What We Found in the Field
Problem StatementWe spent the first days doing something most design teams skip — we went outside. Walked neighborhoods. Watched how collectors actually worked. Sat with recycling shop owners. Scheduled one-on-ones with households.
What emerged wasn’t a single user problem. It was an ecosystem problem. Six interdependent player types — households, collectors, local recycling centers, trade centers, processing factories, and city ordinance staff — all relying on each other with zero infrastructure connecting them.
The insight that reframed everything: you can’t fix one node. You have to design for the whole chain.
Recycling requires behavioral change within self and as a community. Social practices such as separating waste and considering the environment have been neglected in Myanmar which directly affect the recycling chain
Lacking in government’s adequate support and control for managing waste and recycling for the country. The municipal department can not provide efficient service to assist people in disposing their waste and doesn’t illustrate the harmful results of irresponsible waste management. Furthermore, lack of technology and infrastructure creates layers of processing in the recycling chain from collecting materials into producing recycled products.
