Proposal Purpose
A waste management plan will identify the amount of waste diverted from the landfill and where it will go. Through the adaptation of lean process improvement, a landscaping company can continuously improve processes in all departments by the elimination of waste in every step. Currently, most waste is collected and disposed of by laborers and placed in several bins without sorting. By designating waste bins and implementing a composting service, this management plan and business case identify new savings opportunities and revenue streams for landscaping companies based in Houston, Texas.
Waste Management Operations Organization
A large-scale landscaping company may maintain up to three large waste bins. Most departments toss their waste in these bins from yard clippings to food scraps and PVC pipe. The three bins collect waste and are picked up periodically, roughly every two to three days by a waste service when full. Typically, none of these bins share a specific designation, and all types of waste are found in each of the three bins.
It is recommended to color code and designate each of the three waste bins for certain waste materials. Crews and their trucks can be outfitted with smaller color-coded bins based on their waste demands. These color-codings are universally recognized and can be understood clearly regardless of a language barrier or education level. The smaller bins in trucks make for a more fluid process for crews to dispose of their waste. A few garbage collection services offer recycling services upon request. A company called Mission Recycle offers commercial recycling services to local Houston businesses (Mission Recycle, 2020).
Drainage and Irrigation Department / Maintenance and Repairs Department
Commonly found waste in the Drainage and Irrigation Department & Maintenance and Repairs Department is as follows:
1. PVC Pipe
2. Plastic Sprinkler Heads (Rotors, Sprayers, Risers, etc.)
3. Plastic Nozzles and Nozzle Guards
4. Food Scraps
5. Plastic bags
6. Tree Roots
7. Broken plastics, metals, and wood equipment (tools, back-flows, etc.)
Many of these items can be diverted from landfills – can be used to make new materials. Through thoughtful techniques, a landscaping company can sell plastic, metal, and wood scrap at a service cost rather than paying service costs to dispose of trash. Food scraps will be composted, which is described in the Compost Service section.
Construction Department, Maintenance Department & Tree Care Department
Commonly found waste in the Construction Department, Maintenance Department & Tree Care Department is as follows:
1. Leaves and trimmings
2. Grass
3. Unused plants
4. Food Scraps
5. Plastic bags
6. Tree roots and stumps
7. Broken plastics, metals, and wood equipment (tools, back-flows, misc. items, etc.)
Many of these items can be diverted from landfills and can be used to make liquid and solid compost. Through thoughtful techniques, landscaping companies can re-purpose waste through operating and capital costs rather than paying service costs to dispose of trash. Food scraps will be composted, which is described in the Compost Service section.
Waste Management Supervisor
Supervisors and foremen work in conjunction with a waste management supervisor. The waste management supervisor will enforce the waste management plan by requiring all crews to sort their waste into the smaller, color-coded waste bins provided to them. In the morning and afternoon, the waste management supervisor will oversee the disposal of waste to enforce, guide, and facilitate the action of crews disposing of their waste properly by matching their crew's color-coded bins with the larger color-coded facility bins. The waste management supervisor will regularly make site visits to all department crews to address waste management related activities.
A waste management supervisor will stay current on industry trends through research and development, aside from supervising daily activities. The research includes but not limited to the discovery of new alternative regional materials that are biodegradable and recyclable based on the USGBC LEED guidelines (USGBC, 2016); perform source reduction and life cycle approaches like life-cycle costing (LCC) and life-cycle assessments (LCA); liaise with the waste contractors where your waste ultimately goes to determine if there’s any contamination in the loads; initiate phone calls with potential third-party affiliates and service providers or other companies to investigate their waste management policies; manage the composting service division meeting annual budget and sales goals; provide quarterly reports on amount of waste diverted from landfill; develop new equipment or systems that improve upon the existing waste management department.
Composting Service
What is compost? Compost is decaying organic matter used as plant fertilizer. Food, cardboard, paper, and yard cuttings can all be composted. Eggshells can add calcium whereas banana peels cause ants and aphids to die. PVC can be thrown in a chipper and serve as mulch.
There are many methods to compost. Bokashi is an excellent method to quickly ferment food waste scraps into rich organic liquid fertilizer yet is known to not be compatible with yard clippings. Not all the food scraps can be fermented into liquid fertilizer and typically, solid waste remains. Between each layer of scraps, bokashi bran (wheat bran, rice, coconut husks, and inoculated microbes) break down waste anaerobically. After one to two weeks, the scraps are turned into liquid fertilizer and the remains can be added into solid compost.
A compost tumbler is a fully sealed container which can rotate and mix composting materials. The solid waste left over from the bokashi and yard clippings can be mixed and provide fresh organic fertilizer within two-weeks. The tumbler can be spun on a daily or weekly basis depending on the amount of waste.
A new division inside the existing maintenance department or a new department as a whole can be created through the implementation of a waste management plan. The composting service will provide three additional streams of revenue: pick up delivery and drop off of liquid and solid compost.
Revenue Streams – Pricing and Descriptions
Financial proforma is based on a total of 250 customers. 25% (62) of the 250 customers opting for liquid compost and 10% (6) of the 62 customers opting for solid compost.
Pick up delivery
Monthly service fee is $4 (milk crates provided in the monthly service fee)
Maintenance crews can pick up or single designated individual
Pick up – food waste scraps, leaves and tree clippings, cardboard, grass, etc.
Liquid compost
Monthly service fee is $8 (milk crates replaced in the monthly service fee)
Maintenance crews can pick up or single designated individual
Delivery – bokashi organic liquid fertilizer
Solid compost
Monthly service fee is $6.67 (milk crates replaced in the monthly service fee)
Maintenance crews can pick up or single designated individual
Delivery – bokashi leftovers and solid food waste scraps via tumblers
Operations – Operating and Capital Expenses
Labor and employees are not factored into the financial proforma – this service can be completed by one person with a total of 60-customers. Every 120 customers require one dedicated laborer/employee with the role of turner operator to manage compost piles. By the Q4 Y1, the compost service will have a positive net and cumulative net cash flow. The composting service 5Y total will net $15,000 with a $22,000 cumulative net cash flow. No growth rates apply in this financial proforma and maintain the same 60-customers throughout the 5Y span.
Operating Expenses
Including but not limited to: labor, land (rent), gas, and bokashi
Labor is $12 p/hour based on a 40-hour work week
Lease for the land is $500 p/month
Gas is estimated to be $40 per gallon to fill up a 21.5-gallon tank at $2.22 per gallon
10.5-pound Bokashi bran used to decompose food scraps is $75
Capital Expenses
Including but not limited to land (own), trailer, milk crates, tumbler, bokashi bucket
Owning land is not factored into the financial proforma
One trailer is $1,500 serving as a mobile base of operation when leasing rather than owning land
One milk crate is $10 and used to transport food waste scraps and compost – 2.5 crates needed for each customer
One tumbler is $180 – referencing figures 4 and 5 while using the market research below, we conclude the number of tumblers needed by the amount of waste produced by a single household and the customers serviced for food delivery
One bokashi bucket is $50 – referencing figures 4 and 5 while using the market research below, we conclude the number of bokashi buckets needed by the amount of waste produced by a single household and the customers serviced for food delivery
Compost Service Example
This financial proforma example is based on the assumption that a landscaping company serves 250 clients that opt-in for lawn care and maintenance. Assuming the landscaping company retains all of the 250-clients for the newly formed compost service, all customers subscribe for food scrap pick up at $4 per month, 62 customers subscribe for liquid compost fertilizer at $8 per month, and 6 customers subscribe for solid compost fertilizer at $6.67 per month. No growth rates apply and assumptions based on no further capital expenditures needed.
Market Analysis
Operations are becoming leaner and greener. Many organizations are focusing on a cradle to cradle technique to optimize their businesses. The state of California has made it mandatory for commercial businesses to compost for reducing their carbon footprint and offset their emissions (Cal Recycle, 2020). Composting salvaged materials and recycled content provides companies that come in contact with waste with an opportunity to generate savings and introduce new revenue streams.
Market Research
40% of our food supply is uneaten (Natural Resources Defense Council, 2017). US households are spending $144 billion on food waste (refed.com). In total, Americans spend $218 billion (62 million tons) annually or 1.3% of GDP toward growing, processing, transporting, and disposing of food that has never been eaten (ReFED, 2020). 85% occurring downstream at consumer-facing businesses (25 million tons) and homes (27 million tons).
Compost Service Goal
Harris County’s population is estimated to be 4,713,325 as of July 1, 2019 (US Census Bureau, 2020). Dividing the average monthly food waste per US household (2.25 million tons) by the population of Harris County (4.7 million people) equals to 0.48 tons (954.74 pounds) of monthly food waste for the greater community or 5.73 tons (11,457 pounds) of food waste per year. A landscaping company’s goal will be to provide a subscription-based composting service at $4 per month for 1% (47,133) of Harris county’s population which will collect 486 pounds of food waste on a monthly basis.
When the landscaping company reaches its goal to service 1% of Harris county’s population, it will generate a quarterly income of $1.7 million for pick up delivery at $4 per month. The landscaping company will service liquid fertilizer to 11,783 (25% of pick up delivery clientele) people at $8 per month with a quarterly income of $850 thousand and solid fertilizer to 1,178 (10% of liquid fertilizer clientele) at $6.67 per month with a quarterly income of $70 thousand.
Forward-Looking Statements
Landscaping companies have a prime, unique opportunity to build a successful waste management plan. They come in contact with many forms of waste that can be sold and repurposed for either your landscaping company and its clients or third-party affiliates. Many landscape companies have no method to track, catalog, and weigh their waste. One of the many solutions this proposal aims to achieve, increasing more efficient operations, annual savings, and new streams of revenue across all departments.
Upon success, the landscaping company can look into new methods to increase efficiency and sustainability impacts within the three pillars of sustainability (social, economic, and environmental). Examples include 1) develop mechanical recycling machines automatically sorting waste; convert cement trucks into mobile compost units to streamline operations and reliance on third party waste service providers; 2) transform waste into biomass to fuel gas-powered trucks and serve as a form of renewable energy to power facilities; 3) expand compost service to satisfy farmers with animal feed. This proposal is a building block to keep companies current with the times and to not fall behind the curve. A landscaping company doesn’t have to offer its clients with sustainable practices like planting native and adapted species or xeriscaping, which saves clients’ money on their water utility bills and preserves their local biotic community, but they can tackle social and environmental governance inside a landscaping company’s daily operations.
Waste management is a practice that many commercial businesses are adopting to initiate sustainable policies. In the future, local and federal governments will potentially impose mandatory waste management policies for business operations, as seen in California, Washington, and Oregon. A landscaping company’s waste management plan will open the doors to new revenue streams and savings opportunities before government intervention, setting a precedent locally and nationally. This plan reduces their carbon footprint, providing both a marketing tool and an ability to build up other sustainable practices revolving around this waste management plan and business case.
Defined Keywords by LEED Green Associate Handbook
Lean Process Improvement
Principle of continuously improving any process through the elimination of waste in every step of manufacturing
Waste Management Plan
Plan included in the construction documents for a project that identifies the amount of construction waste that will be diverted from the landfill and where it will go
Regional Material
Material that is extracted, manufactured, and purchased within 100 miles of a project site.
Material Reuse
Reuse of materials whose lifetime has been extended to be used in the same purpose for which they were designed
Source Reduction
Process of designing products, activities, and systems to reduce waste and toxicity to the environment and human health for long-lasting effects
Pre-consumer recycled content
Material from manufacturing waste, such as sawdust, agricultural by-products, over-runs, and other scrap material, that can be created into a new product. Also called postindustrial recycled content
Life-Cycle Approach
Method of looking at a project from the perspective of its entire life-cycle and not just its useful application by assessing supply-chains, efficiency, pay back, environmental impact, and recyclability
Optimization
Selecting of a product or material based on its superior performance related to specific goal(s)
Cradle to Gate
Term describing the system boundaries of an environmental life-cycle assessment (LCA) that covers all activities from the beginning of its production (i.e. extraction of raw materials, agricultural activities, forestry) up to the factory gate
Gradle to Grave
Term applied to a product if its lifetime is limited to one application or use, ending in a landfill
Cradle to Cradle
Term applied to a product if a new use can be applied to it after the end of its first useful life, diverting it from a landfill
Cradle to Cradle Certified (C2C)
Product certification program requiring product ingredients to be disclosed to an independent, accredited C2C assessor. C2C rewards achievement in five categories
Salvaged Material
Building elements such as beams, roofing, flooring, brick, and cabinetry that are salvaged from existing buildings
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
Standardized, international recognized, comprehensive tool for providing information on a product’s environmental impact, based on an ISO-compliant life-cycle assessment (LCA) and verified by a third party. This includes a detailed analysis that considers all processes in the life cycle of the product, such as raw material extraction, and refining, energy use and efficiency during manufacture, transportation methods, and end-of-service-life recycling
Life-Cycle Costing (LCC)
Analytical tool used to determine the most cost-effective option among competing alternatives based on the costs of the options throughout their life cycles
Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)
Assessment of the environmental impacts associated with a material or product throughout its life cycle
Recycled Content
Percentage of material in a product that has been recycled from the waste stream, either pre-consumer or post-consumer, and is used to make new materials.
Waste Diversion
Amount of waste diverted from the landfill, expressed in tons
Disclosure
Revealing of product or material information to a person or group for the use of making informed decisions
Rapidly Renewable Materials
Fiber or animal-based material that can be grown, harvested, and manufactured in under 10 years or less
Deconstruction
Systematic disassembly of building structures to salvage materials for reuse
