2021 Edition

Oh Sh*t! is a project that was born from the need to improve the environmental quality, to remedy the accumulation and waste of plastic and to dispose of feces in outdoor areas. Specifically, the dung beetle is a coprophagous insect which can help us, creating a concrete collaboration between humans and nature. Through collecting and recycling plastic, we have thought of designing sustainable structures in a miniature circular economy system. These structures will be placed in green areas neighbouring specific plastic waste collection sites to give further circularity to our project. The goal is to combine waste disposal with preservation of dung beetles, in a perfect match that can represent a resource for the ecosystem. The project has been designed to solve the problem of animal excrements left on sidewalks or in public areas such as parks. The entire structure is made in recycled plastic which is collected in the neighbourhood. All the parts of the structure are assembled and embedded between them without using any kind of glue, with one of the pieces being the shovel that is used to convey the excrements in the structure itself, where the dung beetles are free to enter and collect their “treasure”. The dung beetle is capable of creating small balls from these excrements, which are then rolled up to a hole where they are inserted by the beetle. The dung beetle then lays its eggs which hatch and feed on the nutrients present in the ball of excrements. This has a  several beneficial effects: excrements are disposed of, dung beetles have their nourishments and the soil is fertilised in a natural and sustainable way.