Reuse citizens can see the effect of
- First MVP a new idea tested in the market
- 10,000+ citizens installed the app in six months
- Measurable reuse that used to happen in silence
- Real time CO₂ savings shown immediately
- The behaviour exists, but it is not being measured.
- Without data the effort can neither be steered nor documented.
- The first version has to both prove the idea and hold the budget.
That is what it looks like for many who need to get from an idea to something measurable. These are some of the challenges we have worked on with Open Experience.
What was Open Experience facing?
Direct reuse already happens at the recycling centres: someone takes home a chair, a bicycle or a worktop instead of letting it become waste. But the act leaves no trace, so neither could the citizen see their own effect nor the municipality document the effort.
The solution was built in the subsidiary TheNewSort as a new product. It had to be good enough to prove the idea to the municipalities and cheap enough for a new company to carry.
Reuse became visible, both for the citizen and for the municipality.
Direct reuse happened without being recorded, so the effect could neither be seen nor documented.
The citizen records their item in a few taps and sees the CO₂ saving, while the municipality gets data from the site in real time. No employee has to trace it afterwards.
An MVP that proved the business with more than 10,000 downloads in six months, without spending an entire development budget.
Under a minute from picking something up to seeing what it meant
The citizen is standing at a recycling centre with a chair under their arm. Everything the app asks for has to be doable right there, with one hand and without putting the chair down.
If recording takes longer than the find is worth, it does not happen. So the whole journey is cut to four steps with a visible reward at the end.
- Where am I Nearest site
The app opens on the site you are standing at and shows what others have taken home.
- What did I take Photo and category
A photo, a category and a quantity. The photo is not stored on the phone and is sent anonymously.
- Did it count The record
Geofencing ensures it can only happen at an approved site, without the citizen noticing.
- What did it mean The CO₂ saving
The effect is calculated and shown immediately, including on the site's own dashboards.
The municipality gets the same data at the other end, without anyone having to type anything in.
Data that did not exist, gathered by the people holding the things
- The citizen collects
The person taking the item home is also the only one who can record it. The app makes that five seconds of work for the citizen, instead of a tracking job the municipality would have to staff.
- Geofencing
The record can only be made at an approved site. That is what turns figures gathered by citizens into something a municipality can put in a report.
- Something bigger to be part of
The CO₂ saving is shown immediately and added to the site's total. You see both your own contribution and that you are part of something that counts.
Together this makes both the reuse process and its effect measurable. The municipality can steer by figures instead of estimates, and the citizen gets a reason to keep going. Transparency is not a by-product here; it is the whole point.
Open Experience needed the answer before the money was spent
A new product has to answer one question: does the idea work? We could have built everything bespoke from scratch, but then the money would have been spent before the answer arrived.
Everything bespoke from scratch
- Full control over every detail
- But the budget is spent before the idea is proved
- Slow to change when the tests say something new
Directus and Flutter as the foundation
- Live quickly at a price a new company can carry
- One codebase for iOS and Android
- The municipalities can configure the app themselves from the back end
Three moves that kept the price down and the quality up
Open Experience knows the reuse field, the municipalities and the business idea. Our contribution was building a first version good enough to show the idea held up, without costing what a finished system costs.
- 01
Customer portal on Directus
Municipalities and reuse operators administer records, content and language versions themselves, and can configure the app without a developer.
- 02
Dashboards with KPIs
Real-time insight makes it possible to see trends and prioritise the effort, instead of guessing at what works.
- 03
Open API
Data can be pulled out and used strategically, so the solution can feed into the municipalities' wider sustainability work.
Tested at the site, not at the office
The hard part was not the technology, but making the recording so simple that everyone bothers with it. We prototyped quickly and tested with a user panel directly at the recycling centres, where people have full hands and are in a hurry.
The feedback from there shaped the flow as we went. The result is an app that needs minimal support, because it does not have to be explained.
Five steps that take under a minute
The app meets the citizen with the nearest site and the latest pickups. Recording is cut down to photo, category and quantity, with help text exactly where people tend to hesitate.
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The front page shows the nearest site and the most recently collected items
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Step 1: take a photo of what you are collecting
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Step 2: choose a category, with a way out if it is missing
Photos are not stored on the phone and are submitted anonymously. That is stated in the flow itself, where the question arises, not in a terms text. Municipalities can set the app up in their own brand — here Argo.
A foundation that can grow with the job
Because the solution is built on Directus and Flutter, it can be extended as more municipalities join, and as the requirements for documenting sustainability tighten. What began as an MVP can carry the next step without being rebuilt.
- Industry
- Reuse and the public sector
- Platform
- Mobile app (iOS and Android), web portal and API
- Our role
- Development partner with operational responsibility under a service agreement
- Capabilities
- Digital consulting , UX and service design , App development , Web development , System development
- Technologies
- Flutter (Dart), Vue.js, Directus CMS, Postgres
- The collaboration
- A new product, tested with a user panel
Do you have an idea that needs proving?
- A reply from one of us by the next business day.
- A no-obligation review of your situation.
- Clarity on which options are relevant to you.
- A concrete plan, if you choose to go ahead.