Recycle Bins at the Lodbell Dining Hall

Design goals

Based on the merits and shortcmonings of the current recyle bins, I tried to improve them by making the use the bins easier for users who have any of the following three characteristics:

• Users with different cultural background (e.g. visitors, tourists, and new international student)
• Users with limited or no knowledge of English
• Users who are in a hurry

Suggested design

To achieve the above mentioned design goals, the following consideration are taken into accout:

• Minimum use of words, replacing words with symbols
• Use of different languages in case words are needed. This also gives a welcoming message to everyone.
• Separate bins based on the food vendors instead of emphasizing on the concept of different types of trash.

How does it work?

1. User finishes his/her meal and looks for trash bin.
2. The only trash bins available in the Lodbell dining hall are the proposed bins, so that there is not temptation to throw out everything in the regular trash bins.
3. The signs of the food stations guide the users towards the appropriate bin.
4. At the bin corresponding to the vendor users purchased food from, they will see customized trash slots based on what the food vendor offers.

For example, the bin for Shinkansen Japan has a separate slot for suhi plate as sushi plate is not recyclable but the other food containers they use are. It's hard to expext everyone to know that and it's quite likely that they throw their sushi plate in recyclable bin.

Please note that the above sketch is just for showing the concept. Obviously, the writings beside each slide will be replcaed by appropritae pictures. For example, beside the container slot for Shawarma Shack there will be a picture of the food containers that Shawarma Shack uses. This way, the user will conduct a quick analogy and does not need to go through the currently used description and see which category does his/her container falls in.

Benefits of the new design

• Solely works based on the visual memory of the user.
• Does not require the user to know English
• Does not require the user to be familiar with the concept of recyclying
• Does not require the user to read instructions or go through relatively small pictures to figure out where the trash needs to go.