WE ARE WHAT WE DON’T EAT

a series of interventions in RISD’s dining halls to significantly increase composting and improve awareness about food waste.

THE PROBLEM:

2
Composting facilities already existed at RISD

1 & 2
but scattered signage and a weak visual prsence

3
meant those facilities went underutilized

Using enviromental observation, I found that of students with compostable food waste:

and user surveys revealed confusion and a lack of awareness about compost and food waste:

so after some brainstorming...

I worked closely with RISD Dining Services management to implement...

SOLUTION v1

upon reviewing the efficacy of Solution v1 after semester of implementation, I found three opportunities for improvement:

intractable
sorting

sorting between compostables (fruit, veggies, napkins) and non-compostables (dairy, meat, oil) was still overwhelming for students.

repitition
fatigue

students are exposed to a lot of posters - making a standard awareness campaign only marginally valuable.

maintenance
“creep”

a lack of communication with janitorial staff meant that the intended structure of the food waste area was not mantained.

With these constraints in mind, I implemented...

SOLUTION v2

QR Code scavenger hunt with interactive, actionable information