The Brief
Use design to eliminate waste, overproduction or excessive consumption
Findings
Client is Waitrose so outcome should be retail-based. No mention of recycling, so must not just be a recyclable/recycled product. Communicating to and educating consumers to encourage behavioural change. Outcome must be well researched and executed and show good design thinking.
Secondary Research
Using Google Scolar, online newspapers and information for retailers to find out what problems supermarkets have with waste.
Food Cycle
Charity that gets volunteers to cook meals using surplus food thrown away by supermarkets.
Feeding the 5000
An organisation persuading people and businesses to pledge to reduce their food waste. The organisation often use surplus food to cook for the public.
Packaging Waste Findings
Because of a lack of sunlight and oxygen at landfill, even biodegradable shopping bags don’t break down well. 1/4 of household waste per year is from grocery packaging.
All data is for the UK
Food Waste Findings
Perishable food makes up 25% of household waste per year. Over 20% of wasted food per year is from lunchboxes. Between 20 - 40% of vegetables sent to supermarkets per year are wasted because they have cosmetic defects.
All data is for the UK
Food Waste Findings
400,000 tonnes of the food wasted by supermarkets per year could have been eaten. 300,000 tonnes of the food wasted by supermarkets per year is perishable.
All data is for the UK
Primary Research
Speaking to staff members in Waitrose, Tesco and Pret a Manger about current in store schemes to address the waste problem.
Waitrose Store Manager
“I’m not sure our recycling schemes could be advertised in store because each branch is different” “We are just a small city store so most people are just coming in to grab something for dinner” “Waitrose line has done very well at reducing packaging to a minimum”
Tesco Employee
“We are taught about waste but in terms of money” “The more we waste, the more money Tesco will lose” “We aren’t really taught about being environmentally friendly”
Pret Employee
“We are taught about ‘Good Waste’” “Any food left over at the end of the day goes to local charitites”
Secondary Research Insights Food waste is a key area in supermarkets to address.
Huge amounts of food wasted by supermarkets each year.
Primary Research Insights
Waitrose already solved many of problems in packaging waste. City stores have fewer people stopping to care about reducing food waste. In large supermarkets employees are taught less about the impact food waste has. Some smaller companies donate food to charity to prevent it being wasted.
Opportunities
How can we reduce food waste in and out of store? How could you create a community around a city-based Waitrose?
What if our waste could be a meal for someone else? What if there was an emotional encouragement to not waste food? Key insight: “Any food goes to local charities.�
What if the staff drove the schemes/ initiatives? What if the staff passed on their knowledge of waste reduction to customers? Key insight: “We are taught about ‘Good Waste.’”
PLAN FOR GAP BETWEEN TAKE OFF SHELF AND SELL BY
REMOVE EDIBLE FOOD THAT WILL NOT SELL STAFF RECIPES
BOX CHECKING
DONATION
STAFF COLLABORATE
LARGE BATCH WITH SAME DATE
WASTED LEFTOVERS REQUEST IDEAS CREATE WEB COMMUNITY
STAFF DISCUSS PERSONALISE IDEAS
GENERATE IDEAS
PUBLISH IDEAS
SELECT IDEAS
Further Secondary Research
Using information for retailers to find out what problems supermarkets have with waste and looking into how some of those problems have attempted to be solved.
The Challenge of Food Waste A publication by IBM and Planet Retail, addressing the problem of food waste in supermarkets and looking at possible solutions.
Problem Areas
If companies want to donate food to charity, there are strict rules in place to ensure the food isn’t dangerous. This means donation may not be a viable solution. The amount of perishable food wasted per year in supermarkets has a negative impact of 4% on sales.
Existing Solutions
A store in Regensdorf, Switzerland showcased a solution which suggested items to create 1 meal with if shoppers scanned certain products. Waitrose and Delia Smith designed the ‘Ultimate Christmas Cake Kit’ with ready weighed ingredients, meaning the customer only bought as much as they needed.
Further Primary Research
Speaking to a supervisor in Marks and Spencers about where there are high levels of food waste in store.
M&S Supervisor
“The bakery is probably the area where we chuck the most stuff away because they don’t price their stock down early, because they have to have stock available all day” “In the bakery everything is the same date so they can’t get rid of it in the morning, which means they have to shift it all in the last half hour” “I don’t think many charities would come in just for bread”
M&S Supervisor
“At late night when you’re doing reductions you get the same people coming in everyday” “It’s very hard to forecast how much stock will go, you can’t really tell how much you’re going to have left until you’ve got it” “We had a couple of local charities come in, they used to get meals and soups, but they took very little bread even when it was there”
Further Secondary Research Insights Solutions involving charity run risk of making supermarkets liable for harm to others.
Reducing food waste could be financially beneficial to supermarkets. Existing solutions often involve smartphones or other electronic devices. Giving the shopper a set amount of ingredients as part of a recipe means they will probably only use as much as they need.
Further Primary Research Insights
Due to demand for bread to be made freshly in bakery, bakers often make too much and can’t sell all of it. Charities in past came in for ready meals, they would probably not come in for bread on its own. Even in city stores staff see familiar faces each day. Hard to know how much stock will be left, needs to be a way of shifting it quickly once it is left.
NOTICE WHAT IS REGULARLY WASTED DISCOUNT IF FULL RECIPE BOUGHT REQUEST IDEAS
PRIZE INCENTIVE IN STORE NAVIGATION
GENERATE IDEAS
INTEGRATE QR MARKERS PUBLISH IDEAS INSTRUCT SHOPPERS