Helping recyclers understand their rewards

Making available money, pending bonuses, and the next action clear.

Plastic Bank collectors use the app to check earnings from recycling. Branches record their transactions, and bonuses depend on material verification and approval.

I redesigned how the app explained those dependencies, so collectors could distinguish available money from pending bonuses and see what they needed to do.

  • Project_005
  • Mobile_ux
  • behaviour_design
  • product_design

At a glance

Review enabled
Collectors can flag transaction issues
False precision removed
Uncertain bonuses shown as progress
Eligibility visible
Outstanding requirements surfaced

Problem

A recorded sale was not an available bonus

A branch could record a sale on a collector’s behalf, and the bonus could change before approval. The app needed to explain whether a transaction was correct, an account was eligible, and an amount was ready to use. Showing those as one balance obscured who controlled the next step.

Collector checking their recycling rewards on the Plastic Bank mobile app.
A pending bonus left collectors waiting for income without knowing when it would arrive.

The design

Show the status and who can act

A collector could reasonably read “$12 pending” as “I have earned $12.” Material rejection, incomplete processing, or currency changes could still alter that amount. I replaced uncertain figures with the status of the bonus process.

I also introduced transaction review so collectors could confirm a branch’s record or flag an issue. Account requirements became separate, resumable tasks rather than unexplained barriers to a reward.

Transaction history, review, and confirmation screens in the recycling app.
Collectors could confirm a branch-recorded transaction or flag an issue.

Outcome

Collectors gained visibility and a way to respond

Collectors gained a way to review recorded transactions, report issues, and resume outstanding account requirements. The financial experience distinguished available money, activity history, and bonus approval.

These delivered changes improved visibility and control; their effect on payment anxiety and cashout failures remains unmeasured. The bonus tracker shown here extends the same approach into a view of processing and payment.

Bonus tracker showing the processing, payment, and completed bonus states.
Bonus tracker concept showing processing, payment, and completion.
Next case study