#emergingpractice

After the feedback on our presentation, we have revisited some of the analysis of our designs, and attempted to offer a more comprehensive understanding of their desirability and viability that we provided in our video. These are detailed in the previous blog posts. 

We interviewed three potential stakeholders, each whom would have a different perspective on our design. We interviewd one of the on-campus cafe workers, one person who purchases coffee on campus most days, and lastly, someone who purchases coffee at uni only occassionally.

Our interviews, surprisingly, offered little advice for the designs of the machines themselves, rather how to best implement them. Additionally, we were provided with many considerations for the cups themselves.

* Campus Worker

Cups should be stackable, and swiftly, smoothly, and individually removed from that stack.

Cups should be coloured relative to their size – making them easy to distinguish at short notice.

Supported the idea of the bin washing and sorting the cup.

Again highlighted that we must make the system somehow beneficial for cafe's and employees.

* Regular Purchaser

Bins must be very easily available.

They would be inclined to simply dispose the cup if this was more convenient.

An incentive would be helpful to changing this, but not a panacea.

Suggested making the cup that informs the consumer of the impact of their actions.

Giving the cup personality would increase the likelihood it was returned correctly.

People would be unlikely to keep the cup if it was identifiable elsewhere.

The same was said if the cup had a recycling message on.

* Occasional Purchaser

Rewards system would be less influential.

They would appreciate positive enforcement of their impact on  either cup or bins.

Approaching the due date for our finalized design, we took yet another step back from our design to consider several things, the most significant being why other projects have failed in the past, but also to ask ourselves if we were approaching the whole project the wrong way – is there a better system entirely? Both of these concepts are detailed briefly in the previous post, but proved very helpful to our continuing design.

We formulated a concept taking shape from both our core ideas, our continued research, and (perhaps most influentially) suggestions from our previous feedback session.

So what exactly do we intend to design? A Cup Deposit/Rewards System.

This essentially Combines our original idea with the “Is it possible to have bins around uni to collect re-usable cups?” and the  “Exchange disposable cups” Feedback, as these were ideas we felt had great substance in the context of our project.

Rather than designing an object, we would like to design an entire system, which presents a plethora of things that must be considered should it have potential for success.

How is it possible to compete with the convenience of disposable cups?

How can we limit the accessibility people have to disposable cups?

Is it possible to make our cup the only option?

What are the economic and environmental impacts of re-usable cups/materials?

Which material best suits the cups considering cost, sustainability, and durability?

How can reusable cups be made more desirable?

How would the rewards system/card be optimized? Plastic? Or Paper?

Would the bin be Digital? Mechanical?

How many cups would the bin realistically need to hold?

Could the bin wash the cups? Separate the sizes?

How are the cups retrieved, how smooth can we make this process?

How might we coerce café’s to join – how can we make it convenient for them?   

Will this save them time or money? Can it?

How can the bins be very accessible, without being invasive?

Can they be neutral in their environment? In sight, smell, volume etc.

How can we use positive enforcement and/or Guilt?

Can it display statistic? Number of cups returned over a time period or volume of waste saved?

At what volume do reusable cups become more sustainable than disposable?

How can people be prevented from stealing the cups? (Aside from the reward concept itself). Should the cups be branded? “AUT” or Cafe's Name

How significant would theft be, anyway?

A feedback session was held in class that targeted three key areas of feedback – information of interest from our project as it stands, questions that challenged how and why our approach has become what it is, and finally suggestions of different directions or approaches that the critic might undertake if it were their project. Here is some of the feedback we received separated into category:

Our ideas that people found were of interest:

“Using guilt as a way of engaging participation”

“Putting some responsibility on the seller by having them admit the waste their product is creating”

“Good that you narrowed [the idea] down and kept narrowing”.

Questions people challenged our approach with:

“If 21% of Aucklanders drink coffee on average in a day, is this a problem in itself?”

“Could you design a collapsible cup to fit in a bag?

“Could this actually encourage the use of disposable cups?”

Suggestions people had for our approach:

“Create a 3D/Interactive visualization showing how many [coffee cups] are used to guide study and make a more realistic view for the target market”

“I would look at the project in another form and try to use coffee cups in another way? Reuse in art? Exchange disposable cups for thermal cup”

“I have a reusable coffee cup. The issue is that the material of disposable coffee cups is cost effective for cafes etc. I would focus on cost effective materials. Why are coffee mugs so expensive? If you do find cheap useful materials, does it keep the coffee warm?”

“Is it possible to have bins around uni to collect re-useable cups?”

An interesting assertion was made separating our group from another involved in the feedback session. We seem to primarily be investigating packaging, however this was contrasted by the group looking into production (in the Dairy industry). This raised the “Would it then be better to eat a Vegan meal with polystyrene packaging, or meat based meal that is packaged sustainably?”. Something to consider, at least.

We have now reached the third and final stage of our project – We have passed research and conceptualization, and moved into implementation. Our idea has morphed in a relatively new dimension, although retains our two core concepts – Tackling Waste through a Smart System. We are still also aiming to tackle a centralized, realistic, and immediate issue.

So, combining some aspects of the Smart Bin, and others from the Packaging Database, we have formed the Coffee Counter. The idea here is a device distributed within cafe's that essentially counts the number of disposable cups used within one location (AUT, or Auckland) over a certain period of time (day or week). This would be coupled with a dispensary that allows customers to purchase reusable cups.

Technology-wise we believe we can create a prototype based around an ardiuno, LDR's, or a Flex Sensor. This would house the cups, and trip a counter each time a cup was removed.

Again, we believe one of the biggest issues for people today is not awareness – but action. For instance, while we have been researching the effects of packaging, I personally still, more often than not end up purchasing lunch with a disposable container. How then, can we motivate people to reduce waste? Firstly, make them guilty, and second, make it easy.

Although I missed the exercise itself, I have tried to take as much from it as possible on my own.

Ben Corlett & Piers Abbenes

The overlying target for this project is Pollution and Waste in the first world. More specifically however we would aim to investigate and improve recycling and recycling attitude within New Zealand.  Between 1994, and 2007 – total consumption of waste packaging rose 51%. Currently on average a New Zealander Recycles only 97Kg of the 162Kg that is recyclable (www.stats.govt.nz). There is indeed awareness of the importance of recycling in New Zealand, but there is vast room for improvement.

While recycling processes and understanding of the importance of recycling may be established within our nation, encouragement is still necessary to get people on board, despite repeated advertising and awareness campaigns. Consumers still seem to require an incentive that encourages their sustainability.

With the oncoming project we intend to investigate the development of an intelligent system that can monitor the individual recycling efforts and reward them appropriately (and sustainably). This smart system needs to be something that can integrate easily into the varied lifestyles of everyday people.