Proper recycling is hard to teach. Many still throw away plastic bottles without flattening them. Especially in public areas. Uncrushed bottles take up to 80% more space in the trash. This makes waste transport frequent and expensive since trucks carry air instead of garbage. PepsiCo Poland, as a major beverage producer aims at increasing recycling rate and proper disposal of plastic containers. To complement this policy the company decided to carry out an educational program directed to children. Since ordinary campaigns promoting bottle crushing and recycling don’t seem to work, we had to bring an idea that not just talks the problem but actually solves it, making children crush bottles properly.

The design and experience of the game are driven by the air - from inflatable character, his world and the way he moves, up to the music, which was performed on real balloons. We used sound recognition technology, but the suggestive design makes the youngest players believe that magic happens thanks to the air blown from a plastic bottle. We tested the game on the Earth Day. Kids’ reactions were outstanding, so we filmed the last day of tests and used the video in PR and digital communication to scale up the idea of the program. It echoed in parenting and lifestyle media in Poland and abroad. We ran recycling lessons with Up Up Hippo in dozens of kindergartens and schools. Each time causing a lot of careless fun and media attention.