GreenPod

What it does

Current medical waste containers are hard to use, especially for diabetics with nerve damage, lack home-friendly aesthetics, and are made from environmentally harmful materials. GreenPod offers a user-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and sustainable solution.

Your inspiration

The inspiration for GreenPod comes from watching diabetic family members struggle with generic hazardous medical waste containers due to their nerve damage. To store waste from diabetes aids, they often use items like empty ice cream containers that are neither safe nor sustainable. The solution was inspired by the twist lids of spice shakers. After researching existing products, their life cycle, and the materials used to produce them, we realized the necessity for a safer, easier-to-use, and more eco-friendly solution. Especially since our target audience is 5% of Sweden's population, nearly 600,000 people, who live with incurable diabetes.

How it works

GreenPod comes fully assembled and ready to use, featuring a twist-lock system with a handle to easily open and close the lid, even by individuals with nerve damage. The lid consists of two components: the top and the bottom. Both parts have openings that must align for the lid to open. A pin on the underside of the top lid moves along a track on the bottom lid. At the end of the track, there is a catch that causes the pin to engage, permanently locking the lid. To prevent the lid from being accidentally locked permanently, there is a safety catch on the top lid and a safety stop on the bottom lid that prevents the pin from moving all the way. The safety catch must be broken to lock the lid permanently. When closing the lid, the pin stops in the middle of the track with a click while the safety catch stops at the safety stop. Visual indicators on the lid display its status: open, closed, or permanently locked, with yellow signaling closed and red for locked.

Design process

The preliminary phase began with an exploratory study to identify existing products, target audience, and problem areas. Online-surveys and interviews were conducted to gather data that allowed a comprehensive analysis of problem areas by combining statistical generalizability and individual insights. Functional, competitive, and manufacturing analyses were performed to identify areas for improvement. The creative phase began with idea sketches, focusing on user-friendliness for users with nerve damage. Braindrawing and user behavior scenarios were used to further develop early concepts, followed by brainstorming for idea evaluation. Three concepts were selected to create early prototypes for evaluation through functionality tests. The concepts were then sifted through criterion weighting to objectively prioritize them based on predefined functional requirements and customer needs such as safety, sustainability, and aesthetics. The final concept, blending elements from earlier designs was fine-tuned with a weakness analysis and a focus group study. It was then tested by a user from the target audience to gather feedback and CAD-renderings were created to provide a clear visual presentation of the end product. Finally, a functional prototype of the end product was 3D-printed.

How it is different

GreenPod differs from other hazardous medical waste containers in several ways. Unlike existing products, which require significant effort to assemble, GreenPod comes fully assembled, providing great convenience, especially for diabetics with nerve damage. It features a twist-lock system that is more user-friendly than the traditional push locks, a benefit confirmed through user testing. Additionally, a unique safety catch on the lid reduces the risk of accidental permanent sealing. GreenPod includes clear instructions for the lock system, which existing products lack. It will be made from eco-friendly material, which is especially important since hazardous medical waste containers are meant for single use and are incinerated after. Available in three different colors, GreenPod has an aesthetically pleasing design that blends well into the home environment in a discreet and stylish manner; while existing containers are designed for medical establishments.

Future plans

We are collaborating with a business incubator at Luleå University of Technology that supports the early stages of commercializing business ideas into start-ups or other developmental ventures. The next step is to refine the concept further and develop a production design for commercial manufacturing. Subsequently, we will contact various stakeholders to initiate production. In Sweden, all aids for diabetes management are subsidized by the government, and diabetics can get free generic hazardous medical waste containers from the state-owned pharmaceutical retailer. Our goal is to distribute GreenPod for free to diabetics through this channel.

Awards