Help communities build better recycling habits

City of Sydney waste recycling services |
Zero Waste concept project

OVERVIEW

The City of Sydney has a zero-waste goal for 2030. The main strategy focuses on recycling. This project was given to us to understand what is holding residents back from recycling and doing the right thing. The City of Sydney wants to optimise recycling information online to improve resident's recycling habits and decrease the amount of waste going to landfills.

MY ROLE

UX Researcher and Designer; Involved in all aspects/activities of the project.

TIMELINE

SOLUTION

Zero waste is a one-stop shop where residents can access through a QR code that links to a landing page. The landing page unifies all essential features from existing platforms to make it easier for the recyclers to access the information.

A CONCEPTUAL PROJECT FOR

Two weeks design sprint, in a team of two

DELIVERABLES

Hybrid mobile responsive design (including annotated wireframes on Figma);
Documentation of the research and synthesis;
30-minute presentation handing over our final deliverables and recommendations.

APPROACH

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Residents recycling habits

Recycling seems logical on the surface but complicated in practice. We conducted user interviews with 15 residents to learn and understand why people hold back from recycling, what people are doing with their recycling and where and how they seek recycling information.

This is what I discovered....

The City of Sydney provides recycling information across 4 different platforms, but residents are still confused with recycling

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80% of the respondents are confused about what can and can't be recycled.

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60% of the respondents would throw recycling in the general bin if they are unsure.

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4 in 5 respondents did not know these platforms exist and would use a mobile device to google recycling information.

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Qualitative data showed that 80% of the residents are confused about recycling.

so.. where does the frustration come from?

Based on our user research, there were three user types: occasional, confused and expert recycler. All personas lacked access to information while being on the same journey. We chose to focus on the target recycler as the confused recycler as many respondents have mentioned that they have been one or is one.

Jackson Miller

"I'm not sure what I can and can't recycle but I would still like to."

Goals

Want to find recycling information in a timely manner
Interest in learning more about recycling
Contribute to the environment by recycling
Curious about the recycling process

Frustrations

Not sure where to find the correct recycling information
Dislikes browsing several platforms to find information
Demotivated by the inconvenience
Unsure whether they have recycled correctly

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Journey map of the confused recycler

The main pain point

Fig. Recycling journey map

Recycler's journey map indicates the pain point is at the disposal process. City of Sydney has a broken user journey and a lengthy user flow which makes recycling demotivating, inconvivenent and troublesome. This directed us to seek opportunities to bridge the gap, strengthen the support online and shorten user's recycling flow.

In order to support individuals with recycling, there needs to be guidance at the bin where the main painpoint is located. A mobile responsive solution is crucial as a user is most likely to have a phone near them then a laptop.

What are the current tools for the confused recycler?

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Recyclers who want recycling information

The gap

Recycling information provided by NSW is engaging and informative, but it's on different platforms, which makes it confusing and overwhelming for residents. There is a gap between the information online and the confused recycler, as a result people do not have the right information when they need it, which discourages them to recycle.

Let's make it better!

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THEME 1

"I don't know where I can find the right information"

Information architecture across 3 platforms needs to be evaluated and filtered down to one landing page for the recycler. Through card sorting with 10 recyclers, we prioritised the main recycling information to what a recycler needs at the disposal process - the main pain point

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Fig. Information architecture of recycling resources online

RECYCLING RESOURCES ONLINE

OUR SOLUTION

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Fig. Information architecture of our prototype

THEME 2

"I'm unsure what my rubbish is made out of"

The scan feature will allow users to receive recycling advice instantly minimizing time spent on figuring out whether their rubbish can or can't be recycled.

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Fig. Scan technology user flow

THEME 3

"I feel like my small efforts won't make big impacts"

Showing gratitude and give facts to encourage the user to continue to build better habits and come back to seek support when they need it.

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Fig. Example of positive encouragement

Improved user flow

Improved user journey

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Previous pain point

ITERATIVE PROCESS

The design went through building, testing, and reiterating paper and digital prototypes. The page which affected residents the most in usability testing was the landing page. The main problems were the following:

Information hierarchy - reorder recycling information to be displayed first then the search bar.
Button consistency - different sized buttons caused confusion, this made it hard to navigate through the information.
Grouping - features that are similar are grouped together by the following categories; service-based and educational features.

PROPOSED

Fig. Example of positive encouragement

FINAL PROTOTYPE

Next steps...

For the City of Sydney to continue with this initiative, we need to explore the logistics behind the delivery of the QR code to residents, define how to measure performance and develop a high fideatliy prototype. Some of the ideas that needs to be strengthened are:

Develop a high-fideality UI design for project implementation
Measure performance and impact of prototype to find other opportunities to improve
Explore other touch points to explain what this QR code will do, how it works and where to place it. This should be sent out with the QR code.

What I learnt!

MVP should take in considerations of desirability, viabilty and feasibility
Working with what you already have, instead of creating something completely new
Small changes can create big impacts

Help communities build better recycling habits