WASTED pilot report

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WASTED REPORT PILOT 2015

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Contents Introduction

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Project Background

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WASTED Block Design

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Plastic Reprocessing Workshops

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Assessment

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Neighborhood Activation, Rewards and Collection

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Assessment

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WASTED Education Package

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Assessment

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WASTED Summer Program

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Assessment

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Communication and Media Attention

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WASTED in the Future: Follow-up

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Introduction

WASTED is a multi-faceted initiative aiming to integrate local community members and actors in giving new value to plastic waste. Initiated by CITIES Foundation, the project’s initial pilot took place in Amsterdam Noord, running January through August 2015.

The pilot centralized around a combination of three activities: 1) localized reprocessing of plastic waste into new, useful products; 2) a community-activated recycling and reward system; and 3) an educational program for local secondary schools. In addition to these central project elements, we organized a Summer Program to further involve citizens and raise awareness. Through these activities, WASTED became a dual engine of social and material design, where the social benefits of local neighborhood activation coincided with and enforced the aim of setting new, sustainable standards for material (re)use and product design.

We started WASTED’s pilot project in Amsterdam Noord in January 2015, began collecting plastic in April and completed the pilot in August 2015. During this period, we continually tested and further developed for future growth. This report evaluates the pilot’s main outcomes and presents a brief outlook into future plans and strategies.

The pilot report addresses the WASTED project’s background, Block Design, Neighborhood Activation, Rewards and Collection, Reprocessing Workshops and Education, and Summer Program. It also spotlights our communication strategy and media attention, and finally looks to the future.

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Project Background

WASTED’s concept is based on a combination of global and local research completed by CITIES’ team.

The global research delved deeper into greater issues in waste management and plastics. One finding was that plastic as a material is not inherently problematic, but the way it is currently managed is. Plastic was actually invented as a sustainable material that could lessen dependence on materials such as ivory and wood, however it soon evolved into a symbol of overconsumption. Plastic’s impact on the environment has long been underestimated. Today it is one of the most urgent environmental issues facing our planet. Our research informed and motivated the implementation of a scalable local project in Amsterdam. We initiated WASTED in cooperation with Noorderpark Trust, Clusius College, Overtreders W and Bureau SLA.

40%

The Netherlands

WASTED’s central goals are to substantially increase the amount of plastic recycled in our focus area of Amsterdam, and in so doing, give new value to plastic waste through the project’s central elements. When we began, less than 5% of all plastic waste in the area was collected separately from regular waste.

With over 250 local residents and approximately 40 businesses participating in the pilot, WASTED did help reduce this percentage locally.

We focused on an area where plastic related problems are most pressing in Amsterdam Noord – an area with significantly lower recycling rates compared to other parts of Amsterdam, as well as a relatively poor and low-educated population. Before officially launching in January, we conducted local neighborhood research in Noord, which produced the following results:

20%

Amsterdam 30%

Area of concern

Amsterdam 16%

12% 20% 8% 10%

0%

Percentage of minimum income households

The Netherlands

4%

0%

Unemployment rate

Amsterdam Noord

3

20%

Amsterdam - City

Amsterdam Noord

Amsterdam Noord 16% Amsterdam

High education level

12%

Medium education level Low education level

8% The Netherlands 4%

0%

0%

Percentage of elderly people

10%

20%

30%

40%

Education level

Polluted filthy streets

Total amount of plastic waste

Decline of community feeling

Plastic waste collected

High levels of criminality

448.850 kg plastic waste per year is not collected or recycled (95.5%)

Crowded ferry Too little green Far from shops/entertainment Youths hanging around Nothing negative

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What people don’t like about their neighborhood

100 000

200 000

300 000

400 000

Plastic waste collection in area of concern

Container nearby

Containers too far away

Curbside collection service

Too much time and effort

Transparency

No facilities

Creating awareness

No use

What would make you separate plastic?

Why not separate?

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WASTED Block Design

The WASTED Block is a tangible, physical product created at our self-designed WASTED Laboratory.

Emphasizing co-creation, the Block’s design process was documented and developed into two open source documents allowing others to openly access, learn, utilize and build on our work.

Block design was our starting point in January 2015.

The project began with an intensive weeklong WASTED Design Club, where 5 select designers worked from our design brief to explore preliminary designs and experiment with materials. These initial designers were Bastiaan Tolhuijs, Roos Meerman, Alexander Wiefel, Peter van Assche and Reinder Bakker.

We based the design brief on developing a modular piece of plastic that can be combined and recombined into many different products, thus being designed to never be disposed. The proposed production method was low-tech, making it less energy intensive and easier to understand, replicate and implement in diverse locales.

The brief outlined these goals by depicting a craft-like laboratory, where products are unique and deliver a high educational value, as the laboratory would also host block-making workshops to secondary school children in our educational program. In this regard, we made clear that the design and production processes were to be user-friendly.

CITIES developed an Open Source Report based on the Design Club’s findings and design proposals. Later, we connected with Fablab Amsterdam (hosted by the Waag Society) and began working with designers Alessandro Iadarola, Stijn van Kervel and Bob Vos. Working from the drawings and computer designs created in the Design Club, these designers created actual prototypes and machines that were used in the WASTED Laboratory to make upcycled plastic blocks and host workshops. Our blueprints and process for WASTED Block-making are available in a more detailed, second Open Source Report.

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Plastic Reprocessing Workshops

In 2014, we planned for the realization of a ‘reprocessing room’ in the Plastic Pavilion, to be built in the Noorderpark by our partners Overtreders W and Bureau SLA. Due to unforeseen bureaucratic and infrastructural setbacks, the building of the Plastic Pavilion has been delayed. With minimal delay, we established a new space together with Overtreders W and Bureau SLA, where they used half the space for their own work, and in the other half we set-up our laboratory to continue the project.

Due to these circumstances, the workshops/education part of the project focused more on educational awareness and plastic culture in general, instead of establishing a ‘plastic reprocessing room’ in the Noorderpark as an active center of plastic education and innovation. Located close to the Noorderpark, we did host multiple plastic-based reprocessing workshops with the local community at the laboratory.

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Assessment Block Design and Production Process: From Crafted Blocks to Manufacturing for Increased Impact

Our assessment focuses on the experience of developing a new production technique and product.

Our initial goal was to define which type of plastic is most suitable for upcycling into modular blocks, and a process for creating products for the local community, using local plastic. In the end, we devised a process and produced small-scale, low-tech, hands-on machinery that turned local plastic waste into newfound objects by and for the community. The material selected was LDPE, most widely recognized as plastic bags and packaging. It is one of the most poorly managed plastic products worldwide, and within the WASTED community.

The availability of LDPE is beyond the reprocessing capacity of our current Lab, yet WASTED is helped both statistically and in addressing behavioral change. We also feel positively about the fact that WASTED found its own single material to work with and a unique production process. For the time being, WASTED Blocks are developed through a rather slow, user-friendly process that can be explained to secondary school children. In order to increase our impact, and meet the LDPE reprocessing potential within this and other communities, we need to rethink the block’s production process and transform it into a manufacturing technique.

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With regards to the Design of the WASTED Blocks, we are happy to have met the initial goal of contributing a tree planter to the local community. Moreover, we are happy the project led to collaboration with local curators and international design fairs to create an interactive playground, where visitors are invited to build their own structures using WASTED Blocks.

Despite our successes in social and cultural areas, we recognize that product design leaves much room for improvement, especially if we think about using the block as a building structure. Drawbacks to the block are most noticeable in its functionality as a modular piece of plastic that can be combined and recombined – it is not as simple as we intended. In addition, the production process is slow and therefore inefficient for creating a product at scale.

Overall, we are nevertheless very positive with the achieved results; for instance, regarding the selection of the material, devising a successful process, thoroughly collaborating with 8 designers, and gaining feedback from the open source community.

Our experience makes clear that in order to increase our impact within the local community, we need improve block design and the production process. This revolves around a general aim to “democratize” plastic upcycling by transitioning the production process from “craft” to “manufacturing”.

POSITIVE • Developed method for re-using LDPE plastics, representing 40% of Dutch household waste • Created low-tech machines that are easy to replicate and for anyone to use • Created 2 open source reports with blueprints, shared online • Finished plant container for the Noorderpark and new products in the making

NEGATIVE • Inefficient production process • Heavy and unpractical final product

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Neighborhood Activation, Rewards and Collection

We designed a reward system in order to help motivate the local community to recycle/participate in WASTED, and therefore better advance a behavioral change surrounding plastic products, their consumption, use, disposal and reuse (re/production).

The reward system revolves around a local currency valued by plastic waste. To participate, neighborhood residents signed-up for WASTED, either online or at the local Van der Pek market.

Upon sign-up, participants receive a start-up kit consisting of special WASTED garbage bags, personal QR-code stickers and a set of tips on how to recycle plastic in the household. With a local collection point near a neighborhood school, WASTED also runs a weekly collection service, by cargo-bike, in the target area. Participants then receive one WASTED coin for each full bag of plastic waste we scan and track on their personal account. These “WASTED Coins� can be exchanged for discounts at local businesses.

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In March, WASTED approached businesses in the target area to participate in the project/ reward system.

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05 10

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We received many positive responses, with 21 local businesses providing discounts on items for the local community in October 2015.

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12 01 ZIE VERGROTE KAART

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Aitmaten Supermarkt & Slagerij

01 Meeuwenlaan 317, 1022 AL

€1 korting op €10 boodschappen

Oedipus Brewing

14 Gedempt Hamerkanaal 85

x 01

Gratis biertje

LOPENDE AANBIEDINGEN

Al Ponte

02 Meeuwenlaan 2, 1021 HR Gratis koffie naar keuze

x 01

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Gratis koptelefoon tijdens outdoor filmavonden x 02

Beekhoven Bikes

03 Draaierweg 16, 1032 KS

50% op band plakken/montage binnenband

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Cafe de Ceuvel Korte Papaverweg 4, 1032 KB

WASTED menu Mobiel diner voor 2 met gratis flesje wijn

De Amsterdamsche Zeepfabriek 05 Pekmarkt

Gratis handgemaakt zeepje €0,50 korting op handgemaakt zeepje

Poff Daddy

x 01

2 kortingszegels

De Meeuw 07 Motorwal 300, 1021 PH Gratis kop koffie of thee

De Soepboer 08 Van der Pekstraat 93, 1031 CV

16 Pekmarkt Dolce Alchemia 09 Zamenhofstraat 150

10% korting op koffie assortiment Koffieproeverij Workshop koffiebranden Workshop koffiebranden + koffieproeverij

x 10 x 30

x 01 x 01

De Lokatie

06 Distelweg 85, 1031 HD

x 01

Outdoor Cinema @ Pllek Tt. Neveritaweg 59

x 01

Gratis niet-alcoholisch drankje bij een bestelling x 01 Tweede soep gratis x 05

x 01 x 04 x 06 x 08

Dolzon Franse specialiteiten

10 Pekmarkt

€0,50 korting op Franse droge worst

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€0,50 korting op portie poffertjes

Fashion & Tea Van der Pekstraat 40hs, 1031 EB

Gratis kop thee of koffie bij een stuk taart

IJssalon IJskoud de Beste 12 Meeuwenlaan 331, 1022 A Derde bolletje ijs gratis

Mama Noord 13 Nieuwe Leeuwarderweg 15

x 01

x 01

x 01

Gratis ontbijtje (koffie/thee, verse sap, croissant) x 04 Gratis koffie, cappuccino, koffie verkeerd of thee x 01

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Restaurant Pasoek Kamperfoelieweg 7, 1032 HD

Gratis portie loempia’s bij een hoofdgerecht

x 01

x 03

Restaurant Stork

18 Gedempt Hamerkanaal 201, 1021 KP Gratis drankje Gratis driegangen-diner

Slagerij Kaddour 19 Ooievaarsweg 12, 1021 G Gratis gehaktbal

x 01 x 10

x 01

The Coffee Virus

20 Overhoeksplein 2, 1031 KS

Gratis stuk wortelcake bij bestelling van 2 koffie x 01

Without Worries

21 Kamperfoelieweg 166, 1032 HV

€0,50 korting op €5,00 boodschappen

x 01

www.wastedlab.nl | info@wastedlab.nl

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Assessment Reward System: Increasing Plastic’s Value in Noord

The reward system is primarily an offline initiative, meaning to sign-up and participate one does not need internet, a computer or a smartphone. This was a conscious decision, since we did not want to exclude people without internet access. This did make the system more labor and material intensive. For example, the QR codes used to track participant’s bag donations were printed on stickers that lead to higher costs for special printing paper. Also, participants were not satisfied with the amount of time they needed to wait until they received their first coin – every 5 bags they would receive 5 coins, and most households only produce one bag of plastic waste per week.

As part of our follow-up, we plan to develop software that makes the reward system more scalable, while continuing to provide offline options. Our initiative has been rated 8,5 out of 10 on average by 83 out of the 250 participating households in the pilot. Local government sees potential in supporting the scaling up of the reward system, and the local municipal district is currently supporting continuation in the area of concern (10.000 households around Noorderpark).

At the moment, our collection with a Dutch cargo bike is a slow process, which needs improvement.

In an attachment, we have added the results of our impact measurement survey. This dives into the results of the reward system more deeply.

POSITIVE • Enthusiasm and high response amongst households, businesses and local organizations • Intensive cooperation with local municipal waste management • Collection, coin distribution and communication processes standardized and optimized

NEGATIVE • Too little time/resources to fully exploit potential reach among households and businesses • Significant amount of collected plastic waste was too polluted and mixed to be reprocessed with the WASTED machines

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Wasted Education Package

The creation of an education package was intended as one of our tools to raise awareness at the household level and secure the legacy of WASTED within younger generations. Following the methods of Kempton and Holland’s study from 2014 Students Uncovering Environmental Identity, we developed a three-lesson WASTED Education Package in collaboration with the secondary school Clusius College.

The first lesson focuses on the history of plastic and overconsumption, within the framework of a “plastico-holics” anonymous meeting. Lesson two consists of a crash course in plastic archaeology, teaching children about the differences between varied types of plastic through an interactive game. Finally, the third lesson consists of a plastic reprocessing workshop using WASTED machines, which also serves as a practical example of the possibilities and value of plastic waste.

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Assessment of the Wasted Education Package: Uncovering our Plastic Addiction

During the pilot, the educational package was taught to over 200 children from 4 schools, 3 of which are at the VMBO level and one at the VWO level . Lesson 1 turned out to fit the interest of the VMBO students very well, while it was slightly too easy for VWO students. In a follow-up, we intend to better adapt the package to match each level of education.

Our overall experience with the education package’s lessons was positive, and we received requests from more schools than we could handle within the project boundaries. The local Municipality and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment are working with us on a follow-up series of lessons starting in November 2015. In the context of this follow-up, we will work with a team of students from the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam, master Art Education, to provide a better overall user experience for students and non-students alike, especially during the plastic archaeology lesson. We also intend to work with the schools in changing their plastic disposal behavior within the class.

POSITIVE • 10 school classes, and over 200 children participated in education package.

• Municipality and Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment funded a new series of programs.

• Overwhelming amount of requests from secondary schools and neighborhood residents for plastic education, leading to a waiting list.

NEGATIVE • Delay on Plastic Pavilion construction.

• Relocation of the ‘reprocessing room’ to a less inspiring location.

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WASTED Summer Program

Originally, the WASTED Summer Program was planned to take place around the newly born Plastic Pavilion, however, due to the considerable construction delay, the Summer Program has been organized as follows:

During the spring of 2015, WASTED participated in many events and festivals in the neighborhood, in venues such as Tolhuistuin, Noorderpark, CafĂŠ de Ceuvel and NDSM Werf. Festivals invited WASTED to host games with plastic and give general project information.

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Our activities culminated in the first week of July, when WASTED taught workshops to 300+ children as part of the Zomer in Noord festival in the Noorderpark.

At the end of that week, on the evening of Friday the 10th of July, we held the WASTED Plastic Night at De Roze Tanker in the Noorderpark – inviting people from the neighborhood and beyond to experience the possibilities and value of plastic waste through a diverse showcase of innovative plastic projects and a family-friendly program of events.

For instance, Perpetual Plastic Project gave a 3D printing demonstration with recycled plastic filament; Plastic Whale took visitors on boat trips along the canal to fish plastic waste from the water; DUS architects showcased their 3D printed bioplastic stools; Thisisarobot hosted a plastic crochet workshop; and together with Klik! Animation Festival and Outdoor Cinema a movie program on the theme of waste was curated and screened.

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Assessment of the Wasted Summer Program: Positive Community Values, from the Neighborhood to the City

Our WASTED team managed to implement a program that represents the mission of CITIES Foundation (bringing people back into the understanding of the urban development disciple, by motivating community activation and supporting sustainable behavior).

WASTED provided a playful and interactive set of activities to re-think plastic as an everyday product that can be an engine/tool for community activation and behavioral change at the neighborhood scale.

WASTED also managed to curate the first program of plastic-related activities that connected local residents in Noord with a wider community of interest in all of Amsterdam. At the same time, we believe that a program to raise awareness about plastic disposal should have had a wider scope and reach within the city (we managed to gather around 400 visitors).

Our plan to develop a wider Festival could not be executed due to the fact that we did not have the capacity within our team, nor resources. However, as a suitable follow up, Pakhuis de Zwijger (local cultural organization focusing on the theme of circular economic development, amongst others) proposed that CITIES co-write a proposal for the development of the No WASTE Pavilion (working title) to be implemented in the FabCity Campus on Java Island from March through June 2016, in the framework of the Europe by People Program.

POSITIVE • Profiled WASTED as an umbrella organization, under which several activities that give value to plastic waste were united • Reached 1000+ neighborhood residents through varied activities • Developed a set of event activities for local events, consisting of workshops and games • Organized a successful festival on the evening of 10th of July

NEGATIVE • Achieved smaller reach than perceived potential

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Communication and Media Attention

WASTED was supported by an intensive communication strategy. As a community-focused project with goals for a wider impact, we strove for transparency with our target community and beyond. To achieve this, we shared every step of the pilot through dedicated articles on our website that were shared with our global digital network (frequent Twitter and Facebook posts), and with our organization’s newsletter subscribers. We also created a WASTED website (http://wastedlab.nl/) offering personal accounts to participants and specific project information to everyone.

We believe our communication led to greater local and global attention, proved by solicited and unsolicited articles written by outside sources, as well as emails, calls and contacts from interested parties both in the Amsterdam area and varied reaches of the world.

Here we share some of the articles featured in the media:

ONLINE • nationalgeographic.nl • fastcoexist.com • eecosphere.com • designindaba.com • lsnglobal.com • iamexpat.nl • thecreatorsproject.vice.com • roomed.nl • stedenintransitie.nl 1 • stedenintransitie.nl 2 • citinerary.net 1 • citinerary.net 2 • ilovenoord.nl • noorderpark.nl • amsterdamfm.nl

Image credit National Geographic NL/BE screen shot

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PRINT • De Volkskrant, 16 January 2015, page V5

• Vrij Nederland, issue #26, 27 June 2015, page 42-43

• Vogelbuurt Ijplein, Number 18, July 2015, page 2

• Het Parool, 26 May 2015, page 7

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• Het Parool, duurzaam section, 9 October 2015, page 8-9

• Invited for December issue: City Observer online magazine • Invited for next issue: Viewpoint Magazine

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WASTED in the Future: Follow-up

Gaining insight and further motivation from the pilot, WASTED will not stop. On the contrary, we are planning and beginning to implement its growth. The amount of responses to our project shows that both citizens and governments are increasingly recognizing the need for more comprehensive approaches to plastic waste in Europe and beyond. WASTED is one such initiative that empowers and integrates people and local authority into the solution. What seems to be a defining element of WASTED is the fact that while similar initiatives tend to focus on one aspect of plastic disposal: material re-processing, WASTED’s comprehensive approach combines physical material transformation with neighborhood activation, design, local economy, behavioral change and education. We are able to successfully bridge these perspectives by clearly dividing the project into 3 replicable, scalable and manageable products or services.

Moving forward, we are organizing a second, more robust pilot. This begins with an extended test phase running through December 2015. In 2016, we will evaluate the project after one year of operations and act on new opportunities for refinement and growth.

Notable aspects of (re)development are the Reward System, nationally expanding Education Package, and Block Research and Development. We maintain the intention of creating a scalable model that can be implemented in more cities around the world. We are also refining a business plan that supports the goal of making this circular urban project self-sustainable in today’s economy.

The WASTED Education Package will continue being taught at different schools in the Netherlands, in cooperation with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and the Municipality of Amsterdam.

Meanwhile, we are looking into the possibility of developing the package further, also catering to adults and offering team trips to businesses in the future.

The WASTED Reward System continues to operate in Amsterdam Noord, rewarding neighbors for their recycled plastic waste. Possibilities for expanding the project in other Dutch cities are currently being explored. In an effort to make the reward system accessible for the whole city of Amsterdam, strategic partnerships have been initiated with local institutions. The idea is to work on innovative alternatives for waste collection strategies and the software infrastructure supporting the scaling up of the initiative.

The WASTED Block will be developed further during a new Research and Development phase in cooperation with our new partner design agency Better Future Factory.

Attention for WASTED is not limited to the Netherlands: conversations with the UK, India, the Bahamas, Spain and Nepal are ongoing. In this context, our aim is to develop a WASTED unit that can be easily replicated, constructed and transported to different areas and contexts for implementation, enabling more people in more places to benefit from locally upcycling plastics.

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