According to Citeo, 51% of French households systematically sort their household packaging, and 89% do so regularly. This represents 54 kg of packaging sorted per inhabitant and per year on average, and 2.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions avoided (2021 figures). Of course, not all packaging is equal when it comes to recycling (only 30% for plastic, but 72% for paper/cardboard and 88% for glass), and a high rate of recovered waste (including incineration) persists of industrial processes available, but this eco-gesture seems to be taking hold.
That said, despite the communication from the municipalities or the simplification of sorting, some still hesitate when it comes to sorting their waste in the colored bins. Especially since specific waste is added, such as electronics, metals or even expired drugs. This is why Vrai Studio has developed RecyclageVR thanks to the Unity engine, a fun tool for learning waste sorting highlighted during the European Week for Waste Reduction (SERD), which will take place from 19 to 27 november.
Immersion to learn better
Kévin Mazars, founder of Vrai Studio, seized the opportunity presented by an ecological event organized by the Greater Albigensian conurbation and immediately saw the potential of virtual reality to offer a new approach. His credo? Benjamin Franklin’s maxim: “You tell me, I forget. You teach me, I remember. You involve me, I learn.” Given the reception given to its prototype, Vrai Studio has decided to make RecyclageVR a more advanced application in order to adapt it to the needs of communities, schools and businesses wishing to raise awareness among as many people as possible about the problem of sorting waste.
“The immersion offered by the experience allows better retention of information and makes the user directly involved in his learning, involving him more in the mobilization”explains Kevin Mazars. “With more than 300 waste items available — including dangerous, sharp or toxic items that only VR can handle without risk — and up to eight bins active simultaneously and all customizable, the experience adapts to all needs and can provide each user with targeted and precise learning”, says True Studio. Added to this is a whole statistical section and explanations of errors made by the user during sorting.
A personalized and accompanied experience
The personalization of the experience is a key point because, as Kévin Mazars explains to us: “We ended up dropping the collection of information about sorting instructions, because we realized that even market specialists do not know the complete recommendations for each municipality. Instead, we focused on developing a fully configurable and adaptable tool.”
Another difficulty, less obvious to circumvent, concerns the training of people brought to use the application, virtual reality being a still new field for many French people. Note that in addition to the VR version, the application is available in a tactile version, easier to understand by younger audiences, under 12 years old. “The touch table brings a playful side in a group with a strong motivation by imitation for the youngest, or by the desire to succeed as a team”tells us Kévin Mazars.
Soon multiplayer?
For the time being, RecyclageVR is reserved for eco-animations that can take place in communities, during trade fairs or workshops organized in companies or in schools. The application requires the presence of a trained facilitator, capable of setting up the experience and supporting the user. Nevertheless, Vrai Studio tells us that it already has several ideas to improve its creation in the future.
“We hope to be able to develop a multiplayer mode to organize collaborative virtual sorting sessions, or even small sorting competitions. We are also thinking of a consumer version usable at home with their personal virtual reality headset, but we will wait for that to test the interest of the public to see if they can be interested in a more complete game around recycling”ends Kévin Mazars.