UiN by Lipor – Lipor · SUGAR project 2019/20

The project · from brief to prototype

What happened, step by step.

01

Challenge

EU rules require households to sort biowaste from 2023, but Portuguese citizens are not used to it. They lack knowledge and motivation, and existing solutions are few and outdated. Lipor asked for a long-term answer.

02

What they built

UiN is an app linked to bins fitted with the team's electronics. Citizens scan an RFID tag when they throw away food waste and earn points for grocery discounts or cinema tickets. A community tab shares experiences and an info tab explains sorting rules.

03

Impact

The team aims to raise sorting rates in the first years of the new system. Lipor would partner with local businesses to offer the rewards, which also supports those businesses.

Full project text

The team’s original texts from the project page.

By 2023, every household should separate food waste. In Portugal, the new system might be especially challenging to implement, as citizens are not used to sorting biowaste. Our team has developed a mobile application that aims to encourage and incentivize citizens to start sorting food waste and thus, make the implementation of the new sorting system more successful. The app consists of three main elements: the community tab for sharing experiences, rewards, and general information about biowaste.

Challenge

Portuguese citizens are not ready for the European Union regulation that requires the sorting of biowaste from the year 2023. They lack knowledge in sorting biowaste and its impact. They lack motivation. And the current solutions are only a few and outdated.
The challenge is to design a product that broadens the knowledge of Porto citizens about sorting rules, waste prevention and with gained skills improves food waste collection.
Also, ideally, it has to be a long-term solution, most helpful in the first years of implementing the biowaste separation system.

Solution

Our team aims to help our sponsor Lipor by proposing a solution in form of a mobile application called “UiN” that allows the users to collect and afterward exchange points from throwing away biowaste. To do so, citizens would get special tags to be used in biowaste bins equipped with our electronics. The application itself consists of a community tab for exchanging experiences, a rewards section, in which discounts in grocery stores and movie tickets can be selected, and an info tab to learn about food waste sorting do’s and don’ts.

Impact

Our key proposition is to suggest a new way of sorting waste, trying to incentivize reduction and prevention of food waste, zero waste lifestyle, and though all these components create a positive environmental impact. The solution aims to increase the overall sorting percentage when compared to regular means of sorting within the first few years after the new sorting system is implemented. To offer rewards, Lipor would partner with local businesses which would positively stimulate their growth.

Video