BioBin
System Design + Branding | Design for Sustainability
Role: Researcher, Concept Developer, UX and Graphic Designer
Timeline: June to August 2023 (10 Weeks)
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, Figma
Team: Aayushi Darji, Cristina Cordova, Lia Aleman, Tanya Shah
Context: A course within the MFA in Design for Sustainability curriculum; we were tasked with selecting a commonly practiced activity and indulge into deep research to identify systemic gaps that lead to "un-sustainable" behaviors. Our chosen behavior – meal preparation and home cooking – leads to food waste if not practiced right. The food waste contributes to landfill, methane in the atmosphere, and global boiling, all impacting the climate crisis.
Intervention: Using our primary and secondary research insights from studying the routine behavior of meal preparation and storage of home cooked food, we created BioBin (community compost) and deterra (information platform).
BioBin is a community-driven compost initiative that transforms household food waste into local impact. Designed as a sister project to Deterra, Biobin completes the sustainable food cycle by addressing disposal at the neighborhood level. Residents in small towns like Savannah, GA, collect their food scraps using Biobin’s system. These scraps are gathered and turned into nutrient-rich compost, which is then distributed to nearby farms. In return, those farms offer fresh produce at local markets – providing special benefits to residents who contributed to the compost.
Biobin is more than waste management – it’s a system of reciprocity. It connects people, food, and land through a simple, accessible loop that makes sustainability part of everyday life.
