Environmental program “REBORN, RENEW, RECYCLE
Foundation of the Burned
Problem of the beneficiaries served by the Foundation:
First of all, it is important to mention the reason why situations that end up producing skin burn injuries happen. According to the World Health Organization (2018), burns cause approximately 180,000 deaths a year, the vast majority of which take place in low- and middle-income countries. In turn, "non-fatal burn injuries are one of the main causes of morbidity" and mostly occur in domestic and work environments. Similarly, they happen when skin cells are destroyed by hot liquids, hot solid objects, or flames of fire. In economic terms, in the United States, the direct costs of caring for children with burns exceeded US$210 million. It is important to mention that, in general, demographic results show that women are more likely to suffer injuries with burns due to the great risk associated with domestic tasks such as cooking. In the same way, it is adult women and children the most vulnerable to having such injuries.
Foundation problem:
the foundation mission of the burned – Skin to be reborn consists of helping the population that has suffered the trauma of a burn through the comprehensive treatment that includes: Care and functional, aesthetic, psychological, social care and rehabilitation and everything that leads to a successful reinstatement to society. However, a big problem arises here that most foundations have: the attainment of resources to carry out the organizational purpose.
In many cases, it is chosen to create donation plans, such as the Foundation, which are based on people or companies directly delivering money. However, this method is inefficient since they are sensitive to market fluctuations and are not constant in donations. In turn, this makes the foundation not self-sustaining. For this reason, the foundations have sought other methods to collect money, and recycling has been one of the most famous and effective.
Treatment of the problem:
To solve the problem in the face of the monetary donations dependency as the only support, foundation of the burned – Skin for Rebirth created the Environmental Program: Renace, Renews, Recycles. Its purpose is to be the alternative donation method that does not incur the donor in direct investments of money, but in the donation of waste and then sell them to recycling companies and thus generate more capital. Currently, whether by companies or natural persons, the Foundation handles 4 types of waste: recyclable waste (paper, archive, newspaper, magazines, cardboard, books, notebooks, plastic, cardboard, glass, scrap, etc.), used vegetable oil (used kitchen oil), WEEE (Waste of electrical and electronic appliances), and used automotive, industrial and/or aeronautical oil. It is true that a company could sell its waste separately and by itself generate more money, but the benefits of working with the Foundation are:
- the proper management of this waste.
- Receive a donation certificate with a tax benefit, for the value that the donated waste or materials have represented for the Foundation.
- Receive environmental certificate of use and/or adequate final disposal of waste.
- Receive awareness talk for company staff.
- Obtain social profitability by supporting a non-profit organization that benefits a vulnerable population.
- improve the corporate image.
- Improve market competitiveness for environmentally friendly behavior.
- It contributes to the achievement of the proposed goals within the Sustainable Development Goals (sustainable cities and communities).
Similarly, for the Quemado Foundation it is a great business opportunity to have an environmental program; because the bad recycling practices in Colombia have increased. According to money (2017), the Latin American country generates approximately 12 million tons of garbage and only recycles 17%. This means that Colombian companies and people do not have a culture of recycling, and they need someone to help them in this process or do it for them. For this reason, the Environmental Program: Reborn, Renew, Recycle is so successful, because it relieves the burden of many organizations to manage and manage their waste properly.
As can be seen in the previous diagram, the process of the environmental program: reborn, renew, recycle, begins with the donation of waste by companies and/or natural persons.
After receiving the waste, the foundation sells them to recycling companies and authorized managers in order to generate the resources that are destined to subsidize the treatments of patients with burn sequelae. The 4 organizations that can be seen in the diagram are the strategic allies that help the Foundation manage the correct waste of waste: Puerta de Oro is responsible for collecting recyclable waste (paper, plastic, glass, cardboard, scrap, archive, newspaper, magazines, etc.), Orinoco is the one that manages all electrical and electronic materials, Biogras buys and transforms used vegetable oils (AVU) and Reciproil recycles industrial, aeronautical and/or car oils.
We are sure that the solidarity of many more companies will make this program continue to generate multiple benefits for unprotected sectors of the population, the community in general and our environment, link!