42 SDG 13 Climate Action – PlusAmbiente

Group Reflection

When this project first came to us, it seemed overwhelming as we thought it could be monotonous and something we wouldn’t learn much about. However, as time went on and we had the task of selecting a company, we realized that the most significant component of this project wasn’t the size or the financial importance this company has worldwide, but rather, we selected one that has a bigger impact in the enviromental care. Those people who bypass a better job in order to take on the responsibility of protecting the environment. When we discovered Plusambiente, we found what we were looking for. A community of individuals driven to make a positive impact on the entire world since 2009.

We were very intrigued with Plusambiente S.A. innovation and their continued impact on the mining industry with this new polymer. Plusambiente S.A. are working with strategic partners such as the University of Ecuador to produce polymers that will help reduce the number of heavy metals and acids that are currently present in mining waste materials. Doing this allows Plusambiente S.A. to reproduce these tailings as raw materials or ensure environmentally friendly disposal. The environmentally friendly disposal will help to reduce the contamination of water and soil in local communities affected by the mining industry. This is directly correlated to number 11 of the SDGs sustainable cities and communities. The innovators had said during the interview how much of a problem this is in some of the local mining communities. Which made us feel that Plusambiente S.A. innovation is a testament to their deep sense of responsibility to the planet. Their motivation seems to stem from the recognition of the need for solutions to reduce mining environmental footprint. This emphasis on environmental sustainability displays the importance of aligning business goals with ecological well-being. We felt that Plusambiente S.A. did a great job innovating this polymer to counteract some of the capitalistic disregard for the environment.

We also found that the innovators stretched how the business benefits aren’t as much financial as they are strategic. Their success in the environmental industry enhances their reputation which will attract more clients and partners. Therefore, this will lead to an even broader market which will affect more mines and keep growing this sustainability throughout the industry. Which we feel is the right approach instead of being money hungry they are more focused on fast expansion leading to more clients and a much more sustainable industry. This impact on both the environment and society reflects a holistic approach to corporate social responsibility, which makes Plusambiente S.A. a model for companies seeking to integrate a more sustainable set of core values.

Plusambiente, being an environmental services and environmental sustainability company, is closely related to everything we have seen in classes about the environment and its care. The knowledge previously acquired in classes was of great help to adequately understand all the processes that the company provides, in addition to all the services that the company has available to each client, since these services are summarized very precisely to the concept “Triple bottom line”. This concept that we had learned during the course, we were finally able to see and relate to a company that uses it in its day-to-day operations. Furthermore, with this work, knowledge about pollution and the effects on climate change can be seen in a different way, not only theoretically, but also practically, which leads us to become even more aware of the concern that this It can be.

However, during the interview with the company’s shareholders and leaders, we discovered that there were certain technical terminologies that we did not understand or that differed from those to which we as students were accustomed. This contributed significantly to a stronger motivation to investigate these terms and broaden our understanding of a world as wide and fascinating as the topic of environmental care.

As we finished the story and the work, we recognized how significant firms that want to aid the environment and keep environmental sustainability as their goal may become, despite the day-to-day activities that are carried out. Plusambiente surprised us in a very positive way because, despite being a small company with few economic resources in a non-developing country like Ecuador, it knows how to carry out such complicated and necessary jobs in a very professional manner that many of the world’s largest companies do not know how to do. That is why we are convinced that selecting this company was the greatest decision and had a significant impact on the work and effort.

Throughout the process of this Aim2Flourish project, we as a group were all positively impacted and have already discussed how we are going to take this project into our future endeavors. During our reflection as a group, we discussed that anybody can make a positive impact on the world and that even the smallest bit of help still makes a huge impact. Plusambiente is not a big company, and their innovation isn’t one that is going to take the world by storm, but even with that, they have made massive environmentally positive impacts in Ecuador. We as a group talked about how it isn’t about how big your innovation is, it is about the fact that you want to make a change in the world and that even a small change is a positive change.

As a group, we are all going to take the knowledge from this project into our workplace in a couple of years. The biggest piece of knowledge that we are going to take is that anybody can make a positive impact in our world, you just have to have the drive to do it. We are going to take this into our businesses and try and teach people what we have learned, that something as small as planting a tree or using solar power is going to make an impact and that if everyone does that little thing, it will eventually make a huge impact. We are also going to take with us what we learned through this project, and that is that doing nothing means that nothing will happen, but doing even the slightest to help will guarantee a positive impact.

We all want to own a business when we are older, and in our reflection as a group, we talked about implementing an environmental innovation just like Plusambiente to attempt to do our job in helping our world. This project has really changed the way we all think and we plan on taking this knowledge into our future to help create a better world.

After more than a month working on this project, we have gained a deeper understanding on the environmental sector, thanks to the members of Plusambiente. They seem to have an unwavering passion for what they do and the positive impact it has on society. Furthermore, it has taught us how to collaborate as a team despite the challenges of not being able to meet in person and having to schedule calls at moments that fit in everyone’s day. Finally, this project has given us, the students, an insight into the desire of our colleges to increase student awareness through creative and globalized approaches so that we can have a better understanding on the environmental state of our planet.

Individual Reflections

Tomas: My name is Tomas Cabrera, first of all I would like to thank my work group, who, despite being completely strangers to me, were the ones with whom we made this work turn out in the best way, adapting to the circumstances of each one and achieving a quite satisfactory work connection. During all this time they showed themselves with a positive attitude and never gave anything to talk about, they were always present at each of the meetings and above all they were always very friendly, which made this work more enjoyable. On the other hand, I feel proud that a company like Pulsambiente, originally from my native country, was a participant in this adventure from which I gained a lot of professional and work experience.Furthermore, during these weeks, I can confirm that working with people from other parts of the world is very interesting; the best of each one is shown, not only the academic part, but also the emotional and virtuous part, because there are different moments when empathy, communication, and laziness are present at the same time, and each one knows how to handle it in the best way. That is why I leave with a pleasant feeling about the work I did with my colleagues and, most importantly, with tremendous satisfaction at having met my two Canadian colleagues.

Ty: My name is Ty McFadden. I would like to thank the members of the group for making this project seem very easy. It was not easy trying to plan weekly zoom meetings with the time changes, but our group members were so flexible and dedicated that it made things so easy for us. All of the members of our group were always eager to get work done and not only get the work done but get it done to the best of our abilities. This project has made me grateful to meet a bunch of new people and get to know them so well throughout the process. I am also very grateful to learn so much about Plusambiente, a company I would not even have heard of if not for this project. They do so much for Ecuador and it appears to be going unnoticed. I am glad we got the privilege to interview them and learn more about there company because now I can take that knowledge into the future with me. This whole experience has been amazing and unlike any project I have ever done before. Not only did I get to learn a lot about an amazing company, but I got to do so while also learning about some amazing group members. I am forever thankful for this experience and I especially want to thank my group members from Spain for being so accommodating and patient with this whole process.

Walker: My name is Walker Stoddart. Firstly, I would like to thank Ty, Tom, and Nico for being such great group members for our aim2flourish project. We were able to harness each person’s skills and use them to succeed as a group. I felt that given some of the obstacles we faced such as timezones, and missing group members we did an outstanding job conforming as a team. Managing time zones was a bit challenging at times due to the six hour time difference and difference in class times and schedules. However, we managed this well by identifying when people were free at the beginning of each week. This way we wouldn’t be scrambling to find or make time on the weekends. Furthermore, we had two members of our group that didn’t attend or answer a singular zoom meeting or message we sent them. Dividing tasks evenly was challenging as there was more work to delegate to each person. Communicating effectively was necessary for successful delegation of tasks. Cultural differences didn’t really affect us all that much due to the likeness we shared in demographic. All four of us are boys around the age of 20 so I found our sense of humor and work ethic were very similar which made working together very fun but yet still informative. Lastly, I want to close by thanking Plusambiente S.A. for teaching us their new innovation and the impact it has on the mining industry.

Nicolas: My name is Nicolas Ibor. Before anything, I want to congratulate my Canadian friends, Ty and Walker, for being so helpful and accessible during this project. Also I would like to thank my friend Tom for being able to contact with Plusambiente company and for easing the work for everyone. I feel us four have gotten along really well from the first day and this has helped us a lot in the challenges we had to face during the flourish project. As a group we have been communicating with each other every start of the week to agree on a day to meet on that week and assign the tasks each one of us had to divide. Moreover, we had two group members who didn’t show up to any meeting or answer our mails, this made each one of us work for a longer time. In addition, I want to thank Plusambiente for being so nice to us in the meeting and for showing us how challenging it can be to keep an environmental company afloat nowadays. In conclusion, I am very happy to have worked with these guys in the last two weeks and happier to have met two more good and hard working friends.