in a nutshell...
The ubu project aims to provide members of Vancouver's binning community with a useful tool to assist in the collection and transport of refundable beverage containers. Binners who acquire a ubu cart are introduced to local businesses wishing to donate their refundable containers. Our goal is to foster mutually beneficial and self-sustaining relationships that endeavour to improve both the environment and local communities as a whole.
what we've done
In the spring of 2006, 10 locally manufactured ubus were road tested by full-time binners for the purpose of gathering feedback and stimulating interest. The results confirmed that the ubu is useful, durable and that there exists a genuine need for a purpose-built binner's cart. In addition, participants expressed that the positive encouragement and comments received from the public acted to improve their self-esteem, making them feel more like valued members of the community.
where we're at
Informed by the feedback, we've built 40 more ubu carts and hired community developer Andy Wilkinson to work alongside binners motivated in acquiring a ubu. Andy meets with binners one-on-one, taking them and a ubu out to local businesses who have offered to donate their beverage containers. During these outings, binners are assisted with the logistics and expectations of the interaction. The goal is to provide the recycler with the skills and experience necessary, so they feel confident that they can offer the same level of service to other businesses in the future.
where we're going
Our goal is to make the ubu the binner's tool of choice, by providing a useful cart to assist urban recyclers with the great job they already do. We also endeavour to create new opportunities by raising the awareness of binning and evolving the activity by forming new partnerships with stakeholders within the community.
Advertising panels on ubus help the project reach sustainability, while offering the business community the opportunity to be seen as visibly supportive of environmental stewardship and self-initiated micro-entrepreneurship at the ground-level.
the grand scheme
The ubu is not just a great tool for binning, but also an excellent instrument useful in community development. Being a tangible product, the ubu has the advantage of engaging stakeholders at all levels. We continue to experiment with various forms of skills training and self-improvement, including the implementation of an asset development model, where we assist recyclers in identifying a goal and help them devise a step-by-step plan to work and save towards it (like tools for a trade or a down payment for co-op housing).
What we learn, we want to share, so that other communities can leverage our knowledge and experience. As we continue to develop the ubu model, we will offer what we have found works and what doesn't. We also want to make ubus available to individuals or community groups who would like to provide binning carts to recyclers who operate outside of the Downtown Eastside, where United We Can currently runs the project. If you are interested in developing opportunities in your area with ubu, please contact us.
project history
The ubu cart was born as the thesis project of Industrial Designer Michael Strutt, a recent graduate of the Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design. During the research and development phase, Michael connected with Ken Lyotier, the Executive director of United We Can, a charity and bottle depot located in the heart of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. United We Can's mandate is to create self-sustaining enterprises that focus on caring for the urban environment, while creating income and job training opportunities for people of the inner city.
In the spring of 2005, United We Can agreed to initiate and support the development of the ubu cart for individuals who collect refundable beverage containers. United We Can contracted Michael to lead the project. A business plan was prepared with the intention of attracting investment for the fabrication and sale of ubu carts. The financial plan anticipated a revenue stream generated by the sale of advertising on the side panels of the cart. Advertising sales revenue was projected to help subsidize the cost of the cart to binners.
United We Can secured funding for this phase of the project from BC Technology Social Venture Partners, Canada's National Brewers and Encorp Pacific (Canada). Support was used to develop 10 ubu carts as a part of a experimental pilot project to access the cart's usability, durability and to gather feedback from various stakeholders. The pilot was launched in the spring of 2006 and ran over the summer into early fall. Findings revealed that the ubu cart was useful, desirable, durable and elicited an overall positive response from stakeholders
More importantly, it became obvious during the pilot study that ubu was useful as a community development tool. The pilot served to engage binners collectively in regular feedback meetings, which could be enhanced to become part of a training program that would see binners building self-esteem, improving their standards of behaviour and upgrading interpersonal skills. Through this improvement, they could make themselves more marketable as street level service providers and entrepreneurs.
In the spring of 2007, a community developer was hired and trained to work with binners through a stabilization and training process. 40 more ubus were produced by a fabricator operating in the Downtown Eastside. Advertising contracts were secured with Small Potatoes Urban Delivery (SPUD) and ITC Constructors Group.