Week 7 response papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Week 7 response papers - Essay Example In agreement with the student, the move to have manufacturers bear the burden of disposing their products has changed the benchmarking activities of companies. Companies have to change their manufacturing and business processes as noted in response to the new regulation at least to some extent (Esty and Winston, 2006). Since the companies have to bear the burden of disposal, it is important for them to create partnerships. Partnering with other players will assist organizations in ensuring responsible recycling as in the case of Dell and FedEx. Once again, in agreement with the student, it is important for employees in the service industry to be trained on environmental audits. This is because effective sustainability is achieved by involving everyone in the company as noted by Ahmed, Montagno, and Sharma (2004). Marshall and Toffel (2005) note that sustainability can be extremely elusive if people are ignorant of facts related to the environment and waste management. This means that at all levels, workers should be trained about environmental auditing. Companies will have to change their benchmarking activities so that they become more responsible in the disposal of outdated electronic products as noted by the student. This is influenced by the fact that used electronic equipment such as computers, TVs, and cell phones are some of the quickly growing wastes in the world (ScienceDaily, 2009). The disposal of CRT monitors and tube TVs has been a thorny issue as the student notes. It is true that it is more effective to control pollution and encourage sustainability by assigning producers the burden of managing wastes as opposed to disposing old electronic equipment in landfills in agreement with Blewitt (2008). The student introduces two important factors in the waste management and sustainability debate – the issues of legality and accountability.