Innovation

EPS started as an innovative service, it wasn’t established as a regular service. There are many companies out there that provide similar services but very few that act sustainably or have a specific social cause.

They focus on solid waste reduction plans, solid waste diversion plans, food waste disposal plans, and cleaning/janitorial services. The innovation is as follows in the 4 areas.

1. Solid Waste Reduction Plan: Plans focus attention on reducing the amount of waste generated and subsequently transferred to waste facilities. Customers will be encouraged to participate in waste reduction plans and incentivized to commit to reducing their waste production through promotional discounts and eco-friendly gifts.

2. Solid Waste Diversion Plan: Aims to divert waste from landfills to be reused and recycled. All waste will be sorted with priority given to repurposing, reusing, and recycling, respectively. Customers will be encouraged to reduce their disposal costs and protect the environment by donating unwanted items to qualified 501(C)(3).

3. Food Waste Disposal Plans: Customers will be educated on the harms of methane gas generated in landfills by wet waste such as food. Customers will be encouraged to compost and provided with Compost Kits. Composting will be conducted on site and sold to customers as organic fertilizer for landscaping.

4. Cleaning/ Janitorial: Some cleaning agents are associated with hazardous chemicals released into the environment and can cause air and water pollution, skin and eye irritation, and respiratory issues. All cleaning products used at work sites will be environmentally friendly and cost effective. Priorities will be given to procurement of products that are approved by certifying agencies including EPA, ISO, Safer Choice, and Green Seal. A Chemical Management System will be used to develop, implement, and monitor formal processes to properly store, handle, and use products

Inspiration

Karima Jackson was born and raised in Newark. After her uncle passed away by electrocution, her aunt moved north to Newark and purchased a family home. Her aunt raised Karima’s mom, then Karima and her siblings. Her aunt believed the most important thing was to be responsible for your family and community. Her aunt was involved with politics in Newark and working toward bettering the community. She passed in 2015 of cancer and left her real estate to Karima and her siblings. While cleaning the house, Karima realized how expensive it was and how it took forever to clean up one house. Most companies would charge a lot for property cleanup and landscaping. She believed that she could help make a change in the overall environment, as well as making homes a better place to live for Newark families. “The neighborhood could be beautiful if properties could be upkept,” stated Karima. Karima has asthma so she shifted the cleaning products she used to be more eco-friendly. To reduce the amount of debris that goes to landfills, she would take whatever could be donated to families that needed what others considered garbage (such as furniture) and give it to them.

Karima was the main person involved with the innovation and she created her business with a few employees. One of the positions she created was a Sustainability Officer. The Sustainability Officer was responsible to develop, implement, and maintain eco-friendly policies that are in compliance with local, state, and federal waste regulations. Another position is for managers and supervisors who are responsible for modeling and advocating a culture of sustainability and innovation of best practices. Managers and supervisors were also responsible to communicate to internal stakeholders by giving new workers training, continuing education programs, and sustainability team meetings. And they would collaborate with customers on the various plans the company offers. Not yet but, EPS is 6 months into the approval process to become a waste hauler. They want to start working more with government (mainly municipal) to make Newark a cleaner environment.

Growing up in Newark, Karima wanted to see a change in people's lives, as well as making Newark a cleaner and safer environment. “Being raised in Newark, makes me proud to serve the community in a way that positively affects the environment,” stated Karima as her inspiration and motivation to work.

Overall impact

One of the company's goals was to create public awareness about sustainability and how to save costs for families. So they would collaborate with families, businesses, and other stakeholders to expand awareness. And Karima has seen the benefits and she states that she has seen when there are women in leadership roles at recycling programs they increase the willingness of other women to cooperate following recycling guidelines and processes.

Overall, many businesses will want to follow this company's way of servicing the community while sustaining the environment. The company, by being sustainable, is more attractive to customers because today more people care about the way their community looks and their lifestyles. EPS positively impacts the society in those ways, as such it is more marketable.

The short term effects on the business include: negative cash flows, positive brand recognition, tougher process to gain customers and harder to get employees to work in these environments with less pay. The long term effects on the business include: positive cash flows, customer satisfaction (they get used to this new innovation), becoming a large scale waste hauler, and better support from government and other agencies.

Business benefit

One of the benefits this business is able to see is that they have now have some power with responsibility. The fact that they know their business main cause is for the good of a larger community, they are not doing anything unethical, which gives them more confidence in the work they do. Moreover they have great support from the community, which gives them power in the sense that they are impacting many people and changing the lives of many people. Karima also stated that all of their employees have similar views on being sustainable and also helping the community. For this reason she said all the employees are really motivated and efficient in their work which really impacts the quality of the work they do and this would make this company stand out especially in terms of their cause for the environment.

Even though the business is fairly new, they have been able to save at least 14,000 Lbs of waste through their Solid Waste Diversion plan. And this has also proved to save at least $800 for individuals as EPS provides discounts and other resources for recycling.

Social and environmental benefit

The short term benefits on the society and environment include: cleaner and less polluted properties. The innovation uses products that are less harmful to the environment and humans, they also use a lot of traditional procedures that are environmental friendly so this eventually leads to less polluted properties and homeowners will be satisfied with their living conditions as the space around them will be healthier.

The long term benefits include: cleaner Newark as a whole, Newark could become more attractive to businesses and residents and the innovation could also be implemented to other communities.

Interview

Karima Jackson, Owner & Operator