EcoBin
Antwerp, Belgium
Douala, Cameroon
2024-2025
The EcoBin is my thesis project (2024-2025), under the supervision of Alexis Jacoby. Arno Doggen, COO of non-profit organization River Cleanup, acted as external promoter.
The project focuses on collecting and recycling plastic bottles and cups in an “impact zone” in Douala, Cameroon. It focuses on schools to encourage sustainable behavior in children.
In collaboration with schools in Douala , River Cleanup Cameroon and Belgium, problems with the existing EcoBins, the school program and logistics were identified. Through several design sprints, a concept was developed, a prototype of which was produced locally and tested at a secondary school in Cameroon. This provided insights for a scalable, sustainable and efficient final design for waste collection in schools.
The bigger problem
My research started with mapping out all the problems that contribute to inefficiencies. Before I zoomed in, the first thing that needed to be studied was the broader problem.
The situation and its bottlenecks
To understand the process and the design opportunities the situation was studied by interviewing different stakeholders. The whole process was mapped out so that problems or inefficiencies could easily be found.
Mapping possible opportunities
During my journey I defined problems and with an outcome map I was able to search for opportunities to tackle these problems. The outcome map gave me valuable insights for the concept phase in which I sketched out possible solutions. The outcome map shown on the site is a simplified version of the outcome.
Direct intentions= the intended lasting impact
Indirect intentions= Strategic impact
The main goals that help achieve the lasting impact (dark blue circle)
Activities and interventions needed to achieve the main goals
Conceptsketches
During 3 design sprints different sytemsolution where created and evaluated. Ideas where adjusted, scrapped or emphasized.
Designsprint 01
Designsprint 02
Designsprint 03
Prototyping in Cameroon
Final result
To summarize the final result a poster was made. The page below gives an oversight on the different renders that show the result.
