Pedal Power CMT

Personal Role: Project Leader, Industrial Design Lead, Research, Strategy, Prototyping

Other Disciplines: Manufacturing, Community Relations, Metalwork Scope: 15 weeks personal project. Completed: Summer 2022

Born in 2019 as my high school graduation thesis, Pedal Power CMT was brought to life 3 years later, in 2022, with the idea of creating new pedal-powered machines that support the environment and various low-income communities in Guatemala. Including washing machines and plastic shredders, they were created in collaboration with the NGOs Maya Pedal and Las Niñas Lideran to bring new tools for communities to ease daily tasks and empower women and girls in those communities.

Credits Emma Wosje - Industrial Design Lead, CMF, Manufacturing, Metalwork Alyx Price - Research Lead, Manufacturing, Community Relations

Building a sustainable impact with creativity.

Pedal Power CMT is a project focused on helping various communities in Guatemala creatively and sustainably. Sponsored by Projects for Peace and created by Emma Wosje, Alyx Price, and Javier Chau in collaboration with Maya Pedal, we created various pedal-powered machines, such as washing machines and plastic shredders, to help communities without electricity, raise awareness about sustainability and empower young women with creative and entrepreneurial ways.

washing machines.

plastic shredder.

community.

Building sustainable ways to do your laundry.

“Bicilavadoras”

The bicilavadoras (or pedal-powered washing machines) were built to fulfill the Guatemalan community’ needs in Alta and Baja Verapaz, Guatemala. Our team worked with Mario, Maya Pedal’s CEO, to redesign their existing model and upgrade it for better and easier use according to the accommodations of the communities’ constraints.

Consisting of an inner rotating tumbler with holes and double doors, this washing machine allows people to pedal and wash their clothes in no time. Besides, the modular design allows the entire machine to be transported easily, and the “made-to-order” idea allowed us to customize the bicilavadora machine to the respective communities’ preferences.

Empowering young women through upcycling.

Plastic Shredder

To embrace recycling and sustainability in the community we were working with, we created a plastic shredder to support the community. We observed that it is widespread in low-income communities in Guatemala to collect plastic on the streets and later sell it. Therefore, we encounter the solution that by sorting and tearing up that plastic, they could earn more income more easily and better support their families.

“Más niñas por la igualdad”

During the creation process of this machine, we worked closely with “Las Niñas Lideran” - an NGO that empowers young women to be entrepreneurs and get out of the idea that “women belong in the house.” Therefore, this plastic shredder was designed to support the little girls, embrace recycling, and encourage them to find new ways to be entrepreneurs by creating their products out of recyclable plastics. Besides, we created workshops for them to learn how to separate plastics and provided them with other tools and machinery to do those creations.

More than building machines, we built a community.

In all the weeks we had the chance to spend in El Cantón San Lorenzo, Iztapa, Guatemala, we had the chance to spend quality time with various community members, exchanging meals and even working closely with them to achieve big results focused on them. It was an amazing opportunity to get to know the community, which made the entire project an unforgettable experience.