ROLES:

Designer
Brainstormer
System Mapper
Researcher
Project Manager

My group consisted of an architect, a chemist and a designer. We were matched up with a non profit in Providence, RI called Harvest Cycle. Harvest Cycle is a cycling compost pickup company that also processes compost.

We were given the prompt “improve Harvest Cycle’s system”. We started by conducting user interviews and getting a more in-depth understanding of their system. After multiple rounds of system mapping, we focused in on the actual processing of the compost and the ability to process more if the decomposition time was decreased.

Our final solution was a result of finding that their processing was their biggest issue. We found if we could evenly distribute the bacteria and heat throughout the bins, the compost would decompose faster and more evenly.

This project went through many iterations and many hopeful ideas followed by many letdowns. We started by volunteering at Harvest Cycle to understand how difficult the process truly was to turn a pile of compost. We followed by interviewing community garden members at the collection sites.

After our research and volunteering, we started pursuing three different directions before settling on our “final” product.

We wanted to create something that was affordable and easy to replicate so we settled on the use of PVC piping drilled with holes to make our “spear” with a leaf blower attachment in order to distribute the bacteria throughout the bin.

We were happy with where the product ended up but want to continue testing throughout the colder months to confirm our hypothesis.