The Primary Research Project

In discovering and furthering my research, I have established an answer to the question of how can we implement a strong recycling system within our accounting firm today called TSS Accounting. By not having a recycling system, it only fills our landfills more. Landfills cause many harmful effects one of which being lung cancer. “Exposure to H2S, a tracer of airborne contamination from landfills, was associated with lung cancer mortality as well as with mortality and morbidity for respiratory diseases” (Mataloni). This was researched and discovered by a study done in Italy and applies the same principles in America. As you can see, the harm it does to anyone locally is great. We need to do everything we can to not only help society but help ourselves by implementing recycling within every company and especially within our own companies such as TSS Accounting. I began doing research and the main research obtained through an interview of Travis and Julie Bart, the founders and owners of TSS Accounting. I wanted to know the history of the company before I delved into what we were going to do next.

The first step I took in researching my question was to figure out more details about the company itself and different systems they had tried before in regards to having a recycling system in place. To find out more information about this, I did an interview with Travis Bart and Julie Bart, the owners of the company. I only recently started working with the company in May of 2020. Therefore I did not have the prior knowledge to understand what had worked and what hadn’t worked before. This is where the interview I did came in useful. I conducted the interview after work one day and asked a series of 10 questions. The overall questions were about the history of the company and whether or not they had tried different systems before.

The main point I discovered was that TSS Accounting did have a recycling system in place a few months ago although it did not consist of a very organized system. The system comprised of taking papers to a shredding recycling company where they shredded the paper and then would recycle them. This only included things that could be shredded such as paper and the company would charge per pound of paper they took from them. In the end they ended up buying a shredder and therefore did not have to pay anymore money for the other company to shred their paper and/or recycle. While this was cost-efficient, it still did not solve the problem of making the company more sustainable and implementing a great recycling system within the company. Recycling is not only a finance problem but also involves our health. Therefore, recycling should always be taken care of.

Doing this interview was important because I needed a sense of what exactly had happened in the past so we can learn from it and have a better and clearer future. Through my interview experience, I was able to deduce the fact that we needed something that did not cost anything to satisfy the owners of TSS Accounting. This way it was not taking away any money from the company in order to implement the recycling system. The next task was to make it a consistent thing. Obviously, we need to shred the documents because of legal reasons but afterwards we could take it to a recycling system that recycles paper rather than throwing it in the dumpster outside. Typically then the trash is picked up by a truck shown above and then put into a landfill. Not only paper but we could also recycle plastic and perhaps other materials. These details were also important because I got a sense of what my bosses were willing to do for the company and what was too much or out of their budget. Finding a recycling center that took the variety of recyclables but also was nearby was very important to them. They had to make sure it was nearby to cut down on travel time and time spent on the whole recycling process. Otherwise it would use up time that could be better spent on work. It was also important that the recycling center did not charge for the recycling because the company TSS Accounting could not afford any more extra expenses.

The primary research that I did, the interview, established that a strong recycling system could be put in place in the accounting firm but it would require careful thought and detailed steps taken. It meant that in order for the system to be put in place we would have to narrow down the exact details of cost, place, and time consumption. Implementing a recycling system sounds like a great idea in theory but it could cost the company time and money if not done properly. While answering my

CRQ question and trying to figure out a plan, it also meant that I needed to constantly be thinking about the company's viewpoint versus an outsider or client's viewpoint. I did manage to find the Walled Lake recycling center which is called The Recycling Experts. They are only a few miles from the company office and very easy to drive to. If you look at the image to the right I have included an image of the exact location compared to where the office is located. As you can see it is a small drive to get to the recycling center and very accessible.

Interviewing Julie and Travis Bart was one of the most insightful things I could have done in this whole research project. I was able to really understand the company and where it was headed to figure out exactly how I could make this sustainability movement be put in place within the company. I truly believe that implementing the system will increase client satisfaction and enhance a free marketing trend. Going back to my main reason for doing the whole project was answering the question of how we can implement the stronger recycling system within the TSS Accounting firm. Answering this question needs to be done and very concisely because any extra money cost or time consumption could make it a dealbreaker. It could affect it so much that the company does not start implementing the system altogether. This would cause the environment to suffer as well as the people of Walled Lake that live especially close to the landfills.

Works Cited

Google Maps. Walled Lake, Michigan. Map. Google, 14 September 2020, https://www.google.com/maps/dir/TSS+Accounting,+North+Pontiac+Trail,+Walled+Lake,+MI/The+Recycling+Experts,+990+Decker+Rd,+Walled+Lake,+MI+48390/@42.5377971,-83.47956,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x8824a5b9a123f277:0x977e904957e555d8!2m2!1d-83.4828163!2d42.5345478!1m5!1m1!1s0x8824a59f71277697:0x59958b448bc4bed3!2m2!1d-83.4675022!2d42.540554!3e0. Accessed 14 September 2020.

Mataloni, Francesca, et al. “Morbidity and Mortality of People Who Live Close to Municipal Waste Landfills: a Multisite Cohort Study.” Dimensions, June 2016, app.dimensions.ai/details/publication/pub.1048994351?and_facet_journal=jour.1135211.

Spinal Column Staff. 5 June 2019, www.spinalcolumnonline.com/wp-content/uploads/images/2019-06-05/1p1.jpg.