This spring, Boise State College of Business and Economics supply chain management students completed a class project to improve recycling on campus. In SCM 420 Creating Sustainable Goods and Services, students learned Lean Six Sigma, an in-demand process improvement methodology, and applied those skills to tackle this real-world sustainability issue.
Before the class began, Supply Chain Management Professor Tom Gattiker partnered with Boise State’s Office of Sustainability to determine what type of project the class should pursue. They landed on recycling due to the complexities of reverse supply chain (the flow of goods back to manufacturers to reuse, recycle or repair) and the importance of recycling purity. When the wrong items, such as greasy pizza boxes or non recyclable plastics end up in recycling bins, Republic Services, Boise State’s waste and recycling provider, has to spend time and money sorting out contaminants. Sometimes highly contaminated waste gets diverted to the landfill instead of going to markets where it can be reused. This impacts Boise State’s sustainability goals and increases the cost for waste hauling.
“In general, creating a stream of usable materials is a big reverse supply chain challenge,” Gattiker said. “Recycling companies like Republic Services have to consider both the amount of plastic they receive and the condition of that waste stream–whether it’s actually 100% recyclable material or whether there are a lot of contaminants. Republic just opened a new recovery facility in Las Vegas and they need a high quality consistent stream of recyclables.”
From methodology to unexpected hurdles
Another key component of the class was learning and applying the Lean Six Sigma process improvement methodology. Over half of Fortune 500 companies use Lean Six Sigma, so the class gives students experience they can carry forward into their careers.
“Without a methodology, projects are pretty much ‘ready, fire, aim.’ We tend to jump to solutions way too fast.” Gattiker said. “Instead, with Lean Six Sigma you have carefully defined the problem, and you measure and analyze to develop a richer, shared understanding. Students in the class earn a Lean Six Sigma yellow belt, a valuable credential that gives students a leg up in the operations and supply chain world.”
The class visited Republic Services’ local recycling facility to observe the sorting process (which is partially done by hand) and to better understand how recycling works. Then they mapped the reverse supply chain, and formulated an improvement plan.
To keep the project manageable within one semester, the students focused on recycling efforts in the Micron Business and Economics Building and the Norco Building. After observing current recycling practices and outcomes–including digging through bins recycling and finding lots of non-recyclable paper cups and liquids–they decided to test three improvements.
The class added “Landfill” signs above each trash bin, placed both “Landfill” and “Recycling” signs at eye level for better visibility, and paired every trash bin with a recycling bin. Although the class did see a slight improvement during their week of observation, an unexpected challenge arose. As they started their testing, the cafe in Micron Business and Economics Building unexpectedly closed early for the year, and the school began providing free coffee to students. Suddenly there were a lot more non-recyclable cups getting tossed and many of them ended up in the recycling bins.
“That threw a massive wrench in our gears,” said Michael Kuhn, a recently graduated supply chain management student who was in the course. “Everything was going so smoothly, then the cafe closed, which was like an apocalyptic event for the project. But it is indicative of what can happen in the real world, so we learned a lot.”
Driving impact for campus and careers
At the end of the semester, students presented their findings and recommendations to representatives from the Office of Sustainability and Republic Services.
“Within the confines of their project mission and time constraint, I thought they presented a good research project on how to increase recycling,” said Jennifer Ellis, Boise State’s environmental compliance and sustainability manager. “I plan to share their research with the custodial group–they were planning on doing a summer review of bin placement in all the academic buildings, so it’s good timing. I’m looking into implementing the landfill sign they made, and after seeing the class’s presentation I’m adding a visual of our waste supply chain flow in my own recycling slide set.”
The semester’s work not only provided the university with potential solutions, but also left a lasting impression on the students. Kuhn shared his perspective on the project’s significance.
“This project is a crown jewel of the cool stuff that I did during college,” Kuhn said. “The yellow belt in LeanSix Sigma was a big deal for me. At the end of the semester, I instantly added it to my resume. Having the yellow belt proves you’re capable of working as a project member on a [Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control] project and a lot of companies really love it. I’m glad I got to experience it before I finished college.”
The class will be a requirement for all supply chain management students going forward.