Environmentally Sustainable Processes
Environmental sustainability has become a focus for not only academics and scientists, but it is now at the forefront for most global corporations. In this chapter we present two exemplars of that corporate thinking. Baxter International has been working
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Environmentally Sustainable Processes
Environmental sustainability has become a focus for not only academics and scientists, but it is now at the forefront for most global corporations. In this chapter we present two exemplars of that corporate thinking. Baxter International has been working for some years in reducing is environmental footprint, with great success. Coca Cola, whose products are produced and sold worldwide, is an enormous user of clean water for its many beverage products, and it has recently embarked on a series of projects aimed at water conservation. Both of these companies are good examples of what forward-thinking companies can do without losing money. But we begin this chapter with another narrative, the story of Albina Ruiz, a Peruvian who saw a need for trash collection in the capital city of Peru, Lima, a need that was not being addressed by the city. Her story illustrates what one person can do to clean up the environment and provide jobs, even in a large city such as Lima.
Albina Ruiz and “Healthy City”1 As she walked each day to the National Engineering University, where she was studying industrial engineering, Albina Ruiz was horrified by what she saw around her in the streets of Lima, Peru. Trash was piled high, spilling into the streets and covering the sidewalks in many places. The smell was so bad that people covered their noses with handkerchiefs and scarves, yet Ruiz saw children playing in the garbage, clambering atop piles of debris as though they were forts. It was the late 1980s, and while Ruiz was aware that trash collection was a municipal task, it was clear that the job was, for the most part, not being done.
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This case was prepared by Jenny Mead under the supervision of Patricia H. Werhane. © Copyright 2013 University of Virginia Darden School Foundation. P.J. Albert et al. (eds.), Global Poverty Alleviation: A Case Book, The International Society 213 of Business, Economics, and Ethics Book Series 3, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7479-7_5, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
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5 Environmentally Sustainable Processes
The research she had done into the problem made her all the more concerned. Sprawling mounds of uncollected garbage were a problem throughout Peru, but Lima’s poorer areas were particularly hard-hit. In Cono Norte—a slum in northern Lima that was home to almost 1.5 million residents – an estimated 1,000 t of garbage were generated daily, less than half of which was being picked up by municipal workers.2 Not only did that create health problems for city residents, but residents dumped the waste in rivers, thus contaminating the city’s water supply. Foul odors and toxic fumes emanated from the piles of trash, which were breeding grounds for rats and diseases such as cholera. Poor and densely populated areas suffered the most because they had far more uncollected garbage than more affluent neighborhoods did. “The government in Peru,” said Ruiz, “like in other countries, spends a lot of money collecting garbage, but it’s only where the well-off liv
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