Dog Waste Product Service System - Reflection

This was easily the most involving project I have worked on so far. Not just from a time management or workload perspective, but also the scope of the project far exceeded any previous work. Envisioning the product as part of a system was, at the start, not such a bad prospect. I deeply underestimated the difficulty involved and it was quite an eye opening experience.

I never expected that a dog bin would be so involving to redesign, but after examing the scope of the system it was involved in and the surprising damage it does to the environment, I was convinced that this was definitely the direction our team should pursue and strive to improve. The fact that such a large amount of waste goes straight to landfill and that no previous large scale solutions had been investigated shocked me especially when you consider that dog waste is a natural biological by-product, so why should it be regarded in the same way as consumer product or other man-made waste when it can be utilized elsewhere, and the fact that this issue is not isolated in Australia, but in fact a worldwide occurance further exemplified its necessity. At least, that was my rationale when approaching this project.

We experienced many difficulties along this project, typical of any project of this manner. From styling and visual symantec issues to regulations and logistics. As mentioned previously, the scope was tremendous and dealing with such a large amount was one of our largest hurdles, as if we could not answer these logistical issues, our project would be undermined. I recall my group spending hours and late nights simply discussing how we're going to deal with so much poo.

We discussed integrating it into existing sewage and waste management, but that would never be viable as that would involve a more expensive installation of the bin as plumbing would be involved, as well as the issue of plastic bags entering into pipes. Fast water soluble bags were found to be a solution, but there was no garauntee that other users will not just use regular plastic bags. Discussions with Sydney Water further led us away from this solution, as they said while the current system could theoretically cope with the increased load, it would decrease the current efficiency of the system.

Our composting solution was also an interesting investigation. We found current examples of dog waste being used for composting, albeit on a smaller scale, but the fact that these examples often took months to produce results was a cause for concern. During our discussions we faced the problem of the 'shit literally piling up', as dog waste would be collected, but then be backed up as it would not be turned into compost fast enough to export.

Further research found we could process compost in 2 weeks using a ratio or 3 to 4 parts carbon (plant matter/paper etc) and 1 part nitrogen (dog waste). The next step would be to find enough carbon for us to reach that ratio. We found that in existing organic matter collection facilities which already produce compost. The amount produced by the Penrith facility (78,000 tonnes per annum) was more than enough for our purposes.

I find working in a group difficult, in most cases, as members dedication or input is often not what you expect from them, but my colleagues in this project were exceptional. We fed off each others ideas and respected each others inputs equally while at the same time providing necessary feedback to progress the project. As the deadline approached we rallied together to finish the project, it was a very positive experience.