Your plastic straw is now a precious vote.
Modern streets of South Korea are filled with people holding something familiar: a plastic cup. Comprised of a clear plastic cup, a lid, a paper cupholder with a franchise logo, and a plastic straw, it is certainly a must-have item for the contemporary population. This abundantly utilized product, however, demands a rather bothersome process when being thrown away; you separate the cup holder, the lid, and the straw, which then belong to different categories of garbage. This “overwhelming” process invokes people to simply ignore it and toss it all into the general waste bin together.
A miraculous idea as a resolution has been presented at Joongang University (Seoul Campus).
The idea uses balance games—a trendy game that requires you to choose between two equally significant things (such as mom VS dad)—to incentivize people to separate the plastic cup with its straw and paper holder. Here’s an example.
As shown above, your ‘vote’ is made through the plastic straw or paper holder, making its separation entertaining and meaningful at the same time. The idea gained considerable popularity between the university’s students and has become a brilliant example to environment-friendly projects.
Joongang University’s usual trash cans, Penguin News
Joongang University’s usual trash cans, Penguin News
There are numerous ongoing projects that aim to protect the environment, from social media networking to active protests. Most of these organizations focus on delivering the tremendous burden that humankind to preserve the planet. The given project, easily made with a couple of boxes and a marker, managed to create a larger national impact than most large-scale projects and provocative content.
Written by Minyong Kim
