Recycling, Composting, and Sustainability Education at Expeditors International
11/14/17
James Sponsler
Introduction to the Project
Expeditors International (Expeditors) is a global logistics company. Expeditors has made
many strides towards being a more sustainable company including implementing recycling,
composting, and sustainability education at certain offices, like the corporate headquarters in
Seattle, Washington. Since being hired at this company, I noticed the need for similar initiatives
to be taken at the Phoenix and Surprise locations since recycling was hardly even being done. In
response, I put together a group of sustainability-minded individuals to help implement some of
the initiatives I had planned for the branch. This “green team” idea came from other branches at
Expeditors that had done the same when looking to increase their branches’ sustainability.
Nick Griffin, my project partner and the branch manager of Expeditors’ Phoenix office,
also wanted the branch to become more sustainable. To do so, my main goals were to divert a
large proportion of our solid waste from the landfill, have each employee gain at least a basic
understanding of sustainability, and make sure the branch has a culture of “doing the right thing”
for both the planet and the branch. Nick and I created a project vision aimed at achieving
improvements that were cost effective and gave the employees better working lives. What we
came up with was to have an incremental plan of integrating recycling and composting into the
branch operations in order to create a culture of sustainability for the branch.
The sustainability challenge of this project had a few complexities and barriers. These
included that many employees’ behaviors and mindsets took a lot of effort to shift, that
composting in Phoenix is not always easy, and that accurate data can be difficult to obtain. First,
some people seem to resist changes, have a lack of sustainability knowledge, or may even harbor
some negative feelings towards sustainability projects in general. Second, finding a compost
hauler is not always a simple process since there are only really two options in Phoenix, and only
one of them takes smaller amounts of compost. Third, the quantitative data that will help show
the weight of how much recycling, composting, and trash is taken was not always easy to find
because many haulers simply do not track these statistics and it is difficult to weigh it yourself.
Overall, we knew that the sustainability challenge indicators were that there were no real
sustainable behaviors taking place in the branch and that this project needed to jumpstart efforts
to put in a framework that would allow those behaviors to flourish.

Description of the Methods and Interventions
My main method for completing this project’s goals was to use the tools learned from my
classes on how to set up sustainable initiatives and how to successfully teach others about
sustainability. I also used interpersonal relationship and project management tools to ensure
people understood why I was doing this project and to keep the project on course as best as
possible. Almost all the methods I used to complete this project were adapted from those I had
learned in classes. I was able to use these skills by looking at my situation and what the goals for
the project were and adapting to my situation as needed
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Recycling, Composting, and Sustainability Education at Expeditors

I used the lessons I learned in the realm of project management during green team
meetings at the beginning of the project to help keep myself and the green team on track. I also
used my interpersonal relationship tools to talk to employees one-on-one, in emails, in the
newsletters, and sometimes in branch meetings to relay information about each new sustainable
initiative throughout the project. The success benchmarks began as just getting the recycling and
composting started and making sure everyone knew about it and how they could help. The
benchmarks then evolved into promoting reduction of resource use and communicating more
about sustainability, why it matters, and how to be sustainable at home and at work. The success
benchmarks further evolved to include plans for future improvements with water and energy and
a backup leader for my green team if I were to leave the company.

Summarization of the Project Outcomes and Results
Looking at the project outcomes and results, I would say the project approach I created
was validated. After the announcements and dissemination of sustainability information,
employees began using the correct bins for solid waste items, and many employees seemed to
take an interest in what I was doing for the branch. The Global Environmental Manger also made
it clear that we were doing something special; she told us we were the largest and one of the
most successful green teams outside of corporate and highlighted our successes multiple times to
the company in global newsletters. Also, my weekly qualitative analyses of the composition of
trash, recycling, and composting showed that over time employees correctly sorted their solid
waste. This is due to the signage and information provided as well as a sense of wanting to do the
right thing. Another outcome of this project is that the project partner will now be able to see
some economic benefits through fewer trash pickups.
Throughout the course of this project I have found that continuing to educate and making
sustainable choices accessible and convenient, has helped even the seemingly inflexible
employees take at least a basic interest in this project’s resulting improvements to the branch.
There are also some opportunities that have arisen, like the training video and battery recycling.
Beyond that, other opportunities, such as consolidating our logistics providers operations to be
more efficient and working on getting electricity and water related projects, all have potential.
With the scope of my project focused on waste diversion and sustainability education, I had to
make sure these potential projects did not interfere with the scope of my current project while
also keeping them on the table to possibly work on after the completion of this project.

Identification of Possible Next Steps
After finishing this project, I will hold a full training, finish the video, and work on
looking into the energy and water situations as potential intervention points. Another student
could utilize the findings from this project in a similar culminating experience project that
focuses on another office type environment. They could put in similar infrastructural elements
(composting and recycling) or use their own ideas to come up with something unique. They
could also take cues from my education elements but expand further upon them and perhaps
make their project even more focused on the education/behavior change. There are definitely
more actions that can be taken to optimize the results, such as finding another recycling,
composting, and trash hauler that will weigh the pickups and give discounts based on number of
pickups and weight. The project did address the entire sustainability challenge that the project
partner presented to me at the beginning of the project. The lack of waste diversion and culture
of sustainability were addressed.
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