Garbage 31

About. Garbage 31 features best circular economy solutions for every piece of trash in a visually interactive and beautiful manner. Just type a word in the circle or drag 3D item from the pile and have all the information at your fingertips within seconds, ready to be applied in everyday life.

Who can use it. Anyone, who at least once found themselves standing in front of the trash bin with a beverage carton or other piece of trash, wondering if it can be recycled, will find use of the website. Garbage 31 also aims to become a virtual place for all types of organisations to share best practices. It may be used for educational purposes by teachers or by municipalities to communicate their recycling and other circular economy policies. The tool was initially developed for Lviv, Ukraine, but other cities start to join.

Materials. All major material types are covered (plastic, paper, organics, metal, glass etc.) as well as 600+ sub-types of materials and items. So far, 40+ items on the website may be sorted (inc. plastic bag, beverage cartoon, pizza box, diaper, bra, CD, tire and others), many new ones  still to come.

Example of a user experience. All you see is a pile of trash and a circle in the centre. A hand invites you to try playing with 3D trash items laying around, but as the blinking circle in the centre draws you attention and the item gets there – magic happens. You find out all the essential information about item’s properties and possible hazards, an icon on the top shows if it may be recycled or composted, while recycling code nearby suggests the type of material you deal with. As you click once again – a side panel comes up, showing concise, yet clear information on how to sort the item, a picture with examples on storing it at home as well as a map with closest recycling locations. Further comes some more information on few best recycling, prolonging life and repair practices, as well as clear suggestions, experiences and links on going zero waste in regards to this particular item. Short use time, recycling and other statistics gives better impression about type of item you are dealing with. You click again – the item gets recycled, and your are 5% done, but that’s just the beginning of the story :).

Scaling up. Every week new items are published, information is shared via Garbage 31. There are 200+ new objects planned for this year and covering the whole Ukraine with the map. Also municipalities, responsible business and other organisations from any part of the world are very welcome to suggest ideas for cooperation, also there are opportunities to support the development of the platform and get featured. Many new features, interaction opportunities, improved visual part, optimization, user involvement, mobile app and many surprises are still to come.