Lily Nguyen: October 2012

Floating Bins on River

Floating Bin on river is a new Product Service System for people who living in Mekong Delta River. Floating market is a culture and proud of the people here. It is where they trade and exchange their goods/fruits/meat by boat. This system is designed to enhance a Greener River, reduce floating garbage and create a new ritual for the people living in this area

There are about 1500 boats joining the floating market in Mekong Delta River everyday. Through the research we found about 6.41-12.25 tons garbage discarded straight into river after the market is finished. The total garbage found on river a year is 2309-4411 tons. This causes many problems such as many dead fish, bad smells, traffic problem (due to nylon bags got stucked into the diving machine) and finally health issues (no clean water for usage). The found floating garages are mostly 35% of discarded meat/ fruits, 30% of plastic bag, 25% of daily waste and 10% of the plastic bottle. The government current has no solution for this problem. There is only a volunteer club to clean but just after the people throwing their garbage into water.

The Bin captures floating flowers on river, waterlily leaves, thus to create a connection to nature and be more friendly to user. There are 2 bins which are Bio Waste (Brown lid) and Recycle waste (Blue lid) and they are made of Polypropylene Plastic. The bins are low, thus it is easy and convenience for throwing the garbage it. By pressing the Open button, the lid of the bin is kept opening while discarding the garbage. There is hook to keep the boat and the bins balance and stop floating.

In order to support this system, the government also gives out a free attached bin on boat; provides free educated booklet, wrapping paper and bamboo basket to reduce the use of plastic bag. The attached bin is designed to hang on BEO tree (Beo tree is used to recognise the selling goods from far). The attached small bin has 2 level of high. The first level is normal size bin which is enough for using during the market time. The second level is extended from the folds. This makes the bin longer thus the people who leave on boat and need more space for garbage storage during the night. The system is helped by volunteer club. The people sailing around and help to transport garbage from small bin to the public in case the people are busy exchanging / trading. The volunteer also give stamps to the people who joining the system. One stamp is given to people who discard garbage at level 1heigh of the attached bin and two stamps for level2.

The Pubic Bin is then collected by boatman back to the Garbage Centre for separation. The Recycle wastes like bottles and cans are transported to factory for recycle and reuse for many different purposes. The Bio Waste is buried and to create fertilizer by farmers. This fertilizer is used to grow fruits in the local public garden. Every month, the collected fruits are given to poor people on river as well as to award people who have got a lot of stamps.

This PPS brings many benefits to both users and the environment. Firstly for the social benefit, it increases more food source and a healthy environment for living. Besides, it decreases the traffic problems on river. Importantly, the system creates a new ritual culture on river and builds a strong relationship in community by helping poor people. The System also brings many benefits to the environment as it reduces water pollution issue. The system is manufactured with natural and recycled materials. Also it shows a strong relationship between user and product system too.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Project 2- PPS The Floating Bins