Make Making Sustainable: Exploring Sustainability Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities in Making Activities

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yan, Zeyu, Dhaygude, Mrunal, Peng, Huaishu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866917928670068736
author Yan, Zeyu
Dhaygude, Mrunal
Peng, Huaishu
author_facet Yan, Zeyu
Dhaygude, Mrunal
Peng, Huaishu
contents The recent democratization of personal fabrication has significantly advanced the maker movement and reshaped applied research in HCI and beyond. However, this growth has also raised increasing sustainability concerns, as material waste is an inevitable byproduct of making and rapid prototyping. In this work, we examine the sustainability landscape within the modern maker community, focusing on grassroots makerspaces and maker-oriented research labs through in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders involved in making and managing making-related activities. Our findings highlight four key themes: the various types of "waste" generated through the making process, the strategies (or lack thereof) for managing this waste, the motivations driving (un)sustainable practices, and the challenges faced. We synthesize these insights into design considerations and takeaways for technical HCI researchers and the broader community, focusing on future tools, infrastructures, and educational approaches to foster sustainable making.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_13254
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Make Making Sustainable: Exploring Sustainability Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities in Making Activities
Yan, Zeyu
Dhaygude, Mrunal
Peng, Huaishu
Computers and Society
Human-Computer Interaction
The recent democratization of personal fabrication has significantly advanced the maker movement and reshaped applied research in HCI and beyond. However, this growth has also raised increasing sustainability concerns, as material waste is an inevitable byproduct of making and rapid prototyping. In this work, we examine the sustainability landscape within the modern maker community, focusing on grassroots makerspaces and maker-oriented research labs through in-depth interviews with diverse stakeholders involved in making and managing making-related activities. Our findings highlight four key themes: the various types of "waste" generated through the making process, the strategies (or lack thereof) for managing this waste, the motivations driving (un)sustainable practices, and the challenges faced. We synthesize these insights into design considerations and takeaways for technical HCI researchers and the broader community, focusing on future tools, infrastructures, and educational approaches to foster sustainable making.
title Make Making Sustainable: Exploring Sustainability Practices, Challenges, and Opportunities in Making Activities
topic Computers and Society
Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.13254