Proposal

As part of my PCM 300 (Professional Writing) course, I wrote a sample proposal. This document is just a sample of my writing ability.


Proposal for Reducing Paper Towel Waste at Alverno College










For




John Doe
Director of Plant Operations at Alverno College











By Katie Alverno




April 20, 2009

Dear John Doe:

I am senior at Alverno, and I am interested in the environment. I have noticed the efforts to reduce waste in places such as the cafeteria (through their Tray-less Tuesdays and bins to collect compost scraps). It came to mind that there is another place we can reduce waste as well – our many restrooms.

Each restroom at Alverno is equipped with paper towel dispensers and trash cans. Paper towels cost money to replace, frequently end up as litter in some of the busier Alverno bathrooms, can be a hassle to the cleaners, and can’t be recycled. In addition, some bathrooms also have hand-dryers, but they are old models; some don’t work properly or even turn on at all. Also, old models of hand dryers use much more energy to operate than more modern ones.

I propose that there are ways to change our restrooms for the better – cosmetically and environmentally with a two-pronged attack to help reduce waste:

• Start a campaign encouraging people to use one paper towel to dry their hands instead of two
• Begin replacing old hand-dryers with new, more efficient models and starting a campaign to promote their use


I appreciate your consideration in my proposal.

Sincerely,
Katie Alverno




Background:

Our standard American way of living consumes huge amounts of resources and energy. To combat it, Alverno has started some efforts to become “greener”, such as the measures in the cafeteria I detailed above. An additional way we can reduce our waste is by replacing our old hand-dryers with new, more efficient models.

Scope and sequence:

The campaign to use one paper towel instead of two is a fairly small undertaking and could be done within little time. However, the issue of replacing and promoting the dryers is much larger. In this proposal, I will present:

• Benefits of the paper towel and hand-dryer campaigns

• Resources for calculating the costs and savings

• Timeline for the conversion

• Expected results

Benefits:

Paper towels cost money to clean up after and have to be continually restocked. In addition, the towels have to be created from trees and cannot be recycled. Promoting half the usage of paper towels will reduce their negative impacts.

Hand dryers don’t generate paper waste or litter and are always ready to perform. However, old hand-dryer models consume much more energy to operate. Newer models of hand-dryers take less energy to operate and some dry hands much faster.

Resources:

Below are a pair of articles that discuss the benefits of using newer-model hand-dryers versus paper towels.

http://www.cleanlink.com/sm/article/Will-Hand-Dryers-Blow-Away-Their-%E2%80%98Green%E2%80%99-Competition--3364
http://www.slate.com/id/2193740/

Below are a pair of businesses that sell newer-model hand-dryers.

http://www.dysonairblade.com/homepage.asp
http://www.exceldryer.com/Products/xlerator.asp

Timeline:

The project to create a campaign for using less paper towels is a simple affair and would take little time and money to execute. Posters can be designed and printed quickly and placed above towel dispensers in our bathrooms. Replacing dryers, however, will take more time.

• First, research will need to be done to determine whether the dryers are a good investment.
• If a brand of dryers is chosen, funding needs to be obtained to purchase them.
• We have many bathrooms at Alverno, scattered throughout several buildings. Perhaps it would be best to try the new dryers at just one of our busier buildings to begin, such as the Liberal Arts Building (which has eight bathrooms), to gauge the effectiveness of the new technology and the patron’s reactions to it.
• Once the dryers would finally be placed, a sign can be added above them, advertising their newness and their lesser environmental impact.
• If the reaction is positive, then the dryer conversion can expand to other buildings too.

Costs:

Supplying paper for the posters to place in bathrooms will only have a small cost; the issue of most concern is the new dryers. There will be an initial price for each dryer Alverno will need to purchase, as well as electricity usage to run the dryers. I investigated two kinds of efficient dryers, the Dyson Airblade and XLerator, to find their costs. However, I was unable to find prices for the newer units of hand-dryers themselves because both only give a price when contacted with the number of dryers the purchaser is interested in. Both suppliers claim that operating their hand-dryers is significantly cheaper than shipping and stocking new paper towels and supply charts on their websites that will calculate savings based on how many dryers will be used versus towels. I encourage you to visit these websites and calculate the costs and savings.

Expected results:

With more efficient, more modern looking hand-dryers promoted, people will be inclined to use them more. In addition to the campaign to use less overall paper towels, it will cut down on the waste and litter Alverno College generates and be less expensive.

Conclusion:

Changing people’s preference for paper towels will take some time, and updating our old hand-dryers will as well, but in the end, we would have cleaner, more beautiful and less wasteful bathrooms. It would benefit both the environment and Alverno College.