The Sustainable Trash Bag

Project
Best Friends Animal Sanctuary
+ Revolution Bag
______________________________________________________________________________
By Melanie Stone
Best Friend’s Marketing Intern

Table of Contents

Executive Summary……………………………………………………………3

Problem and Necessity…………………………………………………………4

Project Description ……………………………………………………………5

What Makes the Idea Sticky? ………………………………………………… 6

Cost Analysis and Assessment…………………………………………………7

Conclusion... …………………………………………………………………10

Appendix..……………………………………………………………………11

Works Cited …………………………………………………………………12

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Executive Summary
______________________________________________________________________________
What is Revolution Bag?
Revolution Bag produces eco-friendly trash can
liners. Their complete line of products offers the
most eco-friendly can liners in the market, aimed at
helping back organizations’ claims to be green. They
have specifically created a closed-loop recycling
process that uses agricultural films from farms, which
they then wash and recycle. While this plastic
typically ends up in the landfill, Revolution Bag
transforms the recycled plastic into high-quality
resin. This environmentally friendly resin is then
used as the foundation for their sustainable trash
liners that are offered in various colors, sizes, and
thicknesses to meet any given commercial or
industrial need. Revolution Bag offers a product that
is cost efficient, high-quality, and produces a
significantly lower carbon footprint than any non-
recyclable can liners.

Problem and Relevance to Best Friends Organization?

As an animal shelter that is a home-between-homes for around 1,600 rescued pets on any given day, Best
Friends Animal Sanctuary uses an abundance of trash bags weekly. Their sanctuary includes a bunny
house, parrot garden, cat world, dogtown, horse haven, pig paradise, wild area, and clinic, requiring a
considerable number of liners to be utilized to clean and sanitize these various areas. The organization
thus has a large, negative environmental impact through the use of thousands of plastic trash bags yearly;
the inefficient, over-use of trash-bags further contributes to this impact. While liners are vital for the
sanctuary to operate, their significant utilization helps contribute to a large carbon footprint and increased
plastic in landfills.

Solution
It is crucial that Best Friends Animal Sanctuary switches from their traditional trash liners to Revolution
Bag’s eco-friendly products. This will allow Best Friends to more efficiently utilize stronger, higher-
quality trash liners at their sanctuary and lower the cost spent yearly on liners. By pairing with
Revolution Bag, Best Friends can also help reduce the amount of plastic in landfills, reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, and position their organization as a non-profit committed to being green. Implementing
these can liners at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary can lower annual costs by around $14,532 and reduce
the amount of plastic in landfills by over 600 cases of trash bag liners.

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Problem + Necessity:
______________________________________________________________________________
The majority of corporations and households use plastic trash bag liners, which are typically made from a
type of plastic known as low-density polyethylene (LDPE). This material is manufactured using non-
renewable fossil fuels and leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, plastic trash bags are
not biodegradable and can take hundreds of years to decompose. Many plastic liners further break down
into microplastics that are damaging to oceans and our food supply chain.

Greenhouse Emissions:
Plastic trash bags are a significant part of
the plastic industry, which contributes to a
very large carbon footprint. Plastic
production will be responsible for around
56 gigatons of carbon between now and
2050, which is 50 times the annual
emissions of all the coal power plants in the
United States. Greenhouse gases emitted in
the production of traditional liners absorb
energy and make the Earth warmer by slowing the loss of heat to space. This in turn negatively leads to
ocean warming, regional and ocean acidification, and human exposure to level ozone (smog) and fine
particulate matter (soot).

Plastic in Landfills:
Not only do plastic garbage liners
contribute to higher greenhouse
emissions, there is also a strong need to
reduce the amount of plastic that enters
into landfills. Around 91% of plastic is
not recycled and instead ends up in
landfills. This is damaging to our
environment, as plastic takes more than
400 years to decompose. In fact,
scientists have predicted that at the
current rate, by 2050 there will be 12
billion metric tons of plastic in
landfills; this is equivalent to a plastic amount that is 35,000 times as heavy as the Empire State Building.
We often consider the plastic content inside of a garbage liner and not the detrimental contribution of
plastic that the liner itself can have to landfills.

While plastic trash bags are the most convenient and easily accessible liner products on the market, it is
crucial that consumers recognize their negative impact on the environment. It is thus essential for

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organization’s who utilize a large quantity of plastic liners, like Best Friends, to prioritize the earth and
find alternative solutions that instead promote sustainability. This can be done through the utilization of
Revolution Bag at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.
Project Description:
______________________________________________________________________________
The proposal will focus on reducing the amount of plastic that Best Friends Animal Sanctuary uses at all
their Kanab, Utah location. Best Friends and Revolution Bag will work together to help promote
sustainability by replacing traditional, plastic trash bags with Revolution Bag’s trash can liners.
The project’s goal is to partner together to help provide sustainable solutions that will create a more
environmentally friendly world.

While this transition will first start small and be implemented only at Best Friend’s Kanab location, the
project will allow our company to develop a strong relationship with Revolution Bag. This will help in
future implementation of Revolution Bag products at our Best Friend’s Salt Lake City location. It will
further help ensure successful implementation and set the precedent for other animal rescue organizations
in southern Utah, including the numerous smaller rescues that Best Friends partners with.

Implementation at Best Friends

Employees and volunteers at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary will first use up their current inventory of
their plastic trash bags. This will ensure that they don’t waste their resources by holding inventory of
their current liner products and allow for the correct assessment of Revolution Bag liners once they are
implemented.

Due to the fact that Revolution Bag offers a variety of liner products for numerous needs, they will work
with our company to find the correct product for our particular uses. Revolution Bag offers products
under the categories of utility grade can liners, high performance can liners, and heavy recycled content
can liners. For Best Friend’s particular needs they will require a stronger liner that is effective for general
use and sanitation of the various animal areas. This aligns with Revolution Bag’s “high performance can
liner” product.

There will be a month trial once their old inventory is used up in order to test the new trash liners and
ensure that the product successfully fulfills the needs of the animal sanctuary. Employees and volunteers
will be encouraged to note any differences they see in this particular product and it’s high quality,
naturally strong durability compared to the traditional trash bag they previously used.

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 The Bottom Line:
______________________________________________________________________________

Planet:
The greatest impact of this project is to the environment (pre- and post-
consumer use). Revolution Bag’s trash liners are 3rd party certified to contain
up to 97% post-consumer recycled resin. Utilizing Revolution Bag will
directly result in a lower environmental impact. This product decreases Best
Friend’s contribution to harmful greenhouse gases produced in manufacturing
plastic trash bags and reduces the amount of plastic in landfills.

● Revolution Bag lowers global climate change emissions. The utilization and production of
Revolution Bag liners can lower greenhouse emissions by around 37%, which in turn contributes
to a 31% less impact on ocean warming.
● This reduction of 4.75 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions is equivalent to removing 4.3
homes that are powered, for one year.
● Greenhouse gases produced in manufacturing a traditional garbage bag is 127 metric tons of
CO2e in comparison to 79 metric tons of CO2e in manufacturing a Revolution Bag product.
● In one-year, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary will save over 600 trash bag cases and 18,000 plastic
liners from landfills.

Profit:

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While traditional trash bags aren’t necessarily expensive, implementing Revolution Bag will lower the
amount that Best Friends spends on this resource. Not only are Revolution Bag’s liners around $1.89
cheaper per case than the average plastic bag case, but they also allow
Best Friend’s to utilize a smaller quantity of bags. This is due to the
fact that Revolution Bag uses premium resin that allows performance
to exceed that of liners made from non-recyclable items; these
products are naturally stronger and can therefore hold more content.
By purchasing a product that is less expensive than traditional
offerings, at a smaller quantity, our organization will be able to be
more efficient and save money in a small place.

Best Friends will further be able to increase their profits by

positioning themselves as a non-profit animal sanctuary that also
values sustainability. Our company’s mission is to create a better
world through kindness to animals, and a commitment to environmental conservation through Revolution
Bag will further help to do so. This will help expand our audience and market our non-profit as one that
values and cares about animals and in correlation, the environment. As a non-profit that tends to draw in
humanitarians, this project will in turn help increase potential customer’s interest in the sanctuary and
bring about more donations by being eco-friendly.
What Makes the Idea Sticky?
______________________________________________________________________________
This proposal draws from ideas regarding what makes an idea “sticky”, from Chip Heath and Dan
Heath’s book Made to Stick. The book highlights six traits of sticky ideas that help explain why certain
ideas or concepts are unforgettable compared to others. This proposal draws mainly from three of these
traits: simplicity, credibility, and concreteness.

Simple:
It is important to strip an idea to its core to produce a simplistic idea. A simple idea will include
messages that distills the most significant idea and is easy to understand. The proposal for Best Friend’s
to switch to Revolution Bag is affordable and quick to implement at all Best Friend Animal Shelter
locations (eventually), while being effective in helping the environment. This tactic is much more simple
than other ways of promoting sustainability. Due to the simplicity of this idea, it will also help set the
precedent for other animal shelters in Utah to set similar sustainability goals, in addition to Best Friend’s
other neighboring locations.

Credible:
Credibility is essential to build trust and can be done by use of concrete details, statistics, and testable
credentials. Revolution Bag is the first company in the United States to have trash can liners that are
ECOLOGO certified, EPA compliant, and qualify in the USGBC LEED program. The company has
successfully helped the Minnesota school district, Nashville Zoo, Chipotle, and Silver Dollar City in their
sustainability efforts by switching to Revolution Bag can liners. In fact, since 2019, the Minnesota school
district has saved 25% on costs compared to orders in past years by using Revolution Bag products.

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Concrete:
A concrete idea is easy to accept and implement and is not difficult to remember. This project is easy for
a non-profit organization to implement once they use their current inventory of traditional liners.
Revolution Bag will be able to provide a product quote for Best Friends and offer them the correct size
and exact monthly amount for their particular needs. The project will provide 350 cases per month of
liners which is the equivalent to planting around 710.5 seedlings and letting them grow for 10 years.

Cost Analysis:
______________________________________________________________________________

Direct Costs (Per Month):

Plastic Trash Bags Revolution Bags

Need 12,000 liners = 400 cases 10,500 liners = 350 cases

Number of Trash Bags per 30 liners= 1 case 30 liners= 1 case

Case:

Cost Per Box: $10.99 per case $9.10 per case

Total Cost $4,396 $3,185

(plus shipping + handling)

The cost analysis above depicts the implementation of Revolution Bag product’s at Best Friends. While
different plastic trash bag brands vary in price, the average cost per bag is estimated to be $10.99. In
addition, while Revolution Bag doesn’t offer 30 liner packs, it is estimated based on their other price
offerings that it would be around $9.10 per case of 30 liners. The quantity needed of Revolution Bag’s
will be less due to their high-quality nature and strength that allows them to hold more content than the
average plastic trash liner.

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Long Term Profit
This gives us our long-term costs for Best Friends to make the change to Revolution Bag. Due to
decreased quantity needed and overall lower price per case, this project will save our company around
$1,211 monthly and $14,532 annually. This results in approximately an annual cost savings of 27.55%
on trash bag liners. As a non-profit organization that operates for a social benefit, this extra money is
crucial as it will allow us to reinvest back into other areas of the sanctuary that need the help. This could
include being able to do more emergency surgeries, implementing greater marketing efforts to encourage
people to adopt, upgrading animal facilities, etc.

Cost Savings= $14,532 / ($4,396*12) = 27.55%

Immediate Strategy + Indirect Costs:

Indirect costs include the cost of purchasing marketing materials from Revolution Bag that will be placed
around the sanctuary. I suggest that a quantity of 10 small Revolutionary Process Banners should be
bought when we make the initial purchase with Revolution Bag. These posters can be used to advertise
Best Friend’s commitment to being eco-friendly to future volunteers and potential adopters that visit.
Employees at the organization will be encouraged to inform customers about this project and the new
sustainable practice being implemented at the sanctuary. These posters will show the five-step process of
creating Revolution Bag products and advertise our environmentally friendly change.

Long Term:
In the long run, with a new sustainable marketing technique, Best Friends will be able to encourage
donations from humanitarians who value our commitment to the environment. This can be done through
methods described in our immediate strategy and will help Best Friends create investments and thus
improve our organization. We will assess this success by tracking donations and analyzing if our
partnership with Revolution Bag has correlated with any sort of increase over the course of one year since
implementation.

Best Friends can also survey employees at the end of

the first trial month and ask them to express their
thoughts on whether Revolution Bag has led to more
efficient use of liners. They can also evaluate whether
or not advertisement of this project and their position

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as a sustainable organization has helped generate a profit to the business through increased donations.
Best Friends will further analyze the total amount saved after one year to see if they would like to
continue utilizing Revolution Bag. However, as seen in our cost analysis, this project is proposed to be
cost effective by producing annual cost savings of 27.55% on trash bag liners.

In addition, Best Friends partners with many different animal

shelters, such as the animal rescue, RSQ DOGS+, in St. George,
Utah. The successful switch to Revolution Bag will create a flow
of positive change by encouraging these partner organizations to
adopt the same sustainable solution; other rescues also utilize
mass amounts of plastic trash bags daily. Best Friends is
currently a leader amongst animal rescues with strong
connections around the United States, and therefore it is important
that we can also be a leader in sustainability for shelters.

Conclusion:
______________________________________________________________________________
The Sustainable Bag Project is simple, efficient, and easy to implement. Through a partnership with
Revolution Bag, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary can switch from using traditional, plastic trash bags to
using eco-friendly trash liners. As this proposal has discussed, the manufacturing of traditional liners
result in increased greenhouse gas emissions and thus a large carbon footprint. In addition, liners
contribute to the abundance of plastic that sits in landfills, unable to decompose for hundreds of years.

The implementation of Revolution Bag at Best Friends will lead to three benefits. It will have a positive
impact to the environment by contributing to a significantly lower carbon footprint and limiting the
amount of plastic that is in landfills. Along with this, the switch to this product will reduce the quantity
of liners needed and thus overall lower costs for Best Friends.

Individuals often equate sustainability with high prices, yet this project reflects that this is not always the
case. The positive impacts that a simple partnership between Revolution Bag and Best Friends Animal
Sanctuary can create, reveal that “sticky” ideas can often come in small packages.

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Appendix: Memo
______________________________________________________________________________

TO: Best Friends Animal Sanctuary Team

FROM: Melanie Stone
DATE: May 17th, 2021
SUBJECT: Implementation of Revolution Bag

Dear Best Friends Animal Sanctuary employees,

The management team at our organization has made the decision to make the switch to Revolution Bag
trash bin liners at our Best Friend’s Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. The implementation of eco-friendly trash
bags will benefit our organization by lowering the expenses that come from purchasing traditional, plastic
trash bag liners. This will allow Best Friend’s to reinvest these savings into other aspects of our
organization such as emergency surgeries and the creation of future marketing campaigns. More
importantly, it will contribute to a sustainable planet by helping lower greenhouse gas emissions emitted
from producing traditional liners, along with reducing the amount of plastic that is sitting, decomposed in
landfills.

Revolution Bag provides a simple solution to reducing plastic in a way that is easy to implement at our
sanctuary. As a leading animal rescue, I believe that it is important that we set the precedent to our other
locations and partnering animal shelters as an organization that values our environment (and not just our
animals); this pairs directly with our humanitarian mission. Revolution Bag is particularly excited to
work with our company to provide a high-value, sustainable solution; the company is known for backing
organization’s eco-friendly claims in a big way. Revolutio Bag has continued to build credibility by

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partnering with Chipotle, the Minnesota School district, the Nashville Zoo, and other sites to lower costs
and promote a greener planet.

I look forward to our newfound partnership with Revolution Bag and the positive benefits it will bring to
our company and our environment. If there are any questions or concerns regarding our new switch to
Revolution Bag products, I encourage you to reach out to me. My email is mstone@bestfriends.com and
my phone number is (285) 567-8723.

Sincerely,

Melanie Stone

Appendix: Works Cited

______________________________________________________________________________

The Impact of & Alternatives for Plastic Trash Bags. terrapass. (2020, October 20).
https://www.terrapass.com/blog/carbon-footprint-of-trash-bags#:~:text=Beyond%20the%20carbon
%20footprint%2C%20single,negative%20impacts%20on%20the%20environment.&text=Plastic%20trash
%20bags%20can%20break,and%20entering%20our%20food%20supply.

National Geographic Society. (2019, July 1). A Whopping 91 Percent of Plastic Isn't Recycled. National
Geographic Society. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/whopping-91-percent-plastic-isnt-
recycled/#:~:text=You%20can't%20manage%20what%20you%20don't%20measure&text=Of%20the
%208.3%20billion%20metric,the%20natural%20environment%20as%20litter.

Our Process · Revolution Bag. Revolution Bag. (2021, March 22). https://revolutionbag.com/process/.

Press Releases · Revolution Bag. Revolution Bag. (2020, February 3). https://revolutionbag.com/press-
releases/.

Proof · Revolution Bag. Revolution Bag. (2021, January 23). https://revolutionbag.com/proof/.

The Sanctuary. Best Friends Animal Society. (n.d.). https://bestfriends.org/sanctuary.

Video · Revolution Bag. Revolution Bag. (2020, February 18). https://revolutionbag.com/revolution-bag-

video/.

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