safety box

Disposal tends to be a recurring  issue throughout society. Whether it's trying to dispose of something sustainably with compost or recycling, or trying to reduce the dangers of throwing out hazardous materials, it is often a difficult field to tackle. That is why for our first task in Making a Difference Through Engineering, we split into teams to devise a container that could safely hold the sharps we use in class until it is time to dispose of them while only using simple materials such as foam and cardboard. The plan that my group initially thought of was to  allow a box to suspend upon foam blocks while inside of another box. This way, if the sharps do poke through the already thick box, there will be air space and yet another box for extra safety measures. Instead, however, we took a more simple approach. All edges of the box are sealed and the only opening is a small slit big enough to fit sharps through. It will also have a cover for the slit for added precautions. The team that wins, in the end, will get the pride of being able to use their box to contain the sharps used in class for the entire year

 

The final, beautiful product.