Without Waste
You’re not garbage, make sure your decisions aren’t either.
A recent study shows that Canadians produce more garbage per capita than any other country on earth, generating approximately 31 million tons of garbage every year… and yet we only recycle about 30% of that material. That means each Canadian generates over approximately 2.7kg of waste every day. A majority of that is what we throw away or recycle. How might we use technology to help a typical Canadian household solve for this excess?
RESEARCH
In order to further define the problem and rationalize solutions, I connected with individuals to understand their consumption patterns and decision-making when considering physical waste.
Decision-Making:
If you had the option to buy (or live) more sustainably, how often would you opt-in for sustainable products or services?
Awareness:
How much do you know about your personal consumption and creation of physical waste (Inclusive of recyclables, composts and garbage)?
Majority of people don’t understand how they individually contribute to physical waste in landfills and the long-term effect it has on our environment.
Majority of people would consider choosing more sustainable options if it was easy and accessible for them.
PROBLEM
Consumption is one of the largest growing environmental issues to date, but humans lack the understanding and accountability of how their consumption is contributing to environmental damage. Additionally, there are very few programs and resources to understand our consumption habits that will enable humans to decrease their personal waste in an easy and efficient way.
SOLUTION
Create a mobile-first tool that enables users to increase their awareness and accountability of personal consumption by teaching them how to make better daily decisions to decrease physical waste.
Lo-Fi Sketching
Consumption Tracker User Flow:
User logs in or creates an account
User is promoted to record an item trash they threw away
User uses the input form to enters in new trash item and disclose how they disposed of it
User saves item and adds the trash to their tracker
User is redirected to their daily consumption meter to review their log
User clicks on bottom navigation to view the impact page
User can review insights around their consumption and how many year it will take to break down the items they threw away
