Problem, Solution, Revenue Model, and Value Proposition

Problem

At the Universidad de los Andes, many students struggle with understanding the proper recycling practices and locating appropriate recycling points on campus. Despite the availability of recycling bins, there's a lack of clear information on how to sort waste correctly, leading to inefficient recycling efforts and environmental impact. This issue is compounded by the absence of engaging and accessible resources that can motivate and educate the university community about sustainable practices.

Solution:

SustainU is an innovative mobile application designed to tackle the recycling challenges at the Universidad de los Andes. The app provides students with real-time information on correct recycling practices, guides them to nearby recycling points, and offers interactive features that promote environmental awareness. By gamifying the recycling process and offering educational resources, SustainU encourages students to adopt sustainable habits, ultimately fostering a greener campus community.

Revenue Model

Revenue Model

Value Proposition

SustainU transforms recycling at Universidad de los Andes into an intuitive and engaging experience, empowering students to make informed and environmentally responsible choices. By providing real-time guidance on proper waste sorting and easy navigation to nearby recycling points, SustainU addresses the confusion and inefficiency that obstruct effective recycling on campus. Through its interactive and gamified approach, the app not only educates but also motivates the university community to embrace sustainable practices, leading to a significant reduction in environmental impact and fostering a culture of sustainability across the campus. SustainU offers a seamless, educational, and rewarding experience that aligns with the university's commitment to environmental stewardship.

Problem Description with PAS Structure

12 PAS (Problem - Alternative - Solution)

#	Problem	Alternative	Solution
1	There is no incentive for students in Uniandes to recycle	RecycleBank rewards users with points for their recycling efforts	Provide a service contextualized in the Uniandes community to rank top users based on their points and showcase their recycling efforts.
2	Users often misidentify waste, leading to contamination in recycling bins.	Users rely on signs or general knowledge, which are often inaccurate and time-consuming.	SustainU's AI-powered scanning feature identifies materials instantly, guiding users to the correct bin and reducing contamination.
3	Users lack knowledge about proper waste disposal, leading to lower recycling engagement.	Educational campaigns exist but are often ineffective and easily forgotten.	SustainU's scanning feature provides instant feedback and gamifies recycling, increasing user engagement and proper disposal habits.
4	Users are often unsure about which materials belong to each recycling category, leading to frequent mistakes in waste separation	Users try to guess or search online, which is confusing and time-consuming	SustainU’s recycle information feature clearly and concisely displays the recycling categories and the waste items that belong to each, reducing confusion and errors in waste separation
5	The lack of accessible information about recycling categories decreases users' motivation to recycle correctly	Although awareness campaigns exist, they are often forgotten or ignored by users	SustainU’s recycle information feature provides detailed and visual explanations of waste categories and materials, making the process more educational and motivating users to actively participate in proper recycling
6	There is no information that shows who is recycling in a given community	RecycleBank awards points to the users that recycle and showcases them on a public leaderboard	SustainU's leaderboard is tailormade for the Uniandes community to showcase their recycling efforts.
7	Users may lose motivation to recycle if they don’t feel like they’re being recognized for their efforts.	Users may recycle for their own satisfaction or to fulfill personal goals, but often lose motivation without recognition or competition to inspire them.	SustainU's Scoreboard feature ranks users within the Uniandes community based on their recycling performance, encouraging friendly competition and fostering a sense of accomplishment for consistent recyclers.
8	Users do not feel motivated to engage in sustainable practices because they cannot track their progress or receive personalized feedback.	RecycleBank offers rewards for recycling but lacks personalized feedback and detailed progress tracking.	Creating personal accounts to track their recycling progress over time, and receive customized feedback based on their specific recycling habits, making the experience more engaging and relevant.
9	Users often forget about their sustainability goals without a system to monitor their progress and provide reminders.	EcoCRED tracks environmental impact but doesn't provide integrated reminders or personalized recycling progress tracking.	Implementing personalized accounts with integrated progress tracking and personalized reminders, encouraging users to stay committed to their sustainability goals by keeping them engaged through tailored notifications and progress updates.
10	Users don't where recycle points are located in campus	Students may ask around or search manually, but it takes a lot of time	SustainU's campus map feature shows the precise locations of all recycle points on campus, making it easy for users to find and use them
11	Users don't know which recycle points is closest to them	Students might end up wandering around trying to find the nearest recycling point. If they do not find a nearest location, they might end up not recycling if they are on a hurry	SustainU's map feature locates, identifies and directs users to the closest recycling station based on their current location on campus
12	Students don't have an easy way of adopting a consistent recycling habit on campus	Currently, students can recycle at the available recycling points on campus, but they tend to do so inconsistently and lack any tracking of their progress or incentives to maintain the habit	The SustainU app proposes a recycling progress tracking feature on campus, motivating students to recycle more consistently by providing incentives and allowing them to visualize their impact in real-time through the app

Context Canvas

Context Canvas

Personas

Prospective Personas

1. Persona 1

2. Persona 2

3. Persona 3

Analytics Persona

Analytics Persona image path

Empathy Maps

1. Empathy Map - Maria Alejandra Estrada

2. Empathy Map - Marilyn Joven

3. Empathy Map - Ernesto Duarte

4. Empathy Map - Eduardo Herrera

5. Empathy Map - David Cuevas

6. Empathy Map - Lina Gómez

Business Questions

Type 1:

• How often are users experiencing longer loading times when accessing the camera verification feature? It's type 1 because is related to the performance of the app, related to the time expected to access the certain feature.

• How many users encounter connectivity issues when trying to upload images for verification? Is a Type 1 question because it examines the frequency of connectivity problems during a critical user action, highlighting potential issues with server communication or data handling.

Type 2:

• What are the closest recycling points?: It’s type 2 because the user is going to interact with the map displayed on the app.
• What are the recycle points of other users?: It's type 2 because the user is going to interact with the scoreboard.
• How can the user track their recycling progress over time?: It's type 2 because the user is going to interact with the calendar to track their recycle progress.
• Who are the top 25 users currently active on the scoreboard?: It's type 2 as in the scoreboard section, people can see who is using the app as well.

Type 3:

• Which core functionalities are not often used in the app?: This is type 3 because it focuses on knowing which functionalities could be implemented or removed.

• How much time does the user spend on the the camera section (taking the picture and uploading it in the app)?: This is type 3 because it focuses on the functionality of taking the picture while recycling and knowing if it must be improved

• How frequently does someone consult the score points of other users?: This is type 3 because it focuses on knowing metrics of the functionality and if it is being used or not

• How frequently does someone consult the recycle map section to locate the recycling points?: This is a type 3 question as the feature might be upgraded to be more appealing for the user.

Type 4:

• What is the most visited location to recycle on campus?: This is type 4 because it focuses on knowing which are the strategic locations on campus that students use more. By knowing this, the university can improve the location’s characteristics.

• What are the users most frequent locations when accessing the app?: This is type 4 because it will find the frequent locations when users are either trying to find a trashcan or they are even thinking about recycling. If this location is far away from all the recycling points, the university can take action by adding or managing the disposal locations.

Type 5 (*):

• What is the engaging time in the most used feature of the app?: i) This is type 2 as it tells which of the features the user spends most of their time in and we could improve based on that the user experience, ii) This is type 3 because we can update the most used feature to continue engaging people on it

• What times of day do users most frequently use the app?: i) This is type 2 as it reveals when users are most active, helping us optimize notifications and content delivery to match their habits. ii) This is type 4 because we can align our marketing and engagement strategies with peak usage times, maximizing the app’s impact and user satisfaction.

VD Map

Functional Scenarios

Scenario	User Action	System Response	Execution Context
(1) Scanning Waste for Recycling	Camila opens the SustainU app, selects the scanning feature, and points the camera at an item of waste	The system uses ML to analyze the item, identifies the correct recycling category	Camila is on campus, standing near a waste bin, trying to determine the correct way to dispose of their waste
(2) Locating the Nearest Recycling Point	Amanda opens the SustainU map feature and searches for the nearest recycling point from their current location	The system detects the user’s location, displays the nearest recycling points on the map, and provides directions	Amanda is walking across campus with waste in hand, needing to find the closest recycling station quickly
(3) Looking for recycling information	The user opens the SustainU app and selects the information section of the app	The system shows detailed information on recycling.	The user can be anywhere looking for general recycling information.
(4) Register correct discarding of materials	The user opens the SustainU app, selects the scanning feature and registers the appropiate disposal of materials	The system uses ML to analyze the picture and identify if the user is discarding appropiately	The user can be anywhere looking for general recycling information.
(5) Looking for their own recycling streak	Jaime opens the SustainU app wanting to see how many days he has been recycling	The system with a daily calculation shows the updated streak	Jaime is with anywhere talking with his friends about how much he has been recycling lately
(6) Looking for other users recycling streak	Jaime opens the SustainU app looking for a student's streak in the scoreboard	The system with a daily calculation shows the updated streak of the top 25 users in the app	Jaime is anywhere talking with a student who tells him that they recycle more
(7) Participating in a Recycling Challenge	Sara opens the SustainU app and joins a university-wide recycling challenge	The system registers Sara's participation and tracks her recycling progress as part of the challenge	Sara is at home and sees a notification about the recycling challenge, encouraging her to recycle more often
(8) Sharing Recycling Progress on Social Media	Juan opens the SustainU app, views his recycling streak, and decides to share his progress on social media	The system generates a shareable graphic and opens the default social media sharing option	Juan is on the bus and wants to share his streak with friends on social media
(9) Setting Personal Recycling Goals	Laura opens the SustainU app, navigates to the goals section, and sets a weekly recycling target	The system records Laura's goal, updates her dashboard to reflect the new target, and sends periodic reminders to help her achieve it	Laura is at her study desk planning her week and wants to set specific recycling goals to stay motivated
(10) Receiving Recycling Tips and Notifications	Diego opts in for notifications and receives daily recycling tips through the SustainU app	The system pushes personalized recycling tips and reminders to Diego based on his recycling habits and campus events	Diego is walking through campus and wants to stay informed about best recycling practices and upcoming sustainability events
(11) Custom Recycling Tips	Maria opens the SustainU app and navigates to the tips section to receive personalized suggestions based on her recycling history.	The system analyzes her past recycling activities and generates custom tips to improve her recycling habits.	Maria is at home planning her weekly shopping and wants to make environmentally friendly purchases.
(12) Event-Based Notifications	Tom accesses the SustainU app during a campus sustainability event.	The system recognizes the event and sends notifications about specific recycling stations and special activities related to the event.	Tom is at the event and his app is set to receive notifications related to campus events.

Quality Scenarios

Scenario	Quality attributes	App Status and Context	Changes in the Context	System Reaction
(1) Quick Response in Crowded Areas	Usability, Efficiency	The user is in a crowded area on campus during peak hours, with multiple users accessing the app simultaneously	The user's device is connected to a public Wi-Fi network with potential congestion due to high demand	The system maintains optimal performance by minimizing latency and ensuring quick loading times, regardless of network congestion, providing a seamless experience for the user
(2) Accurate Location Tracking user's device	Usability, Functionality	The user is inside a university building with multiple floors and walls that might obstruct the location (GPS) signals	The user’s location is difficult to track due to the building’s structure	The system switches to Wi-Fi-based location tracking or uses indoor positioning techniques to accurately determine the user's location, ensuring the nearest recycling point is correctly identified on the map
(3) Appropriate instructions on how to recycle	Reliability, Usability, Availability	The User is researching recycling in a campus library during peak hours	The user's device is connected to a public Wi-Fi network with potential congestion due to high demand	The system stores recycling information locally for the user to access, regardless of Wi-Fi connectivity
(4) Deliver points appropriately	Reliability, Usability	The User is in a recycling zone of the university at night and it's raining	The weather conditions and lighting can affect photos quality	The system tries to analyze the photo to give the points, if the photo isn't good enough the system requests the user to take another photo
(5) App is interrupted by an incoming call	Usability, Availability	The user is taking a picture and receives an incoming call but did not complete the registration	The system receives a different task and can lose the picture taken	The system stores the taken picture for completing the recycling registration after the other task is completed
(6) App closes unexpectedly	Availability	The user is taking a picture and the app crashes	The system crashes due to either a memory issue or other	The app restores to the same state before crash and saves the picture taken locally in case uploading the photo was not completed, while sending a crash report to the development team for debugging.
(7) Low Battery Mode	Availability	The user is using the app on a phone with less than 10% battery life	The phone enters low-power mode, potentially disabling certain app functions to conserve energy	The system adapts by reducing background data usage and limiting high-energy features while ensuring key functionalities remain operational, like emergency notifications or essential updates.
(8) Low Network Connectivity	Availability, Performance	The user is in a remote part of campus with unreliable network connectivity	The network signal becomes weak or intermittent	The app increases its tolerance for network failures by caching essential data and deferring non-critical updates until a stable connection is reestablished, ensuring continuous functionality and enhancing user experience during network instability.
(9) Ensuring Data Privacy and Security	Security, Privacy	The user is creating a profile and entering personal information such as name and email	The system must protect user data from unauthorized access and ensure compliance with data protection regulations	The system encrypts all personal data, enforces secure authentication mechanisms, and ensures that data is stored and transmitted securely, providing users with confidence in their privacy
(10) Supporting Accessibility for Visually Impaired Users	Accessibility, Usability	A visually impaired user is navigating the SustainU app using a screen reader	The app must accommodate assistive technologies and provide alternative text for visual elements	The system ensures all UI elements are properly labeled for screen readers, provides voice-guided navigation, and offers high-contrast modes to enhance usability for visually impaired users
(11) High-Density User Access During Events	Scalability, Performance	The app is accessed by a large number of users during a campus event.	Suddenly, there is a surge in user logins and data requests as the event starts.	The system scales up its resources dynamically to handle the increase in load, ensuring smooth operation without delays.
(12) User Interface Customization for Accessibility	Accessibility	A visually impaired user wants to use the app more effectively.	The user selects accessibility options from the app settings.	The app adjusts text size, color contrast, and adds voice feedback to enhance usability for visually impaired users.

Ethics Video

Ethics video