What is Circular Design? Approaching Sustainable Projects
Devising initiatives that captivate and are accessible to users is a fundamental challenge within sustainability projects. Despite citizens’ increased awareness concerning ecology and climate impact in recent years, forging a meaningful connection with the public remains a challenging endeavor. Fortunately, the circular design approach can be part of the solution.
Circular design is an approach aligned with the principles of the circular economy: reduce, reuse, recycle, and regenerate. In the realm of eco-friendly services and products, it stands as a complementary facet to User Experience Design (UX).
How can Circular design amplify projects like recycling and waste management programs? To highlight a few core elements, Circular design involves user research, surveys, and interviews. All of these unravel insights into user needs, objectives, challenges, and expectations. Circular
design is instrumental in identifying distinct user segments or personas, each characterized by unique preferences and traits.
As said before, adapting circular economy projects to user behaviors, needs, and contexts is consistently intricate. Let’s delve into a case study that sheds light on this concept.
Circular Design in Action: Giro Program in Argentina
If there is a successful case study that features all Circular Design best practices, this is The GIRO Program. GIRO Stands for “Integral Waste Management Olavarría Program” in Spanish, a recycling initiative launched in 2019 in Olavarría, Buenos Aires, Argentina. The program aims to promote the separation of waste at source and increase the recovery of recyclables.
As with any recycling and waste management program, implementation was a real challenge. The GIRO Program is the result of a collaborative partnership involving the municipality of Olavarría, Delterra, and local waste pickers’ associations, alongside other stakeholders.
Preceding the program’s inauguration, the project team conducted several interviews with prospective users. This exercise aimed to learn more about their current waste management practices, and their awareness of recycling benefits, as well as their willingness to engage with the program, and comprehend their expectations and concerns.
The outcome? The GIRO Program improved the working conditions and safety standards for waste pickers and equipped them with essential tools and resources. Fueled by digital tools such as the Giraldo Chatbot, participating citizens now enjoy enhanced access to information about recycling, collection routes, and schedules. Consequently, this contributes to cost reduction and lowered emissions.
Do you want to learn more about the GIRO Program? Don´t miss Delterra’s Case Study on How to Get Cities Recycling. including detailed information about the project’s research process and outcomes.