The city I live in
has set up
a service
to pick up
hazardous waste.
They don’t want
paints, car oil,
face moisturizer
and other harmless substances
poured down the drain
or put in the landfills.
The issue is…
the employees picking up
the hazardous waste
don’t understand that mission.
They reject any waste
they aren’t 100% certain
is hazardous.
They picked up the moisturizer,
for example,
but they left the sunscreen on the curb.
They picked up the vegetable cooking oil,
as another example,
but not the fish-based cooking oil.
Instead of treating EVERYTHING
left for pick up
as harmful substances,
they only picked up
the substances they KNEW
were harmful.
I suspect many residents
will throw away
anything they left behind,
sending those items
to landfills
or worse places.
And they are less likely
to call for a pickup
next time.
Ensure everyone
in your organization
understands
the mission.
If they don’t understand the mission,
they could be working against it.