Proposed page categories
The following is a list of the proposed categories and sub-categories for pages on Recylopaedia. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but will hopefully serve to help determine the eventual scope of the Wiki, as well as the types of templates that are required to begin work on it.
Contents
Materials[edit]
These are physical objects, primarily of the sort that can be recycled or re-used, or that serve some other purpose in recycling processes, such as, as an additive, or fuel for tools required for processes. The pages about these materials will provide information specific to recycling, and re-use, and links to the processes and tools relevant to that.
While this subject might stray from the strict subject of recycling, it is important to emphasize the steps that people could take before disposing of something. In order to do this, the basic template for each material could be organised into the following subjects, in order:
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Repair
- Repurpose
- Recycle
This will encourage authors to provide information on how to avoid having to dispose of an item when creating an article on the subject, and will also require that the general public see that there are other options before checking how to recycle the material.
An infobox providing a shorthand rating system for how easy it is to manufacture or recycle the material may also be helpful, with, for example, a star rating. This could provide people with a good, quick reference when choosing between various materials.
Material classes[edit]
Materials will be organised into major classes, such as glass, plastic, metal, ceramics, wood products. Depending on the recycling processes available and the amount of variation within each material class, each of the pages relevant to these parent classes will be require it's own approach.
Material Sub-classes[edit]
Each parent material will be broken down into sub-classes, sub-sub-classes, and so on, until the ability to describe unique processes for the sub-class is exhausted. For example, plastics, or polymers, will be broken down into hard and soft plastics. Hard plastics such as ABS (pictured right) will be described independently, and possibly broken down into further classes, if there is justification for doing so. As with the parent classes, it may be necessary to have some dynamic approaches to the information presented on each layer of this tree.
Tools[edit]
This category of page will be used to describe the requisite tools to engage in the various processes involved in recycling. This category should help achieve the aim of shared R&D between various players in the recycling field, as they discuss, document and design the tools that allow the systems to function.
Products[edit]
While products may not strictly be tools, and may not end up as a sub-category of tools, it's best to explain their relationship here to the other concepts. Products on Recyclopaedia will be objects that are the result of recycling processes, that have some value to the wider community. This could include something as simple as washed and cleaned glass jars, or something as complex as an electronic device put together using found components in E-waste. Documenting products allows the general public to see the end use cases for the materials they recycle. They should be able to follow chains of pages from material, to process, to tool use, in further processes, to an end product.
Processes[edit]
These pages will describe actions that can be undertaken in order to recycle materials. Like with materials, there may be sub-categories. Processes will likely be defined by their inputs, the action, and the outcome. They will include tasks such as putting materials in your wheelie bins at home, sorting contaminants in a recycling facility, cleaning materials, logistics, or building tools.
Facilities[edit]
These pages will describe physical locations where some kind of recycling process occurs. The bar for this will possibly remain quite low, to allow users to document their own personal, non-commercial activities, or to recommend other recycling facilities in their neighbourhood. Pages for facilities will list the materials they accept, the processes they engage in, the tools they use, and their geographic location at the most basic level, and will optionally detail their development, opening hours, and more. This aspect of Recyclopaedia will make a local map possible, such as the one pictured on the right, to allow people to discover local resources in a more interactive fashion.
A list of some categories of facilities:[edit]
Note that facilities can fall under multiple categories
* Meta (a type of facility, rather than a specific location) * Collection point * Material source * Customer * Tool shop * Processing facility
A list of classes that each facility may fall into:[edit]
* Government * Business * Community * Domestic * Individual
Mobile facilities[edit]
The potential of allowing geo-location of mobile facilities could allow certain ongoing logistics processes to be connected through this site.
Rules for facilities[edit]
Similar to the way in which Google allows locations to be flagged by the public, but then claimed by the owner, Recyclopaedia should allow editors associated with facilities to have some role in moderating their page.
Meta[edit]
The following pages are for the internal function of the Wiki.
Templates[edit]
Categories[edit]
Each of the above categories should have structured templates constructed for them, so that authors can see the elements that should be included in a new page, and so that the reader can be directed to the information that is likely to be most important to them first.
Expand article[edit]
Tags to encourage people to contribute more information.
Infoboxes[edit]
Dispute tags[edit]
Such as relevance to recycling, lack of open source, commercial over communal.
Terms & Conditions[edit]
User terms and conditions should be constructed and displayed to users of the site so that they understand the intention and likely sources of the information on the website.