Ergonomics   

Everyone has heard of ergonomics.

So what exactly is ergonomics its a big word that means 'fit', the fit between people and the things they use. It is sometimes called human factors. In our case the 'fit' between society and the way we want people to dispose of waste.

If people are comfortable using, handling, sorting and being interested in how the 'chuck' their garbage, they will tend to do it more efficiently because it is easy.

The idea of ergonomics is to design things to fit people. This means taking account of differences such as size, strength and ability to design for a wide range of users. Then the tasks, the places bins are designed for - inside, outside, playgrounds, hospitals, colleges, schools and the local tip.

Children are smaller, they need to be considered carefully when designing bins, for example, so that they are able to reach to put things in them, lift the lid if they have one, read the signs (pictures) even though they might not be able to read words, and above all be safe when using them

Even the simplest of products can be a nightmare to use if poorly designed. Our ancestors didn't have this problem. They could simply make things to suit themselves. These days, the designers of products are often far removed from the end users, which makes it vital to adopt an ergonomic, user-centred approach to design, including studying peoples rubbish throwing habits, talking to them and asking them to test things.

Good looks can play a part too look here for aesthetics (a big word for good looks)