K2 Roots Sustainability Report

November 6, 2023
i
 K2 Roots
Sustainability
Report

Prepared for:
David Taylor, Owner of K2 Roots

Report By:
Matthew Nguyen, Wes Olsen,
Cooper Freeman, Marco Vespa,
Ankush Sodhi

November 6, 2023

K2 Roots Sustainability Report ii

 Letter of Transmittal
TO: David Taylor, Owner of K2 Roots
FROM: Matthew Nguyen, Wes Olsen, Cooper Freeman, Marco Vespa, Ankush Sodhi
DATE: November 6, 2023
SUBJECT: Sustainability Report for K2 Roots

Dear David Taylor,

We are pleased to present to you a sustainability report curated by our team

to help K2 Roots improve sustainability practices. We have spent the past
two months evaluating the business as well as conducting research. We are
ready to bring it all together and present it to the benefit of your company.

This report contains our ideas formulated to increase sustainability practices

at K2 Roots. We have designed these to help better educate this business as
well as finding more value in sustainability. Practicing sustainability will leave
their customers more satisfied with their business as well as support our
environment.

Key highlights of this proposal include:

Strengths of your Company
Areas of Improvement
Recommendations

We hope these ideas add value to the infrastructure of K2 Roots and want to
thank you for the opportunity to perform this analysis.

Sincerely,

Matthew Nguyen, Wes Olsen, Cooper Freeman, Marco Vespa, Ankush Sodhi

K2 Roots Sustainability Report iii

Contents
VI. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

07. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

08. INTRODUCTION

09. STRENGTHS

10. AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT

11. STUDENT SURVEYS

12. MOTION SENSOR LIGHTS

13. CAPTIVA PLASTIC BOTTLES

14. RECOMMENDATIONS

iv
Contents (ctd)
15. REFERENCES

16. APPENDIX

v
List of Illustrations
10. FIGURE 1

10. FIGURE 2

vi
Executive Summary
This report contains an analysis of the juice company K2 Roots located in
downtown State College. Sustainability is one of the largest factors in a
companies day to day operations, and after months of research and analysis, we
have finished our report on K2 Roots and are ready to present it. This report is
meant to provide value to owner David Taylor and hopes he can take some of our
analysis and suggestions into consideration in order to make K2 Roots not only a
more sustainable business but a more cost-efficient business as well.
Strengths
This report contains the strengths and the areas of improvement of K2 roots
when it comes to sustainability. We chose the areas where we felt K2 Roots did
extremely well which include:
Being open to sustainability having us analyze and research the company
Giving all leftover pulp to farmers for composting
Use of LED lights
Areas of Improvement
We also added areas of improvement where we felt K2 Roots would add more
value to their company if they implemented some of these measures. These
include:
Lack of recycling bins in the store
Having LED lights on after hours
Use of expensive plastic bottles
Recommendations
Through our research, we added our recommendations on the areas highlighted
in this report. We have spent the past two months researching ways to help K2
Roots add more value through sustainability. These recommendations include:
Adding a recycling bin to the store - Encourages sustainability among
customers and enhances the store’s public image
Implementation of motion sensor lights - Provides cheaper and more
sustainable lighting, reduces energy consumption, and enhances security
Switching to Captiva plastic bottles - Offers a cheaper and more sustainable
alternative and reduces environmental impact

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 7

Introduction
K2 Roots is a cold-pressed juice company located in downtown State College,
PA. The company was founded by Olympic Gold Medalist wrestler David Taylor in
2017. With over 150 sales a day, this up-and-coming company's mission is to
bring the students of Penn State and the residents of State College the most
delicious, fresh, raw, and organic juice you can find around.

As we sat down with Olympic wrestler and founder of K2 Roots David Taylor.
We quickly realized that this new and upcoming business has a lot of room for
growth when it comes to sustainability. Taylor said that sustainability is not
currently in their business model as their sole focus is making money,
however, if the correct opportunities arise, K2 Roots will consider
implementing these practices into their current business model.

During our interview, we quickly realized that there was much room for
improvement such as implementing recycling bins around their store which
would encourage customers to recycle their used juice bottles, or turning
lights off after hours. However, as we got deeper into our interview we
learned that K2 Roots has many practices that are very beneficial in the face
of Sustainability and they perform these practices very well.

Vision Mission
To help K2 Roots with sustainable Collaborate with K2 Roots in
practices while also saving them their journey towards
money sustainbility

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 8

 Strengths
Over the past month, we have been interviewing
customers, talking to David Taylor and conducting
research. We were able to identify three current
strengths within K2 Roots. We will build upon these
strengths and improve overall cost savings and
sustainability.

Minimizing Waste
K2 Roots gives all left-over pulp from the juice to local farmers
for composting, they also give leftover food to the employees
or food bank

Open To Ideas About Sustainability

K2 Roots is open to having an compost bin, and they are
looking forward to hearing how they can implement changes
that can save them money and improve overall sustainability

LED Lightbulbs
K2 Roots uses LED lightbulbs which have an average lifespan up
to 14 years, LED lights use 90% less energy and last up to 25
times longer than incandescent bulbs

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 9

 Areas of
Improvement
After months of analyzing K2 Roots and many of their practices, we
found that having recycling bins in their store, turning lights off after
hours, as well as finding more cost-efficient plastic bottles for their
product would not only grow their sustainability efforts but would
provide some cost savings.

Recycling Bins
Recycling Bins are the gateway to sustainability, and not having any on the
premises of their location does not benefit K2 Roots or the environment. In
a company where 95% of their products are or contain plastic, having one
recycling bin at the exit, will not only encourage customers to recycle their
bottles, but it will allow them to create the habit of throwing the plastics
into the bins.

Turning off Lights After Hours

We noticed that K2 Roots do not turn off their lights after hours. The store
is open from 9am-2pm. Excess light consumption is bad for the
environment and wastes energy; it raises their electric bill unnecessarily. If
K2 Roots adjusts their energy usage through lights, they may see a
significant change in their electric bill.

Plastic Bottle Alternative

K2 Roots' main product is juice cleansers. The juices come in 16oz plastic
bottles. The bottles that K2 Roots uses for their everyday juices are very
costly, and there are many different alternatives that could provide K2
Roots with some cost savings.

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 10

 Student Surveys
In order to get more insight on how implementing sustainability practices
can directly effect K2 Roots, we conducted 2 surveys that were completed
by 25 random students. These surveys help us better understand
consumer buying habits at K2 Roots. The results show favorably for more
sustainable practices as 76% of students are more inclined to buy from K2
if there was a recycling bin there, and 84% of students were in favor of a
more biodegradable bottle option.

Figure 1 asked the participants if they

would be more inclined to buy from K2
Roots if there was a recycling bin in
store, 19 answered yes while 6
answered no.

Figure 1 : Recycling Bin Question Graph

Figure 2 asked the participants if they

would prefer a more biodegradable
bottle option, this resulted in 21
participants saying yes and 4
answering no.

Figure 2 : Biodegradable Bottle Question Graph

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 11

 Motion Sensor Lights
K2 Roots currently spends $300-450 per month or
$375 average on electricity. 20% of this is from
lighting which comes to $75 per month electricity.
Motion sensor lights use around 28 watts per day,
cutting wattage in half compared to an LED light.
This means that the monthly lighting cost would be
cut in half to be $37.50. It costs $350-500 or an
average cost of $425 to implement these lights, so
it would take approximately 12 months to pay for
itself, and after that it would save K2 Roots $450
annually. It would also increase security by
deterring intruders and providing better visibility in
case of an intruder

Motion Sensor Cost Calculations

Existing Monthly Lighting Cost = 20% of Total Monthly Electricity Cost
Total Monthly Electricity Cost (average): ($300 + $450) / 2 = $375
Existing Monthly Lighting Cost = 0.20 * $375 = $75
Monthly Cost with Motion Sensor Lights = $75 / 2 = $37.50
Payback Period = $425 / $37.50 ~ 11.3
Annual Savings = $37.50 * 12 = $450

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 12

 Captiva Plastic Bottles

K2 Roots currently pays $0.64 for their plastic

bottles while Captiva bottles cost $0.44 cents a
bottle. The average number of bottles used per day
is around 100 bottles, so switching to Captiva
bottles would save K2 Roots an estimated amount
of $5600 per year.

Calculation for Estimated Cost Savings Per Year

$0.20 x 100 bottles (Average # sales per day) x 7
days a week x 4 weeks in a month x 10 months (The
store is closed at least 2 months per year) ~ $5600

Captiva also offers an eco-clear additive coating

which makes the plastic biodegradable. This
coating has shown to decompose polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) plastic 30x faster than the
same material without the coating. The plastic
converts into methane gas which can be used to
create clean energy.

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 13

 Recommendations
Customers who are paying a premium for high quality products, such
as juices from K2 Roots, often have an increased awareness of
environmental issues and sustainability. Committing to economically
friendly practices could boost brand image and attract more
customers.

Recycling Bins
Implementing recycling bins inside of the K2 Roots is of utmost significance
because K2 currently uses polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic.
Americans collect over 1.6 billion pounds of PET every year, making it the
most widely recovered plastic in the world. Every 10 million bottles produced
with 50% recycled PET can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 230 tons of
CO2

Motion Sensor Lights

To combat the issue of leaving their LED lights on during non-business
hours, K2 Roots should implement motion sensing lights. It will cost the
business roughly $350 to $500. This one time payment is a large upfront
cost, but will decrease operational costs after one year, saving K2 Roots
money $450 annually

Captiva Plastic Bottles

K2 Roots currently uses an average of around 100 bottles per day, and the
current bottles they are using are recyclable, but not biodegradable.
Switching to Captiva bottles is a more sustainable option and it would save
K2 Roots an estimated amount of $5600.

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 14

 Bibliography
16oz round pet empty plastic bottle clear with custom cap for
Wholesale & bulk orders, 100% BPA Free. Captiva Containers.
(n.d.). https://www.captivaco.com/products/round-bottle-16oz?
variant=40721995497680

America recycles day | US EPA - U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency. (n.d.-a). https://www.epa.gov/circulareconomy/america-
recycles-day

How does plastic recycling help the environment. Buxton. (n.d.).

https://www.buxtonwater.co.uk/articles/community-and-
environment/plastic-
recycling#:~:text=Plastic%20recycling%20reduces%20the%20ne
ed,adding%20more%20rubbish%20to%20landfills.

LED lighting. Energy.gov. (n.d.-a).

https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/led-lighting

Lighting controls. Energy.gov. (n.d.-b).

https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/lighting-controls

Marandola, M. (2023, October 3). How much does it cost to install

motion sensor lights?. Angi. https://www.angi.com/articles/how-
much-motion-sensor-lights-cost.htm

Pérez, C. (2021, November 15). Sustainable packaging alternatives

for High Pressure Processing (HPP). Hiperbaric.
https://www.hiperbaric.com/en/sustainable-packaging-
alternatives-for-high-pressure-processing-hpp/

The U.S. Recycling System | US EPA. (n.d.-b).

https://www.epa.gov/circulareconomy/us-recycling-system

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 15

 Appendix

Questionnaire
1. How often do you try to recycle?
A. Always
B. Sometimes
C. Never

2. Do you think recycling in important to our environment?

A. Yes
B. No

3. Would you be more inclined to buy from K2 Roots if there was a

recycling bin in the store?
A. Yes
B. No

4. Would you be more likely to recycle with multiple recycling bins in

K2 Roots area?
A. Yes
B. No

5. If K2 Roots switched to a more sustainable bottle would you be

more likely to buy from them?
A. Yes
B. No

K2 Roots Sustainability Report 16