Abstract

Background Thailand’s Prime Minister has expressed strong support for recycling automobile scraps to address waste from aged vehicles and to reduce steel imports. Upcycling is a viable solution to reduce scrap automotive parts volume. The Design and Engineering Consulting Center (DECC) is developing ecofriendly street food cart innovations to provide at least 100 eco-friendly carts at cost-effective price points. The Government Savings Bank has also provided low-interest loans for purchasing carts made from upcycled materials because they are environmentally friendly, aiming to empower aspiring entrepreneurs. Methods The research methodology comprised three sequential steps. Step 1 was the design and development phase using the principles framework of Henry Dreyfuss’s Designing for People: Five Formulas Applied to Green Design. The research tool was a questionnaire on three sketch designs of ice cream carts made of scrap cars. Step 2 was an evaluation by experts. The questionnaire was evaluated by six experts: two academics in industrial design, two professionals in industrial design, and two experts in materials science and production engineering. Step 3 was the assessment of user satisfaction. The sample group included 350 people. A prototype of an ice cream cart with a questionnaire was used as a research tool and was evaluated in real-world situations by 250 ice cream consumers and purposive sampling of 100 ice cream vendors. Results The findings revealed the outcomes of an assessment concerning the design of the type C ice cream cart, made from automobile scraps, as evaluated by a panel of six experts. This comprehensive evaluation encompassed diverse facets, including utility and practical functionality, aesthetic appearance, durability, ease of maintenance, energy efficiency, use of environmentally friendly materials, sales appeal, and reasonable product price. The average mean score for these attributes was 4.50, indicative of a very good rating. Moreover, the study solicited input from a sample pool consisting of 100 ice cream vendors and 250 ice cream consumers, with assessments centered on various criteria, namely, aesthetic appearance, utility and practical functionality, durability, safety, ease of maintenance, environmentally friendly, reasonable product price, and ability to engender sales appeal. The average mean rating for these criteria stood at 4.53, signifying a very high level of satisfaction among the participants. Conclusions The evaluation of ice cream cart vendors and buyers towards the prototype of the ice cream cart across all dimensions yielded a remarkable mean score of 4.53, signifying a very high level of satisfaction. Most satisfied in terms of Sales appeal, Utility and practical functionality. The suggestion is that scrap car parts create additional value for new products such as furniture and decorations because they are durable and high-quality materials.