Waste reduction at Folkemødet
Problem – what challenge are you are addressing?
The “use and throw away” material are responsible for a big amount of the produced waste at Folkemødet and within this, one of the biggest problem is caused by flyers. Flyers are a complex artifact that is used differently by stall owners and guests. Stall owners use flyers a promotion element and a conversation starter whereas it was found that the majority of guests visiting a fair does not use flyers but instead throw them out. The journey of a flyer is long and a lot of paradoxes has been found:
Target group – your targeted users and/or customers?
The concept is targeting Folkemødet. Folkemødet needs to take the initiative an implement the concept. Once that has been done the main targeted user will be the stall owerns since the concept changes their appearence at a fair. The solution is trying to redesign the interaction between stall owners and guests in such a way that stall owners does not need to use flyers. This also helps the festival organizers to have a cleaner, more sustainable environment.
Solution
The scope of the project given by the client was to focus on reducing the amount of waste with particular focus on “use and throw away” material. Another area of investigation looked at how to guide people to engage in a more sustainable way and possibly change the current behaviour. Within the topic of waste reduction the focus was on how to minimize the amount of printed flyers by redesigning the interaction between stall owners and guests at Folkemødet. It was necessary to combine different elements to be able to successfully support the functions of flyers (interaction, information and promotion). Therefore, three elements were designed (Speed Debating, Redesign of the current Folkemødet app, Flyer free sticker), which are supporting each other to create a more sustainable experience for all the festival participants.
Value propositions – what makes your concept unique?
The concept is unique since it is trying to change the behavior of the interaction at a fair. It can be challenging to change peoples mindset about how to interact when they are used to do it in a specific way. The paradoxes found makes the concept interesting since it is a matter of chaning peoples mindset although mainting high value of communication. The thinking principle applied for this concept relates to behavior patterns. Routines are hard to change and it will take time for people to appapt/acknowledge the value of their change in behavior.
Financials – what is your business model?
The implementation of the concept would occur in multiple steps. First, a redesign of the current app would take place. The impact of the app is high since it contains all elements of the concept guiding guests towards the speed debating area. Furthermore, it creates awareness about the “Flyer free” campaign. The app is important since it contains the digital versions of the flyers instead of having them physically.
Secondly, the sticker will be introduced. The sticker makes sure that a stall does not appear unprofessional. It creates awareness about paper waste and aspire guests to reflect on sustainability.
Third, the speed debating will connect the elements of the concept. The speed debating is not to replace with what a physical flyers stands for although it aspire to an open debate and discussions.
Impact
Changing people mindset about almost anything can be challenging. Hopefully, the concept will inspire both stall owners and guests to think about how to become more sustainable. The interaction between stall owners and guests will remain the same or maybe even increase. As of now it is not possible to interact up front with stall owners. Folkemødet has a lot of events where speaches and discussions on stages take place not allowing the guests to ask questions or participate in the debate. Speed debating will give the guests an opportunity to speak/discuss topics up front with the stall owners or politicans.
Attending Folkemødet
Right now we are attending Folkemødet in order to pitch and spread our idea amongst politicians and organisations. This has provided us with knowledgeable feedback and inputs. Thursday we set up our prototypes at “Verdensmålenes Plads” where we had the great opportunity to talk with different relevant stakeholders – both organisers and guests. We also found some other events using the speed dating principle which helped to realise the strengths and weaknesses of the Speed Debating element of our concept.
Here you can enjoy some of the pictures that where taken during the testing (pictures: Christoffer Bendtsen)
Links to more info
- https://marvelapp.com/5edjhg3
Team – name, background, contact details of team
We are six design engineer students from the study line Design and Innovation at DTU.
Veronika Zsuzsanna Bankó, s182903@student.dtu.dk
Caroline Benedicte Kragh, s153458@student.dtu.dk
Marie Holm Larsen, s141017@student.dtu.dk
Dorottya Fruzsina Párdányi, s181305@student.dtu.dk
Astrid Kofod Trudslev, s153040@student.dtu.dk
Kaiyue Xu, s171986@student.dtu.dk