Designing for Good

How Might We Encourage and Empower Supermarket Shoppers to Track and Reduce Their Personal Plastic Usage Through Engaging, Transparent, and Actionable Experiences?

Overview

Background

The majority of plastic waste in the UK, according to our research, comes from plastic packaging. With 141 million metric tonnes of single-use plastic packaging produced globally each year, plastic food packaging has a significant negative environmental impact. A billion metric tonnes of use, reuse and disposal resulted in 1.8 billion metric tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

Problem Statement

How Might We Encourage and Empower Supermarket Shoppers to Track and Reduce Their Personal Plastic Usage Through Engaging, Transparent, and Actionable Experiences?

I.n the image - John Doe Persona based on the archetype that forgets to carry a tote bag for grocery shopping

Process

To understand the industry wide plastic usage for supermarkets, research was centered around the lifecycle of plastic being used- how it is supplied, circulated and ultimately removed from the industry. The secondary research provided insights about various interventions that have been formulated to tackle the plastic usage problem. While many interventions exist at the industry and B2B level, there were no actions taken to tackle the behaviours that are centered around usage of plastic.

In primary research, one peculiar insight was about forgetfulness of carrying 'my-own-bag' to a supermarket which resulted in paying a small amount to get a new one. To address this behaviour, we selected 3 archetypes to understand the impact of forgetting a bag on their daily routine.

We mapped their goals and needs with respect to their daily routines and identified that providing information about the plastic usage being bought in a grocery list may help in creating awareness about plastic usage and nudge users to shop more consciously.

Proposal

To transform this nudge into a tangible interaction, a service was formulated in partnership with the supermarkets and their apps. As consumers complete their shopping at a till, the receipt of shopping will now also include percentage of plastic being bought. The app will enable users to keep track of the plastic bought in a week, month and year, ultimately generating a score to track conscious consumer behaviour.