How a Small Design Team Turned Office Waste Sorting into a Playful, Effective System

Office Area Waste Sorting Current Situation

Since the Shanghai Municipal Waste Management Regulation took effect on July 1, 2019, the city has experienced a surge in waste‑sorting awareness, often overwhelming residents. Our 58UXD team formed a "Garbage Sorting Design Optimization" project to explore solutions for the office environment, focusing on low‑volume, easily implementable sorting.

Field investigations revealed that a seven‑floor office building generates 24 bags of waste per floor daily, totaling 168 bags for the whole building (excluding cafeteria and garage). Cleaning staff spend over half of their 7‑hour workday on waste collection, with each floor requiring three trips lasting more than an hour per trip.

Waste types are diverse, covering almost all household categories, yet sorting relies solely on cleaning staff manually separating obvious items, leaving most waste unsorted.

Stakeholder Groups and Concerns

We identified three primary stakeholders: employees, cleaning staff, and the company (represented by administration). Interviews showed that over 90% of employees are willing to sort waste but worry about unclear guidance, ineffective downstream processing, and uneven participation.

Cleaning staff lack time to sort all waste, handling only visible items like large packaging. The company recognizes that staff‑driven sorting is inefficient and seeks to empower employees to voluntarily sort waste without compromising productivity.

Service Design Solution

Based on stakeholder insights, we defined three key questions:

Q1: Which waste to collect? We focused on recyclable plastics, especially beverage bottles, due to high volume, easy storage, and straightforward processing.

Q2: What are the design principles? Clear sorting guidance, enjoyable sorting experience, and visible results to reinforce effectiveness.

Q3: What responsibilities do each stakeholder assume? Employees place cleaned bottles into the bin, cleaning staff collect and store the bins, and the company handles recycling sales and donates proceeds to charity.

Design and Production Process

Through multiple brainstorming sessions, we prototyped a yellow, single‑entry bin with a circular opening to cue users. The front features a "building‑up" game: each correct disposal drops a floor piece, awarding points based on accuracy, thus gamifying the act.

Hand‑crafted prototypes were produced, refined for aesthetics, and tested in a pilot area, collecting 50 plastic bottles in three days and receiving positive feedback from both staff and cleaners.

Company‑wide Rollout

Following the pilot’s success, the administration commissioned 14 simplified bins made from reclaimed materials, deploying them across all office floors on October 8.

Collected bottles are periodically sorted by cleaning staff, sold by the administration, and all proceeds are donated to the 58公益基金.

Conclusion

This project demonstrates how service‑design thinking can turn a mundane office task into an engaging, efficient, and socially responsible activity, highlighting the power of design to simplify daily life and promote sustainability.