Assessment 1 Student Name: Ketankumar Prajapati Student ID: 140065 Subject code: MBA613 Assessment title: Project RECYCLE IN OFFICE Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.. 3 DISCUSSION.. 3 CONCLUSION.. 7 References. 8 INTRODUCTION Recycling, one of the three R’s, is extremely crucial, and the need of the hour to make this environment and our surroundings a better place. It does not require much extra effort and can be easily implemented without many hassles. Today, in schools, colleges, homes, we have started recycling to save the planet. Recycling in the workplace is also an equally important task which people often tend to overlook (Pandey, Surjan, &Kapshe, 2018). It is very important to take up eco-friendly policies even in the office. Education and motivation are the two most important steps needed for these kinds of measures. People need to understand that it is not rocket science but a very simple task, which needs to be correctly implemented. People often tend to overlook the fact that a considerable amount of waste is generated from office too. These include pens, printing papers, cartridges, disposable cups, plates, plastic bags etc. These items, when dumped in the landfills, emit harmful gases, and pollute the atmosphere. Thus, it is very important to make conscious efforts to use items which can be recycled and utilize their recycling properties to the fullest. Recycling has lots of benefits, for example, it saves money, saves our resources, educates people who educate others, and the chain continues (Tsatsis et al., 2017). DISCUSSION Brainstorming: Brainstorming is important. Different people exchange their creative and innovative ideas to accomplish a task or a project. In these types of cases, brainstorming is extremely important. A group had been formed where each employee could contribute to the central idea. There were resources, tools, and refreshments. Employees of different levels were invited to the brainstorming session. Recycling is an important part and should be undertaken by everybody, and thus, the topic which is the importance of recycling in the workplace was introduced and put forth in front of the members of the session. After everyone gathered, a person was appointed to record the ideas contributed by the various team members. The ideas had been recorded on a whiteboard and in a notebook. The session was held in a relaxed mood so that employees did not feel the pressure of a huge task being undertaken (Borregard et al. 2017). Mind-mapping: Group mind mapping was used too, to achieve the results. Employees were asked to carve their individual mind maps and they were amalgamated together to get the desired result. It helps in better productivity and waste recycle by reducing unnecessary raw materials (Vanderlei Kniess &Quoniam 2020). The various solutions put forward by the various team members were: Education of the office employees: Education does not only mean the knowledge gathered from books. One should learn the advantages and benefits one can get after recycling. Today, Earth is suffering from pollution, climate change, global warming, and much more. These small steps, if undertaken carefully, can bring a major change. People should know that recycling protects the environment, reduces the amount of waste that is sent to landfills. It separates the trash and does not allow it to be present in the landfill. This prevents the emission of greenhouse gases like methane from landfills and thus, pollution is reduced to a great extent. Apart from that, it also provides jobs and thus, increases employment. The employees need to understand that at the end of the day, it is their workplace. Just like they keep their homes clean, it is important to keep their office clean too. Shift to reusable items: It is advisable to avoid using plastic or disposable cups. Instead, if employees bring their coffee mug or glass or plates, the need to dispose of them does not arise. If employees need to carry anything in their office, they should use cloth bags instead of plastic bags. Also, plastic water bottles should be avoided as much as one can. It has been calculated that a man uses 129 plastic water bottles and 500 disposable cups at the office. Thus, when the number gets multiplied by the total strength of the office, it becomes a huge waste. Employees should be encouraged to bring their utensils. It would be better if the office has a dishwasher. Also, pens are a part of the waste. One should try to use pens that can be refilled instead of using the use and throw ones as they provide service for a few days and unnecessarily, increase the waste. Printing: Million tons of office paper which are wasted is sent to the landfills every year. If we go by the statistical figures, 1.5 pounds of paper is wasted by an employee per day. In this digital world, everyone should try to send documents or other office papers digitally. This eliminates the use of paper. In case printing becomes necessary, it should be done on both sides. If it is a less important document, an old paper can be taken, and the required document can be printed on the other side of it. Narrow margins and borders should be used in informal documents. Also, cartridges should be chosen wisely. Laser printer cartridges can be easily reused 3-4 times. Also, recycle bins should be kept beside every printer. Aluminium cans: Employees should be encouraged to reuse aluminium cans of cold drinks, energy drinks, etc. Those cans can be transformed into pen stands or can be used for collecting cash for any purpose. Cash collection is a much common thing in workplaces and in these cases, those aluminium cans can be easily reduced to store the money. Instead of buying pen stands, the cans can also be used for the same. Thus, instead of disposing of the aluminium cans soon after their use, they should be preserved carefully for further use.Minimizing paper wastage: If someone, accidentally, spills ink or coffee, or food over a paper, there is no need to throw it off. That paper cannot be used for any unofficial work but can be easily used to take down notes. If too many papers get accumulated, one can turn it into a diary or a notepad by stapling all the pages together.Announcements: The whiteboard or the soft board should be used in case of announcements or important notices. Sending the same copy of the notice a hundred times makes no sense. Thus, it is extremely important to either mail or write the important notice in aboard.Interaction: Employees should discuss among themselves and discover more innovative ways to recycle products. If anyone commits any mistake in this field, others should come forward and make him/her realise the mistake. Self-realisation is very important. Office works are necessary, but recycling things are no less inferior. In a hurry to complete the office work, if someone forgets and takes a wrong step, others should help him/her. Politeness is another keyword that should be kept in the mind. An employee should correct his colleague in a polite manner. Everyone should be responsible enough to keep their workplace clean.Recycling contractor: Last but not the least, it is very important to keep a recycling contractor who will manage the recyclables generated by the office (Santti Happonen &Auvinen 2020). Visualization: Posters, banners, slogans, pictures had been put throughout the office. They contained important messages and captions which highlighted the need for recycling and reusing. In the LCD screens fitted at the cafeteria or in the dining hall, audio, and video clips of the advantages of recycling were shown continuously. It was made sure that people understood the fact that recycling is important and necessary. Storyboarding was also implemented to achieve the results of the project. Trash bins displayed images of what was being thrown inside them. The trash bins and the recycling bins had different colours so that people could distinguish them easily. The recycling bins had a bright colour to capture the attention of the employees without much difficulty. Recycling bins had been kept at the centre of the room. There had been reminder signs with some catchy quotes or captions written on them. With the help of visualization, it was easier to appeal to the employees. One more way to reduce office waste and recycle them is promoting the use of Fish bone diagram, through this diagram we can easily understand the relation between waste, their sources and undesired effects and thus minimise the waste produced. An example of Fish bone diagram is mentioned in the chart. CONCLUSION Thus, when examined carefully, many steps had been discovered which if properly implemented, could bring a large change. Brainstorming, visualisation, storyboarding, etc. contributed to the success of the task. The planet needs responsible citizens. If a single person takes up the responsibility of recycling and reusing the various things, another person will get motivated. This will lead to a chain of motivated citizens who will be ready to eliminate wastes from their homes and offices. Recycling, in turn, minimises the emission of greenhouse gases, which cause pollution and increase the global temperature, which finally leads to global warming and climate changes. Re-cycle is a very important term and people should start taking it more seriously if they want to leave a sustainable environment for their future generations (Fini & Forsythe 2020). Benford, S, Greenhalgh, C, Giannachi, G, Walker B, Marshall, J & Robben T 2016, ‘Uncomfortable user experience’, Communications of the ACM, vol. 56, no. 9, pp. 66 –73. References Pandey, R U, Surjan, A, & Kapshe, M 2018, ‘Exploring linkages between sustainable consumption and prevailing green practices in reuse and recycling of household waste: Case of Bhopal city in India’, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 173, pp 49-59. Tsatsis, D E, Papachristos, D K, Valta, K A, Vlyssides, A G, & Economides, D G 2017, ‘Enzymatic deinking for recycling of office waste paper’, Journal of environmental chemical engineering, vol 5(2), pp. 1744-1753. Borregard, G A, Graves, V, Lamphere, P, Pataro, C, & Spears, M 2017, ‘Off Campus Recycling’ Santti, U, Happonen, A, &Auvinen, H 2020, May, ‘Digitalization boosted recycling: Gamification as an inspiration for young adults to do enhanced waste sorting’. In AIP Conference Proceedings (Vol. 2233, no. 1, pp 050014) AIP Publishing LLC. Vanderlei, C A, Kniess, C, &Quoniam, L 2020, ‘Patent technometry by mind maps: a study on the recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment’, International Journal of Innovation, vol. 8(1), pp 77-100. Fini, A. A. F., & Forsythe, P. (2020). Barriers to reusing and recycling office fit-out: an exploratory analysis of demolition processes and product features. Construction Economics and Building, 20(4).
