E cycle report

Give e-waste. Get rewarded

Faculty guide: Ms. Jhumkee Iyengar

Team: Kalpana FundePranay BansalSwapnil GhodkeTej Kalianda

E-CYCLE

Index

Introduction

Background

Rationale and Significance

Methodology

Design Evolution

Final Design

Visual Design and Branding Explorations

Conclusion and Next Steps

References

Appendix

Introduction

E-cycle is a service that facilitates collection of e-waste from individuals and takes it to a responsible recycler.

E-cycle collects e-waste from the homes of customers who want to dispose off their e-waste and sends this e-waste to recycling agencies. In return, the customers get rewarded for giving away their e-waste. E-cycle is not a stand-alone service but it is based on a public-private partnership model where is partners with public bodies such as the local municipalities and public utilities.

Facilitates movement of e-waste from consumers (customers of e-cycle) to recyclers

What is e-cycle?

Recycler

Consumer

Consumer

Consumer

E-Waste for short - or Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) - is the term used to describe old, end-of-life or discarded appliances using electricity. It includes computers, consumer electronics, fridges etc which have been disposed of by their original users.

Many old electronic goods gather dust in storage due to the uncertainty on how to manage these products. While in storage they are waiting to be reused, recycled or thrown away. When thrown away, they end up in landfills or incinerators or in some cases are even dumped in Asian countries.

E-waste is now the fastest growing component of the municipal solid waste stream because people are upgrading their mobile phones, computers, televisions, audio equipment and printers more frequently than ever before. Mobile phones and computers are causing the biggest problem because they are replaced most often.

Background

The amount of electronic products discarded globally has skyrocketed recently, with 20-50 million tons generated every year. If such a huge figure is hard to imagine, think of it like this - if the estimated amount of e-waste generated every year would be put into containers on a train it would go once around the world!

What is e-waste?

Where does e-waste go?

- Greenpeace

In India, most of the e-waste is generated in metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore etc.Most of the waste ends up with the traditional unorganised sector -- waste pickers, local raddiwallas and kabadiwallas.

E-waste, if not properly managed can be extremely hazardous to our health and environment.

In India, almost all of the e-waste goes straight into landfills since the concept of segregation at source is almost absent. In the wake of this situation we found the need to intervene for a better e-waste management system.

Land filling is one of the most widely used methods of e-waste disposal. When the landfills leach, the leachate often contains heavy metals and other toxic substances that are found in e-waste. These toxic materials can contaminate ground and water resources.E-waste account for almost 40% of lead in landfills.


Why should you worry about e-waste?

E-WASTE in LANDFILLS

Lead, cadmium, mercury, beryllium and flame retardants are just some of the toxic materials that contaminate the environment. That’s everything from computers to televisions to printers to cell phones.Researchers found that electronic waste can cause inflammation and oxidative stress, which are conditions that can later lead to cardiovascular disease, DNA damage and cancer.

E-WASTE and HEALTH

Throwing away metal components like copper, gold, silver and palladium leads to needless mining for new materials.

E-WASTE and the NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

In the backdrop of resurgent growth of the Indian economy and greater reliance on electronic hardware for household, industrial and office automation, commitment to eco-responsibility was seen as a sine qua non for the society, economy and the environment.

There was unanimity that electronic waste containing substances like lead, cadmium, mercury, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) has immense potential to cause enormous harm to human health and environment, if not disposed properly since the extant prescriptions for its disposal and safeguard were inadequate. Thus, the imperative need for early formulation of a holistic E-waste legislation which will eventually lead to enabling policy.

Conscious of the prevalent uncertainties regarding “when, where, and how” to dispose hazardous, harmful E-waste, the role of informal sector in the process it emphasized on the necessity of introducing a comprehensive framework early

E-Waste Policy for India


Based on our understanding of the subject we identified 4 segments of actors in the e-waste chain. These four types would be referred to as our user-types.

They are:

Owners Owners of old or unused electronic products.

Scrap Dealers Scrap Dealers are those who collect the scrap locally. Better known as kabbadiwalas in the local context. Collection AgenciesThese are the bodies to whom the e-waste will be sent to by the scrap dealers in some cases directly by owners.

RecyclersThese are those who recycle and reuse the received e-waste primarily from collection agencies and scrap dealers and also from owners.

Methodology

User Types

From these 4 segments of people we can classify primary, secondary and tertiary actors.Primary: Owners and scrap dealersSecondary: Collection agencies Tertiary: Recyclers

Owners

PRIMARY SECONDARY TERTIARY

Scrap Dealers Collection agencies Recyclers

The next step we followed was conduct informal user interviews with the users we identified who fell under these 4 categories.

We prepared a questionnaire and recorded each of their conversations/ feedback.

Methodology

1. What are the gadgets you use?

2. How often do you buy?

3. How do you prefer to buy your new ones?

4. Do you look for exchange offers?

5. Do you buy second-hand gadgets as well?

6. How long do you generally use a product?

7. Which is the product that you’ve been using for the longest time? How long?

8. What makes you buy a new product?

9. What happens to the old ones? How do you handle the old products?

10. Do you know what is e-waste?

11. What is your understanding of e-waste?

12. Are you aware of government and other e-waste collection agencies?

13. Have you encountered public e-waste collection spaces?

14. If you were to donate your e-waste, what would motivate you to do so?

14b. Are you expecting in return for your electronic product?

15. Have you disposed of e-waste in your domestic garbage bin?

16. What do you think happens to your e-waste once you throw it?

17. What kind items do you put in your bin?

18. Are you aware the hazards caused by e-waste?

19. What is your preferred mode of shopping?

20. What is it that you buy or do not buy online? Why?

Methodology

Personas

Tech-savvy

I have so much stuff lying at home, I wish I knew whom to give it to or what to do with it

I don't buy a lot of gadgets but when I buy a new product it is because I find a newer product that does 'cooler' stuff than my existing gadget. It's rarely because the old one has become defunct. So all these old stuff lie around the place and I feel terrible about it. I feel terrible because it's lying around uselessly an I think about the environmental hazards it causes. It's just there, just occupying space.

I have recycled them, given them away in exchange drives where I just get a tiny fraction of what I paid for it but it doesn't make me feel bad since it would just be a piece of junk otherwise. I have come across a couple of donation drives and I have dropped my mobile phone into the recep-tacles. I have never come across them much, I've heard about it from my friends though but the logistics involved with shipping the product just deters me from doing it.

I wouldn't call it waste, it's just something that is useless to me.

Not always I buy the products, they come free with other products. If I find someone to give it to I give it away but most free products are of inferior quality or design so I can't give it away.

It just sits. I'm waiting for a systematic way to get rid of it. It has to be online, that is the easiest.

28Age Location

Occupation

Description

Gadgets used

Bangalore

Education professional

Works on a computer all day

Laptop, desktop, mobile phone, camera, ipod

Methodology

Personas

I am very emotional to my things I will not give them away on any cost or I don't know if I might give .

Due to my role and nature of the job I have a lot of electronic items which are brand new, but I'm a prime user of offers and discounts. I do not buy second hand products because there is a doubt in quality. If the product is fine why anybody would will sell it, I don't want to risk it. I believe in the maximum utilisation of the product but

Still I prefer not to sell it, also monetary incentives are not something I am looking at.

I use online mode of purchasing products as well. I am aware of the concept of e-waste any elec-tronic item not been used is e-waste however I am not aware or know how to dispose the e-waste, if there is any I will think of using but at this professional level although I never tried finding one because

I do not want to donate anything due to the emotional attachment.

I used to own a TV but not the conventional one. I own a TV tuner card which was far cheaper than a normal TV and has more dual utilisation of desktop and computer but I am a staunch believer of saving everything I owned. I bought my first fridge because the offer said I would get a free toaster but due to shortage he couldn’t get one however in exchange I got a 5.1 speaker system.

Tech-savvy27Age Location

Occupation

Description

Gadgets used

Bangalore

IT head, Educational Institute

Deals with a lot of technology gadgets, hardware

2 Laptops, many desktops, 2 mobile phones, 2 cameras

Methodology

Talking to a collection agency

We find it very difficult to reach to the consumers who want to dispose off their e-waste and also awareness amongst the consumers is a huge challenge.

- GreenPsycle (name changed on request) is a collection agency that operates predominantly in South Bangalore. They collect e-waste from individuals and segregate them before sending it to the recyclers.

- They set up collection receptacles in multi-storied apartments where people can drop off their e-waste. These receptacles are emptied every fortnight.

- Awareness about our receptacles spreads by word-of-mouth. Sometimes they conduct these collection drives in public places such as malls and parks.

- They find that consumers are not completely sure about their authenticity and are hence hesitant to give away larger electronic wastes. Batteries constitute majority of the collected items.

- Maintain the infrastructure and logistics poses a serious challenge. The collection receptacles needs to be guarded by a watchman to safeguard against theft. Collecting and transporting the waste is expensive and there is no significant monetary gain in collecting items such as batteries and wires.

Methodology

- Awareness among corporates is high but something really needs to be done at the individual level. Corporates just want to get the junk away, they don’t look for incentives. Issues related to the cleaning of the data from gadgets (laptops) among big corporates.

- Much more robust practices and proper guidelines for recycling of e-waste exists in the US and the EU. But in the India it is largely an unorganised market. A lot of smaller vendors are involved and they have a lack of basic knowledge. Need for professional players. - Huge potential for the market to expand at high rate. A more efficient way of collecting the waste is required.

- People are not aware of the health hazards of the e-waste, neither are they willing to recycle it.- Dirty down-the-line with locals engaging in the business of recycling or more precisely re-selling the waste. People involved in the reselling and recycling in India generally do not understand the gravity of the situation and their attitude is not encouraging for someone like us.- The recyclers sell the components or the e-waste to the component manufacturers.

- Once it reaches the recyclers segregation of the metal does not happen completely. A lot of the waste goes unaccounted for, no one knows its end life. - Segregation and collection of e-waste is a very labour-intensive process.

- Refurbishers use the extracted metals from the recyclers and make useful products of high value.

SME interview guide/questionnaire, what we asked:1. His understanding on E –waste 2. Expectation from the business plan he carries/possesses3. His target users/ market he is looking to tap4. How is his journey so far on the Subject5. Overall ground reality vs. the business plan

Talking to a subject matter expert

Methodology

At present there is nothing in place to cater to the problem of E- waste and there are very few options an individual has.

- He can either throw away the e-waste in the dustbin or sell it to the local scrap dealer at throw away prices. The problem is that in both the situations the hazardous E- waste is not reaching on the desired destination to an authorised recycler without any accountability.

- There are high chances of this E – waste being dumped in the landfills without proper segregation. Moreover there is a lack of a proper administration to look after the whole process from collection to disposal of E-waste.

- Another aspect is that there is a poor awareness among people regarding the entire concept of E- waste and its adverse affect on health of humans and environment.

Current situation

A web portal through which consumers can send in their e-waste to responsible collection agencies.In turn consumers get rewarded for the products they send in.

Design Evolution

- Customer lands on portal (E-cycle) and registers- Selects products from a list- Selects the collection agency he wishes to give them to.- Selects reward coupons in exchange for e-waste.- Collection agent goes to customer's house to pickup e-waste- Inspector at facility approves the items and then the customer can redeem his reward coupons.

Initial concept

Too much text

Recognize these names

What if I want to add more?

This is what I was looking for

I’m done, this looks fine but what is this ‘mode of shipping’

Mode of shipping should be called something else – as it soundsI am buying

Why should I go and drop stuff

Coupon section wasn’t very clear - how and what to do

“approved” I am donating something, why I need an approval

- Partnering with recognized names builds trust and credibility in our service. - ‘Mode of shipping’ sounds like an e-commerce site and gives the idea that one is in fact buying something. - Asking the user to go and drop off their articles at once was a turn off for the user who until now thought it was a simple online-only process.- Coupon selection was not very clear.- Approving their products made the user feels cheated when in fact he was donating something

Rather than directly jumping to a portal and adding another portal to the already existing several portals and finding a solution to the high investment of infrastructure and manpower we looked at ways of integrating with existing successful systems.

Methodology

Findings from the User Test

Advantages- Can be accessed very easily from anytime and from anywhere. - Consumers get information on the entire flow.

Disadvantages:- High investment in manpower and logistics - Network of collection agencies - Inspect personnel - Logistics involved in collecting and shipping - Monitoring “reward coupons”- Large network of communication to be maintained

Heuristic evaluation of our concept - The portal

Final Design

Looking at the idea of integrating with currently working and successful systems and to make it more efficient, we looked on the municipal services provided by the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike).

Firstly, we started with the analysis of the service flow (municipal) during regular garbage collection in the city. BBMP has divided their areas into several nodes (divisions) and each node further has been divided into layouts which are small pockets of housing localities.

Secondly, we understand how the collection is done, we understood this directly by the person who performs it “Nanjappa”. His daily routine starts at 5: m and he goes to his assigned locality of BEL layout, collects all the garbage and dumps it into the bigger vehicle which then goes to the landfill. This activity he stops by 11 am.

Thirdly, we looked into the aspect of how people “deposit” their electricity and other utility bills, this gave us the idea of what is the percentage of direct and indirect users of internet; this is to justify that we reach to the masses.

The revised idea was to evolve a design which is not stand-alone portal but a service that could be narrated through multiple platforms.

Revised concept

Integrating with existing systems

Final design

System overview

By looking at the above scenario our focus moved from making only a portal to offering a service.

- This service would cater to customers who contribute e-waste, by rewarding them through discounts on their electricity bills.

- Getting municipal services like BangaloreOne which facilitates services like bill depositing (electricity, phone etc.) for government and private sector, this particular service taps audiences who are not very well oriented with the internet and they form a large part of our consumer segment.

- The second consumer segment who were internet-savvy and up to some extent are aware of about the problem of e-waste.

The provision of rewards was kept in order to create the aspect of “getting something in return”, involvement of BBMP was done to generate trust and accountability among contributors, a private player (a vendor) to perform the core ground work of collecting the e-waste.

Awareness campaignsTo have a higher participation of the amongst the consumers.

Motivating the consumerEncourage the consumer to facilitate the process of reuse, treatment and recovery through adequate collection and recycling infrastructure.

Facilitating collectionEasier process for consumers to give away their e-waste from their homes.

E - cycle

System diagram

Give E-waste, get rewarded

Customer sends request to E -cycle through bangaloreOne or www.e-cycle.com

E- cycle comes to collect E -waste

E - cycle gives customer a discount on his BESCOM electricity bill

Products are takenfor recycling to a recycler

1 2 3 4

www.e-cycle.com

Request goes to

BBMP + E - cycle (vendor)E- cycle sends a trained collection agent at customers house

Agent inspects the articles and issues a discount accordingly From here the waste

goes to the authorised recycler

E - cycle takes the waste to BBMP waste segregation facility

1

2Back end process

An overview of the system and its flow, explaining the course of E - waste from consumer to recycler the model works on Public Private Partnership model (PPP)

Off%

Revenue flow*Subjected to change

Money/Volume$

Volume of e waste decides the net profit generated by various players

in the system, a supply chain ofvarious e waste providers

The recycler

The recycler relies on the collection vendors for the raw material to produce products out of E -waste or for reselling them to component maker, gives a defined amount to vendor as raw material cost

The VendorProvides the raw material to recycler his share of profit comes from there

The providersThe generators of E- waste -households, BBMP rewards them with discount deals on electricity bill with the E waste they provide

The ADMINIts money comes from the amount of E - waste it provides to the the vendor and infrastructure for waste segregation, it identifies the high potential areas from where it can get E-waste,taps the local scrap dealers for bulk making them part of the system

BBMP

Starting point

Shows raw material inflow

Money flow

Money flow

Final design

Revised portal design

Customer lands on portal (E-cycle)- Registers with E-cycle- Selects items he wishes to give away- Selects convenient date for pickup- Requests for a free door pickup- E-cycle goes to the customers house, collects the items on the specified date and suitably rewards him.

Based on our analysis and understanding of the various services running in the city the final design was created, this was done on how a customer will raise a request and how he will be responded on the request in direct (customers who are internet savvy) and indirect ways (those who use BangaloreOne as the means to connect online).

Second level was the paper prototype followed by usability testing and wireframes along with system diagram (overview) and a first level business model.

Scenario of usageRiya is very fond of new gadgets and buys as and when the new product launches. But then she wants to give away her old electronic stuff. So after searching she lands up on the web portal where she gets to know more information about the e-waste like:

- Why should we do this? - What benefits can she get? - How easily old stuff can be given?

There will be online schedules available from which she chooses her appropriate time and on the specified time a trained executive will take the e-waste, based on the condition of the e-waste the executive offers her specific discount in her BESCOM electricity bill.

Paper prototypes

Final design

Post creating the design and wireframes we undertook a detailed usability testing of the paper prototypes by keeping a script in mind. The testing provided us insights which helped us to make changes in our design. The following pages have a detailed out description of the usability tests.

Screen-based wireframes

Final design

Keeping in mind the feedback we got in our user-testing of the paper prototypes, we designed black and white digital wireframes and made a quick prototype of the screens.

The following pages show screen shots of the portal.

Final design

Final design

Final design

Final design

Final design

Final design

Final design

Final design

Final design

Awareness campaignsAwareness is the most integral and crucial aspect for a successful E waste campaign irrespective of its platform. The awareness campaign was created for the promotion of the service that we were offering and what impact it can bring to the society, Based on consumer segments there were two modes to this awareness campaign; online and offline (print and outdoor advertising).

- The offline (print) ads were copy based approach showcasing a sense of what we are doing to nature, these ads were designed keeping the focus on VOLVO city buses utilising their door panels the second part of this was the indoor ads placed strategically inside the buses for maximum attention, similar treatment is been done to the online media where it narrates the story of a girl through a character.

- The online media can be applied to websites, E waste portal.

Scenario of usageVinod is a data accountant and owns few unused electronic items at his disposal, he wants to give away all the waste but does not know how to do that online, he is a regular user of BangaloreOne outlets which is a municipal service for paying his various bills. Due to the familiarity with the system at the Bangalore one he wishes if something can be done through this existing service.

Act on Save it

“ But this created

billions of us ”

}}www.e-cycle.comGive E-waste, get rewarded

“ Us can create

billions of these ”

Act on Save it

“ Forever we created

distance from it ”

“ This erased distances

amongst us forever ”


Act on Save it

“ Us were secured by

it for centuries ”


“ For years it secures

moments for us ”


Act on

Save it

e-cycleGive E-waste, get rewarded

What you get with this:

With E-cycle it’s simple to get rid of your old or unused electronic products.

* Register with E-cycle

You can register with us using your BESCOM account number and your e-mail address.

* Request for a free door pickup.

Tell us what electronic items you want us to pickup and when and we’ll collect it from your house for free.

* Get rewarded !

Get upto 30% o� on your monthly BESCOM bill.

“ If we recycled 100 million

cell phones the amount of

energy saved would be

enough to power 24,000

households for one year “

Act on

Save it








* Get rewarded !


“ In electronics materials

like lead, mercury and

cadmium, are hazardous

and release dangerous

toxins into air and water

when burned or deposited

in land�lls improperly “


Act on

Save it








* Get rewarded !


“ Throwing away metal

components, like copper,

gold, silver and palladium

leads to needless mining

for new metals ”


Give e-waste. Get rewarded

E-CYCLE

Visual Design and Branding Explorations

We started off by thinking of various suitable names for our service.The name would have to reflect certain desirable qualities of our portal such as; credibility, ease, simplicity, trust, motivation, beneficial and eco-friendly.

Some names we considered:- E-Bridge- E-Connect- E-Waste connect- Greencycle- E-system- E-cology- E-cycle

We then zeroed in on E-cycle since our focus shifted to efficient recycling. Since E-Cycle rhymes with Re-cycle we chose this as our name.

For the tag line we wanted to convey the message of being rewarded and since the word ‘e-waste’ did not feature in our brand name we decided to include that in our tag line so that our users would know we are talking about recyling of e-waste.

The choice of the colour green was a unanimous one since the colour green is directly associated with the environment and nature.

Conclusion

Next steps

Conclusions and next steps

- In conclusion, integrating with recognizable and reliable bodies immediately build a sense of trust in the users. Partnering with bodies such as the BBMP and BangaloreOne streamlines and organizes our system.

- Building an awareness among people goes hand in hand with creating a successful service.

- The biggest challenge would be convincing government authorities and taking them in confidence on return on investment.

- We would like to approach BangaloreOne and public utility bodies like BBMP and propose our system.

- We would like to utilize the power of the online media to promote E-cycle and there by motivate large masses to become users of our portal. In similar fashion we would like to conduct offline awareness drives in public places, public transport etc.

References

http://neurology.healthkosh.com/http://wiki.answers.comhttp://www.greenpeace.orghttp://www.amchamindia.comhttp://phys.org/news5562.htmlhttp://www.assocham.orghttp://www.wikipedia.orghttp://www.ndtv.comhttp://www.ewaste.com.auhttp://www.step-initiative.orghttp://inece.orghttp://www.ideaconnection.comhttp://www.dosomething.orghttp://www.gazella.orghttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16568786http://www.ft.com/intl/http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/http://www.mnn.com/health/fitness-well-being/

Appendix

BBMPThe Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is the administrative body responsible for the civic and infrastructural assets of the Greater Bangalore metropolitan area.http://bbmp.gov.in/home

BESCOMBangalore Electricity Supply Companyhttp://www.bescom.co.in

BangaloreOneBangaloreOne provides the citizen with a one stop interface with government, citizen interactions with government departments all under a single umbrella.http://www.bangaloreone.gov.in/

Thank you