Geben+Nehmen

This project was developed with the Innovation Office of the Stadt Koln. Our main stakeholders were the AWB Recycling Centers, the city of Cologne and, obviously, its citizens. This project focused on improving the recycling centres' services as well as materializing the Zero Waste Aim that the city of Cologne is aiming for, such as avoiding waste, separating recyclable materials better and promoting an overall recycling approach to everyday life. The final concept created was an open shelves system that works as a material bank so people can put the items they don't want anymore and give them a new home.

To understand better how we could approach this project and inspire us, we researched existing initiatives around the world. We analysed the waste management ecosystem by visiting the AWB Recycling Center to better understand how the material cycle occurs. Also, interviews were conducted to 14 different organizations, as well as two digital surveys to citizens. These research lead us to understand that people are lacking direct sources of information and smaller scale waste management resources that work with their daily lives.

After defining the needs of the citizens of Cologne, we put a physical test of the concept in the public space. This was very important for an initial analysis of the people's interaction with the shelving unit and conduct more interviews. With this testing, we were able to define functional requirements of this urban furniture: should occupy a small area; has to be bigger and different from the free exchange bookshelves; easily accessible from any height; should be sheltered from the rain to protect the items inside.

The citizens are the one's responsible for the exchange of items. The AWB has an important role in this project, to ensure regular maintenance and be responsible for advertising this initiative through every household in Cologne. A real-scale prototype was created of this open shelves system, with heavy duty metal mesh shelves, and acrylic sides that allow people to easily see what type of items are stored inside. We also implemented instructions on the side of the structure to inform people of the items they can or cannot put.

The prototype was tested for a year at a location near the university, and is now going to be implemented in other locations throughout Cologne.