With the fall semester devoted to finding a problem, there were many steps in the rigorous process which included considering the broader impacts, motivation, market selection, and stakeholders of the potential problem area. Broader Impacts considers the project’s scalability in addition to who it would affect, both good and bad. Motivation ensures that the team actually wants to work on finding a solution for the problem at hand. This will push us to keep working even when the work is arduous and time-consuming. Market selection is where we hone in on a problem. This included multiple rounds of voting and narrowing down our choices for the problem area. After narrowing it down, we had to think about the stakeholders and our ability to access them in terms of discovering the problem and implementing a solution.
Problem Statement: There is a high rate of contamination in Lafayette College’s recycling that causes viable recyclables to be thrown away rather than recycled at a plant.