Making Christmas Waste Sorting fun “Where does this cracker go..?”
How KPMG Ireland doubled their employee’s waste knowledge with a fun digital game and some friendly office competition
About KPMG Ireland and their Sustainability Programme
KPMG Ireland’s purpose is to inspire confidence and empower change. In 2021, it followed KPMG International in sharing their first Impact Report outlining its environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance and commitments against the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics. On the ground, recent accomplishments include:
Adopted 2GoCup’s deposit and return scheme and in just 4 days saved nearly 30,000 single use cups from landfill
Won the “Excellence in Sustainability Award” at theFacilities Management Awards in both 2023 and 2024
Launching the Leaders 2050 professional network for future leaders across sectors
In December 2023, KPMG Ireland decided to work with Bold Donut as a new and fun way to engage colleagues on the topic of waste-management in the office, drive competition and add to the festive cheer as part of the Sustainability Department’s “Conscious Christmas” theme
What the KPMG Sustainability Team said
“We’re already seeing lasting impacts. Waste segregation across the business has noticeably improved — and importantly, that change has stuck.”
TCD & Bold Donut project: Labs Energy Game
The challenge: increasing awareness among students and staff (with a focus on Undergraduates and new wet lab users) about key energy saving actions they can take in wet labs - like making sure “fume hood” sashes are closed when unattended and ensuring ultra-low temperature freezer doors are properly closed and sealed.
The solution: in late 2025, as part of an effort to engage the users of wet labs on campus on key energy saving behaviours, TCD collaborated with Bold Donut to pilot a “virtual wet lab” energy saving game to make saving energy in labs fun and memorable.
Based on interviews with labs users and multiple “playtesting” sessions, it was decided that the game would focus on very specific actions that labs users could actually control - such as how they used the equipment during a lab session and what equipment they checked after the session had ended.
The resulting game got players to take these in-game energy saving actions over 13,000 times during the campaign, reinforcing climate friendly behaviours while enjoying a short gaming break!
What the TCD Sustainability Team said
“The lab energy game was a great alternative to our typical outreach methods. It allowed the sustainability team to share important tips through a fun puzzle, making it much easier for the campus community to get involved and stay engaged.”
Over a 5 week period students and staff at TCD were given access to a digital game designed to be fun, quick to play, and educational - a “Candy Crush” style experience that embedded key knowledge and energy saving behaviours into the gameplay. The game was promoted via email , social media and using a QR code on campus screens in the main science building. As part of promotion there were prizes of €30 and €20 of university shop credit made available for two randomly picked players.
Key Results
Engagement was very high with over 70% of the 659 players completing 3 or more levels and playing the game for an average of 12 minutes and 40 seconds. That’s around double the average session length for commercial “casual mobile games”.
Players took an average of 20 energy saving actions per session (over 13,000 actions collectively) with 96% of actions being taken without delay to reduce energy loss in the game. Despite a high level of theoretical knowledge (average baseline quiz score was 94%), 33% of players who gave us freeform feedback specifically mentioned positive learning.
What the players said
“Very cool like candy crush And instructive”
“I like the music and the visuals! It’s a fun game to play! And you learn how to save energy as well!”
“nice balance between informative and fun”
Conclusion
The virtual wet lab energy saving game successfully engaged students and staff at TCD with 659 players taking an average of 20 “energy saving actions” during gameplay that lasted for longer than 12 minutes. Players rated the game 4.7 out of 5 for enjoyment and many of them (21%) returned to the game for multiple sessions. This result in particular is reflective of Bold Donut’s “fun first” approach!
Based on the results of the pilot, Bold Donut is investing further resources into bringing the game to more University wet labs in order to expand it’s impact.