Vicky Chu

A New Recycling System

ETRO VANCOUVER IS a “political body and corporate entity

M operating under provincial legislation” which consists of
22 municipalities [1]. One of their services is to manage solid
waste and recycling; people in this jurisdiction throw away nearly
1.5 million tonnes of garbage every year [3]. In order to help people
produce less garbage and recycle and reuse more, a more effective
strategy is needed. In September 2013, representatives from Metro
Vancouver approached Emily Carr University’s industrial design
students to collaborate in designing a new recycling system which
would include a number of streams, understandable signage and
text, and a usable recycling station.

For this semester-long project, we were to design an acceptable
and effective recycling system based on assigned context.

J Ssh

1 Design Observation
2 Prototype Integration

WHAT IS WASTE?

“What is waste?” was the first question our design instructor,
Louise St. Pierre, asked during our first class. Most students gave
typical answers, such as “garbage” and “unwanted materials.”
We had no ready answers, however, for her second question:

“where does waste go?” To understand this, we watched a doc-
umentary called Away: A Story of Trash, made by St. Petersburg
College students. The video “educates and entertains viewers
about the history of waste management, the current practices and
problems and what the average American’s perception of what

‘throwing away’ garbage really means” [4]. After viewing this, we
had a better understanding of “the story of trash” in America:
piling up waste in landfills is a critical issue, and city managers
need a better solution for the future. People need to improve their
practice of the 3 Rs: “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.”

sustainability + 17