Action #10

For all previous actions, I mainly focus on my personal issues or people around me, so for this time, it’s time for me to get out from me and my friend-zone.

This is a photo I took when I travelled to Shanghai Disneyland last year, you can see the garbage all over the ground. I think the main reason for people littering is that Shanghai Disneyland is not well planned, and if people can easily throw their garbage in the garbage bins, they usually don’t choose to throw it on the ground.

So, I start wondering can I do some to help this. Coincidentally, the company I’m interning at is launching a small program that can be used for this purpose. This small program is inside WeChat, you may know that almost every Chinese has WeChat app on their phone (WeChat is just like Whatsapp and Messager, it almost contains all the functions of Messager and Instagram. And the WeChat small program is similar to a standalone app, but it eliminates the step to download a new app and is very popular in China).

This is what the small program looks like.

This small program is mainly focusing on scenic areas. When people enter the park, they can scan the QRcode to buy e-tickets, foods as well as drinks, and the program may record that they entered, and can record their visiting routine. And we can use the same method to track the wastes.

And this is a small local park as example.

This is a small local park in my city.

This is the simplified map of this park, there’s only four attractions (the red points above) that people may visit. So I put QR code on each of them and waiting at the entrance of this park. Another reason why I choose this park is there is only one entrance, which helps a lot when doing the counting work. At the same time, I marked the existing garbage bin in the park (which are shown as blue points in the picture above).

After finish these preparation, I start doing the counting work. However, Things didn’t go as smoothly as I thought they would. Because I asked people to help me by scanning QR codes, some passersby suspected I was committing fraud. I had to explain over and over again to people trying to enter the park that it was just a school project to collect data for statistical purposes. It’s really tired repeating the explaination time after time, so I wondering is there something can help me get rid of this explanation work.

And I got my inspiration from the surveys that supermarkets send out. Usually, if you agree to fill out a supermarket’s satisfaction survey, they will give you a small gift in return, so that both the supermarket and yourself are satisfied.

In this case I bought some discounted tissues from the supermarket to distribute, and all the people are satified on helping my data-collection work.

After I finish the data-collection, it was shown that most people followed the routine of B, D, C, A. And two of the garbage bins are largely unused. So I talked to the Park Superintendent department my study, they said they will invest my work and if it’s the truth they gonna rearrange the position of the garbage bins.

The project itself is not difficult; the biggest challenge is to get people involved in your project. And I have to say communication is really important, but sometimes some small tricks can help you easier and faster.

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