The CompostSmart App & Bin
CompostSmart is designed to bring personalized information for your compost bins. Our bin and app empower volunteers by identifying optimal compost materials, monitoring essential metrics for compost health, and creating a network for gardeners to exchange tips on maintaining healthy bins.
Design Challenge
Repurpose - Design a way to increase repurposing in New York City to increase value or reduce consumption.
Problem Identification
Composting is key for maintaining a sustainable garden, yet busy NYC community gardeners struggle with compost pile optimization. Composting is important but it seems like nobody knows how to do it right. There are google groups that share information, but they are disorganized and lacks specifics. Evenmore, knowledgeable gardeners do not have the right bin to compost efficiently.
Prior Art Shortcomings
Used to share information about composting practices and needs, but the information is highly fragmented and disorganized.
Is only an awareness week and so it does not target individualized compost problems that community gardens are encountering on a daily basis.
Is only targeted at schools as opposed to community garden volunteers and the solutions are not personalized to individual real-time problems.
Only offers locations for composting but fails to provide composting resources at all.
The CompostSmart Prototype
We built a the CompostSmart prototype within Figma to showcase its 3 main features:
- Compost Material Identification & Education
- Compost Health Monitoring
- Community Garden Information and Resource Sharing Network
Information & Resource Sharing Network
CompostSmart serves as a central hub for the collective knowledge of New York City community gardeners. Users can find resources on common issues, interests and even learning how to start gardening and get involved in their local community. If they need to find specifics they can search through other users' posts pose their own questions and successes others with a surplus of knowledge.
Browse the Community Garden Feed
Search for Specific Needs
Post Questions or Accomplishments to the Community
Compost Material Identification & Education
Within the community gardens, many individuals, ranging from beginners to the seasoned veterans, struggle with composting the right materials. CompostSmart allows users to easily sort through their garbage and find the compostable materials. Once identified, user can also learn how each component contributes to the optimal health of their compost.
Scan & Identify Optimal Compost Materials Amongst Overall Garbage
Learn About Benefits of the Materials You've Found
Compost Health Monitoring
Continuous monitoring of a compost bin is vital to ensure the production of healthy compost. New York community gardeners, however, are often extremely busy and thus unable to check their compost in person.
To solve this issue, the CompostSmart app comes with a sensor kit to convert any bin into a smart bin. Paired with the app, the sensors monitor the filled capacity, humidity, and temperature, providing an overall health score for community gardeners. A motion detector feature even allows users check if there are rats burrowing inside compost (one of the biggest issues they face). This enables community gardeners to check on their compost asynchronously at anytime during the day.
Monitor the Key Metrics of Your Bin