Waste Not, Want Not

Waste Not, Want Not: Trash Toss

Environmental Stewardship & Social Justice

Project Updates

Waste Not, Want Not is still going strong this year. They have finalized the design and implementation of the mobile app and are currently working with Chris Leverenz in UCSC Resource Recovery as well as Student Sustainability Advisors from UCSC Sustainability Office to conduct waste audits across campus as part of the beta testing phase. This year, the team is updating the app to satisfy new legislation regarding plastic contamination.


We are designing and testing a mobile application to expedite data collection for waste audits. The app allows users to create profiles, input data, analyze and view prior audits to understand trends over time, by location or in relation to conspicuous events or incidents. Users input location, time, type of material, photos, and other material specific parameters.

Our goal is to create a standardized methodology for on-site waste audits. The app automatically logs information about the user ID ( ucsc.edu email login)  date/time, lat/long GPS coordinates and database-referenced container locations. Users manually add ( or select from a dropdown menu) information about the bin size, type and percentage of different refuse, compostable and recyclable materials. Distribution of this application can help to standardize how professional waste auditors and students add information about geo-located and timelogged field data and potentially eliminates the need for central campus to hire specialists to obtain reliable data while allowing for more users to contribute data resulting in more reliable post-audit analytics. Analysts can evaluate inputs by time, user, location or bin type.  As part of this effort, we are developing database management protocols. A database of Container IDs and collection site locations mapped to GPS coordinates has been created. For example, it will be important for users to understand when GPS coordinates are being logged as each set of coordinates will reference a different set of options in a drop down menu.

We are working with our UCSC partners from Resource Recovery and Sustainability Office to optimize not only the app development, but the entire waste auditing process.  This project mobilizes the UCSC  student community to collaborate with UCSC Resource Recovery staff and participate effectively in waste audits at a critical time in campus operations. It aims to ensure effective tech-transfer between app developers and users.

Archive


Background

Lack of recycling literacy is a global issue affecting the world’s population. Just in the United States, our recycling streams are dangerously contaminated with non-recyclable waste. Moreover, the main buyer of US recyclable material, China, is no longer accepting foreign recyclables. At UCSC, the story is sadly similar. Material being placed in the campus recycling bins either has not been properly cleaned or is not recyclable in the first place, leading to a contaminated recycling stream. As a result, the City of Santa Cruz Resource Recovery Facility is no longer accepting recycling waste from UCSC  and is diverting it all to the landfill. 

In order to raise awareness and clean up our recycling streams, Without A Trace, an interdisciplinary team of computer science, sustainability studies, and art students, is designing and building an interactive and educational mobile game. Their aim is a “gamified” behavior change campaign: influence detrimental consumption and disposal habits still practiced by many members of the UCSC campus community. Adopting an enigmatic “dungeon crawler” strategy set in a post-apocalyptic landscape, the development team is committed to keeping the gameplay dynamic and fun while depicting a strict allegiance to current recycling policies and standards. Adopting sentiments represented by the larger “serious gaming” movement the team expects prospective players to experience more than entertainment when they download this free mobile app. Game mechanics introduce players to concepts like “pre-cycling” as they roam through different places on the hunt to collect and stockpile discarded materials. A triage incentive, integrated into the character’s “backpack” inventory, teaches players the value of sorting materials before trading them in. The game is being assembled on a Unity platform and will be playable on IOS and Android.

Gameplay

Without A Trace is set in a dystopian future ravaged by ecological disaster. You play as one of the few remaining survivors scavenging for scrap materials to recycle into goods. The main gameplay loop revolves around drawing a line for the player’s character to follow. The player must move through each room of the level while picking up items along the way. Watch out, there are dangerous obstacles and other survivors who can end your run!

We will be rolling out Without A Trace by the end of the quarter to both the IOS App Store and Google Play Store. While anyone can download the app, we will be primarily marketing Without A Trace to the UCSC student body. We expect our players to learn how to precycle, sort, and reuse the items they consume.