Texas Tech University
Recycling Proposal
By:
Kimmi Christopher, Eric Rex, Mike Bertakis, Kylie Vestal
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Table of Contents
Current Situation………………………………………… 4
Proposed Plan…………………………………………..... 5
Qualifications……………………………………………...6
Cost and Benefits…………………………………………7
Conclusion…………………………………………………8
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3455 38th St.
Lubbock, TX 79413
November 18, 2014
TTU Hospitality Services
Lubbock, TX 79409
Dear Mr. Cushman:
Thank you for taking the time to look over this proposal for implementing the Effortless
Recycling services on campus. Effortless Recycling would achieve your mission of striving
to be more sustainable, and to lessen the carbon footprint left behind from waste products.
The current use of the City of Lubbock recycling bins throughout campus is a great start,
but these bins do not dispose of certain items properly. The city will dispose any
recyclables without profitability, mainly glass, into the city landfill. Effortless Recycling will
pick up bags when needed from your locations, provide all the sorting, and ensure that
your items are disposed of properly.
Effortless Recycling would also benefit Texas Tech University by improving the Red, Black
& Green program, providing a greener campus, and improving the sustainability efforts on
campus. This would not only benefit Texas Tech’s dining and residence halls, but also may
become something offered campus wide.
A cleaner and greener campus would bring attention to the sustainability efforts Texas
Tech is making, raise awareness about the growing problem of polluting the environment,
and possibly open the door for people looking to invest in colleges that are “going green.”
We appreciate your time in advance and for considering this proposal. If there are any
questions about this topic or if you are interested in pursuing this proposal for a better city,
please contact us to discuss further options. We can be reached at (325) 330-3774 or
kylie.vestal@ttu.edu
Sincerely,
Mike Bertakis, Kimmi Christopher, Eric Rex, Kylie Vestal
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CURRENT SITUATION
Here in Lubbock we are experiencing a crisis in regards to the amount of litter in our
beloved city. The efforts that have already taken place do not seem to benefit this situation.
Lubbock offers many services for recycling, but does not seem to have success with keeping
the trash off of our campus. Hospitality Services has started a great program called Red,
Black, and Green. This program is striving to make our campus greener by placing blue
recyclable bins in and around each resident hall and dining halls, and also you will find blue
recycle bins in each building on campus.
Since Texas Tech University is continually expanding its population on campus, more
efforts need to be made towards cleaning up our campus and going green. Texas Tech
University currently uses Lubbock Waste Management Services to take care of all
recyclables on campus. The only problem we have with Lubbock Waste Management is its
ability to refuse any load of recyclables and take them straight to the landfill. If they feel
that the recyclables are priced too low on the market at that time, 80% of the time Lubbock
Waste Management will take it to the landfill and not sort through it (Cannaday,
11/06/14). We consider this to be stealing from our campus. There are students and
faculty that feel strongly about recycling and making our campus greener, and Solid Waste
Management is taking this choice away from us; this does not have to be the option. We
have the services needed to recycle properly, but the information offered to our campus
community is lacking.
We have been in contact with Jason Cannaday, CEO and Founder of Effortless Recycling. We
feel that his company’s services will be the perfect solution for Texas Tech University.
Effortless Recycling does not turn down any recyclables, and the company employees sort
through every recyclable item before sending it off to Effortless Recycling’s buyers. We
know that Texas Tech has started a program to go green, and we hope this proposal will
open the eyes to our campus population and really make a difference and become a greener
community as a whole.
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As you can see, recycling has a significant effect on conservation and sustainability. We are
proposing a plan to resolve the problem of improper disposal of recyclables on campus.
Although we all feel that we are recycling properly, which we are, the city takes all the
unprofitable recyclables to the dump. They do this because the dump is also owned by the
city, and they can make money based upon the weight of the vehicle carrying the
recyclables. This is their way of converting items that have no monetary value into
something that can turn a profit.
Effortless Recycling is the driving force behind resolving the problem of improper disposal
of recyclables. During an interview with Jason Cannaday helped us in understanding the
true severity of Lubbock’s recycling system. Cannaday said, “The city owns the dump, and
the company that they use to recycle. The recycling centers then sell the sorted materials,
but if they cannot turn a profit from the recyclables they will just send it to the landfill.
Almost all of the glass they collect does not get recycled” Although the city spends a lot of
money placing blue dumpsters around town, commonly seen in front of United
Supermarkets, they are not disposing of excess unwanted recyclables in the proper way.
We are afraid this is also the case on campus. It is understandable that the City wants to see
a return on their investment, but people think they are doing a good deed by recycling
when; in all honesty, some of it is just going to the dump. Effortless Recycle states on their
website that, “Lubbock’s landfill is seven times as large as the Texas average”
(lubbockrecycling.com)! The reasons behind taking the recyclables to the city landfill are
very simple. For starters, the landfill is owned by the City of Lubbock. When a truck full of
glass drives up to the landfill to get weighed they make money based on the weight of the
material. This brings a profit to the city for a product that would not be worth anything if
sold to the recycling distributors. Glass is one of few items that can be recycled again and
again without losing its quality. It general takes nearly 4000 years to decompose and even
longer if it is in a landfill (lubbockrecycling.com).
PROPOSED PLAN
Lubbock is currently being fooled on how much they are recycling. The city of Lubbock has
the authority to reject a load of recyclables if the recyclables are not priced very high on the
market at that time. This results in people thinking they are recycling, when, in actuality,
the city is recycling only a portion of their items. This includes the blue bins placed
throughout Texas Tech in our resident halls and dining facilities. However, there is an
alternative option to ensure that our efforts of lessening our carbon footprint are achieved.
We are proposing a plan to implement the use of Effortless Recycling’s services on campus.
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Figure 1: Diagram from Effortless Recycling
Notice above, Figure 1 is from a local company here in Lubbock, Effortless Recycling. “In
the past 9 months, Effortless Recycling has already saved 4,000 trees, 950,000 KW Hours
or energy, 1.6 million gallons of water, and 14,000 pounds of air pollution Each Texan
discards about a ONE TON of trash every year, and roughly 80% of that trash can be
recycled” (lubbockrecycling.com).
We have teamed up with Jason Cannaday, CEO and Founder of Effortless Recycling.
Effortless Recycling does not advertise or market their services, but instead relies heavily
on word of mouth. Most companies are paying a substantial amount to have their trash
disposed of properly. Since roughly 80% of this trash is recyclables (Cannaday, 11/06/14),
having Effortless Recycling pick their trash up would save them money in the long run.
Our job is to inform these companies and the Texas Tech University about how easy and
inexpensive it is to recycle. Jason Cannaday makes it easy; his company picks up all
recyclable bins and takes them back to Effortless Recycling, where he then has his
employee’s sort through all recyclables. Mr. Cannaday has buyers for each product that is
being sorted-this is how Mr. Cannaday insures his clients that he can dispose 80% of the
recycles he collects. Mr. Cannaday made it very clear he does not believe in disposing of any
recyclables, even if they are valued very low on the market at the time of pickup. In some
cases Effortless Recycling has paid businesses to allow them to recycle their materials.
Bigger companies that have switched over to Effortless Recycling have reduced roughly
$1000 off the cost they were paying for trash (Jason Cannaday, 11/06/14). We would love
to see Hospitality Services of Texas Tech University seize the opportunity of optimizing
Texas Tech’s recycling efforts as a whole, and Effortless Recycling is the company that can
achieve these goals.
QUALIFICATIONS
We feel we are qualified to propose this plan because of the amount of research we have
conducted on this company and on other options available to our campus. We have
interviewed Effortless Recycling’s CEO and have also interviewed the Recycling Manager of
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Lubbock Waste Management. The Hospitality Services have started a great thing with the
Red, Black, and Green services, and we hope that we will be able to build on this program
and help Texas Tech University become a greener community.
We all major in different areas; Early Childhood Education, Human Development Family
Studies, Business Administration/Management, and Addiction Recovery, but we have
found one thing in common, and that is our love for Texas Tech University. Although none
of us major in specifics with recycling, we have a huge heart for the great University we
have been so privileged to attend. We are writing this proposal to make a difference on our
campus and within our community. We know that Effortless Recycling is the community to
bring the students and faculty of Texas Tech to its feet and realize our campus is in need of
a trustworthy recycling company.
COST AND BENEFITS
Effortless Recycling offers a curbside pick-up that is fairly inexpensive and requires no
sorting of your recyclables. This service is offered for a low fee of $19.99 dollars a month,
and they will pick it up from your household. The cost of recycling is cheaper than the cost
you pay for trash. When interviewing Cannaday he mentioned, “this company will do
everything they can to ensure that your recyclables are taken to the proper disposal
locations. We are able to dispose roughly 80% of everything we receive” (Cannaday,
11/06/14). For commercial pick up, which is what Texas Tech University would be, Effort
Recycling will have to evaluate the volume of recyclables the university produces to
determine the price. However, Cannaday mentioned that he pays some business to let him
take their recycling. This is because when Effortless Recycling sells the recyclables to the
company that remakes the product, the profits gained can cover far more than the services
given. The cost of recycling is cheaper than the cost you pay for trash.
Most students barely pay attention to the recycling bins labeled: paper, bottles, and cans. If
a tin can is put in the paper bin, that bag is now contaminated and the city will take it to the
landfill rather than recycle it. Effortless Recycling separates the bags themselves at their
facility. This allows students and faculty to put any type of recyclable into one bin and not
have to worry about contaminating the bag. Along with not having to worry about
separation, there now only needs to be one container rather than three.
Texas Tech University has made efforts to help the community by placing the blue bins
around campus. After interviewing the Recycling manager for the city, who never gave his
name, I discovered that they have taken action towards cleaning up Lubbock and assured
us that they are recycling as much as possible. They are also aware that recyclables
sometimes do end up in the landfill. With all the beneficial efforts taken by the city, they
still have their downfalls. If the city would care less about making a profit and more about
caring for the environment, than maybe Texas Tech could see some success in how the city
recycles. A couple of years ago, a news reporter did a section on the City of Lubbock’s
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recycling. This reported followed a truck full of recyclable glass, and filmed it from start to
finish. The truck went to distribute the glass, but never unloaded anything. After it left the
distribution center it headed for the landfill. This reporter had filmed the truck dumping
the glass into the city landfill, and aired it on the local news. There is an almost guarantee
that because the city did this once already, they have been doing it for years and will
continue to it for many years to come.
CONCLUSION
If residents were offered alternative options and informed about Effortless Recycling’s
services, then maybe more people would choose to recycle. Nobody wants to waste their
time recycling on campus and at the recycling centers if most of the materials are just going
to end up in the landfill. This is something that would turn anyone who is trying to be a
good citizen away from using these services. Informing our Texas Tech community about
Effortless Recycling would be a great start to solving the problem of improper disposal of
recyclables. Effortless Recycling does not advertise or market their services, and that is
why we are proposing this plan on behalf of them. Effortless Recycling will be a great asset
for Texas Tech University and we truly believe in this company.
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WORKS CITED
Recycling Made Easy. (2013, January 1). Retrieved November 4, 2014, from
https://www.lubbockrecycling.com
Welcome to Solid Waste Management. (1996, January 1). Retrieved November 4,
2014, from http://www.mylubbock.us/departmental-websites/departments/solidwaste-management/request-report-or-information-services/lists/other/recyclingdrop-off-centers
Personal Interview with Jason Cannaday, CEO and Founder of Effortless
Recycling, November 6, 2014.
Over-the-phone Interview with Lubbock Waste Management, November 5, 2014.
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