ScanCycle

Introduction

We are ScanCycle, comprised of 5 team members:

Kat David Daniel Kim Andrea Lam Josh Sunga Ji Yang

Purpose and Motivation

While performing research on recycling, we learned that there is a huge need to increase the recycling percentage above 10%. We plan to address the recycling problem by educating, incentivizing, and building community to help users become aware and motivated to recycle more efficiently.

What it does

Our application prototype utilizes the camera app to scan items and inform users how to properly recycle the item, if there is food residue that would force the recycling batch to be thrown in the trash, and upload public recycling bins to inform the community.

Our application prototype applies gamification to encourage users by giving them an incentive and a fun experience while recycling and learning more about recycling.

Our application utilizes map functionality to aid users as a community to find proper recycling bins. When users find a recycle bin they can register it into the community app where other users can find the closest recycling bin near them.

Our app also builds communities by promoting various recycling events that users can attend with friends. By attending these events, users can build a community with those around them who also want to learn more about recycling.

How we developed the application

The most important aspect of the application was defining the problems the users were experiencing rather than focusing on increasing the recycling rate of 9%. Upon interviewing five people, we identified three common themes among the five people we interviewed: a lack of knowledge on what to recycle, a lack of motivation to recycle consistently and a lack of community/public access to recycle. Our ideas were explored and iterated through Figma in order to create an interactive prototype.

Difficulties and challenges faced

The main objective was to increase the recycling rate above 9%. However, research showed that facilities often did not have the time or labor costs to recycle the items that have been gathered due to the incorrect recycling practices. Upon interviewing individuals who recycle, we were able to discover the specific pain points the people were experiencing in order to recycle properly.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

As a team, we were able to discover three core issues and redirect our focus on creating features to create solutions for those issues. The camera feature allows users to properly identify and educate themselves on which items are recyclable, a map/public feed feature allows users to create a community and inform others of public recycling/events, and a rewards/incentives feature promotes motivation to continue recycling.

What we learned

We learned how bad the recycling problem is, as well as how there are multiple factors as to why the recycling rates are so low. We also learned that while there are production reasons that need to be addressed, we learned that there are ways we as consumers can adjust to recycle more efficiently.

What's next for ScanCycle

After making the first prototype, we plan to conduct some usability testing to get a better understanding of what users would like to see in the app. We plan to pitch the app prototype to sponsors and see if we can get this idea funded.

Built With

• figma