This semester for my final assignment I examine the social application and the sustainability effects of my project CommonWaste, a social recycling network. For CommonWaste’s I looked into social environment expectations, technical function and operation, and other applications for the project. Because people don't see the effect of recycling quickly enough to understand its importance, showing them the effect through a virtual representation of the real world will create a new incentive.
 |
| The tools! |
This project came from an idea that I presented in class at the beginning of the Fall 2012 semester. The assignment was to take something physical and mash it with something digital. I took the idea of recycling and transferring the effect to a social network. You affect the CommonWaste network through your actions in the real world
 |
| Getting ready to install the sensor. |
 |
| Installing the plastic flap. |
 |
| The finished install. |
 |
| The sensor! |
The general idea for the mash up assignment was to create a social environment where your recycling made an impact in a digital world that mirrored your own. Coming from rural New Mexico, the positive effects of recycling were seen almost on a daily base. In the coffee shop I worked at we used eco-friendly cups, plates, etc., and most, if not all, of our customers recycled the cups or used them again later or the next day. Being here in New York, I see recycling signs and bins everywhere, but I don’t see the effect so much. I still see trash everywhere. I wanted to try and use the tenants in our apartment building as a part of a social experiment—since I presented this assignment to my class I have changed the location of the project to D12 (Parsons), the graduate student lab —to see if they would be more excited about recycling their trash than getting a tweet. Or, if they saw how much their recycling effected a social environment, would it make them more interested in their own? This is still a vague concept, and my thoughts are all over the place, but the bottom line would be to create a recycle bin, then showcasing (in a digital format or social network) how the person recycling affects their digital world (and by extension, how it could affect the real world). Installing the bin in the physical environment would help keep community accountable and in return keep D12 clean.
To create CommonWaste I hatched out several options and methods. I researched local and national waste management programs that dealt with the community and utilize social media, and added them to support my project’s concept. The following are the steps I took:
- Visualizing the virtual environment (Figure 6.);
- Surveying the importance of recycling and whether or not adding a social element would make a difference;
- Prototyping a functional sensor switch (Figure 7.) that would demonstrate how the action of recycling would affect the virtual world.
 |
| Installing the sensor and breadboard. |
 |
| The bin! |
 |
Wiring!
|
 |
| Lighting up the LEDs. |
CommonWaste became more of a project in development. It seems that there is a need for a new type of recycling method and this might be the birth of one. For the future continuation of this project, I would like to create different bins to add to the system where the items you recycle have a related effect. For example, recycling paper and cardboard would affect trees and plants. Recycling glass would develop solar panels on the virtual windows. And compost and recycled electronic parts would have an effected place in the digital world. The social world would be shared as you are more active with others and the more your environment changes. A type of trophy system would be developed to show your growth as a real life recycler. In the end, my hope is simply that this project would have a positive effect on the environment.
 |
| Presenting the CommonWaste! |
This project needs more development and thought, but it's getting there. I believe it might have a future somewhere down the road. Thank you for a great first semester and all the helpful feedback.
Happy Holidays!
