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“DoRecycle”

Creators: Serenity, Brianna, Nathaniel, Ethan, Ronald, Joshua, and Carlos
High School Students from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ PS 811
Do Recycle App

About this Project:

OUR INSPIRATION


Our school is currently participating in a Zero Waste Program initiative through the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY). We are members of the Green Team supporting this program throughout the 811X Community. One of our jobs is to monitor the cafeteria at lunchtime and ensure that people are recycling. We also collect recyclables from the 4th-floor classrooms.


During our rounds, we noticed that people are throwing out everything in the trash. Our survey indicated that people are not aware of what is recyclable and what is not and they just throw everything in an open bin. We got concerned because an increase in landfills means an increase in toxins that will be emitted to the lands nearby and to the air that we breathe. We need to help. Our school community must learn how to recycle.


OUR PROJECT:


People are always on their phones. If we can give them a tool that will help them identify an item if it is recyclable or not then maybe they will learn to recycle. Our vision is to make it easier for people in identifying where these items they are about to throw must go to avoid adding up in the landfill. The app we designed will help in educating people on how to recycle, the benefits of recycling, and locating a recycling center no matter where you are. There will also be opportunities to earn rewards as they scan what they recycle. We included games as well that will help people enjoy and at the same time learn about recycling.


We are only 1 of the 1852 schools but 0.05% is still a portion that can make a difference. We will start small but hope to make that impact in our community.

Project Media

Images

Do Recycle Wireframe

Slides

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Video

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Learn more about the judges

Feedback from the Judges:

Sarah Maldonado
👏 Director of Program Performance at Mouse — Emoti-Con Judge
You all did a fantastic job! I love the idea, the research, the storyboards and wireframes, the way you worked as a team to create and present your app, and all of your iterations. It's clear that you all put a lot of time, thought, and energy into creating DoRecycle. I appreciate the different features, especially needing to enter your zip code. The layout and visuals of the app are also enticing and draw in users. I'd love to have this app on my phone!

Sierra Stone
👏 Growth and Partnerships Manager at Wix Education — Emoti-Con Judge
I love that this project educates while also giving back to the community. I truly believe that one of the reasons folks don't recycle is because they are not sure what is recyclable, and this app helps to solve that problem! I think that there is a lot of positive potential here to expand both the educational and social impact aspects of this project!

Peizhu Yuan
👏 Program Coordinator at Mouse — Emoti-Con Judge
This is such a great idea! I'm also one of those persons that feel the need to recycle but fail to do it well all the time because I'm always unsure which bin it should go to. This app would help me in so many different ways including when I travel and need to figure out the recycling rules at the destination.

While there can be more things to complete around privacy and adding more items to be identified by the scanner, I also think that it's nice to include a search feature as an alternative to the scanner so that this app can be available even when phone cameras are unavailable.

And I greatly appreciate the clean interface! Some background images may need some work to make them more transparent so there's a better contrast between the button background and app interface background. But the number of buttons on each page is amazing and also perfect sizing.

Peter Smith
👏 Senior Engineer at Studio MDHR — Emoti-Con Judge
Great concept and great execution! I love how thoughtfully you identified a problem and came up with a practical solution. Lowering the effort people have to put in to do the right thing is a really good way to get more people to do it. Your design is also really well worked-out. (Requiring users to enter their zip code shows that you really thought through some of the details of making this idea work.) I'm impressed--great job!

Susan Futerman
👏 Strategy Manager at Accenture — Emoti-Con Judge
Great work!! This project demonstrated a creative solution for an everyday problem and would have a meaningful impact on the global community. It is evident the team put a lot of work into designing the app with the detailed storyboard and wireframes. The app was both user-friendly and took into consideration the customer experience while addressing a worldwide problem -- I'm sure many would use this app if it were developed!

Zainab Oni
👏 Senior Strategy Associate at J.P. Morgan — Emoti-Con Judge
I absolutely agree with you that although you are 1 of the 1852 schools but 0.05% is still a portion that can make a difference! This app is a fantastic idea that could be incredibly impactful beyond your school / community. Lack of knowledge on if what I'm doing is "right" is my biggest deterrent when it comes to recycling certain items - particularly the ones I use on the go vs. at home. Your app changes that by delivering the answer right to my hands. It could be a start to people seeing themselves, not just corporations, as having the ability to be "zero-waste". I would like to see an addition for compost as well especially since schools produce a lot of food waste. I really liked that you added the zip-code filter and can see a future version including information on where to recycle based on location e.g. the nearest glass recycling bin in greenwich village. As-is today, this is a great idea that has been well executed by your team and I look forward to seeing what you do with it.

Feedback from the Community:

👏 a Technology Professional
Great work Serenity, Brianna, Nathaniel, Ethan, Ronald, Joshua, and Carlos!! This app and your pitch video are amazing. Your wireframe is so well done and thoughtful. I loved hearing that you went through a professional UX design process - interviewing, storyboarding, wireframing - all of these are why your app idea is so great. You should feel very proud of this project!
Serenity 👏 a High School Student from GreenTeam
This project will help a lot of people to recycle more to reduce waste.

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