Phil­ter is a design initiative created by Lusha Huang, George Crichlow, Lucy Knops and Elisa Werbler designed to win over the hearts and minds of Etsy stakeholders, in an effort to work towards their goal of zero waste. By rebranding waste as an opportunity instead of a problem, the group leveraged the data already collected by Etsy about their waste, that was not being communicated as a tool to encourage employees to both sort their trash properly and reduce the amount overall. This small initiative ladders up to a larger proposal of integrating a new waste system at Etsy Brooklyn’s new office in the coming year that involves diverting some of that waste as animal feed to chickens on Etsy’s rooftop garden.

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Phil-ter
Elisa, George, Lucy, Lusha

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To help Etsy get closer to their goal of
being completely carbon neutral.
By working from the inside-out, we hope
to win over the hearts and minds of Etsy
employees, to help empower the entire
Etsy community.

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Long Term
Short Term
Create zero waste
find alternative uses for food waste
Design positive behavior
create small low cost design interventions

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Understand the behaviors, attitudes
and habits around Etsy’s waste system.

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In 2010
“60 million tons of food waste
was generated in the US, of
which nearly 40 million tons
went to landfill”
source: Food Waste Reduction Alliance

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Findings from the 2013
Etsy Progress Report
Etsy is working hard to reduce
waste, but there is more to be
done!
18%
Bottles/Cans
11%
Paper/
Cardboard
21%
Compost
1%
E-waste

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-Desktop research
-Examined case studies
-Conducted 2 surveys - one with
Etsy employees, one here at PoD
-Interviewed Etsy employees
-Interviewed industry experts

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Company wide survey
111 responses out of roughly 350
Etsy employees

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Etsy is very much aware of
this problem
99% of Etsy employees say they are
conscious about sorting their trash into
the appropriate bins
source: Fall 2014 Etsy survey

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Employees are doing their
part
75% of Etsy employees scrape their
plates before throwing them in the trash
source: Fall 2014 Etsy survey

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But find it challenging when
it comes to sorting trash
51% of Etsy employees don’t know
which bin to use
source: Fall 2014 Etsy survey

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It isn’t always clear which
trash bin to choose
42% of people find it difficult to define
which waste belongs to which category
source: Fall 2014 Etsy survey

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When asked which bin
prepared food scraps go
64% said landfill
36% said compost
source: Fall 2014 Etsy survey

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When asked if they place
their waste in the correct bin
44% of Etsy employees believe they
sort their trash properly
source: Fall 2014 Etsy survey

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On October 14, 2014 Etsy conducted a
trash dump to see if things were being
properly sorted into bins

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The Findings:
75% of what went into “landfill” could
have been sorted into proper bins

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How might we divert waste
from going into landfill?

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What if some of the food waste
generated by Etsy could become feed
for animals?

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Let’s look at some case studies to see
who’s handling food waste well.

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The Pig Idea
Tristram Stuart’s anti-food waste campaign
What they are doing well:
• Encourage and educate people on
using food waste to feed pigs
• Lowering carbon emissions as
compared to compost
Challenges for our project:
• They focus is on large scale, pre-
consumer waste
• Kill step necessary to create safe pig
feed adds to the carbon emissions

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Rutgers University
Animal Feed Program
What they are doing well:
• Divert approximately 2,500 tons of
food waste as animal feed per year
• Have formed a long-lasting relationship
with a reliable farmer
• Implementing other initiatives to lower
food waste such as removal of trays in
dining halls
Challenges for our project:
• Finding a local farmer
• Conscious of environmental impact of
transporting scraps
Sources: Interview with Jim Vernere instructor of Nutritional Sciences
www.epa.gov

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Inglorious Foods Campaign
Intermarche
What they are doing well:
• Succeeding at re-framing unwanted
produce as edible and desirable
• Raising awareness of food waste
• Use clever marketing to give
unattractive food a personality
Challenges for our project:
• Operating at a large-scale systems level
• They are dealing with fresh food rather
than food waste

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All of these examples turn trash
into treasure.

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What do some experts have to say?

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Skip Shapiro
Skip Shapiro Enterprises - Food Waste Management
“Look into local farmers who are permitted to have
alternative feed, and look into on-site solutions.”
“There’s a huge business in redirecting food waste,
but you need to be operating on a large scale.”
Michael Yezzi
Flying Pigs Farm - Battenkill River Valley, NY
“Egg laying hens can be fed almost anything, the food
waste doesn’t need to go through a kill step because
genetically they are farther away from humans than
pigs.”
“You could create a closed loop with a rooftop farm
and a few laying hens, the compost gives off heat and
will keep them warm in the winter.”
“The biggest challenge is finding a local farmer that
can take the food scraps, the farther it travels the
harder it is, we have a long-standing relationship
with a family owned farm nearby, but if we lose that
connection, I’m not sure what we would do.”
Jim Vernere
Instructor of Nutritional Sciences at Rutgers

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Challenges:
1. Location
2. Scale
3. Kill step

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What are our opportunities?

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Long Term
Short Term
Create zero waste
find alternative uses for food waste
Design positive behavior
create small low cost design interventions

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Insights:
Etsy is already doing all the hard work,
it’s just not being communicated to
employees.
*show their treasure

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Phil-ter
Phil-ter is a design initiative to help us all
see exactly how our trash is adding up.
Together we can Phil-ter down to
zero waste.

32. glamour shot of trash monsters

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Paper & Cardboard
“Cardboard Phil-er”
• Office Paper • Paper Cups
• Paper Bags • Coffee Cups
• Pizza Boxes • Paper Towel Tubes
• Cardboard • Envelopes
No Thanks!
White paper Napkins, Tissues, Wrappers, Googly Eyes
Yes, please!
2 weeks ago
of our trash was
Paper & Cardboard
%
Last week
of our trash was
Paper & Cardboard
%
How will we
measure up
this week?
How will we
measure up
this week?
No Thanks!
Meat, Bread, Metal, Glass, White Paper,
Plastic, Googly Eyes
Yes, please!
• Brown Paper Napkins • Coffee Grounds
• Paper Towels • Tea Bags
• Fruits & Vegetables • Sugarcane Plates & Bowls
• Peels & Egg Shells (from Eatsy *Ripped*)
Compost
“Phil-lis Dill-er”
2 weeks ago
of our trash
was Compost
%
Last week
of our trash
was Compost
%

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Metal, Glass & Plastic
“Phil-up Glass”
• Empty Plastic Containers • Aluminum Cans & Foil
• Plastic Cups • Coffee Cup Lids
• Yogurt Containers • Metal Lids & Bottle Caps
• Plastic Cutlery • Glass Bottles & Jars
• Googly Eyes
No Thanks!
Plastic Wrappers, Plastic Bags can be
recycled in the 512 kitchen
Yes, please!
2 weeks ago
of our trash was
Metal, Glass & Plastic
%
Last week
of our trash was
Metal, Glass & Plastic
%
How will we
measure up
this week?
• Meat • Wrappers
• Greasy Foods • White Paper Napkins
• Bread Products • Tissues
No Thanks!
Batteries, Electronics, Googly Eyes, Plastic Bags
can be recycled in the 512 kitchen
Yes, please!
Landfill
“Land-Phil”
2 weeks ago
of our trash
was Landfill
%
Last week
of our trash
was Landfill
%
How will we
measure up
this week?

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Category / Name
Visual Guide
Things That Belong
Things That Don’tNo Thanks!
Meat, Bread, Metal, Glass, White Paper,
Plastic, Googly Eyes
Yes, please!
• Brown Paper Napkins • Coffee Grounds
• Paper Towels • Tea Bags
• Fruits & Vegetables • Sugarcane Plates & Bowls
• Peels & Egg Shells (from Eatsy *Ripped*)
Compost
“Phil-lis Dill-er”
2 weeks ago
of our trash
was Compost
%
Last week
of our trash
was Compost
% Current Stats
How will we
measure up
this week?

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Short Term
Goal
• Nudge Etsy employees to become
more efficient trash sorters
• Reduce the overall amount of waste
going out to landfill
• Create a positive feedback loop within
the waste system
Offering
• Visualize the monthly trash data to
create a sense of urgency and reinforce
positive habits
www.FastCodesign.com

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posters in context

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“Our signs are sometimes confusing, the
characters help a lot.”
Wendy

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“It’s helpful to see where we were
last week.”
Elana

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Looking forward:
Short term
update trash data percentages weekly
Long term
use the research we’ve uncovered about
diverting food waste as animal feed to
inform plans for the rooftop farm in Etsy’s
newly constructed office

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Goal
• Create a zero food waste system at Etsy
Brooklyn
Offering
• Create Etsy’s own on-site Chicken Coop
• Implement a small roof-top garden
integrating composting, hen raising, and
vegetable garden
Long Term

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Thanks To:
Corey Benniger
Eric Beug
Matt Stinchcomb
Katie Rose Crosswhite
Nahvae Frost