TENTWO "Shopping Well": shopping bag partition Qing He z5123897
"Organizing our passion and creation to pursue people's expectation of sustainable life"
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION /1 GRAND CHANLLENGE /2 STAKEHOLDERS /3 DESIGN DEVELOPMENT /5 LIMITATION AND CONCLUSION /27 REFERENCE LIST /28 REFLECTION /30 VISUAL DAIRY /31
INTRODUCTION
In 2009, a survey created by NSW government and done by 1,200 NSW residents aged 16 and older shows that $1036 worth of food is throwing away averagely each year, which mainly because people leaving food in fridge too long and not finishing their meals (RMIT 2013). The reason of this phenomenon, as the point from Ros Sambell (2017), who is a lecturer in public health nutrition at Edith Cowan University, is because of the improved living standards and more convenient shopping environment than before, people usually do not know how many foods are already in the fridge and pantry. Therefore, people often do unplanned shopping and then potentially causes overbuying; besides, overbuying behaviour also could cause waste problems related to food. Hence, to help to reduce people’s overbuying behaviour, the purpose of the object is to modify the relationship between supermarket and household by improving the interaction between supermarket and household to try to decrease the overbuying behaviour to achieve a sustainable development for both of them. Furthermore, the design project will concentrate on the investigation of supermarket’s pacakage system, and through the consideration of the way of decreasing the application of plastic bag and the way of using package bag to produce an outcome which could indirectly notice and adjust people’s unplanned buying behaviour and lead the reconsideration of shopping plan to help to decline the overbuying behaviour to decrease the problems of food waste and waste related to food.
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GRAND CHALLENGE
The research suggests that nearly $10 billion is spent per year on food waste in Australia because of people’s overbuying behaviour and unplanned eating habits; especially, household living in urban areas produce more food waste than people living in suburban areas (Cooper 2017). It is stated in the article Food waste matters, written by Karin Schanes, Karin Dobeming, Burou Gözet (2018), that there have several factors might lead the overbuying behavior. Firstly, people often follow a so-called ‘buying routine’ to buy more food than needed although they claim to buy an exact amount of food (Parizeau et al, 2015, cited in Schanes & Doberning & Gözet 2018); secondly, following household members’ different eating habits, a large amount of food could be bought to suit different preferences (Evans, 2011a, cited in Schanes & Doberning & Gözet 2018); thirdly, to psychologically compensate the unhealthy eating habits, people will buy many healthy and fresh food which is often wasted (Porpino et al., 2016, cited in Schanes & Doberning & Gözet 2018); fourthly, based on the time-saving consideration, people usually store food for unexcepted occasions, but the overbuying behavior could be leaded (Ganglbaner et al., 2013; Graham-Rome et al., 2014, cited in Schanes & Doberning & Gözet 2018). Besides, excepts people’s own behaviours, an author and campaigner Tristram Stuart (2017) also mentioned that supermarkets often use excessive promotion to dispose their surplus products caused by overproduction to lead household to overbuying. Furthermore, overbuying behavior is not only aggravating the food waste but also increasing the waste related to food, including waste of package, waste of finance, and waste of resources such as energy and human resources. Hence, starting with the consideration of people’s overbuying behavior and problems caused by the behavior, the design project is purposely to try to modify the relationship between supermarket and household through improve the interaction between them to push the decreasing of overbuying behavior and waste problems related to food to help both supermarket and households to get improvement in sustainable development.
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STAKEHOLDERS
As the big context of the project is set within NSW, Australia, Coles is chosen as the focused client for the project, because firstly Coles own big data of customers’ information as it is one of the supermarket monsters in Australia; and, Coles’ ‘down, down’ strategy (Keating 2015) leads many kinds of sale promotions to attract people and then could cause overbuying behavior. In addition, according to the personat in task 2 (see figure 1), households who live alone or as couples and live in urban areas in Sydney is selected as the end user for the design of the project. Besides, following the analysis of syakeholders which is aforementioned in task 2, the stakeholders of the project is shown below (figure 2).
PROFILE
DETAILS - full-time job in Sydney - rent an apartment at urban area, live with partner - busy lifestyle, do not have a good eating habit - go to supermarket 1-3 times a week, but often do unplanned shopping - willing to have a healthier lifestyle
Name: Chris Age: 28
- want to save money and time on weekly shopping - has acceptable attitude for new things
Figure 1. persona 3
Figure 2. stakeholders 4
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
Through the consideration of the aspects which could be improved within Coles, the design project will be focused on the improvement and development of the package system. Moreover, within the package system, from the main applications of packages which include packagingt food and carrying food, the investigate direction of the project will be on the way package used to carrying food, because, following the wide application of package bag especially plastic bag in the supermarket, plastic pollution becomes to one of the big environmental issues in current society, thus, the consideration of helping to decrease the application of plastic bag and then to develop the package system to indirectly help to reduce overbuying behaviour will be the purpose of the project. According to the researches of the developing history of plastic bag, the born of plastic bag can be derived from 1960. As plastics were becoming popular in 1960s, a team of three employees from a Swedisht company called Celloplast came up with an idea to try to use plastic to create a tool that can be used to packaging things (Laskow 2014). Through the failure of the idea, Gustaf Thulin Sten, one of the team members, improved the details of original idea and created a kind of plastic bag which is people often used nowadays (Laskow 2014). Then, plastic bag replaces the use of paper bag because of its better material, moisture proof and convenient application (UN Environment n.d.). It could be considered that as in that age the whole society is during a developing period, the designs were focus on bringing more convenience and comfort to users instead of paying more attention on the consideration of environmental impacts because harmful influences are rarely appeared in the developing environment. However, following the development of the society, the use of plastic bag gradually threatens the environment. From the founding of plastic waste in the ocean in 1997 to the implementation of banning thin plastic bag in Bangladesh in 2002 because the drainage systems were clogged by plastic bags during disastrous flooding (UN Environment n.d.), plastic bags consumed by people create increasing harmful impacts to the environment yearly. So, to form the sustainable development for current period of the society, the beating of plastic pollution becomes to prior activity for human beings.
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Thus, in June 2018, Coles adjust its original package system through ban single-use plastic bags and offer alternative choices on reusable bags for customer to response the against of worldwide plastic pollution (Zhou 2018). By analyzing Coles’ current package system (see figure 3), it shows that although Coles as the bigger supermarket comparatively has a more complete package system than smaller groceries, the biggest problem within the system is plastic bags are freely provided in fruit and vegetable area, as well as those pre-packed fruit and vegetables (see figure 4). Because of the problem of carrying and packaging different types of fruits and vegetables, the plastic bag is offered for customer to conveniently carry them, and plastic package is produced for supermarket to pre-pack them for conveniently store and arrange (Brook 2018). But, thinking of the plastic waste, it is thought that the change of the way using plastic bag in fruit and vegetable area is worthy. Thus, inspired by the weighing system in Chinese supermarkets, that an independent electronic scale machine and a staff are placed at fruit and vegetable area for customer to weigh the items and get prices, the initial idea of the design concentrates on saving time and package by adding a small package system in fruit and vegetable area (see figure 5). Besides, consider of the waste of material, further development following this idea changes the way of providing barcode sticker, from paper barcode sticker to digital barcode (see figure 6).
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Figure 3. Coles package system 7
Figure 4. problems within the system 8
Figure 5. fruit & veg package system 9
Figure 6. improved fruit& veg package system 10
However, as the idea shows the limitation of the consideration that the design only takes place in a narrow part within the whole supermarket’s package system, wider thoughts of the design of package system is backing to the bigger context within the supermarket. Hence, to help to get more inspirations for the design idea, several examples of package design and package system design are shown in figure 7.
Figure 7. the consideration of different sizes of plastic bag 11
From the analysis of these examples and previous analysis of Coles’ package system, the design idea becomes to concentrate on improve the way of using plastic shopping bag within Coles’ package system. Starting with the thinking of the 15c thick plastic reusable bag Coles provided to replace single-use plastic bag, although Coles states that this bag is made from 80% recycled material and is bigger and thicker than old plastic bag, and the bag could be recycled by Coles’ red recycle bins (Coles n.d.), it is warned by environmental group that worse environmental impact could be caused if customer still throw these bags out (Brook 2018). Besides, based on own experiences and real phenomena, it is shown that the 15c plastic reusable bag is not strong enough as other kinds of reusable bag, and, because of people’s weak consciousness of changing behavior, the bag could still be easily throwing to landfill. Moreover, the most important turning point that gets Coles involved into the argument about its action of reducing single-use plastic bag is Coles said that the 15c plastic reusable bag will be freely offered to those customers who said they need more time to adapt the ban of single-use plastic bag and who short a bag or two during shopping although they bring own bag from home (Stuart & Mayers & Salmon 2018). Through critically think Coles’ behavior, indeed, Coles encourages people to recycle plastic bag using its recyle bins to decrease plastic pollution, but on the other hand it might just a good strategy for Coles to not only attracts people and stimulates consumption, but also shows its social responsibilty. By referencing a sentence from Food Waste Matters, “generally, personal concerns, such as saving money, elicit a stronger motivation to reduce food waste than environmental and social concerns” (Graham-Rove et al., 2014; Neff et al., cited in Schanes & Doberning & Gözet 2018), it can be reflected that people do not have strong consciousness of the issue of plastic pollution unless their profits and life are influenced, thus, it is suggested that Coles should seriously participate into the action of reducing the application of plastic bag while consider of its profit instead of more rely on the change from customer, as Kate Pover and Oksana Mont (2010) mentioned in their article Dispelling the Myths about Consumption Behaviour, that the achievement of sustainability is depend on all of those businesses, individuals, and governments within the society. Therefore, as sustainable development is a necessary trend for the society, the starting of the improvement of Coles’ package system is the elimination of 15c thicker plastic bag, then, the consideration of final design idea is focus on the improvement of using Coles’ other existed reusable bags. Because, firstly, compare with the 15c plastic reusable bag, these reusable bags are stronger and more durable; secondly, Coles already has a collection of reusable bags in different types and materials (see figure 8), it is not necessary to design a new reusable bag to add into the collection; thirdly, a good point within Coles’ package system is, a part of the income from selling the reusable bag to customer will be donated to charity and non-profit organizations to support the sustainable development.
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Figure 8. Coles reusable bag collection 13
So, according to Coles’ current existed reusable bags, the analysis of using the bag has been done and shown in figure 9.
Figure 9. analysis of using reusable bag 14
Following the problems of using the reusable bag, the idea of the design will be focus on the improvement of space arrangement within the shopping bag through designing an object to help to classify and separate the space within the bag. Because, shopping bag is an important tool for customer to carry items; secondly, it is considered that an appropriate space arrangement could adjust the positions of different items to make them stay good in the bag to avoid the messy situation; besides, connecting with the purpose of the project which is aforementioned, the object as a tool is not only help people to arrange the inner space of the bag but also indirectly notice and might adjust people’s unplanned shopping behavior that the arrangement of space makes people visually notice the amount of items they consume and could lead the reconsideration of their shopping plan to indirectly help to decrease the overbuying behavior.
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Then, based on the specific persona which is created in task 2 (see figure 10), to save the time and cost during design process, prototype testing is adopted to describe the development and improvement of design ideas.
PROFILE
SPECIFIC CHARACTER
DETAILS - full-time job in Sydney
- like to use reusable shopping bag because supermarket’s bag charge - rent an apartment at urban area, live with partner fees - busy lifestyle, do not have a good eating habit - go to supermarket 1-3 times a week, but often do unplanned shopping Name: Chris Age: 28
- willing to have a healthier lifestyle - want to save money and time on weekly shopping - has acceptable attitude for new things
Figure 10. specific persona 16
- focus on the price and quality of food - like convenient and simple things
Hypothesis one: a simple shape could create multiple spaces Inspires from the net, the first idea simply uses the rectangular net to try to divide the space within the shopping bag into two parts. Besides, two hooks also added onto the two sides of the net to make it can be hang in the shoping bag to increase the stability.
Figure 11. prototype 1
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Through the first idea of using 2D shape to saperate the space, the second idea based on the shape of the cube to create a squared frame to classify different items inside the shopping bag. Excepting of the function of saperation, the frame also considered to help to fix the items such as milk to keep the items inside the bag staying good. Furthermore, the cube could be grouped optionally by simply put a cube onto another cube to extend the height of the space.
Figure 12. prototype 2
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Hypothesis two: multidimensional object extends the usability of space Accroding to the consideration of using single object to saperate the space, the thrid idea aims use multidimensional object to investigate the extension of the usability of space. By combining the trangle shape and parallelogram shape, the object could saperate the space of the shopping bag into three to more detailed classify items. And, considering of the portability, the object could be folded into one 2D piece.
Figure 13. prototype 3
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To continuously investigate the possibility of multidimensional object, this idea combines two squared shapes together to create a 90-degree plate which could saperate the space into three parts, as well as the third idea. Besides, the plate can change the directions according to application.
Figure 14. prototype 4
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Hypothesis three: the movability of the object increase the multifunction of the space By developing previous ideas, the idea concentrates on the consideration of create a kind of movable object to increase the multifuction of the space. Based on situations, the object could be used as a partition plate to divide the space into two, or as a square-shaped frame to saperate the space into four to more detailed classify items.t
Figure 15. prototype 5
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Considering of the stability of the movable object in the last idea, this idea adds two hooks onto the two sides of the object which make the object could be hang in the shopping bag. In addition, as the initial form of the object is a plate, it would be easy to store when not in use.
Figure 16. prototype 6
FEEDBACK POSITIVE
NEGATIVE
- the hooks increase the stability of the object
- as the hooks are hang on the outside surface of the bag, the object is a little bit unstable
- convenient and easy to use
- the angle of the hook is too big
- space can be saperate into two or four
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The investigation of the prototype in actual size As there could be some differences between reduced size and actual size of the prototype, a further investigation with an actual-sized prototype has been done. Creating from iron wire and wool thread, the prototype is carried through Coles’ shopping bag and the function of saperating the space of the bag is tested during shopping experience.
Figure 17. prototype 7
FEEDBACK POSITIVE
NEGATIVE
- the space could be saperated use the partition
- the original size is a little bit bigger than the bag
- light weight and easy to carry
- the threads will slide from the frame because the way of fixing them 23
Based on feedbacks of the testing, the outcome (see figure 19) improved the flexibility of the object, that the length of the object could be extended through unfold the sections of the object to fit reusable bags with different sizes, and, two hooks are set on the top of outermost sections to help to hang the object into the bag to increase its stability. Furthermore, the materials for the creation of the object are include mental such as steel and natural fibre, that the frame of the object would be made using the same material of the trolley, which has a certain quality but is not too heavy; and the net of the object would be made of natural or bio-based material such as natural cotton for the consideration of easy recycling and degradation. In addition, thinking of supermarket’s cost of making the object, it is considered that the object will not be charged because the production of the object is based on the elimination of 15c thicker plastic bag, which means the cost of the object would be low because the cost of package is decreased; besides, the fees of Coles’ other reusable shopping bag also could share the cost of producing the object. Moreover, the consideration of possible suppliers for the materials are shown in figure 18.
Figure 18. possible supplier 24
Figure 19. design outcome 25
Figure 20. partition using diagram 26
LIMITATION AND CONCLUSION
Because of people’s overbuying behaviour which is caused by bad living and eating habits and weak conciousness of changing behaviour, food waste and waste problems related to food are increasely appeared yearly. Thus, the aim of the design project is to try to modify the relationship between supermarket and household through improve the interaction between them to push the decreasing of overbuying nehaviour and waste problems related to food to help both supermarket and households to get improvement in sustainable development. To deeply investigate the way of increasing interaction and improving overbuying behaviour, the design is focused on the way of reducing the use of plastic bag and the way of using the reusable shopping bag whthin Coles’ package system for households who live alone or as couples and live in urban areas. Through considerations and developments of the design ideas, the outcome of the project is an object which is used to help to classify and saperate the space within the bag to increase the usability of the space and improve people’s space arrangement. Besides, the object as a tool is not only help people to arrange the inner space of the bag but also indirectly notice and might adjust people’s unplanned shopping behaviour that the arrangement of space makes people visually notice the amount of items they consume and could lead the reconsideration of their shopping plan to indirectly help to decrease the overbuying behaviour. But, considering of the limitations of the design project, it is suggested that the prototype testing of the final design object could be organized to get further improvement of the design; furthermore, the consideration of supermarket’s cost on the obejct might be reconsidered in the future that to ensure supermarket’s profit, the object could be charged if people’s demand of the object extends a certain amount. Moreover, other materials could be considered to replace current material if they are more sustainable.
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REFERENCE LIST 1. RMIT University 2013, ‘Do Australians waste $8 billion worth of edible food each year?’, ABC News, 15 October, accessed 5 November 2018, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-08/food-waste-value-australia/4993930 2. Wynne, E 2017, ‘Australians spend less on food but waste more of it than we did in the 1970s’, ABC News, 19 June, accessed 5 november 2018, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-19/war-on-waste-australians-waste-foodbecause-its-cheap/8624728 3. Cooper, L 2017, ‘Australians Throw Away Nearly $10 Billion In Food Waste Each Year’, HuffPost, 24 October, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/10/24/australians-throw-away-nearly-10billion-in-food-waste-each-year_a_23253505/ 4. Schanes, K, Dobernig, K, Gözet, B 2018, ‘Food waste matters - A systematic review of household food waste practices and their policy implications’, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 185, pp. 978-991, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652618303366?via%3Dihub 5. Stuart, T 2017, ‘Supermarket should be cutting food waste, not relying on charities’, The Guardians, 3 February, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/feb/03/supermarkets-food-waste-charities-tesco-sainsburys-fairshare 6. Keating, E 2015, Supermarket Monsters: Seven insights into how Coles and Woolworths came to dominate Australian groceries, Private Media, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.smartcompany.com.au/growth/supermarket-monsters-seven-insights-into-how-coles-and-woolworths-came-to-dominate-australian-groceries/ 7. Laskow, S 2014, ‘How the Plastic Bag Became So Popular’, The Atlantic, 10 October, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/10/how-the-plastic-bag-became-so-popular/381065/ 8. UN Environement n.d., From birth to ban: A history of the plastic shopping bag, United Nations Environment Programme, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/birth-ban-historyplastic-shopping-bag 9. Zhou, N 2018, ‘Coles and Woolworths’ plastic bag ban and the choices that remain’, The Guardian, 6 June, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jun/06/coles-and-woolworths-plasticbag-ban-and-the-choices-that-remain 10. Brook, B 2018, ‘Aldi big offender when it comes to plastic-wrapped fruit and veg’, news, 9 August, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/aldi-big-offender-when-it-comes-to-plasticwrapped-fruit-and-veg/news-story/ec40035adab6ee4c151554bbbf2fcd2d 28
11. Bratskeir, K 2018, The raise of the plastic-free, zero-waste grocery store, Mic, accessed 5 November 2018, https://mic.com/articles/189987/nada-grocery-store-vancouver-canada-the-rise-of-the-plastic-free-zero-waste-grocery-store#.M906SC49I 12. Martinko, K 2018, The problems with Amsterdam’s plastic-free grocery aisle, Narrative Content Group, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.treehugger.com/plastic/problems-amsterdams-plastic-free-grocery-aisle.html 13. Blue Sky n.d., Coles Future Market, Blue Sky Design Group, accessed 5 November 2018, http://blueskydesigngroup.com.au/project/coles-future-market/ 1 1. Coles n.d., Environment, Coles Supermarkets Australia, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.coles. com.au/corporate-responsibility/sustainability/environment 12. Brook, B 2018, ‘Plastic bag ban: Many alternatives have huge environmental footprints’, news, 21 June, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/plastic-bag-ban-many-alternatives-have-huge-environmental-footprints/news-story/2ea67901345f07b6515bcb71e20c708f 13. Stuart, R, Mayers, L, Salmon, G 2018, ‘Coles backs down on plastic bag ban, will hand out thicker as customers ‘need more time’’, ABC News, 1 August, accessed 5 November 2018, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-01/ coles-free-plastic-bags-continue-after-policy-backdown/10060066 14. Power, K & Mont, O 2010, ‘Dispelling the myths about consumption behaviour’, Knowledge Collaboration & Learning for Sustainable Innovation: 14th European Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production (ERSCP) conference and the 6th Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) conference, conference paper, accessed 5 November 2018, uuid:b251462a-25bb-45c0-bd0a-b0adca58fa04
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REFLECTION
The theme “food” of the course has impressed me because as food is an important element for people’s living, food waste is one of the biggest problems for the world. Because of the increasing living standards and more convenient environment nowadays, more food is discarded by people and then cause different harmful impacts such as methane pollution and starvation problems, besides, other related waste problems also appeared through food waste such as waste of food package, waste of resources like human resources and energy, and waste of finance. At the beginning of task 1, before the formation of the team, we are asked to doing activities of considering the possible challenges associated with food and try to think of the ideas of improvement of these challenges to open our mind of the project. Indeed, these in-class activities give me inspirations of the directions of ideas under the theme of “food”. Then, we are asked to group a design team for doing tasks together in the rest of the semester. Although each team member within a team is required to complete individual project, I suppose the benefits from teamwork is we can discuss the problems and challenges together and could find more ideas for our own design project. In addition, the bento box we made in task 1 which contains our project proposal is a kind of new way to me to display the design ideas, and I suppose this form of displaying is a good way to help to open our views and make the written things become more interesting because it is visually show our considerations out. During the continuously process of working on our chosen grand challenge in task 2, we are asked to think about combine individually design and group concept together to through different aspects to improve the challenge. The most interesting part in this task to me is using prototypes to test the design ideas and try to find out further development points of the individual design object. Because, as prototypes is a way for designers to test their initial ideas and possibilities, it saved time and cost, and help designers to find new possibilities from original ideas. Moreover, during the prototyping testing, feedbacks from people who are invited to test prototypes are really helpful for further development of the design, as the object is designed for people to use, the perspectives from end users are the most useful materials for the improvement of the design instead of those researches from websites and books. Following the works we’ve done in task 2, task 3 is a kind of further improvement and development of the design idea and the achievement of final outcomes. As the feedback of my design in task 2 noticed the deeper and wider consideration need to be done, task 3 for me rarely equals to a totally changing of design direction, but, I thought the process of changing original design ideas and developing new design ideas makes me learnt to try to consider problems and challenges from different aspects, and, I also thought think things from a wider context would be helpful for the concentration of specific area of the design.
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VISUAL DAIRY
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