Sorting your waste correctly can be done through a game. HE-Arc Ingénierie has developed a fun and educational recycling system. Called LuSTra, for Playful smart trash, it is currently in place in the Terreaux college in Neuchâtel. It makes it possible to detect that it is indeed the right material that has been put in the right bin. Then, each correct sort allows you to advance in a game on a tablet connected to the device. ” It’s not that hard ! », smiles Olivier Hüsser, computer science teacher at the Haute école Arc, specializing in algorithms and image processing. “We have a sort of slide, a plastic plate, which we attach to the inside of the container. The waste falls on it and the noise it makes will be different depending on whether it is PET or aluminum,” he explains.
This system is installed in a secondary school, with students who are between 11 and 15 years old. Aren’t they a little too old for this type of game? “It’s true that at the start of the project, we started with younger people,” recognizes Olivier Hüsser.
This tool is innovative because it not only encourages you to sort your waste, it encourages you to recycle it correctly, explains Olivier Hüsser. For the HE-Arc teacher, the system has an educational and ecological vocation. But it requires being connected to electric current. Olivier Hüsser recognizes that “for the waste that will be thrown into the container, absolutely not actually”. But he puts the consumption of the device into perspective, while reminding that it is not intended to be deployed on a large scale.
The educational retraining system will remain for approximately one week in the Neuchâtel school. Then, it could be established in other places, such as the Natural History Museum or even serve as a tool for raising awareness in schools. /lgn
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