Group Project Two – Small Wins
CMST&230 Small Group Communications, Green River College
Group: Production
Group Members: Julia Gaffney, Nathan Kroon, Sandeep Aujla, Leah Duff, Eathan Campbell, Jared Schiefer
Problem Identification
The issue that our project will address is the issue of not properly recycling. Many members in our community wonder, “Does this go in the recycling?”, and some people don’t pay attention to recycling at all. By being uninformed on what to recycle and how to recycle, serious problems are left unseen. This can be problematic as society heads towards a sustainable future. Unfortunately, not all items are recyclable, and some items that appear to be recyclable are, in fact, not. Unaware recyclers placing wrong things in the recycle can cause more harm than good.
Problem Analysis
Not knowing how to recycle correctly is serious because recycling gets left in the garbage instead of being recycled and therefore ends up in landfills. This is a significant waste of resources as the recycled products could have been reused. Landfills are also very hard to move, and the larger they get, the more space they waste that could be used for improvement and bettering our surroundings. Another significant issue is that as people don’t know what or how to recycle, it causes a slow and unproductive recycling process. Many incorrectly recycled materials can jam the machinery or contaminate other recycled products making them unusable and dangerous to employees. Vogel Disposal Services Inc. is an independent waste collecting and disposal service in Pennsylvania that, from experience, explains how “If an entire load of recyclable materials reaches the buyer but is contaminated by one thing, the entire shipment will be turned away” (2019). This company explains that contamination slows down production to the point that if it’s not taken care of, it can lead to an increase in recycling services nationwide. This increase of inefficient recycling services is economically costly. This is important to our group because it affects everyone, and it is something that we can all make a difference in.
Solution Criteria
The solution criteria for the Small Wins group project is that it must be the achievement of a goal or task consistent with the definition of a group from our text. That is, the project includes three or more persons interacting who both influence and are influenced by one another. (Rothwell, 2019, p. 24). The Small Wins project must include a community service component, with our group determining what is both our “community” and who is being “served.” However, the project must have an actionable activity that is conducted by all the members. Further, the project must be accomplished within the provided timeline of four weeks, along with the required documentation and support as described in the assignment. Lastly, the project needs to be consistent with Green River College’s guidelines for the safety and security of students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Solution Suggestions
There were several ideas to tackle the issue of improper recycling and how to improve better recycling practices. Some of these suggestions were; learn proper procedures; become aware of county rules about recycling; drop glass and household hazardous materials at designated facilities, or become a more aware shopper trying our best effort to only buy recyclable items. Each of these is a possible solution to improving recycling practices; however, it must be considered which one would be the most effective. The group’s decision on one of these solutions had to be effective, something we could do as a group, and be logically beneficial to our communities.
Solution Evaluation and Selection
With many different options to choose from, we had to evaluate each possible solution to ensure we made the best decision. This evaluation included figuring out possible implementations and determining which solution would have the most significant overall impact. We wanted to find a solution that would touch on the essential parts of all of these ideas without being overwhelming or vague from our group’s options. It was most important to inform and change how our community recycles. After these considerations, our group decided that our best solution would be to spread awareness to our communities about our respective county recycling rules. These rules covered everything from what containers can and cannot be recycled to special drop-off recycling locations for unique items such as glass, electronics, and furniture. There is a lot of misinformation surrounding what can and cannot be recycled, so spreading awareness of these rules will ensure that more people dispose of their waste in the correct and most environmentally friendly way. This was our way of finding one specific solution that we could implement that would cover a large population and be easy for people to follow and understand.
Solution Implementation
As the group decided that our implementation would be to spread more awareness on how recycling works in each county, some took King county and others took Pierce county. We chose to create ‘do’ and ‘don’t’ posters on what to recycle and hung them in highly populated areas, such as our workplaces and mailboxes. Other poster ideas included tips on recycling and information about the facilities in the area. We also printed out flyers that gave information on where to recycle and what to put in what bins. Another way we implemented our solution was by posting infographics we created into a neighborhood Facebook page, and other social media sites to get more online interactions.
Conclusion
The current circumstances with recycling are the issues of individuals underestimating their impact on recycling and the lack of awareness and reasoning to recycle. Our group successfully addressed this issue by providing information on how to recycle within our community correctly. As a result of our project, spending a few extra minutes to learn how to dispose of waste properly and follow through with it can help prevent recyclable items in landfills and inefficiencies at recycling plants. The group was flawless with refining our project and supporting ideas and how the project should be implemented. Each member had the initiative to reach out to the community in many different ways; thus, the success in the group helped bring about our success in reaching out to our local communities.
References
Recycle Right – Washington State Department of Ecology. (n.d.). Recycling Rights Matter.
Rousta, K., & Ekström, K. (2013). Assessing Incorrect Household Waste Sorting in a Medium-Sized Swedish City. Sustainability, 5(10), 4349–4361.
What Happens When The Wrong Things Go Into Recycling? (2019, July 15). Vogel Disposal Service, Inc. https://www.vogeldisposal.com/vogel-disposal-news/what-happens-when-the-wrong-things-go-into-recycling-402Links to an external site.