Virtual Reality in Service Design for Plastics Recycling: Two Application Cases

Abstract

Plastics recycling depends on everyday sorting practices and on how recycling services are communicated and experienced. Virtual reality (VR) can present these practices and services in situated, interactive form, yet its role in service design for plastics recycling is still emerging. This paper examines how VR tools can contribute to designing plastics recycling services through two application cases that address different stages of the recycling journey. The first case, Clean Cabin Escape, is a household scale VR escape room where players collect and sort waste items into locally relevant categories, with immediate feedback that supports practice with plastics recycling decisions. The second case is a VR simulation of a plastics recycling center that represents a real planned site and is used in service design workshops where stakeholders explore layout, signage and customer paths for plastics fractions. Across the cases, we analyse how VR supported learning, engagement and shared sensemaking, and how it interacted with other service design methods such as workshops, customer path mapping and physical artefacts. The findings show that VR can make domestic sorting tasks and complex recycling centers more concrete for both citizens and professionals, but also highlight trade offs related to hardware access, onboarding effort, visual fidelity and localisation of recycling rules. The paper concludes by outlining opportunities for integrating VR into broader service design toolsets for plastics recycling and circular economy services, and by pointing to directions for future research on long term impact and inclusive design.