Strollect was created by Jasmin Kappler and me as part of the Rimowa Design Prize 2024 and was awarded "Finalist". At the award ceremony, it was presented to the public at a one-day exhibition at the James-Simon Gallery in Berlin.
Inspiration
The global problem of littering in nature, especially at sea & in urban areas, has been a concern of ours for some time. We have therefore followed projects such as The Ocean Clean Up with interest. On our vacation trips we were and are constantly confronted with garbage, especially on beaches and city centers. The small bin bag we brought with us was always quickly filled and unfortunately we didn't have the right equipment, such as a grabber, to be really thorough. At home, people looked at you funny for collecting. This is where our idea of a participatory litter collection rental service comes in, that tries to shape awareness in society.
Idea
Strollect is an innovative, app-enhanced, litter-picking service that promotes environmental stewardship and community care. Building on the logic of existing rental bicycle services, Strollect trolleys offer users an easy means of renting equipment for litter picking. In-app events facilitate social interaction and reward participation with “Benefit Points” that are redeemable at local partners like cafés, museums, attractions and more. Collected and sorted recyclables by users are then picked by Strollect employees for further processing by partner companies.
Design Process
At the beginning, we did a lot of research on the topic and found out that there is no comparable project in this context. We then used sketches, mood boards and 3D models to transform our idea into a design draft. For deeper insights into the topic, we conducted two interviews with the Berlin City Cleaning Department and a volunteer group from Potsdam, which went positive. We then built a 1:10 model of the whole service to check the initial proportions. Further we built a 1:1 prototype for testing the volume or the dimensions. This revealed problems with the stability of the frame, so we consulted an engineer. Details in the design were then adjusted again.
As we wanted to reach different age groups with our idea, we created a series of posters and a social media account. There, users can share their motivation to use Strollect to show different user profiles. In addition, the app and website were continuously expanded so that we can show existing partner companies as fictitious supporters and explain the recycling process after collection to users with illustrations. This is intended to communicate transparency. We have also created an exhibition concept that clearly explains our complex idea. The grabber and some details on the trolley were built 1:1 for this.
Final Design
RIMOWA Award Ceremony
