Does your work require IRB approvals? If Yes, articulate your detailed IRB strategy. If No, explain why you don’t need IRB approval and identify situations when you might need IRB approval.

Yes, our work requires IRB approval. First, the PlasTech Venture activities satisfies IRB’s definition of research. The team is conducting a systematic investigation on recyclable plastics and developing methodologies to diverge the plastic waste from the environment. Information generated from this research will contribute to generalized knowledge because it has the potential to improve the well-being of a community upon implementation. Second, the research does involve human subjects. The team needs to conduct stakeholder interviews to gather information that are crucial to the project, such as determining the needs of FIlipinos and suggestions on the project’s implementation. Even though PlasTech Venture satisfies IRB’s definition of conducting research and involving humans, the project may be qualified from an exception due to minimal risks involving humans. The people being interviewed will not receive any harm or discomfort greater than ordinary encounters in daily life.

Develop an outline for your mid-semester presentations.

1. Problem/Opportunity being addressed from macro level
   1. Currently 1,360 tons of plastic are being produced in metro Manila alone every single day. Only 20% of this plastic waste is recycled while the remaining 80% goes into the Philippines environment. As a result, environmental issues that contribute to the well-being of Filipinos are on the rise. For example, 50% of the waterways in the Philippines are contaminated with plastic wastes. 
2. Problem/Opportunity being addressed from micro level
   1. The PlasTech Venture team plans on combating the plastic crisis by diverging plastics from the landfill and ocean. In order to achieve this goal, the team is looking to develop value-added products made from recycled plastics. Besides combating the plastic crisis, this approach also gives Nanays (a growing demographic unemployment group) an opportunity to re-enter the workforce and improve their well-being. 
3. Explain approach and how proposed solution will work
   1. The team is giving entrepreneurs in the Philippines an economic opportunity to turn plastic waste into low-cost raw material that can be used to manufacture a higher value product for profit. Plastic waste materials will first be collected, cleaned, and scrapped in junk shops. The plastic waste will then be melted and formed into a valuable product to be sold. Money generated from this process will be used as salary to improve the well-being of nanays living in poverty. 
4. What larger system does the project exist in?
   1. The project exists not only in the recycling system in the Philippines but also globally in other countries.
5. Discuss work that has been done so far — research
   1. First, the team has conducted market research in the Philippines to determine the kind of products that will not only sell, but also meet the needs of Filipinos. From this investigation we determined the following products meets our criteria: nipa huts, rain management, building materials, and tiles. From this list, we narrowed down our product suite to the following items: riles/pavers, rain management system, and wall system. In order to determine whether or not the products will be feasible in the Filippino market, we need to conduct further research in the following fields:
      1. Material properties: The team needs to investigate plastic material’s reaction under tension and compression. In addition, the team will also be conducting an investigation to determine the acceptable contamination tolerance in our products.
      2. Composition of waste stream: The team needs to investigate the composition of plastic waste stream in order to determine what types of plastics are available and their abundance. This information is crucial in determining which plastics certain products will be made out of. 
      3. Machinery/processing options: After finalizing the design of our products, the team will need to investigate the process and machinery design needed to manufacture the product. 
6. Identify challenges in research and design and plans to address them
   1. One challenge the team faced in research was identifying the metrics the products will have to achieve. In our building material product, for instance, we conducted an investigation on existing building codes in the Philippines to determine the strength requirement of our building block product. The team was surprised to find that there were essentially no building codes in the Philippines. Furthermore, there is no existing information on the compressive strength of recycled plastics. So the team is now facing the challenge of starting from the ground up. Another challenge is identifying appropriate market interest. We managed to generate a product suite solely from our observations and online research on the Philippines. However, there is no way of knowing exactly how acceptable our products are without contacting or conducting a survey on the target customer (residential Filipino). 

What supporting evidence will you provide for each point?

*included in outline

How will you boost your credibility every step of the way?

To boost credibility, we will try our best to not look at the slides (as shown in various videos in lecture). Also, we will let each presenter speak about their strong suits and areas of interest in the project (what they know the most about/what they have researched) to be sure a group member is not forced into talking about something they didn’t do a whole lot of research on.

List ten things that make you feel human.

1. Sun on my face on a warm day
2. The heaviness of the air and the breeze as a summer thunderstorm rolls in
3. Being hugged by loved ones
4. Really good (spicy) food
5. Pride in an accomplishment
6. Shared smiles with a stranger
7. Making other people happy
8. The feeling you get after running
9. Fear of losing a loved one
10. Crying

Articulate your philosophy of engagement as it pertains to your work with the GSIF / LVSIF.

The plastic waste problem is global, but the Philippines is particularly affected. As a low-resource country, many people are unemployed or low-income and thus living in poverty. I should engage because my background in materials, economics, and sustainability allow me to understand the complex plastic waste problem and its effect on communities. By understanding the complexities, I will be able to find a wholistic solution that results in a systematic change. I should engage because I have access to resources that will enable me to develop technology and a process that allows for systematic change.

I must engage in a way that is sensitive to indigenous knowledge and Filipino culture. Finding a culturally appropriate solution will ensure long-term sustainability of the project and an increased likelihood that the desired outcome will be achieved. Our group is considering the possibility of manufacturing building materials. One of the first possibilities we researched was traditional nipa huts and the feasibility of manufacturing them from plastic. However, we decided that it may be difficult to find a market for plastic nipa huts, as the traditional method is low-cost and engrained in the culture.

I must engage with those who are open to change. Our project is designed to allow entrepreneurs to invest in a system which will provide income and reduce the amount of plastic waste in communities. We are not trying to force new products into a market where there is no demand, but rather develop a process to engage community members if they choose.

I should care about the challenge of finding an appropriate market for our product. Our team is confident in our ability to manufacture goods from recycled plastic, but it is important to ensure that we design a product that will be profitable for the entrepreneurs that purchase our machinery. It will also be essential to create a product that will not exacerbate the plastic waste problem several years down the line, for this reason, product longevity is critical. Additionally, safety of producers and consumers must be considered due to the nature of plastic. Plastics are prone to flammability and failure due to creep, so these vulnerabilities must be addressed to preserve the integrity of our product.

My epitaph might read “driven by compassion and a desire to learn.”

Based on your life experience, skills and interests, what would a design process that is both uniquely yours and effective look like?

1. Empathize: People are exposed to an existing issue or system that brings them dissatisfaction or empathy towards the situation. People involved start to build up a desire and passion to take action in order to make an impactful change on the existing system in hopes of a better situation.
   • The plastic waste problem is global and even here in the United States, you can’t walk down the street without seeing an empty soda bottle tossed to the side or a plastic bag caught in a tree. This, as well as our group’s passion for encouraging a more sustainable society, sparked the passion we have for this project.
2. Explore: People investigate the current issue in-depth to see the big picture. People gain an understanding of the five Ws & H(who, what,  when, where, why, and how) towards the situation.
   • We are currently in this stage of the project where we are reaching out to our contacts in the Philippines and trying to better understand the role that plastic waste plays in their society. We are also conducting research on companies who are already profiting from re-purposing recycled plastic.
3. Define: People pinpoint and clearly define the problem that resulted in the existence of the current situation.
   • The global plastic waste issue is too big for our team to tackle alone. However, in the Philippines, plastic is often recycled and sorted, but ends up in a landfill which spills over into the ocean. Our team has defined this mishandling of already recycled plastics as the key problem that our project will try to address.
4. Ideate/Research: Develop initial ideas to combat the problem. Conduct research to determine whether or not similar problems exist(ed) in other areas and determine whether an existing solution has been applied. Develop a finalized solution to tackle the problem with initial ideas and information gathered from research.
   • In the initial stages of our project, our team believes that building machines that can manufacture a suite of products, such as plastic bricks that can lock up a large volume of plastic waste, is a solution worth pursuing further. There are several companies that already produce building bricks from plastic, so we are hoping to scale this to be viable in Filipino communities.
5. Prototype: Develop a prototype of the solution. Document and take note of any issue that arises from the production process.
   • We have a team with diverse skill-sets, which will allow us to develop a prototype while taking into account many factors. Susan, Andy, and Ellie are all mechanical engineers, but each with different interests. Kelly has experience in supply chain, and I am experienced with polymer processing and material properties.
6. Test: Conduct a trail of the solution in a small scale setting. Get the community involved in the trial for feedbacks. Make adjustments and changes according to the feedback. Repeat steps five and six as needed.
   • This step will come into play as we conduct field work this summer.
7. Implementation: Implement the solution at full scale. Make minor adjustments as needed.
   • This will hopefully come several years down the line if our project is successful and spreads to the barangays of Manila.
8. Feedback: Generate feedback from the community on the solution implemented. Look for improvement opportunities on the solution that was implemented. Communicate problems and solutions online for other communities to reference

Identify your three most important stakeholders and list five UNIQUE attributes for each one of them.

• Entrepreneurs/Junk Shops
  1. Demographics: Filipino, small business owners
  2. Socio-Economics: Lower class, low income
  3. Geographic: Philippines, rainy and windy climates, 1.78 million people in Manila
  4. Psychological Variable: Sees value in trash
  5. Behavioral: Buys trash from people
• Nanays
  1. Demographics: Middle-age married Filipino
  2. Socio-Economic: Unemployed low income class
  3. Geographic: Philippines, rainy and windy climates, 1.78 million people in Manila
  4. Psychological Variables: Middle-age women who have fulfilled their parental roles and are seeking employment to improve quality of life
  5. Behavioral: Purchase sachets due to low income
• NGOs
  1. Demographics: Filipinos of all occupations
  2. Socio-Economic: People from all classes and income level
  3. Geographic: Philippines, rainy and windy climates, 1.78 million people in Manila
  4. Psychological Variables: Banding together in pursuit of achieving a common goal such as diverting plastic from the environment
  5. Behavioral: Reducing plastic usage in day-to-day life

Identify three ways in which you will validate your project concept, technology, usability, and business model.

• Conduct experimentation to determine the allowable contamination level in recycled plastics for building blocks 
• Determine whether or not the junk shop business and market are willing to invest in our injection molding machinery for the production of recycled plastic products through research
• Create prototypes of building blocks designs to test whether they are secure and sturdy. Utilizes plastic’s flexible properties.

Give three examples of something very interesting you learned from a friend that was a completely alien concept to you.

1. I came from a predominantly Christian town, but a lot of my friends here at Lehigh are Jewish. I’ve learned a lot about a different religion and how it has shaped my friends’ world views.
2. Sort of an odd discovery, but nobody in my family uses toaster ovens, we all have upright toasters that are only good for bread and bagels. It was’t until I moved in with my friends at school that I came to appreciate the versatility of a toaster oven.
3. One of my friends that I lived with this past summer was biracial and she taught us a dance that her family always does at parties.

List the top 20 questions your team needs to answer to advance the venture forward. Categorize the questions if necessary.

1. Why are we impacting?
2. Why should we care?
3. What impact?
4. Which groups of people?
5. Are we making a positive or negative impact?
6. Do the people want us involved?
7. What do we need to learn first?
8. Who else should be involved?
9. How do we apply what we learned to help others?
10. What challenges will we face?
11. How will we know we were successful?
12. Are we addressing the right problem?
13. What is the problem?
14. Should we be the ones to solve the problem?
15. What’s our timeline?
16. How do we sustain the impact?
17. Is it our job to maintain the project?
18. What’s the first step?
19. What other experience can we draw on?
20. What is the scale?

The three questions our group identified as being the most important are listed below:

• Why are we doing this?
• What do we need to learn first?
• What challenges will we face?

Develop and Visualize the Theory of Change (Logic Model) for your venture.

This week, our focus was on sustainable development and cultural issues that may affect design. Most people have a very limited understanding of the world we live in, sometimes without even realizing it. We subconsciously form friendships with people who look like us and have similar backgrounds. No matter how “adventurous” we consider ourselves, I think many of us feel anxious when we have to leave our comfort zone. This limited sphere of existence can leave us ignorant to the most important aspects of the problems we are trying to solve. In my capstone lecture, Professor Jedlicka shared the story of a failed engineering project: A researcher was working to design a compound that would improve water retention in soil in dryer parts of the nation so crops could still be grown. The intention was to decrease irrigation and improve crop yield. The researcher spent twenty years developing this compound and finally released it to farmers for use; within one week, the researcher received complaints from the farmers that rabbits had destroyed their lettuce crops because the compound was sugar-based. The researcher had spent twenty years working in a lab, but had failed to connect with the farmers to truly understand their situation and find an effective solution. The lesson to be learned here is that you can’t truly solve a problem that you do not understand.

The PlasTech Ventures project aims to constructively combat the plastic waste crisis in the Philippines in a manner that provides steady income opportunities to Filipinos in poverty. Below is an exercise that attempts to create a preliminary understanding of the cultural issues that will be important to consider when moving forward with our project.

“Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project.”

1. In speaking with members of my group that traveled to the Philippines last summer, I learned that due to the high rates of poverty, it is typical for toiletries and food to be sold in individual packets called sachets because they are more affordable for someone living on day-to-day income. This practice has become so ingrained in their culture that even those that can afford to buy full-size items still purchase sachets. This creates a lot of plastic waste and because of the typical foil lining found in these packets, they are hard to recycle.
2. From what I understand, the Filipino perception of time seems to be more relaxed. The American cliche “time is money” is not a shared mindset in many other countries. Understanding this ahead of time will be important for ensuring that we are still able to make productive use of our time in the field.
3. Additionally, the concept of “Pakikisama” is important to the Filipino culture. My understanding is that this is a tendency to avoid confrontation and overlook differences in opinion for the sake of keeping the peace. In American culture, disagreement is viewed as valuable, especially when working on projects such as this. An important part of innovation is critiques from knowledgeable peers, so we may run into some difficulty in the trial-and-error stage once we are in the Philippines.

“Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe at least three such situations.”

1. While slightly different, American purchasing habits have also been influenced by poverty in a way that has altered culture. The example that comes to mind right away is food. Processed “junk” food is less expensive than produce and whole foods, so many impoverished Americans eat a diet consisting mostly of inexpensive pre-packaged food.
2. My bestfriend and my dad share a similar relaxed mindset when it comes to time. If my bestfriend tell me to meet her at 5:30, I typically plan to be there no earlier than 5:35. This difference can be frustrating, but understanding and accepting that my dad will never be on time allows me to plan accordingly and avoid negative feelings.
3. I have experienced this to an extent in American culture. Personally, I have a tendency to avoid confrontation, but I know many others who are the opposite. Sometimes I do find myself biting my tongue just to avoid an argument, but when I do have an opinion to share, I typically don’t feel afraid to disagree.

“Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to addressed community / market problems.”

1. In the Philippines, nipa huts are a common structure. Our group hopes to manufacture components typically used to build these huts from recycled plastic.
2. Another very important practice in the Philippines that our team hopes to leverage is the government mandate that requires villages to implement a waste management system that separates out recyclable materials. The fact that this system is already in place will simplify the process for sourcing raw material for manufacturing, which is recycled plastic.
3. Family also seems to be a very important part of the Filipino culture. This may mean that children would be willing to help their families by bringing plastic to be recycled to one of the facilities we hope to design in exchange for building materials or something else their family may need. This would streamline our supply chain.