That’s a Wrap! Reducing single-use plastic packaging

In the sunshine of the summer and the cool breeze of the San Francisco bay area, families and pets walk along the waterfront of Jack London in Oakland, and I'm standing next to my sister's dog throwing up in the rose bushes.

That's the ugly side of the shores of these beautiful waters, non-biodegradable trash and plastic being ingested not just by marine mammals, but by domestic animals, wildlife, and reportedly even humans now. My sister’s quick and clever dog managed to eat some of the waste littered on the San Francisco Bay Trail.

Upon quick glance, you can still make out the colour and the product. Majority of them were snack products and looked barely torn or scratched, just weathered from the sun.

The snack bags that rest between the crevices of the rocks on the shore are still identifiable and barely weathered from the sun

I’ve identified 6 products in here! See if you can name more than what I found: Cheeto bag, Smartfood popcorn, Twizzlers, boba straw, Sour Punch, Nature Valley granola…

Lays chip bag floating in the Oakland Inner Harbor

Snack packages such as crisp packets/chip bags and candy wrappers are in the top 10 most littered objects, with the #1 being cigarette butts. Crisp packets and candy wrappers cannot be recycled because they are usually made of polypropylene and aluminium film, which when processed at the recycling station can be a mess.

Unfortunately, some companies are still reliant on these materials and we need to utilize more collective efforts to cut down on plastic dependency, because plastic production requires the consumption of crude oils and gas.

Polypropylene(PP) is the most common plastic utilized for food packaging, and is a material that requires gas for production. It takes more energy to produce 1 kilogram of plastic out of crude oil compared to that of iron, glass, steel, and paper.

So what are we doing about this? Some companies have already started adopting various solutions to the problem. You may have seen some of these examples hitting the shelves already such as SunChips moving to biodegradable bags made of PLA (poly-lactic acid which is renewable biomass material derived from starchy plants), board packaging (packaging with rigid cardboard-like containers such as Pringles), engineered vacuum packed meat in resin, and edible takeaway containers.

Initially, the plan was to redesign the snack packaging into a compostable yet tightly sealed packet or container to maintain the freshness and impermeability of the snacks. However, when considering the nature of critical thinking and problem solving in the design field, this proposal only removes the surface of the problem, not the root of it.

Initial concepts of repackaging design

To discover a deeper and effective method of reducing unfavorable plastic wrapping for dry food goods such as snacks and candies that is polluting the environment, I went further with the research.

The research conducted on this project consisted of creating a survey with questions relative to the problem, literature review, news articles, interviewing three experts who are familiar with the industry of packaging, and field observation & research.

The most crucial information I received was from interviewing my experts, because they asked me critical thinking questions during the process of the project and provided professional insight and feedback.

One of my experts I kept in contact on video call every 2 weeks of this project was Senior Packaging Engineer Jane Rabanal. Another expert I emailed once I finished stages of my project was Industrial Designer Daniel Chae. My final expert was Professor Hsiao-Yun Chu mentioned in my previous post “Monkeying Around with Personas and Packaging” who provided me with a foundation and some inspirations to think upon.

When presenting them with my initial concepts, Jane and Daniel both encouraged me to think beyond the package and what can make more of an impact beyond the product such as the consumers and the industry. After this feedback, I had to think about my own grocery shopping experiences and explore the different grocery stores around my location.

Sprouts Farmers Market

Sprouts Farmers Market is a supermarket chain that rose to popularity for its organic products and goods as well as holistic health and wellness products.

Example of pre-packaged snacks from Sprouts

Example of the bulk section at Sprouts

Sprouts was one of the many locations I used for my field study due to its heavy encouragement of purchasing organic goods and practicing environmentalism. One of the ways Sprouts has become popular is due to its immediately noticeable bulk goods section, which is usually placed at the forefront of their products.

The bulk goods movement’s popularity was boosted through Sprouts which fueled the trend for consumers to buy more bulk goods as it gave them a way to choose their own amount instead of a fixed amount of the product.

Berkeley Bowl West

Berkeley Bowl West is a grocery store that started as a small market in the Berkeley, California neighborhood and expanded into two stores both known to have heavy crowds and filled parking lots.

Berkeley Bowl likes to emphasize their environmental choices through encouraging their customers to purchase in-season produce and buy bulk and plastic-less goods.

What fascinated me about this location is that the bulk goods section was crowded and well stocked. Not only that, other sections seemed to exercise the same bulk functions for other products such as the produce, herbs, mixed salads, ready made foods like anti-pasti, and non-edible goods like liquid soaps and lotions.

All the goods Berkeley Bowl West had in Bulk format. Before containing bulk goods in a personal container, it should be measured at the registers or be labeled with the container’s weight.

Oaktown Spice Shop

Oaktown Spice Shop is a San Francisco East Bay spice and salts store that also sells teas, syrups, and other kitchenwares. The staff usually freshly ground and load the containers on the spot to allow the aromas to be more fresh upon purchase.

Oaktown Spice Shop was a special case of bulk grocery shopping since it involves scent and flavor delicate products. Because of this, the option to bring your own container is allowed, but providing customers with already labeled containers would make the job much more efficient and easier as well as keeping the delicate product within its own aroma and labelled container for refilling.

When interviewing the workers they said they preferred this method and so do the customers because it helps them identify the product. However, they welcome those to bring any and all containers to weigh before use, because like Sprouts and Berkeley Bowl, they want to reduce plastic dependency on food and consumable products.

Examples of what Oaktown Spice Shop offers.

There are many more establishments in the San Francisco Bay Area that are practicing plastic-free or reduced single-use packaging for their food, and they are found on Litterless.com, where other American cities are also listed. A trend these stores are following is the practice of bulk foods.

Bulk foods is the process of buying products that are sold in the store in massive amounts, usually from the distribution containers, for customers to take a desired amount and put in their personal take-away container. This process of bulk foods shopping actually reduces the packaging of snacks by 96%.

This trend of zero waste shopping and bulk foods is actually on the rise in popularity. Reasons lead to shoppers feeling a sense of control over their portions, having a closer connection with the products they choose, being able to buy the smallest amount for a scarcely used product, being able to mix and match your products, or all of the above and more.

While these zero waste stores are booming, I decided to center my design around this trend to encourage this eco-friendly consumer behavior.

Design Concepts & Prototyping

I wanted to build a tool or a product that enhances the experience of bulk shopping for both experienced and inexperienced bulk food shoppers. Not everyone has had the pleasure of encountering a store that practices zero-waste methods due to culture, local government, etc.

In order to do this, I had to identify any short comings or any spaces of possible frustration that could be improved for the user’s journey of bulk grocery shopping.

In this storyboard, my friend Tika re-enacts what bulk shoppers would do with the provided tools at a bulk foods section in a grocery store if one did not come with a personal container

Some of the things I identified as a potentially frustrating problem was:

• The waste redundancy of having to get a plastic bag to contain the product. The whole point of bulk is to dispense the product in a re-usable personal container, not a single use container.
• The thin film of the provided bags tends to seal on itself requiring the user to use both hands when receiving product.
• Sometimes the product spills out of the bag because the dispenser mouth or the shovel doesn’t pour directly into the plastic bag as depicted in the picture below with me struggling to hold both the dispenser lever and the bag open enough for the contents to spill in mess-free.
• Near the end of the user’s journey, when stored, it creates a mess of bags that cannot be identified immediately or stored properly.

In this scenario, I’m dispensing some rice crackers in the provided bags, but some of the contents spill out making it not just a loss for me but a loss for the store and waste of food.

Example of a cupboard with bulk goods that are organized neatly on the mid shelf but catastrophic on the bottom shelf. The user of this cupboard often has the items falling on them as they’re searching for the desired product. Oftentimes giving up and buying the product again without realizing they already have it!

So at first glance the product should be able to communicate my design solutions to this problem, so I tried my best with my first concepts on the focus of bulk food tools instead of a compostable snack bag.

What I like to do first is draw concepts that may seem weird, impossible, or existing to get my brain to warm up to the final concept. I worked off the already available items in the bulk food market such as the mason jars and stainless steel tea tins.

Products available for bulk are stainless steel containers, glass jars of different sizes, and more.

Concepts after shifting focus towards a bulk food product

In this concept I took the already existing bulk food products I have seen in stores. I re-sketched them for understanding the flow of the product and adapting it to possible enhanced models. In the “enhanced” concepts, I added some features such as removable lids with a cloth funnel to flip around and turn the lid into an opening and funnel, or have the container itself be a collapsable bag and I put some of them in context.

So I chose some concepts that I leaned towards having some sort of component that assists with funneling the product or preventing any spillage during the containing process. In this case, it was the funnel.

Further development of the funneling feature

Starting from the top left to right and down, I had the idea of having the mouth of the container have the cloth that acts as a funnel sewed onto it. The cover of the container will be the same length as the container or at least almost the same length to hide the cloth funnel. When ready to dispense the product into the container, the cloth should be lifted up from the base up so it can catch the dispensing products and can be wrapped back down to cover the container and be closed in with the lid.

Other uses are for snacking functions straight from the container. The lid cover can be taken off and used as a snacking cup.

However, this concept was communicated very poorly. Initially there was no caption text or descriptions at all, and I had my classmate, professor, and expert Jane Rabanal review this sketch.

• Classmate Brittany W. initially thought it was a compost bin or something related to disposing of an object.
• Professor Ricardo Gomes also thought it was a compost or disposable bin, and could not understand what I was trying to convey.
• Expert Jane couldn’t understand the concept either and wondered if it was related to composting or using a compost bag.

Understandably the problem was with how I was communicating my concept, even though I myself understand it, people who want to know my product more or who want to potentially buy it should at least get a chance of knowing what my product is and how it functions. Unfortunately I failed to communicate both of these even with the added captions.

I thought that by prototyping it, I could see how I could better communicate it not just to those who want to see it but to myself and see what spots I could revise by interacting with it.

First prototype model with the imitation “dispenser” on the right.

In these first few photos, I’m demonstrating the removal of the bottom cup that contains tools for bulk foods such as the cloth funnel, the plastic funnel, and the spoon for things such as spices and whatnot.

In these second sets of photos, I’m demonstrating the use of the plastic funnel where I place it on the mouth of the container and dispense the snack into the container without any spillage thanks to the funnel.

In these final sets of photos, I’m demonstrating the snack cup function for the lid of the prototype. Once the snack is contained, you can utilize the cap as a snacking cup for on the go, with another person, or in the car.

The first prototype was very short sighted as it seems I added way more frustrations to the process as noted by my housemate when I exhibited it to her. She simply said “the process of taking the funnel out looks very annoying. I’m not even doing it, but just watching you do it frustrates me.”

Oh geeyze! The whole point of the process was to make bulk grocery shopping LESS frustrating! So where did I go wrong? Well, before I give my critical thoughts on what went wrong I consulted my expert Daniel on his thoughts. From the email he states:

“looks like a plastic container with a wrap as a funnel. I don’t really see the point of the cloth/wrap as they will be difficult to clean even if they are for dry food (There will be powders and residue). Also, it seems cumbersome to take them out of the bottom compartment and use it as a funnel when you can just pour the snacks in carefully.”

Thank you to my housemate and Daniel for reconfirming that I shouldn’t just stop here…because there is more to be solved to this problem.

This shouldn’t be the end design solution, it may work one way but we have to make it work even better…

While holding the failed prototype with me on the train back home, I couldn’t stop thinking about other ways I could make the experience better. Then it trailed off into thoughts about, how do people feel about grocery shopping in general? Tiring. Especially after a busy day at work? It’s not too pleasant.

What do people often associate themselves with when they’re busy? Nature sometimes. Squirrels. Fish. Bees.

Bees struck a lot of inspiration for me. While bees are often associated with how busy they are, they are also a productive part of nature and society. Without bees, we would not have a healthy environment and this product aims to make the environment better.

Honey combs are hexagonal in shape and represent the fruits of our labor. In this case we’re paying ourselves with food at the grocery store to sustain ourselves, and I thought the shape a perfect fit for my new container. Not just because of the association, but because the shape actually is a little more geometrically welcoming for dispensers and shovels than a circle.

Concept sketches for the new and improved funnel container, this time making the funnel part of the container instead of separate to remove the gruesome extra and painstaking step of taking and applying the separate funnel onto the mouth of the container, which requires more hands.

With this new concept, not only are there less components, but there’s more style to it with the new shape. Hexagonal shapes also allow for this product to be stored in the storage on the side instead of blocking the other containers when stood upwards. Because of that I included a see-through cap to differentiate from the other containers what product is inside.

The process to build this prototype became methodical and somewhat meditative as I X-acto cut various sized pieces with different material. The materials used for this prototype were quite inexpensive:

• Various cardboards from the backs of subject notebooks for the container
• String for closing function
• Fabric for the funnel
• Plastic from bouquet flowers section for another funnel

The other tools I used were somewhat expensive, but useful in facilitating the drawstring function for closing the built-in funnel, and they included an eyelet plier kit with eyelets for strings.

Before starting, I imitated the quick rough draft exercises Professor Gomes has us do for every different project and quickly whipped up a container based on the concept without even considering the measurements or dimensions of it, because I wanted to be able to visualize and interact with the function I have intended. It would be wasted if the function I had planned didn’t even work even with all the precise dimensions.

The first stages of the rough prototype for the hexagon container. After cutting, I prepare the funnel with the eyelet tool.

Testing the cloth length for each “petal” or “panel” of the funnel function and stringing through the eyelets.

Studying my own drawstring gym bag I imitate the string positioning and threading through the eyelets and test the closing and opening movement. So far so good it moves like I want it too, but very roughly.

Finally, putting the cap on. Fits snug around the funnel.

So I continue on by making a smaller and lighter size after discovering the pieces move and function like I want it to. Using similar measurements to that of a mason jar which is the existing product for bulk foods, I make the hexagon the same size after making sure the edges and faces meet nicely.

These three photos show the process of me cutting a bottom piece that will fit nicely inside so it acts as the base of the container.

Process in which I create the open and closable funnel function by making the bottom half of the cut piece attach to the inside of the container and the top half fan out.

Because the container’s overall shape is a hexagon, I had to double the sides and draw a dodecagon for reference on where to cut the cloth so it meets with the fanned out funnel evenly.

As I thread through the eyelets, it closes effortlessly, but the double thread similar to my drawstring gym bag didn’t work as well. So when threaded with just a single string, it closes smoothly and could even be closed with one hand with just one simple pull and can be re-opened with the same hand.

I repeat the steps but with smaller dimensions and different materials and this time I add tabs to make the assembly a bit easier and uniform.

With this material, it makes it cleaner to maintain, easier to carry, and good for smaller portions like tea leaves and dried herbs.

I continue this process with different materials and different dimensions, adding more tabs that will enhance the assembly.

After creating the more refined container with the dimensions similar to a mason jar, I have some friends and relatives interact with it and give me some feedback after use. I have them stage the 3 scenarios of the product’s use:

• Shoveling bulk foods into the container
• Dispensing bulk foods into the container
• Utilizing the container as a snacking product

Scenario one of using the prototype

Scenario two of using the prototype

Scenario three of using the prototype

In the first two scenarios I received a lot of feed back. For the user in the picture, my brother, he stated the following:

It’s got a nice grip for the shape compared to cylindrical ones, but if you want to get a strange perspective or masculine user perspective, you have to understand we don’t like carrying too much to and from the car. So perhaps carrying multiple containers would be a turn-off for a lot of male shoppers.

This is a great perspective as not everyone shops the same way as the grocery customer standing behind them in line. Everyone has their own methods of how their journey to and from the grocery store works and should be considered if I were to hypothetically create a product line related to this container.

My expert Jane Rabanal’s feedback in regards to the prototype were:

I like how your prototype is multi-functional and addresses challenges/needs from the scenarios (great scenarios by the way)…In general, I think the form and design have good potential. But I do have some questions about the material and construction. Is the fabric what you propose, or is it representational? I wonder about cleaning for both the fiber-based container and cloth funnel, as this would be reusable. Also, is the string/cord meant for just closure or can it be used as a handle? Either way, I fear it could become cumbersome. (But a handle would be beneficial!) Could it pop open and closed if another material? Or maybe a different folding structure? Maybe consider showing alternate iterations/options in perhaps silicone or other material? I understand if you are trying to stay with a natural/biodegradable material. I’m just not convinced of how the color/material would read in the market landscape.

I should have made the material choices more clear and should have tested and demonstrated the other model with the plastic film, because it would have been less messy. Because this was only a prototype and not the actual final model, I was only able to use paper-based materials since it was affordable. However, if given the chance to make the final polished and marketable model, I would have definitely chosen the following materials to experiment with:

(Material A) PLA, a bio-based plastic which doesn’t emit as much gas when being produced. (Material B) woods such as bamboo or sugar cane stalks which is light weight and durable. (Material C) other sustainable and eco-friendly woods that can be re-used as much as material B but maintain a lightweight container.

Expert Daniel Chae provided his resourceful feedback as well on the prototype stating:

…different form of the same idea, a container with built in fabric funnel. As I mentioned, fabric will be difficult to clean. Also, the combination of using draw strings, fabric, and multiple opening flaps seems a bit messy aesthetically and it will have high cost of labor for such a simple product. For PLU code feature, can you erase the code you write on the container? Will the container get messy? Do you have to carry a pen with you? These are the questions I would ask.

This was a function I forgot to include and realized once at the check-out line. When we actually had to purchase the snacks we dispensed, we simply used the provided writing tag and wrapped it around the drawstrings. In today’s markets, there are rewritable materials similar to white boards and black boards with erasable chalk pens. Another radical idea was to input a tangible numbering tool from lock pad technology; however, this might seem a strange function and numbers could be knocked to a different PLU code during the process of transportation towards the checking register.

As mentioned before, the cloth material used was to simulate the function, but using the plastic film similar to the bouquet holders should have been utilized to better communicate and simulate the mess reduction of this product. Luckily I still have it implemented on one of the smaller models for testing.

In a final prototype, I tested a heavier paper material which didn’t help with the flexibility but was definitely more durable and this prototype included the display windows for visualizing the product it holds.

Instead of having to hold the provided bags open and operate the dispense lever at the same time, the hexagonal container provides for one-handed dispensing.

Demonstration of dispensing with ease and how the shovel fits nicely with the hexagonal profile

How the container fits in the car cup holders for easy snacking.

How the container would look when stacked in the cupboards

Final Presentation and Thoughts

During the final presentation, it was a poster session where Professor Gomes invited experts and my colleagues invited their own guests. What I learned was many people loved the concept and being able to hold and interact with the product.

Presenting my design problem and solution

The poster and booklet filled with informative research and details of the design process

I’m glad that in the end, I chose to research deeper into what would be a better solution. My initial proposal was just a bandaid to the solution and going towards a path of market trend and how we can develop eco-friendly consumer behavior in the grocery industry felt much more fulfilling.

The experts and feedback were especially crucial for this project, and I value the feedback I received whether they were negative or positive, because it is what fuels the process and it helps me gain a different perspective. It’s easy to get tunnel visioned with just your mind alone working on the process and seeing the prototypes with just your own eyes.

Without professionals such as Jane Rabanal, Daniel Chae, Hsiao-Yun Chu, Ricardo Gomes, and my friend’s and family’s honest opinions this project would have not been as effective and I’m proud of the thought and process I put into this.

Me and my wonderfully talented colleagues

If I could improve this project in three ways it would be:

1. Double the draw string as a carrying handle instead of having it hang on the sides of the container.
2. Implement two legible and tangible functions that make it easier for the employees as well: visible, rewritable, and erasable the PLU code (the code for cashiers to ring up for which bulk item it is), and the weight of the container.
3. Make a line or a family of this product for other bulk items such as spices or liquids. Perhaps a stainless steel tapered version for liquid bulk in the future, a culinary line for those who cook with bulk goods, or even ones for farmers markets. The possibilities are endless!

What made me proud about this project:

• Reaching out to resources even though my professors provided me with contacts to Jane Rabanal. I felt that I should receive another experts perspective to view it from all angles, so I sent many cold direct messages to industrial designers related to or involved in the packaging industry on LinkedIn and was fortunately able to find Daniel Chae! Thank you for responding Daniel!
• I continued the process from the initial solution. Design is ever evolving and shortcutting a design solution isn’t satisfying in the end for both the designer and the consumer.
• The course was my final class before finishing university and was a condensed version of the actual course which I did immediately after my time at Brunel University with only 8-weeks of 3 weekday 3 hour classes of defining the problem, research, ideating, prototyping, testing, feedback, going back, staging, further developing and testing etc. And between those stages of design I visited various bulk grocery stores, consulted with my experts over email and video call, and sought materials at low cost for my budget.
• My continuous love and personal investment for research through literature, field work, and interaction.

A colossal, massive, enormous thank you again to my SFSU professors Ricardo Gomes and Hsiao-Yun Chu for always pushing me. Like I said during the presentation, no feedback is bad news, because it means you care for our success if we get that much needed feedback.

The same amount of massive thank you and appreciation for Jane Rabanal and Daniel Chae who while complete strangers to me also pushed me to be a better designer. I hope to do as much amazing work as they do and I hope to inspire the next generation of designers as they have done for me.

And a final thank you to my classmates, I learned a lot from them and will take it with me on my professional journey. While we somewhat competed with each other, it was definitely the part that excited and inspired me to do better.