Service design focused on creating sustainable steps and tools for users of nicotine vapes to properly dispose of their devices.
Disposable vapes are popular, specifically among young adults. Unfortunately there are very little disposal solutions, or information about proper disposal solutions, that are commonly available.​
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When disposed of in common waste/trash bins, disposable vapes can cause fires at plants due to the lithium ion battery they contain. On the other hand, the batters are not meant to be recycled in common recycling bins either. So how are vapes supposed to be discarded, and how can we make this information more widely known?
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Our team of 4 conducted research on stakeholders, users, and using tools such as storyboarding and group ideation, created a feasible solutions for proper vape disposal and answer the previous questions.
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When completed we presented our design solution in a video and booth showcase to other members of University of Washington's HCDE program.
See the more about this project below
Team Members:
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Divya Mavinkurve
Hayley Jang
Seamus McPeake
Yubo Zhao
Project Context:​
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Designed for University of Washington HCDE Human Centered Design Class 2023
My Role:​
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​UX Design
UX Research
Project Management
Short Version
The Problem
Disposable vapes are popular, specifically among young adults. Unfortunately there are very little disposal solutions, or information about proper disposal solutions, that are commonly available.
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When disposed of in common waste/trash bins, disposable vapes can cause fires at plants due to the lithium ion battery they contain. On the other hand, the batters are not meant to be recycled in common recycling bins either.
Solution
Our solution is multi-faceted, finding solutions in multiple steps and areas of the disposal and information process. Below are key parts of our solution:
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1. Informing users of proper and improper vape disposal techniques
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2. Creating accessible, easy to find disposal bins for users
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3. Reducing work for consumers
Prototypes
The Long Version
Background
Disposable vapes are popular amongst young adults as an alternative to smoking cigarettes. Because they are said to be disposable and often in a plastic shell, many would believe that these devices can be disposed of in a recycling bin or trash bin. Unfortunately neither is the case. Disposable vapes contain lithium ion batteries which are not recyclable; at least not at an ordinary recycling plant. Because of this they can not be properly processed in an ordinary recycling plant.
As an alternative, when disposable vapes are disposed of in waste bins they can cause fires when going through processing at waste plants. This is due to compression in the lithium ion batteries contained in the vapes.
One may think that waste plants could remove the batteries from these vapes, but the devices are most often not equipped with any mechanism to remove the battery from the device or open the casing. This is due to a safety hazard that users could potentially face if they were able to open the device themselves.
Additionally, the packaging for disposable vapes can often be misleading for users. As seen in the image below, the packaging has a recycling symbol, which may imply to users that the device is to be recycled, when the recycling symbol is intended to suggest the packaging is meant to be recycled, not the device itself.
Timeline
Research
We conducted user research involving 1 survey and 8 in-person/remote mixed interviews from survey participants.
Interview participants consisted of 8 vape users, 2 of which were vape store workers, providing us with additional insight into their disposal process and what they observe.
Research Analysis
We found that the majority of participants were not aware of proper vape disposal techniques and threw their vapes in a waste bin.
One participant who is a vape store owner was aware of proper disposal techniques but continued to dispose of vapes improperly
"I know it's (putting disposable vapes in the trash) harmful, but I don't think anyone makes such efforts, and not many are aware... I wish there were better ways, but we just tell them to throw it away.
- Vape Store Owner
Analysis Takeaways
Unawareness
86% of participants that put their vape in a waste bin were unaware of proper vape disposal techniques or environmental harm improper techniques can cause. Users are not necessarily disposing improperly when they could be.
Inconvenient
Users who are aware of proper disposal techniques find the current solutions to be inconvenient. Users don't want to travel long distances to proper disposal plants and remove batteries in potentially dangerous procedures themselves.
Design Question
"How might we increase the convenience and awareness of proper vape disposal processes and techniques?"
When ideating initial solutions we thought informing users would be enough for a solution, but we realized relying on users to do all of the hard work likely wouldn't work out. We wanted to broaden the scope of our solution to not just include awareness of proper disposal.
Ideation
User Flows
Prototyping
1. Vape disposal bin with QR code and symbols
2. Vape packaging with QR code and symbols
3. Vape with QR code and symbols
1. Mobile interface mockup
Final Design
Our solution involves a redesigned packaging for vapes, new vape disposal bins, and required information sticker attached to disposable vapes.
Vape Packaging
Vape Disposal Bin
Vape
Packaging now features symbols to let users know the box itself is recyclable and not the vape itself.
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Packaging additionally has a scannable QR code which brings users to the ReVolt website for more information on proper disposal techniques and the location of disposal bins near them
Vape Disposal Bins have symbols on them to let users know they are specifically for vape disposal purposes.
Scanning the QR code on the packaging brings users to the ReVolt website where they can locate disposal bins near them and find out more information about the harm of improper disposal.
Reflection
Our team posted a feedback board at our showcase which gave us recommendations for next steps including:
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1. Incentives for proper disposal
2. Recycling plant/chip detection
3. A more attractive design
If the government took interest at a local or federal level we would likely want to do more research on how we can give users appreciation for their cooperation and work on a more long term sustainable design for disposal bins.