Sunday, October 14, 2012

PSS Final design

 


HURB is a sustainable product service system that encourages positive change to social and environmental behaviours within a community. The worm farm herb garden has been designed for high-density residential areas such as inner-city apartments. Currently, 2/3 of all landfilled waste is made up of organic waste, totalling 20.6 million tonnes annually. Of the organic waste that is land-filled, 52 percent comes from the municipal stream, of which only 23 percent is recovered. As 50 percent of waste produced within the household is organic waste, HURB aims to provide a more sustainable waste disposal alternative through the recovery of organic waste for apartment residents.

The HURB garden compost system is both a product and a service. The residents of a community are encouraged to compost their organic waste through the incentive of fresh herbs and the knowledge that they have actioned a more sustainable form of waste disposal. Another benefit of HURB is the bringing together of a community, where users are able to meet their neighbours and become more inspired to become a part of a community initiative. Being positioned within a communal garden area, the HURB composting unit is easily accessible for users within their day-to-day life.

A third party company would service the HURB worm farm, through the collection of worm castings and general maintenance of the herbs, such as replacing dead plants. These excess castings would be sold for profit, financing the entire initiative. HURB is an innovative product service system, as it combines a herb garden into the design of the unit. This physical incentive can be used as a tool to initiate change - whereby the more a community composts their organic waste, the more lush their herbs become.

HURB is not only a functional product, the physical composting worm farm unit is aesthetically pleasing with the tapered design and the incorporation of plants. The simplistic style is designed to fit in with modern architecture. The white HDPE plastic used for the material was intentional due to the fact that the worms within the unit must be kept within a temperature range - they cannot get too hot. This differs from regular composting units which are dark in colour, as heat is required within the decomposing process.

The HURB unit consists of 4 trays, the working tray, two processing trays and a collection tray. Compost is placed into the top tray, accessed by opening the lid of the unit. Worms work their way to the surface to eat the compost, leaving nutrient-rich worm castings which are deposited into the processing trays, removed by the servicing company once a week. For every 10, 000 worms, 10kg of compost is processed each week. A HURB unit would contain 20, 000 worms. Nutrient-rich liquid seeps into the collection tray at the base, where a valve releases the fertiliser that can be used to nourish the herbs. This self-sufficient system provides encouragement for users to make a positive sustainable change in behaviour, through the satisfaction of growing herbs and being more morally responsible with their waste.

5 comments:

  1. Your boards are amazing Helen!
    Such a clever concept where you can compost your roasted and grow herbs- win,win! It's the modern version of a community garden, perfect for high rise buildings. Well done!

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  2. Your boards are really striking and strong. I think it's a good system in the sense that it is easily maintained and understood. So obviously, people will be encouraged to interact with it cause they get an initiative without going through too much trouble.

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  3. I think that this is a really clever way of people getting rid of their food scraps, but also getting something back in return. I think that your design has been really well communicated through your posters.

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  4. Amazing product renders and presentation boards! Your concept is consistent with growing trends of communal gardening, although I haven't seen one which addresses inner-city/apartment complex living as well as yours. You have a very well thought out and designed solution.

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  5. Hey Helen! Everyone agrees that your presentation looks great- I love the clever name and logo design. Just to develop it a little further you could design the containers the waste is collected in and transported to the hurb garden in. Is there a handle to lift the lid of hurb garden with and put the scraps in? Perhaps also adding signage to indicate what can and can't be put in the worm farm hurb garden would also help. These are minor things- what a great product and service you've designed!

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