Two years after I founded The Aquaponics Project, our team felt we needed to move beyond food production. Our systems were growing food sustainably, but there was still the issue of food waste. Over 40% of all food produced is wasted at the production level as well as the consumer level. To move beyond aquaponics, I rebranded the company to Ecotone Renewables and spearheaded new product design and development.
During the next two years, I raised over $75,000 and led the team to expand our design and launch a new product called the Seahorse, a biodigester that transforms 2,000 pounds of food waste into renewable energy and fertilizer each month.
Design Challenge
The agriculture industry operates in silos causing food, energy, and resources to be wasted each step of the way. How can we design a food system that bridges these silos and works together sustainably?
USER RESEARCH & CUSTOMER DISCOVERY
LOCAL BUSINESSES (12)
FARMERS/GARDENERS (8)
o “ We have compost bins, but usually people don’t care enough to separate their stuff.”
o “We pay $120/mo for our garbage to be taken. We could invest in more sustainable options, but the cost isn’t justifiable.”
o “Every week we’ll have to throw away produce and products like bread and milk since they’re about to expire and we try put out the latest stuff. ”
o “Last week, we had to throw away about 500 loaves of bread.”
o “We try to donate items that don’t sell, but we’re never able to donate everything; there’s always waste.”
o “I have fertilizer deliveries every month. It’s about 40% of our operating costs.”
o “I try to use compost when I can. Buying fertilizer is expensive and it also doesn’t produce much flavor in the food. ”
o “Let me smell your fertilizer, I’ll tell you if it’s good or not.”
o “There is a sense of pride in growing your own food. I garden so I can feel like I at least have some control over my food.”
o “Vertical farming will never replace soil. It’s so rich and complex that you just can’t simulate it.”
Opportunity & Insights
Nearly all businesses deal with food waste. Even with nonprofits striving to redirect unsold or underutilized food items to those in need, there was still waste leftover. Meanwhile, farmers and gardeners were paying a pretty penny for fertilizer.
To explore solutions and ideas, I visited a wastewater treatment plant. These plants are usually million-dollar facilities that process everything a city flushes down the toilet. They use anaerobic digestion, a process that basically simulates a cow’s stomach. Food goes in one end fertilizer and methane gas come out the other. The methane is captured to burn as energy and the fertilizer is used for landscaping.
While I was there I watched as a truck full of ice cream dumped hundreds of pounds of wasted ice cream into the system. Seeing this, I wondered if there was a way to scale this system down to be a portable onsite solution for food waste.
Several months later, I partnered with Impact Bioenergy, one of the first companies to scale anaerobic digestion down to a commercial size. Together we would design and develop a new line of bio-digesters more compact than before. Since they called their big systems the "HORSE”, we named ours the Seahorse.
DESIGN REQUIREMENTS & GOALS
Ergonomic & Safe: scaling an industrial system down means fitting more into less space. Investing time to ensure the space is properly laid out and accessible prevents human error and risk.
Streamlined workflows and stations: in complex systems, operating the system should be straightforward and especially aligned with users’ mental models of how things work.
Odor/Mess Control: farmers say it’s the smell of gold, but everyone else will think it stinks. Working with fertilizer can be messy so make it easy to keep things tight, sealed, and clean.
Educational: more focus on programming and design to showcase how this system is working so community members are further engaged and comfortable.
Designing workflows
EXTERNAL & EDUCATIONAL DESIGN
To ensure community engagement and education, the material on the outside of our container needed to be redesigned to reflect the rebranding as well as the upgrades.
Mood Board & Color Palette
Iteration 1:
Too much color, needed to be more cohesive. Printing company said they couldn’t print the texturing on the letters.
