What Would You Do Waste Management Case Study Analysis A 3-4 page written analysis of the individual “What Would You Do?” case study in the form of an acad

What Would You Do Waste Management Case Study Analysis A 3-4 page written analysis of the individual “What Would You Do?” case study in the form of an academic paper (cover page, executive summary, body text (introduction-analysis- conclusion), appendices, (figures, documents, tables), reference list, etc. What Would You Do?
Waste Management Headquarters, Houston, Texas
Americans generate a quarter billion tons of trash
a year, or 4.5 pounds of trash per person per day.
Thanks to nearly 9,000 curbside recycling programs,
a third of that is recycled. But, that still leaves 3
pounds of trash per person per day to be disposed.
In the past, trash was incinerated, often in local
neighborhoods. John Waffenschmidt, vice president
for Covanta Energy Corp., remembers that when he
delivered newspapers in the 1960s, “I’d go out in the
morning and there would be little flakes coming
down because there were 4,000 or 5,000 apartmentbuilding incinerators.” The rest was incinerated in
large power plants, like the one on the east side of
the Hudson River that burns 1,900 tons of New York
City garbage each day.
With 20 million customers; 273 municipal landfills;
91 recycling facilities; and 17 waste-to-energy facilities—that’s what large power-generating incinerator
plants are called today— Waste Management, Inc., is
the largest waste-handling company in the world. It
generates 75 percent of its profits from 273 landfills,
which can hold 4.8 billion tons of trash. And because
it only collects 110 million tons a year, it has plenty of
landfill capacity for years to come.
You joined the company a decade ago, and, after
3.5 short years as deputy general counsel and then
chief financial officer, became CEO. That quick promotion prompted you to joke, “I needed to go to a bookstore to see whether I could find a book called CEO-ing
for Dummies.” Instead, Waste Management sent you to
Harvard for an executive program for CEOs, where the
most important lesson you learned was to listen, because, as you tell your executive team, “This company
and this industry aren’t very good at that.”
And with all of the changes taking place in your
industry, Waste Management won’t succeed unless it
listens. However, corporations, cities, and households
are greatly reducing the amount of waste they generate, and thus the amount of trash that they pay Waste
Management to haul away to its landfills. Subaru of
America, for instance, has a zero-landfill plant in West
Lafayette, Indiana, that hasn’t sent any waste to a
landfill since 2004. None! And Subaru isn’t exceptional
in seeking to be a zero-landfill company. Walmart, the
largest retailer in the world, has also embraced this
goal, stating, “Our vision is to reach a day where there
are no dumpsters behind our stores and clubs, and
no landfills containing our throwaways.” Like those at
Subaru and Walmart, corporate leaders worldwide are
committed to reducing the waste produced by their
companies. Because that represents a direct threat
to Waste Management’s landfill business, what can
be done to take advantage of the trend toward zero
waste while allowing the company to continue to grow
revenues?
Another significant change for Waste Management
is that not only are its customers reducing the waste
they send to its landfills, they’re also wanting what is
sent to landfills to be sorted for recycling and reuse.
For instance, food waste, yard clippings, and wood—all
organic materials—account for roughly one-third of
the material sent to landfills. Likewise, there’s growing
demand for waste companies to manage and recycle
discarded TVs, computer monitors, and other electronic
waste that leak lead, mercury, and hazardous materials when improperly disposed. However, the high cost
of collecting and sorting recyclable materials means
that Waste Management loses money when it recycles
them. What can the company do to meet increased
customer expectations, on one hand, while still finding
a way to earn a profit on high-cost recycled materials?
Finally, advocacy groups, such as the Sierra Club,
regularly protest Waste Management’s landfill practices, deeming them irresponsible and harmful to the
environment. Should Waste Management take on its
critics and fight back, or should it focus on its business
and let the results speak for themselves? Should it view
environmental advocates as a threat or an opportunity
for the company?
If you were in charge of Waste Management, what
would you do?
Sources: “2010 Sustainability Report,” Waste Management, www.wm.com/sustainability/pdfs/2010_
Sustainability_Report.pdf, (accessed 6 February 2011); “Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling,
and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures for 2008,” U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/nonhaz/municipal/pubs/msw2008rpt.pdf, (accessed 14 February
2011); “Zero Waste,” Wal-Mart*Corporate, http://walmartstores.com/Sustainability/7762.aspx
(accessed 15 February 2011); J. Ball, “Currents—Power Shift: Climate Change: Garbage Gets Fresh
Look as Source of Energy,” Wall Street Journal, 15 May 2009, A9; J. Fahey, “Waste Not,” Forbes Asia, July
2010, 46; M. Gunther, “Waste Management’s New Direction,” Fortune 6 December 2010, 103–108; A.
Robinson & D. Schroeder, “Greener and Cheaper: The conventional wisdom is that a company’s costs
rise as its environmental impact falls; Think again.” The Wall Street Journal, 23 March 2009, R4.

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