E-Z E-Recycling: Making Electronic Recycling Easier For Older Generations

By: Caroline Freer, Yun Hou, Leah Robison

Problem

The problem we addressed is the wastefulness of older generations (ages 40+) not properly recycling their old devices, since these devices can end up in the trash or stored away for years, which is not being resourceful and thus affects sustainability. With limited convenient options to recycle old electronics, people end up avoiding electronic recycling altogether.

Solution

Our solution is an application named E-Z E-Recycling that targets wiping your devices’ data on your own and being motivated to recycle your old devices. The application will send notifications to motivate the user and walk the user through the data clearing process. Additionally, we will offer a monetary incentive by paying users for the parts of the device the recycle center can make a profit off of, similar to Apple’s trade-in program. Finally, we will have a mail-in service that makes it convenient to recycle devices, thus keeping users motivated.

Design Process

(Figure 0.0) Our initial paper prototype.

After coming up with design and feature ideas, we created a paper prototype of our app. We used the prototype to conduct heuristic evaluations with peers and usability tests with subjects in our target user group. From these trials, we received valuable feedback that brought us to our digital mockup design. One of the main issues that was noticed with our prototype was that the home screen was a bit complex. In order to draw users to our main features, the recycling form and data wipe, we decided to update our design to include a new “Rewards” screen to move details about points to. Through this testing process, we were able to develop a simpler final design tailored to older users.

Digital Mockup

(Figure 1.0) All components of our digital mockup of the E-Z E-Recycling application.

Overview: https://www.figma.com/file/HRgT2SSENT2vvbwDHhm76F/E-Z-E-Recycling?node-id=0%3A1&t=zFL9JqAcWpDptXGN-1

Interactive Mode: https://www.figma.com/proto/HRgT2SSENT2vvbwDHhm76F/E-Z-E-Recycling?node-id=38%3A507&scaling=scale-down&page-id=0%3A1&starting-point-node-id=38%3A507

Task 1: Motivate the User to E-Recycle with Rewards

Task 1 is keeping the user motivated to recycle old devices. We will be targeting this task by having a reward system for recycling devices with the app. Additionally, the app will send notifications reminding the user about their rewards and to recycle. Finally, the app will offer a mail-in service that makes recycling more convenient, and thus keeps the user motivated.

Task 2: Help the User Recycle a Device and Wipe Data

Task 2 is wiping the user’s data, which will be accomplished by walking the user through the steps of recycling a device, then walking them through each step in the removing data process. The app also has the user confirm that each step has completed successfully to offer the user peace of mind.

Walkthrough

Task 1: Motivate the User to E-Recycle with Rewards

(Figure 1.1) The user can choose whether to turn notifications on. Turning them on allows notifications of rewards and reminders to recycle.

(Figure 1.2) Sign into the app with your personal login.

(Figure 1.3) The home screen shows your points and options to help you recycle a device. Bob moves to the rewards page.

(Figure 1.4) The rewards page shows all possible rewards to redeem your points for. Bob chooses to redeem his points for an Amazon gift card.

(Figure 1.5) A completion message appears and an e-gift card is sent to your email. Bob closes the message.

Task 2: Help the User Recycle a Device and Wipe Data

(Figure 2.0) Bob chooses to start the trade in process to recycle his device.

(Figure 2.1) The survey contains various questions about the device to be recycled.

(Figure 2.2) At the end of the survey, Bob hits submit.

(Figure 2.3) After survey submission, a box and label are sent to you to send your device in with. Points are rewarded based on the value of your device. Bob chooses to view the data wipe steps.

(Figure 2.4) The data wipe steps page shows the user what to expect while going through the data wipe process. Bob chooses to start the data wipe process.

(Figure 2.5) You may choose whether to backup your data. Bob chooses yes.

(Figure 2.6) A loading bar appears while your data is being backed up to the cloud.

(Figure 2.7) You may choose whether or not to wipe your photos. Bob chooses yes.

(Figure 2.8) A loading bar appears while your photos are being erased.

(Figure 2.9) You are prompted to check if all of your photos have been deleted. Bob confirms.

(Figure 2.10) At the end of the tutorial, you may choose to do a factory reset on your device, also deleting the E-Z E-Recycling app. Your points and information are still saved in your account. Bob resets his device.

(Figure 2.11) After the factory reset, your device will be at the welcome/set up screen.

New Changes

Going from our paper prototype to this digital mockup, our biggest changes were in the app’s home screen. One of these changes is the removal of point redemption options from the home screen. We decided to move these to a new, separate “Rewards” page to make the main features of our app (recycling a device and wiping data) more visible. We also added buttons at the bottom of the app for easy navigation to the home and rewards screens.

With more space in the home screen, we added simple descriptions to our recycling and data wiping features and renamed their buttons to be clearer. For example, we replaced “Survey” with “Trade In Process.” We now clarify that the purpose of our recycling trade in form is to take the user through the steps to recycle the current device being used and gain points for it.

Another change that we made is to make step yes/no buttons from being vertically arranged to being side by side. It not only makes the page more tidy, but also helps reduce the possibility of accidentally clicking the wrong button. It reduces the change of slip, since the yes/no buttons are further away.

Finally, we added an option in the end (step 6) to check again that users are ready to reset their devices. A going back option is added to the step, so that people could double-check they are ready to erase their data.

Summary

In this day and age, with the ever-changing technology and rapid products’ updating, a lot of electronic products become outdated and left unused. An important topic about sustainability is the recycling of old electronic devices, which introduces a concern a lot of people have about data privacy. It could be particularly challenging for the elderly to wipe their data and recycle their devices. From our research, we found out that the main reasons why the older generation would rather leave their old devices unused than recycling them is, first, they worry they cannot entirely delete their information from the devices and, second, there is a lack of motivation to go through all the trouble to recycle devices.

Therefore, we proposed E-Z E-Recycling. It allows users to conveniently find recycling centers near them and provides step-by-step instructions to remind and help users backup their phone and wipe the data. It lowers the threshold and energy to erase private data. In addition, our APP helps motivate people by giving credits and gift cards. We hope with E-Z E-Recycling, people are more motivated and feel safer to recycle electronic devices to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfills, and to help conserve natural resources.