This case comes in two parts, the first part is the written case and it paints a picture of a current business situation (December 2015) in the emerging industry of recycling - ripe with quality issues, some defined, many not. It challenges the student to come up with a quality-based plan of attack specifically for the purpose establishing a sustainable position in the community for the WM MRF. The detail in the case describes residential single-stream recycling supply chain from its mixed-material collection through sorted and bailed-delivery to recycling customers. The second part of the case is a data set to compliment the detail of the written case. It includes a spreadsheet of over 390 sampled receipts over a two-year period and includes over 5000 lines of detail. The student is challenged to explore this data and characterize and consider it managerially using statistically sound methods. How might insights from that analysis support the MRF's plans for improvements?

Spreadsheet supplement for case NA0579.