What are the problems
Each year, millions of tons of municipal solid waste are transported. About Forty-five percent of this waste ends up in landfills. Which means as more trash accumulates, we need to find more earth space to fill in. This creates an environmental problem as landfills produce these toxins that are eventually released and seep into the soil and groundwater. These substances are major hazards to the environment and can last for several years.
On average, restaurants produce about 100,000 pounds of trash each year, all of which ends up in landfills. Although restaurants provide compost, recycle, or trash bins as a means to reduce the amount of waste they produce, many customers either do not care to recycle or are unaware of the proper recycling process.
WHAT WE DO TO FIX THIS ISSUE
During our Uber Fellowship Program, my team and I started this project called EcoFoodie. The goal of this project is to address ongoing problems of garbage piling up in landfills and people not knowing how to properly dispose of single waste products. It was our goal to develop an intuitive web application that would help users understand how to properly dispose of single waste products at local restaurants. Images instructions are used to help provide guidance to the way in which trash should be thrown away correctly.
I helped design the app layout in the team.
My role was to design the app layout so that it is not only pleasing to the eye but also easy for users to navigate. Often, instructions in the trash bin are ignored simply because the font size makes them difficult to read or see. The entire purpose of the EcoFoodie app is to simplify recycling and ensure that the user feels confident about recycling after using the app.