Wow! This semester flew by! This is our final post as our project is coming to an end. We are very eager to tell you all about our results and sadly, to bid our farewell. In this post, we will show you two sets of our decal designs, a summary of our main findings and also the reason why we did this project. Moreover, we will discuss our moment of significance during this whole experience. Ultimately, we will tell you whether the decals made an impact on the waste diversion rate at Hillcrest Community Centre (HCC).
What?
To achieve the zero waste station challenge project, we put our designed decals on selected zero waste station bins in HCC to test their effectiveness on waste sorting behaviour of patrons. By comparing the data with and without decals, we were looking for either a positive or negative trend. We ended up making two different sets of decals, as the first set was found to be ineffective. The first set of decals included stencils and text which is similar to the placards attached to the bins (Figure 1). The second set highlights some of the most missorted item with either a check or an ‘x’ mark beside them to remind the patrons which items go in which bins (Figure 2). For data collection, we recorded the type of wastes patrons were discarding of and if they put the discarded items in the correct bins.
We faced some challenges throughout this project, most especially during the second and third observations. But, we managed to find solutions which helped us realized that providing an additional assistance like the decals, is a simple, yet a big step to encourage more people to increase waste diversity not just at HCC, but also at a larger scale. Initially, we felt less determined since most of the people were not noticing the decals. However, based on the result of our final observations, the waste diversion rate at HCC actually increased. We also noticed that most of the patrons spent some time looking at the decals and then, accurately placed their wastes in the appropriate bins. Significantly, this community-based experiential learning (CBEL) project had been so valuable for our group since it made us understand that even a small action can change a person’s habit and further inform them about the importance of waste diversity.
Figure 1. Decals with images and text
Figure 2. Decals with check and “x” mark
So What?
After carefully analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data we collected at HCC, we found that placing our simple decals on the lids of waste bins (our second design) increases the accuracy rates of waste sorting. We were excited after our third observation, when we calculated the results to find that the decals made a positive impact. Since our decals for the second observation was ineffective, we felt unsure about whether the second set would be a success. After feeling extremely frustrated during our second observation, watching most people overlook the decals we designed, we weren’t sure what to expect with our second set. But, as Shulman (2005) said, it is an obligation for us to learn from experiences whenever we encounter uncertainties. However, a certain type of organizational and personal support is needed to conduct experience-based actions (Böhle, 2016). So, we observed the patrons at HCC more carefully during the second observation, and took note of the items that were often sorted incorrectly. From this, we developed our second set of decals, which were more clear and simple, emphasizing the items that are most likely to be sorted wrong, at HCC specifically. We used these decals for the third observation and analyzed the data we gathered. Our group was overjoyed finally having achieved successful results. We felt fulfilled knowing that our project had made an impact on waste sorting at HCC . This goes to show that although we experienced some challenges during this project, we knew that we needed to trust our instincts and be prepared to accept whatever outcome that this project brought.
Now What?
The whole experience of designing decals and seeing them make a difference right before our own eyes has inspired us all and helped us develop a deeper understanding of where the Zero Waste project is leading Vancouver. Our experiences at HCC can now be used to increase waste diversion rates in other community centres across Vancouver. This would involve the method of making specific decals or signs that cater specifically to the different characteristics of different areas. Instead of adopting universal and vague decals, we’ve learned from our own observational experiences that detailed and clear signs are more effective in terms of gaining people’s’ attention and changing their waste sorting behaviors.
However, due to the limited observation time and population of our experiment at HCC, we can’t accurately make a conclusion based on the results obtained in our third observation. With that said, our work could help pave the way for upcoming student collaborators in planning their experiment and possibly thinking about what they can adopt or modify from our work to fit their approach.
Moreover, we would recommend that the City of Vancouver carry out several experiments at different locations to see if the impact on waste diversion is significant enough with decals to be fully implemented city-wide.
And that concludes our final post! We appreciate all your time and attention reading our blog. Although this project ended, we believe that more opportunities are yet to come as we continue our academic journey. We will not stop contributing and making a difference in our community and elsewhere. We would also like to thank our ingenious community partners, the City of Vancouver and CityStudio, for giving us this great opportunity to collaborate with them. Truly, the “Put Waste in its Place” project is an experience we will never forget.
References:
Böhle, F. (2016). A new orientation to deal with uncertainty. International journal of project
management, 34 (7), 1384-1392. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/science/article/pii/S0263786315001787
Shulman, L. S. (2005). Pedagogies of uncertainty. Liberal Education, 91(2), 18–25. Retrieved