I soon discovered that this, rather clumsy, machine has a very meaningful purpose - one that addresses a highly relevant issue in our society: waste. This machine is a reverse vending machine (RVM). It is part of a closed system where takeaway cups sold by cafés and bars, with a small deposit included, can be returned to help eliminate single-use plastic cups in Aarhus. As a designer with a large interest in sustainability, I appreciated the initiative very much, but at the same time I saw a design opportunity. Perhaps the user experience could be improved, and so its aesthetic value and the way it relates to its surroundings and the people using it. And that’s where the journey of re-designing the Reuseable return machine began.
In this three chapter blog series, I, Klara Adolfsson, Junior Industrial Designer at DesignPeople, will take you through our design process and share my thoughts on people-driven design in sustainable initiatives like Reuseable. The process resulted in two redesign concepts of the Reuseable machine, presented in each chapter of this post. The project was internal at DesignPeople, and is not related to Tomra or Aarhus Municipality who are in charge of the service today. So, make yourself comfortable - maybe even grab a coffee in a Reuseable cup - because the story begins now.
Let’s set the scene: Closing the Loop for Takeaway Cups
Let’s begin by taking a step back and talk about the Reuseable initiative to set the scene. Reuseable is an ambitious sustainability program that Aarhus Municipality introduced to help reduce waste from takeaway cups.The program aims to close the loop for takeaway packaging, and it does so by offering a reusable cup for drinks that customers can get for a small fee from participating cafés. After finishing the drink, the user can return the cup to any of the return machines around the city and get the fee back.
In collaboration with Tomra, a leading company in reverse vending technology, Aarhus Municipality has made it possible for these cups to be collected, washed, and reused again and again.The initiative has made a huge impact by reducing single-use plastics and encouraging more sustainable behavior in the city. However, while the program has been a massive success, with 86% of cups returned at the time we started the project (September 2024), we saw an opportunity to challenge the visual choices and construction choices that had been made on the machine. The somewhat poor form and user experience could be explained by the machines only being test machines, but it also left a door open for design.
Design Philosophy
I arrived in Aarhus a year ago, and the city has spoken to me in ways beyond words. Its smiling inhabitants and historic buildings create a unique atmosphere, reflecting a respect for the past and valuing preservation. At the same time, rapid development has brought a wave of new buildings that seem to appear almost overnight. There is a concern that these rapidly emerging buildings quickly will go out of fashion - raising the question of how truly sustainable they are. We could transfer these thoughts to the Reuseable machine and its’ function as a type of interior to the city streets. And if the machine is here to stay, we must design it with that longevity in mind from the start.
Research phase
I started the process by gathering knowledge. Since all types of facts could be valuable, I researched various things that resembled parts of the Reuseable system, such as waste sorting systems around the world, or old milkcontainers that were refilled and used over and over again. I learnt that in some parts of the world, it can be considered a loss to install a trash can –because they actually encourage littering. It made sense to me also in our part of the world: I’ve seen littering around waste bins numerous times since people usually continue throwing waste into waste bins even though they are full.
After some research from my desk, I felt the need to get out into the city and get in touch with reality. I got in contact with Emma Hallgreen, Embedded designer at Aarhus Municipality. She could provide insight into how the reusable system is structured, who the different stakeholders are, and what their needs may be.
Facts about Reuseable
- There are 27 machines placed around Aarhus city center
- The machines in Aarhus are emptied by Tomra at latest every 48 hours.
- The cups are taken to a washing facility in the outskirts of Aarhus that was built specifically for washing Reuseable cups. Cafés then repurchase the cups, which are delivered clean from the washing facility
- A cup needs to be used and washed 6times before it has required less resources to produce than a regular single use paper cup. The Reuseable cup can be washed around a few hundred times before it needs to be downcycled.
- The cup is made of injection molded polypropylene. There are certain regulations in the food industry, making the possibilities for sustainable materials slightly fewer and more difficult to find. A cup cannot be molded into a product containing food again when it reaches its end-of-life, and the material is therefore used for other products.
- The current Reuseable machine was chosen from Tomra’s already existing product line.
Our image of the Reuseable initiative grew more complex; at this point we had not yet decided on what part of the service we wanted to redesign. The possibilities for what to dive into increased. It could for example be the cup, the machine, or the communication. We therefore thought it was time to hear what the users actually had to say about Reuseable.
“Festugen” - a one-week street festival was to take place in Aarhus a week later. Here, we could gain a lot of user insights in a short amount of time. The service was also going to be tested for the first time at an event, where the number of cups and people were raised to the roof, in comparison to the regular use of the service.
Festugen in Aarhus
At Festugen, the 27 machines that were previously spread around Aarhus were complemented with an additional seven machines in the festival area. We could get a glimpse into how the system could work on a larger scale, and with higher intensity. Many more cups would circulate in the system than before, and a lot more people would use the service. Me and Christoffer Nedergaard, UX-designer at Design-People, went out to talk with some visitors and bartenders.
The bartenders we talked to said that they often had to guide visitors to find the closest machine and explain how the system worked. However, the customers were not really bothered by the extra task of returning the cups, or about the extra 5 KR fee that came with buying each drink. The users we talked to, appreciated the project and said they had tried similar systems before, but that you could be in doubt the first time you use it. Some said it was tricky to spot the machines, but there was always someone to ask if you needed help finding one.
A concern we heard from Emma from Aarhus Municipality before the festival was that there would be long lines to the machines, caused by the machines being filled up quicker than Tomra could handle. When talking to Emma again after Festugen, she told us the service had worked out better than expected, with 93% of the 95 000 cups sold reentering the loop. Tomra had been emptying the machines at a much higher rate than usual, and the system had worked out seamlessly. The cleaning up after the festival had also been more effective than usual, with less plastic cups disposed of on the ground, and less waste in general.
Mapping out the system
Now that we had gathered some more information, it was time to decide what part of the system we wanted to redesign. I made a map of each stage the cup goes through in the Reuseable system and stated what possible issues could occur at each stage. From what we knew, most issues were found at the machine stage. I then defined a design challenge for the project:
How can we redesign the return machine to be a symbol of sustainability and innovation, introducing new ways to consume, instead of letting it become just another type of garbage on our streets?
Though we had decided that our design challenge was to focus on the return of the cups, the alternatives for how to return cups in such a system were still many. The complexity of the project brought about questions on how large geographical areas the system should stretch over, and what items or materials the system should take care of.
Aarhus as a palette
For inspiration I went out into the streets of Aarhus. I wanted to capture what gives the city its’ unique atmosphere. I took photos of materials, surfaces, and street furniture.
I observed that, to prevent street furniture from becoming barriers for people in the city, it is preferred that their form does not have a clear front or back. The street furniture should be approachable from all directions and be integrated into the natural flow of people moving through the city.
An inspiring material choice I noticed was what I believe to be some ventilation outputs in Aarhus University Park that matched the rest of the buildings with their yellow bricks. I admired how this functional detail had been thoughtfully integrated into the architecture. I also noticed benches built in an organic shape, offering many ways of use. I had previously seen Jan Gehl in the DR series Byernes Mester, where he described - after a whole career designing for the public - how a city should simply offer people a place to sit and stand, and they will figure out the rest. It made me think about how unpredictable people's use of an object can be, and this is part of the charm of designing for the public. The goal is to design for possibilities rather thandictating how people should use an object.
In addition to these unique street items, I looked at common street furniture such as bus shelters and public toilets. They often shared a consistent color and pattern, creating a visual standard across the city.
To begin the design process, we set a goal: An attractive and welcoming return machine that connects with the smiling identity of Aarhus. The goal was defined through a workshop with two colleagues, where we established the core of the project.
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