Encorp Pacific is a not-for-profit stewardship corporation tasked with recovering drink containers and end-of-life electronics for recycling. By giving people clear information about the process, the Return-It initiative helps transform used packaging and products into useful items.
"Upanup’s team was proactive in coming up with the best approach and delivered a solution that catered to our needs. The friendly team at Upanup collaborated very well with the technical and communications team we already had working on our website. The completion of the project met our timeline, was on budget and we were pleased with the end result."
Vice President of Development & CMO, Encorp Pacific Canada
Return-It has a bold vision— for every beverage container in B.C. to be recycled. To help make this possible, recycling needs to be straightforward for producers and consumers. An important step was replacing the busy, hard-to-navigate Return-It website with an engaging platform that highlights the right information from any device.
A 2012 retrofit meant that the Return-It site was responsive, but the sheer volume of content frustrated smartphone users as they looked for key information. Encorp brought our team onboard for a complete redesign with an unrelenting focus on mobile-first user experience.
Due to Encorp's government mandate, a huge amount of content needs to appear on the Return-It website. An intensive discovery process helped us to balance content priorities for key audiences— consumers, producers, government, and recycling depots. Clear design direction emerged from interviews with stakeholders, in-depth research and comparative analysis.
To focus the site's information architecture, we pinpointed a hierarchy of tasks for everyday users with the help of site analytics and survey results. Our designers took concepts for one-on-one test drives with users and incorporated their concrete feedback, so that a diverse range of people find the new design intuitive and effortless to use.
This project brought together a mix of collaborators for Encorp, including their long-standing development team, marketing and advertising partners, internal stakeholders, and our team at Upanup. Open communication and understanding from the outset meant that the final design impressed everyone involved.
The new, award-winning site is clean, beautiful and centred on users' needs. An interactive map directs users to nearby recycling locations and offers helpful information like opening hours and accepted items. Thoughtful content hierarchy and intuitive navigation mean that key facts, like refund amounts, are easy to find with one or two clicks. Our team enjoyed the challenge of streamlining a convoluted site to reflect users' priorities. We are thrilled with the positive public response to the clean, bright design and — most importantly — with how the new Return-It website is helping people recycle across B.C.
