling problems of companies
The attitude of employees regarding recycling is not good as they are aware about the
benefits of recycling but they do not want to take initiative. The main and major problem which
is facing by the companies to implement the recycling is the lack of awareness in the employees
regarding recycling. If a company pays attention to recycling and wants to implement it in a

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company, then the company has to face many problems (Dondero, 2017). The company's first
aim is that every product can and should be recycled. With this, the company's goal is set at zero
waste. To perform this task, the company should have trained staff that has a good understanding
of using the recycle product properly. But the companies suffering from the staff shortage and
the zero waste target of the company is not met. Because of this reason, many of the companies
are not able to meet the targets of recycling.
One of the most important issues is that companies have very less trained and managed
employees. Most of the recycle product making machines goes bad or old machines have no use
due to the introduction of new technology in these machines, the main reason is that the
employees are not trained and the employees do not show any kind of interest in these new
technologies. Also, companies face another problem is that employees are not managed properly
and those employees are not even told the basics of this recycling technique. Therefore, the
company should especially pay attention to the team that supplies labor should be told that the
team who is appointed there should be described to the job description well and they can do
justice to their job (Creton, 2017).
In the recycling process, the company has to go through a lot of expenditure. Because
those products are first selected, they are collected, and the waste is sorted out, which has to be
recycled and reused and all these processes cost a lot.
Recommendations
The company should retain the employee in such a way that the employee should be
prepared every day that some employees will be absent in the office on that day and this will
affect the productivity of those employees. If the company wants to choose a good and hard-
working employee from day one, then care has to be given to them to be properly trained and
properly managed. Proper management and training is also a problem with this task (Dondero,
2017).
The company should schedule the work of every employee from day one. Along with the
work, its time should also be fixed. If any problem appears in the work, then every employee
should be accountable for his time and work. This accountability can reduce the productivity of
the employee and at the same time may also reduce the morale of the employee. The employee

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should do his work with integrity; therefore, the employee should concentrate on the work and
not at the time of punching timecard (Gilli, Nicolli, & Farinelli, 2018).
The company should tell its employees about waste materials and their collection, for
this, the company should open a department in its office to explain to the employees how to
manage the waste materials and how to collect the waste. For this, the company should make its
employees aware. Many of the organizations started the program to promote people about
recycling.
The Rigid Waste Collection Service provides employees with the simple opportunity to
remove up to one cubic meter of hard waste from a nature strip or sidewalk outside the property.
Specifically, the items and materials to be collected include:
 Used equipment and lawnmowers
 Refrigerator (doors separate)
 Wood up to 1.5 meters long (no more than 10 wood)
 Stoves, washing machines and similar appliances
 Porcelain and window panes (which are well packed and covered)
 Electrical equipment
 Electronic waste (TV, computer etc.)
 Old furniture
Some landfill and relocation centres also provide recycling facilities for a wide variety of
goods and materials. These include motor oil and car batteries, white goods, green waste and
recyclable (King, 2014).
Important points related to recycling
In general terms, recycling means make the used things re-usable. Recycling is called
reusable. Recycling helps to protect the environment. Recycling reduces the need to extract and
clean raw materials, which makes air and waterless polluted. Recycling also reduces energy
requirements, which reduces the number of greenhouse gases and all of these protect the climate
from overheating (Oke, 2015).

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 Recycle a single plastic bottle saves so much energy that a 60W bulb can be run for 6
hours.
 Americans throw 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour. Each of these bottles takes up to
500 years to melt.
 Many large sea creatures consider the plastic bottles as small fish and swallow them due
to which they die.
 Recycle a small piece of aluminum saves so much energy that you can listen to all the
songs on your mobile at once.
 Recycling of 1 tons plastic saves 7500 liters of gasoline. Gasoline is a substance that is
obtained from petroleum and can be produced from it.
 Every year about 6 billion kg of garbage is dumped in the seas. Most of it is made of
plastic.
 Recycle a ton of paper saves 17 trees.
 Recycle aluminum can save 95% of the energy lost in making new aluminum.
Future Research
In recent times, several technologies for waste-to-energy production have been developed
that process waste to produce cleaner and more economical energy than before, including landfill
gas absorption, thermal pyrolysis, and plasma gasification. Old waste furnace plants emitted
high-level pollutants, while today new technologies such as thermal pyrolysis and plasma
gasification have significantly reduced pollution concerns from combustion (Buffington, 2015).
Proportional evaluation of the benefits and costs of thermal pyrolysis and plasma gasification
technologies should also be done by the chief executives of companies. These are high-budget
technologies that require the support of high officials of the company. The land will be required
to generate compost manure and biogas from waste, which the company will have to buy from
its fund or demand land from the local government. There is also a strong possibility of
generating employment in waste-to-energy manufacturing (Orr, 2014).
Currently, the work of manufacturing energy or fuel from organic waste is gaining
momentum. The rice husk left after extracting rice was previously only used for burning, but
now rice bran oil is becoming valuable oil for cooking in some countries of the world.

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Companies selling rice should consider these technologies and adopt them (Winterich, Nenkov,
& Gonzales, 2019).
Some new techniques have developed to manufacture inexpensive and durable tiles from
plastic waste, which is being used in the construction of low-cost toilets. For this purpose, a
department buys plastic bags, pages and bottles separated from waste from scrap. The waste of
this plastic waste is made and heated to a certain temperature and fly ash and some chemicals are
added to it. The mixture is then poured into tile manufacturing molds using compression molding
technology (Recycling, 2011). These tiles are also attractive like the expensive tiles sold in the
market. Tiles made with this technology are of superior technical quality, heat and fire-resistant,
water permeable and protected from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Tensile strength, flammability,
insulating capabilities, environmental stability, the resistivity of acids and alkalis are also tested
in research works. There is no doubt that smart toilets are made of the best plastic bags, like a
super-modern toilet that has been built at a lower price than waste plastics with these scientific
efforts (Waste Management and Environment, 2012).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that recycling is very important factor to
consider by every company. To make the recycling sustainable, it is necessary to make recycling
as an ongoing process which always needs improvement. The above report discussed about so
many issues which are faced by the companies but with this, report also included that how can
companies improve its recycling processes and strategies.
In the above report, it is suggested that companies should start recycling programs to
aware and promote the employees and workers about the recycling. Companies should make
some policies related to recycling. Not only this, companies should make a different team or
department to implement the effective and efficient recycling strategies. Report also identified
some future research on recycling. Several technologies for waste-to-energy production have
been developed in these days to produce cleaner and more economical energy than before,
including landfill gas absorption, thermal pyrolysis, and plasma gasification.

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References List
Abbott, A., Nandeibam, S., & O'Shea, L. (2017). The Displacement Effect of Convenience: The
Case of Recycling. Ecological Economics, 136, 159-168.
Buffington, J. (2015). The Recycling Myth: Disruptive Innovation to Improve the Environment.
Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Creton, C. (2017). Molecular stitches for enhanced recycling of packaging. Science, 355(6327),
797-798.
Dondero, J. (2017). The Energy Wise Workplace: Practical and Cost-Effective Ideas for a
Sustainable and Green Workplace. Maryland: rowman & littlefield.
Gilli, M., Nicolli, F., & Farinelli, P. (2018). Behavioural attitudes towards waste prevention and
recycling. Ecological Economics, 154, 294.
Hara, M. (2019, September 9). Seattle’s Recycling Process & Tips to #RecycleRight. Retrieved
September 9, 2019, from Seattle.gov:
https://www.seattle.gov/utilities/services/recycling/recycle-at-home/recycling-process
King, J. (2014). Recycling. Annals of Internal Medicine, 160(1), 68.
Oke, A. (2015). Workplace Waste Recycling Behaviour: A Meta-Analytical Review.
Sustainability, 7(6\), 7175-7194.
Orr, D. (2014). RECYCLING. Yale Review, 102(3), 98-100.
Recycling. (2011). Recycling. European Rubber Journal, 193(3), 0023.
V. , F. A., & Shari, A. (2010). Climb the green ladder make your company and career more
sustainable. Hoboken: Wiley .
Waste Management and Environment. (2012). Workplace recycling makes cents. Waste
Management and Environment, 23(3), 42.

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Winterich, K. P., Nenkov, G. Y., & Gonzales, G. E. (2019). Knowing What It Makes: How
Product Transformation Salience Increases Recycling. Journal of Marketing, 83(4), 21-
37.