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Our argument is that eWaste that is being exported to other countries negativley impacts their people and economy. Many people are unaware of the suffering that simply discarding their old phone can have on the livelyhood of people across the world.
Jim Puckett at the Basel Action Network along with countless others working for BAN and other companies have already made an impact in tracking and shaming companies who are illegally exporting eWaste outside of their native countries. Some companies have been forced to change their ways, but that is only a small dent in the hull of the titanic boats of the eWaste export trade.
Companies in America and other first world countries contiunue to dump their waste on vulnerable countries who have had to base their economies around the eWaste trade, resulting in misery and unsafe living and working conditions for their citizens.
The Design Thinking Process
After carefully consdering all of the information we have gained so far, we brainstormed ideas on how to educate people of the harm eWasre is causing people in other countries and how large corporations are continuing to promote this behavior. There is no solution that can solve the suffering of others outright, but educating the new generation is a good first step to stopping the suffering of others. View our full design thinking process here.
We decided that conducting interviews with the victims of the eWaste trade on a large scale to get information from as many sources as possible and compensating them for their time would be the best possible option. Conducting interviews would be relativley simple and easy to implement in comparison to trying to get a large company onboard a relativley small campaign.
Brainstoming ideas for what to design took a while, as making a prototype for an interview is a very abstract concept. What physical representation could we make of an interview that would bring us closer to our root ideaology? We eventually settled on making a design for the building where we could bring people in, hear their stories, compensate them for their time, and let them get back to whatever they need to use their time for to provide for their families.
Our Possible Solution
Our Possible Solution
Aerial View of the main enterence, side billboard and skylights
We have invisioned a solution to help countless people that have been victims of the eWaste trade in the form of a center. The center would help mutliple people get interviewed simultaneously in an environment that is safe and secure for them. The view on the left emphasizes the "speaker-like" shape of the building, representing people speaking out.
A billboard on the opposite side of the building advertising the compensation the center would provide. Many people may be hesitant to skip out on work (and more importantly, it's pay) in order to just do an interview. Because of this, the center would offer double the interviewee's hourly pay for an interview in order to properly compensate them for their time.
Two pictures detailing the interview boothes inside the building, their respective exits to keep people safe, the reception and compensation boothes to incentivise people.
Impact
Impact
Our solution would not only people poeople in the shiort term, but also in the long term for their health and safety. In the short term, people who take the time out of their day to interview recieve a little bit of extra money for their time to help them and their families. However, the long term impact would be far more important. Having victims share their stories, and having their stories shared with people in countries who are the producers of eWaste would help these people have empathy for victims in other countries, and therefore actually take action. As a result, the lives of people in these countries that are so heavily impacted by the disposal of eWaste would begin to change for the better.
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