York County Material Recovery Facility
Holt Experiential was contacted by York County staff to boost the educational impact for visitors to their new material recovery facility, via large new graphics and a digital interactive display. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control funded this project to increase recycling knowledge.
The York County Material Recovery Facility houses large processing equipment that sorts recyclables to be baled and shipped to other processors as part of the overall recycling stream. Based on content provided by York County, Holt designed new educational graphics and reformatted existing graphics to speak about:
- The recycling process
- The importance of recycling and composting
- Understanding food labels
- Water conservation
- What’s in landfill layers
- Items that recyclables become
- Job creation in the recycling industry in South Carolina
The graphics were produced as printed wall vinyl murals and UV-printed panels. Holt installed the graphics throughout the 1st Floor hallways and classroom, and on the 2nd Floor mezzanine, a space that looks out through a bank of windows to the processing equipment within the facility.
Holt also developed and installed on the 2nd Floor mezzanine an interactive touch screen display that tells the journey of the following common types of recyclable materials:
- HDPE plastic jug
- Aluminum can
- Steel can
- Cardboard box
- Mixed paper
- Chipboard box
One sample of each recyclable item is tethered to the base cabinet and tagged with an RFID tag. When someone places one of the objects over a sensor embedded in the counter top, unique digital content is tripped to show on the 70-inch touch screen above. The digital content shows the path each material takes through the processing equipment, where it is baled, and that it is finally shipped out of the facility.
The interactive program also shows what these materials become later, once recycled. The cabinet and wall panel Holt built to house the interactive components were designed with OSB (oriented strand board) because of its raw material aesthetic appropriate for the recycling facility, and then clear-coated to protect the surface.
Now when visitors tour the York County Material Recovery Facility, they better understand what is involved in recycling and why it matters.
CLIENT:
York County Material Recovery Facility
CATEGORIES
Institutions, Graphics, Interactive
SERVICES:
Interior Design
Fabrication & Installation
Digital Applications & Touch Devices
