Recycle Bin Object of Study The Recycle Bin on the ground floor at the RedWest cafeteria. Perceived Problem The design and placement sometimes leads to group congestion and confusion. Method of Study I spent two lunch periods observing whether people had trouble accessing and using that particular recycle bin. General Observations The location of the recycle bin along a high-traffic corridor is a bad one. Every 10 minutes, there will be a temporary congestion due to traffic and people dumping their trash. It is exacerbated every half hour when the cleaning person holds everybody up to take away the garbage. Almost the first thing a person has to do is to dump trash. Yet the Trash bin is located in the middle of the row of bins. As a result, in a group, one will head for the Trash bin while the next one automatically heads for the Polystyrene bin. Confusion results because they next have to switch places, yet there are people waiting behind them. So they simply reach over and try to dump stuff simultaneously, resulting in a tangle of extended arms. Polystyrene TrashAluminum What a generic Recycle Bin looks like Arrangement of the Bins Location of the Bins (Eating Area) High-Traffic Corridor5 ½ ft. Alfian Tan CSE 595 Lab #1 (Slide 1 of 2)

Recycle Bin (con’t) Detailed Observations (Individual) When a single person reaches the bin with no crowd present. 20% do not recycle. They simply dump everything into the trash bin. Of the rest, 50% dump something into the Polystyrene bin, then Trash, then Polystyrene again. This is probably because the Polystyrene bin is the first bin they get to. They thus dump whatever polystyrene stuff they have, then realize they need to dump the trash off their plates, then come back to dump the remaining polystyrene. The other 50% handled it smoothly: dumping stuff into the respective bins just once. 5% actually accessed the bins from the eating area, as opposed to accessing it from the corridor. Detailed Observation (Groups) When a group of people happen to converge at the bins. One will head for the Polystyrene bin, another will head for the Trash bin, then chaos ensues as they reach over and attempt to dump the other stuff into their respective bins. When this “group dance” occurs, it sometimes causes a mini traffic jam along the corridor. Only one group, out of the 30 or so I observed, waited in line until each member cleared the bins. In groups, almost everyone recycled. Perspectives Architecturally, the location of the recycle bin is quite aesthetic. Four bins are functionally sufficient for the task. However, the placement of the Trash bin eludes me. This particular bin is accessible from both the corridor and the eating area. Because of it’s sloping design, however, it really should only be accessed from the corridor. I can’t decide if this is a good thing or not. Suggestions Move it away from the high-traffic corridor. The location of the recycle bin on the second floor is ideal. Lots of space and it doesn’t interfere with traffic. Rearrange the bins so that Trash is at the end. Have two Trash bins flanking the rest. This may result in having 5 bins instead of 4. Have a small sign encouraging people to recycle. Alfian Tan CSE 595 Lab #1 (Slide 2 of 2)