WHY PEOPLE ARE NOT COMMITTED TO RECYCLING IN LIMA (PERU)?

by Miguel Caceres

Challenge

I am a member of a start-up focused on solving the challenge of recycling in Lima (Peru), with the

aim of achieving greater awareness in the citizens about the importance of recycling. We found

that in Peru more than 18 tons of garbage are generated daily, half of which is generated only in

Lima (capital of my country) and 2.4% is only recycled1. The reason: The lack of culture by the

recycling of the Peruvian. Therefore the scope of this project is to understand this situation.

Selection

The tool I used was visualization, for have a broader, deeper and clearer understanding of the

problem, so we share the problem with citizens in Lima.  To do so, I selected some techniques as

ethnographic interviews, “5 Why´s” 2  and Empathy Map with a set of questions or guidelines to

know stories and discuss about the problem of the recycling culture, with the objective to delimit

the scope of the project and key elements to discover opportunities, and then, define possible

solutions and prototypes.

Application

I started the process with ethnographic interviews (25 citizens), I prepared a set of questions that

included from general overview, like as: “Could you show me/tell me how you usually throw the

garbage?”, “What like/dislike from this process?” with the aim of discussing patterns of events. I

used too, the technique ´5 Why’s´ for seeking the evocation of stories, in order to explore in depth

the emotions of citizens and recyclers concerning the problem. After that, I unpacked all

information collected on the first step, with ´Empathy Map´3 graphic to synthesize, I wrote the

answers in 04 categories: What say, do, think and feel, organized with sticky notes on poster. Later

1 Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuacmGHLDqw  2 Available at: http://designresearchtechniques.com/casestudies/5-whys/  3 Available at: https://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/themes/dschool/method-cards/empathy-map.pdf

I continue the process with satured & grouped technique, for uncover insights through abductive

thinking.

Insight & Aproach

What I have learned from conducting this exercise with different points of view from citizens and

recyclers was to demystify the initial assumptions about the lack of recycling culture over

ignorance about how to separate the garbage, lack of time to do it or want to receive some type

of profit or economic reward for doing so, however we found that citizens in Lima would be more

committed with recycling activities if they would know how their individual actions generate

concrete social and environmental impacts and in the short term, they also do not consider

important to receive economic benefits for their recycling actions.

The Empathy Map- gave me the diverse points of view, started in ethnographic interviews, a focal

point for the project that allowed me to understand their perspectives and uncover insights into

potential root causes of the problem.


WHY PEOPLE ARE NOT COMMITTED TO RECYCLING IN LIMA ( PERU ) ? by Miguel Caceres Challenge I am a member of a start - up focused on solving the challenge of recycling in Lima ( Peru ) , with the aim of achieving greater awareness in the citizens about the importance of recycling . We found that in Peru more than 18 tons of garbage are generated daily , half of which is generated only in Lima ( capital of my country ) and 2.4 % is only recycled1 . The reason : The lack of culture by the recycling of the Peruvian . Therefore the scope of this project is to understand this situation . Selection The tool I used was visualization , for have a broader , deeper and clearer understanding of the problem , so we share the problem with citizens in Lima . To do so , I selected some techniques as ethnographic interviews , “ 5 Why´s ” 2 and Empathy Map with a set of questions or guidelines to know stories and discuss about the problem of the recycling culture , with the objective to delimit the scope of the project and key elements to discover opportunities , and then , define possible solutions and prototypes . Application I started the process with ethnographic interviews ( 25 citizens ) , I prepared a set of questions that included from general overview , like as : “ Could you show me / tell me how you usually throw the garbage ? ” , “ What like / dislike from this process ? ” with the aim of discussing patterns of events . I used too , the technique ´ 5 Why ’s ´ for seeking the evocation of stories , in order to explore in depth the emotions of citizens and recyclers concerning the problem . After that , I unpacked all information collected on the first step , with ´ Empathy Map´3 graphic to synthesize , I wrote the answers in 04 categories : What say , do , think and feel , organized with sticky notes on poster . Later 1 Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuacmGHLDqw 2 Available at : http://designresearchtechniques.com/casestudies/5-whys/ 3 Available at : https://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/themes/dschool/method-cards/empathy-map.pdf I continue the process with satured & grouped technique , for uncover insights through abductive thinking . Insight & Aproach What I have learned from conducting this exercise with different points of view from citizens and recyclers was to demystify the initial assumptions about the lack of recycling culture over ignorance about how to separate the garbage , lack of time to do it or want to receive some type of profit or economic reward for doing so , however we found that citizens in Lima would be more committed with recycling activities if they would know how their individual actions generate concrete social and environmental impacts and in the short term , they also do not consider important to receive economic benefits for their recycling actions . The Empathy Map- gave me the diverse points of view , started in ethnographic interviews , a focal point for the project that allowed me to understand their perspectives and uncover insights into potential root causes of the problem .