"What is the biggest impact you can make as an individual," this is the question that powers the organizational model of Yirego, founded by OCAD University Industrial Design alumni Yi Jiang. Their featured product is called Drumi - a washing machine for the resource- conscious user. The Drumi was awarded the Canadian National Winner of the James Dyson Award in 2015. 

[image above: five renderings presenting different views of Yirego’s feature product, Drumi]

At Yirego, sustainability refers to reducing the impact our everyday actions have on the environment while also designing for a products entire life cycle. According to Jiang, standard washing machines consume 7% of the total household energy. As a pedal-powered machine, Drumi eliminates electricity usage altogether and uses only 5 – 10 liters of water. Drumi is designed for resource efficiency, reducing the energy, time, and space conventionally required by laundry machines. Drumi’s sustainable approach can reduce your carbon footprint by approximately 10 pounds per week and is cleaning personal-sized volumes laundry in spaces like mobile homes, condos, and campsites. Its small loads are suitable for washing pet or baby clothing. 

[image above states that Yirego’s Drumi was a finalist for the 2017 Edison Awards]

 The Story  The Drumi project began in the classroom when Yirego founder, Yi Jiang, in his third year industrial design core class at OCAD U, was assigned the 3"x3" project. The brief was to design products for a cramped space. Yi drew upon his experience living in a high rise building in downtown Toronto which lacked ensuite laundry. Yi had observed the time and cost inconveniences, as well as his hygiene concerns for doing your laundry at the local laundromat. This was in addition to noticing the lack of disruptive innovation within the public laundry industry, meaning that its inaccessible service has yet to be transformed into something that suits the needs of everyone and several situations. 

The Design Process To begin, Yi researched existing non-traditional washing machines and found ideas that worked similarly to a salad spinner and concrete mixer, yet they lacked empathy and considerations of user experience. The design began as an alternative to handwashing, specifically for personal items. 

Yi then brought it forward as his thesis project. He mapped out the experience of doing your laundry at the laundromat - time consumption, someone pulling your stuff out, being unaware of what people are washing in the machine e.g construction boots. Since then, the process has been iterative where each generation works hard to tackle new problems and improve on their ideas. 

About Drumi and Sustainability  After graduating, Yi founded Yirego. Designing for sustainability is an essential part of Yirego's mandate, as sustainability is a "consideration and opportunity" that often comes with additional benefits such as convenience and resource efficiency. To Yi, sustainability is "something that is common sense" that he wants to respond to with practical and tangible answers. When designing, Yi strives for ultimate efficiency proving that despite a difference in approach, one can arrive at the same outcome of being conscious and responsible. 

The current generation of the Drumi can hold 5 pounds of clothes (approximately 3 t-shirts and a pair of jeans) having evolved so far from only holding personal items. The Drumi has four major parts that can be replaced and repaired if necessary, including a removable drum that allows users to throughly clean it to increase its life cycle. In addition, the chosen materials, standard engineered plastic and aluminum parts, are all recyclable. 

What’s next? The Yirego team is currently in their final stages of research and development for the Drumi. They are currently working on further encouraging eco-behaviour by bringing Soap Nuts to the market, an organic alternative for washing detergent that is ideal for the Drumi. The use of the nuts will mean water from the Drumi can simply be poured into a lake or down the drain without concern. The nuts also eliminate the need of a rinse cycle, which is typical for a standard washing machine, saving water, energy and time. The Soap Nuts are imported from Asia and are used in traditional practice. 

Advice to Students  Yi's tip for students is to think about sustainability in your design as you are the person that controls this product. You are leading a group of people, an industry. How can you adopt green thinking into your work? How can you help people improve their lives? 

For more information please visit their website: http://www.yirego.com/

相信現時差不多每家每戶都會有洗衣機，而這些洗衣機都一定需要用電，但是有沒有想過不需源操作的洗衣機呢？

日前一家名為 Yirego 的加拿大環保科技公司研發出一款名為 Drumi 的環保洗衣機。而這個洗衣機的特點是不需使用電力去操作，取而代之用腳踏方式便可，而且只要大約 5 – 10 分鐘便能夠洗好。

而這個產品的原理是利用離心力去清洗衣物。除不需耗電外，這個產品的賣點是能節省高達 80% 的用水 – 一般洗衣機用水量超過 20 公升，而 Drumi 只需 4-5 升即可。

至於容量方面，該公司表示可滿足一般 3 – 4 人家庭的洗衣需求，官方統計後發現這種洗衣機一個星期可減少 4.5kg 的碳排放量。

這個產品現於 Indiegogo 進行集資，售價為 299 美元 (約 HK$2,321、NT$9,446)。現已成功集資，預計 2017 年 7 月發貨。

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Some snapshots from our presentation of our first Project! Market & Design Research of Yirego

By Juan Vivas, Yinan Ma and Melis Tokgoz

Yirego Drumi Off Grid Washer

Eco-friendly washing machine uses zero electricity and 80% less water

Eco-friendly washing machine uses zero electricity and 80% less water

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