This project was formulated in context of the SABS Design Institute’s “Design Achievers Awards” scheme, and aligns with ideals with pertaining to design as a social enterprise, rather than design as commercial enterprise. The objectives of the award scheme was to encourage South African design students to cultivate an awareness of the challenges of contemporary life, and to inspire students to become people who will make a real contribution to society through strategic design. It was required to develop an information design products or system, with the aim of contributing to solving a social, environmental, industrial or cultural challenge in South Africa/ or Africa.
The challenge chosen to undertake is the growing environmental problem of the incorrect and hazardous disposal of household alkaline batteries. It is estimated that over 50 million batteries are consumed in South Africa annually”. 95% of these batteries are discarded in general household waste which then ends up in our landfills. The discarded batteries that end up in our landfills eventually degrade and corrode, slowly leaking their toxic chemicals into our earth and ground water.
I generated a suitable concept to address this problem. My concept is: The lil’ green box battery disposal initiative. Te key component in addressing this environmental issue is educating people about the negative effect of incorrect battery disposal in order to promote correct battery disposal. Therefore I decided to direct this initiative at children aged between 7 and 11. This age group has been chosen as they are willing and eager to learn and children also have the potential to influence their parents. If you can get children enthusiastic, then parents’ involvement comes far more easily. I propose to create a fun, yet educational system which encourages children and their families to collect and dispose of their batteries correctly and safely. The key component of this initiative is a “self assemble” battery collection box; this box would be distributed to schools via Uniross. The boxes are not only informative but also interactive since the children are encouraged to draw and write on them, thereby personalising their boxes and enabling them to express awareness of the importance of recycling.
The lil’ green box campaign is also directed towards the general public aiming to educate the public about the environmental damage household batteries have, as well as make it easy for people to collect and dispose of batteries correctly.
The challenge chosen to undertake is the growing environmental problem of the incorrect and hazardous disposal of household alkaline batteries. It is estimated that over 50 million batteries are consumed in South Africa annually”. 95% of these batteries are discarded in general household waste which then ends up in our landfills. The discarded batteries that end up in our landfills eventually degrade and corrode, slowly leaking their toxic chemicals into our earth and ground water.
I generated a suitable concept to address this problem. My concept is: The lil’ green box battery disposal initiative. Te key component in addressing this environmental issue is educating people about the negative effect of incorrect battery disposal in order to promote correct battery disposal. Therefore I decided to direct this initiative at children aged between 7 and 11. This age group has been chosen as they are willing and eager to learn and children also have the potential to influence their parents. If you can get children enthusiastic, then parents’ involvement comes far more easily. I propose to create a fun, yet educational system which encourages children and their families to collect and dispose of their batteries correctly and safely. The key component of this initiative is a “self assemble” battery collection box; this box would be distributed to schools via Uniross. The boxes are not only informative but also interactive since the children are encouraged to draw and write on them, thereby personalising their boxes and enabling them to express awareness of the importance of recycling.
The lil’ green box campaign is also directed towards the general public aiming to educate the public about the environmental damage household batteries have, as well as make it easy for people to collect and dispose of batteries correctly.
