Trasure
Designing a Personalized Trash Segregation System
UX Design
Wireframing
Prototyping
User Research
Responsibilities
UX Designer
Timeline
10 Weeks
Results
4.5/5 Usability Score
Trasure helps people…
Segregate their trash correctly.
Learn about the city's trash rules.
Nurture a habit of correctly recycling.
Designed for the everyday users doing their part for the environment.
Click to see the Design Persona
Researched with a focus on understanding the barriers to correct segregation
Observations -
Once an item has been trashed into a bin, correctly or incorrectly, no one segregates or corrects the trash, due to health risks and labor rules and regulations.
Multiple segregation methods exist for recycling and composting elements, but none are there for landfill items.
Finding: Users are motivated to dispose of their trash responsibly, yet there's a clear gap in understanding proper segregation methods.
Observations -
More than half of the students threw the trash in the wrong bin
Despite taking the time to read the labels placed around the trash bins, students still threw the objects in the wrong bin
Few students displayed a sense of gratification after throwing their trash
Finding: Users are motivated to dispose of their trash responsibly, yet there's a clear gap in understanding proper segregation methods.
Observations -
Difference in trash practices between one’s hometown and city of Seattle increased the effort to learn segregation practices.
Social shame and peer pressure were motivators for learning about correct trash segregation practices.
Participants felt overburdened by the information needed to learn in order to segregate trash correctly.
Finding: The complexity and abundance of segregation rules challenge correctly practicing trash disposal.
Observations -
Once an item has been trashed into a bin, correctly or incorrectly, no one segregates or corrects the trash, due to health risks and labor rules and regulations.
Multiple segregation methods exist for recycling and composting elements, but none are there for landfill items.
Finding: Users are motivated to dispose of their trash responsibly, yet there's a clear gap in understanding proper segregation methods.
Observations -
More than half of the students threw the trash in the wrong bin
Despite taking the time to read the labels placed around the trash bins, students still threw the objects in the wrong bin
Few students displayed a sense of gratification after throwing their trash
Finding: Users are motivated to dispose of their trash responsibly, yet there's a clear gap in understanding proper segregation methods.
Observations -
Difference in trash practices between one’s hometown and city of Seattle increased the effort to learn segregation practices.
Social shame and peer pressure were motivators for learning about correct trash segregation practices.
Participants felt overburdened by the information needed to learn in order to segregate trash correctly.
Finding: The complexity and abundance of segregation rules challenge correctly practicing trash disposal.
Observations -
Once an item has been trashed into a bin, correctly or incorrectly, no one segregates or corrects the trash, due to health risks and labor rules and regulations.
Multiple segregation methods exist for recycling and composting elements, but none are there for landfill items.
Finding: Users are motivated to dispose of their trash responsibly, yet there's a clear gap in understanding proper segregation methods.
Observations -
More than half of the students threw the trash in the wrong bin
Despite taking the time to read the labels placed around the trash bins, students still threw the objects in the wrong bin
Few students displayed a sense of gratification after throwing their trash
Finding: Users are motivated to dispose of their trash responsibly, yet there's a clear gap in understanding proper segregation methods.
Observations -
Difference in trash practices between one’s hometown and city of Seattle increased the effort to learn segregation practices.
Social shame and peer pressure were motivators for learning about correct trash segregation practices.
Participants felt overburdened by the information needed to learn in order to segregate trash correctly.
Finding: The complexity and abundance of segregation rules challenge correctly practicing trash disposal.
Focused on tackling the challenge of cognitive load
Wants to segregate trash correctly, but the complexity of the rules is confusing.
The rules are so confusing.
Some items can be recycled, if clean and not if they are even a little bit wet?
It's one rule in one county, but different rules in a different county.
I would rather be rewarded than punished when practicing trash segregation
I have been called out for wrong practice before.
Sometimes, I dont know where the trash goes
The rules of segregation are so different from the rules of my hometown.
Considers the segregation rules as weak when compared to the rules in his hometown.
The bin designs are inconsistent and the rules are so confusing.
Public trash cans are so confusing with their signs and visual suggestions.
While brainstorming guided us towards great ideas.
Our final solution was built on 3 key principles.
The design should educate and inform the user on proper trash disposal guidelines at the right time
The design should NOT take away the act of trash segregation from the user via automation
The design should take minimal time & effort to gain knowledge about trash disposal
Trasure
Your Personalized Trash Segregation System
Salient Features
Automatic information of recent purchases
Designed as per the guidelines of the city the user lives in
Visual first design to allow for quick use when outside
Personalized real-time update of one's trash impact
Usability - 3 important needs
Need 1: Users wanted to track their data and find patterns or suggestions
Solution: A dedicated “Profile” section was created where users could track their monthly impact and get recommendations on how they can lower their carbon emissions based on their purchasing habits.
Need 2: Keep it simple and snoozy
Solution: We simplified the homescreen to a simple single non-scrollable page to ensure that it was easy for a user to use the system while they may be out in public.
Visual indicators were also to indicate items that need to be segregated from those that don’t.
Need 3: Where's my treat?
Solution: Users expressed a need for feedback in the form of rewards. Users also expressed an interest in continuing to update and update the system if they were rewarded in some form.
Final Journey
Final Prototype
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