Household Plastic Recycling: Empirical Insights and Design Explorations

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Colley, Ashley, Kirjavainen, Emma, Tapio, Sari, Häkkilä, Jonna
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Colley, Ashley
Kirjavainen, Emma
Tapio, Sari
Häkkilä, Jonna
author_facet Colley, Ashley
Kirjavainen, Emma
Tapio, Sari
Häkkilä, Jonna
contents This article examines household plastic recycling in Finland through two qualitative studies and four design concepts. Study 1 reports short interviews with residents about how they store, sort, and dispose of plastic packaging in their homes. The findings highlight recurring frictions: limited space, improvised storage, uncertainty about correct sorting, and difficulties with bulky or dirty items. Study 2 focuses on laundry detergent packaging as a common source of large plastic containers. Participants' purchase decisions prioritised price and cleaning performance, while expressing concern for environmental impact and confusion about materials, rinsing, and recyclability. Building on these insights, four student groups designed interactive recycling concepts that combine physical bins or bags with mobile applications. The concepts explore modular storage, sensing and compaction, playful feedback, and reward schemes to support domestic recycling routines. Together, the studies and concepts point to design opportunities at the intersection of packaging, home infrastructure, and digital services, while also raising questions about feasibility, privacy, and the cost of new devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_18889
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Household Plastic Recycling: Empirical Insights and Design Explorations
Colley, Ashley
Kirjavainen, Emma
Tapio, Sari
Häkkilä, Jonna
Human-Computer Interaction
This article examines household plastic recycling in Finland through two qualitative studies and four design concepts. Study 1 reports short interviews with residents about how they store, sort, and dispose of plastic packaging in their homes. The findings highlight recurring frictions: limited space, improvised storage, uncertainty about correct sorting, and difficulties with bulky or dirty items. Study 2 focuses on laundry detergent packaging as a common source of large plastic containers. Participants' purchase decisions prioritised price and cleaning performance, while expressing concern for environmental impact and confusion about materials, rinsing, and recyclability. Building on these insights, four student groups designed interactive recycling concepts that combine physical bins or bags with mobile applications. The concepts explore modular storage, sensing and compaction, playful feedback, and reward schemes to support domestic recycling routines. Together, the studies and concepts point to design opportunities at the intersection of packaging, home infrastructure, and digital services, while also raising questions about feasibility, privacy, and the cost of new devices.
title Household Plastic Recycling: Empirical Insights and Design Explorations
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.18889