Real-Time Campus Waste Display with Banana Slugs

Each dorm was represented by a banana slug mascot with facial expressions that changed based on performance, fostering competition and motivating students to recycle more through an emotionally engaging, game-like interface.

Focus Area

Zero Waste

Project Type

Digital Display

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This project for the University of Santa Cruz involved developing an interactive web platform and a large wall installation to be displayed in the dorms, showing real-time waste and recycling data for the campus. The system utilized GPS trackers and weigh scales installed on campus garbage trucks to automatically collect waste data, which was transmitted to a local database and displayed in real-time. The platform was designed to engage students by using game mechanics and emotive character designs to foster a connection with recycling efforts.

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Key Features:

Real-Time Waste Data Collection:
- GPS trackers and weigh scales on garbage trucks automatically weighed each garbage skip as trucks moved through campus.
- Data was sent to a local database and integrated into the platform for real-time updates.
Node Driver Integration:
- A custom node driver was developed to capture the local waste data from the garbage trucks and display it on both a web browser and large digital screens.
Recycling Performance Leaderboard:
- The platform displayed a real-time leaderboard ranking the recycling performance of the 11 dorms based on the percentage of recycled waste.
- The leaderboard was updated live as garbage trucks collected waste from each dorm.
Emotive Character Gauge:
- Each dorm was assigned a mascot—a banana slug character named "Slug Zero."
- The slug's facial expressions (ranging from ecstatic to sad) reflected the dorm's recycling performance, creating an emotional connection with students and driving behavior change.
- Behavioral science principles were used to influence students' emotional responses through these visual cues, encouraging higher recycling participation.
Gamification and Engagement:
- Game notification design elements were incorporated, turning recycling data into a competitive activity between dorms.
- The mascot’s facial expression changes served as a motivational tool, fostering friendly competition and encouraging sustainable behaviors.

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This innovative platform leveraged real-time data, gamification, and emotional engagement to influence student recycling behaviors, creating a fun and interactive way for the university community to contribute to sustainability efforts.

Psychology Techniques

Ambient Messaging

A signal or message displayed in the ambient environment such as on a wall or street where all passers-by can see it.

Character Expressions

The facial expression of a character animal or emoji is used to communicate data as "happy" or "sad" in lieu of using a number or color.

Community Scale Feedback

Publicly displayed data showing a community's collective environmental impact as a group.

Feedback Loop

A system that measures the environmental impact of an action and displays it with continuous feedback to the actor.

Groups

Putting people into groups as a way to create accountability, social cohesion, and social diffusion that leads to persistent behavior change.

Identity

Ways to enhance people's environmentally conscientious identity is a foundation to persistent intrinsic motivation.

Social Comparison

Comparing an objective measure of one person or entity's environmental score against others or against the group average.

Tracking Progress

A mechanism for tracking progress towards a goal that brings attention to, and rewards progress.