Team CIC (April 2025 work session)
Daksh Kanaiyalal Diyora (Computer Science), Surya Chaitanya Buse (Computer Science), Sathwin Reddy Julakanti (Computer Science), Navigna Reddy Gangumulla (Computer Science), Divij Singh Thakur (Computer Science)
What's the problem?
Every day on ASU’s campus, hundreds of single-use cups, containers, and utensils are tossed after one use, burdening landfills and choking our environment. Even students who want to use reusables face hurdles—there’s no easy way to borrow or return them between classes. Small frictions push people back to disposables, despite their best intentions. Our team built a tabletop cardboard model of an “Eco-Vending Machine” prototype: a bright, student-friendly kiosk that loans mugs, boxes, and cutlery with a simple swipe. By making reuse as seamless as getting a snack, we empower the campus community to choose sustainability every day.
Students lack a quick, convenient system for borrowing and returning clean, reusable dining items between classes. Without on-campus lending kiosks, carrying personal mugs or washing reusable containers becomes a chore. These barriers lead many to default to single-use plastics, increasing ASU’s waste footprint.
But First...
After empathy mapping student routines and clustering dozens of reuse ideas, we prioritized zero-hassle options. Sketching on sticky notes led us to adapt a snack-vending form factor. Building the cardboard prototype helped us visualize user flow and validate that swipe-to-borrow is clear and fun.
Who is impacted?
ASU Students and Staff
Designing a better solution to the problem
We designed an Eco-Vending Machine prototype which is a cardboard kiosk that dispenses reusable mugs, to-go boxes, and utensils. Users swipe their ASU Sun Card, select an item, and borrow it. Returned items slot into the bottom tray for automated cleaning. Our model demonstrates how a real machine would streamline reuse on campus.
The Prototype
