Waste Genie: Learning Environmental Sustainability from Waste Sorting and Interactive Feedback

Waste management is the foundation of sustainable living. Recently, researchers and organizations have undertaken a variety of efforts to support sustainability through improved waste management. We designed and studied a web-based educational technology that harnesses environmental sustainability information and resources to support learning. Waste Genie combined the most prevalent formal and informal learning features by utilizing assessment with interactive feedback to facilitate users learning waste sorting. A field trial was deployed to examine the technology’s effectiveness and the learning impacts. The system logs were modeled with Hidden Markov Model to analyze the participants’ sequential patterns. The results showed that the users were confident using the system, and the platform was successful in engaging users through a variety of activities. The participants found the system very easy to use, they expressed a desire to have more social features, such as commenting and social sharing. The study also revealed that Waste Genie had a positive impact on users’ awareness of waste management, with participants demonstrating improvements in their waste sorting behaviors.