Design a Tree – XChange

After having done intense research about the tree, there was one fact that stuck with us: the perfect cycle system in which waste becomes useful for other organisms. Trees produce oxygen, which is a waste product for them, but is vital for all mammals on earth. Or the fallen leaves that provide a habitat for animals and other organisms like fungi.  So we transferred this concept to human waste. In comparison to the tree, which takes and gives from the world, humans mostly take from the planet and clutter the earth with waste. But the things that do not serve us anymore must be reused in a sustainable way in order to protect our human shelter earth. Furthermore our unwanted and discarded stuff could maybe be useful for other people. We implemented the tree’s natural cycle system into our recycling concept. We created a place for exchange by placing modified shipping containers around the city where people get the opportunity to get rid of their unwanted but still usable objects, as well as finding new ones. Unlike existing secondhand systems, our XChange Boxes provide an easy, comfortable, and free alternative.

We do that by revolutionizing the process. You can bring or take something to or from the box without being bound certain times of the day or week nor dependent on a potential receiver. This works easily thanks to our smart storage system combined with an easy-to-handle app, which together enable an easy drop off due to an AI-lense. Before leaving or taking an object, our AI-lense photographs, scans and inventories the object. It is connected to the item list in the app. By this, the community gets an overview over the current objects in each box. By creating an account in the app, people receive a personalized QR Code to get access to the boxes, which guarantees responsible behavior with the things in the XChange Boxes as well as a respectful behavior within the XChange community. Because XChange is even more than just a sustainable system. Trough XChangevents, our blog, newsletter, and digital blackboards we build a community to spread awareness for the topics sustainability and reuse. A community where we take and give from each other, just like the tree from earth.