Reducing the environmental impact of on-the-go food packaging

Reducing the environmental impact of on-the-go food packaging: A search for new solution spaces

de Wit, Charlotte (TU Delft Industrial Design Engineering)

Schermer, Wim (graduation committee)
Balkenende, Ruud (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Integrated Product Design

2019-10-14

On-the-go food packaging has a significant negative impact on the environment. The awareness of this long existing problem is rising among consumers and policy makers. Although over decades many professionals in various areas of expertise have worked on improvements and tried to find solutions, these solutions all involve trade-offs. An ideal zero waste, circular status in which the world’s resources are preserved and their value is maintained has not been reached yet. New solution spaces need to be discovered, which seems like an impossible job within this already much discussed issue. The present project starts out from the thesis statement that there are still ‘voids’ to be discovered in the entirety of solution possibilities. A ‘void’ is defined as a solution space that is not deployed because it is undiscovered, not because it is considered un-useful. Traditional design ways of problem solving use ideation techniques to come up with different concepts from which the best one is selected. By selecting solutions in this way, solution spaces and possibilities may be overlooked. Going beyond the traditional design problem solving techniques, this research uses a technique based on abstracting physical working principles of solutions, borrowed from the field of biomedical engineering. By combining problem solving techniques from different engineering disciplines, a systematic overview of solution spaces is created exposing undeployed solution spaces. In the subsequent phase, the undeployed solution spaces are investigated further to see if there are actual ‘voids’ among them. The overview is used to create an innovative solution concept by first clustering the solution spaces in workable solution directions to reduce complexity. By an iterative process of ideating and research, a solution space is selected. Taking the complex interconnected boundary conditions into account – such as the demanding consumer, the profit desiring retailers and the different types of environmental impact –, solution concepts are developed within the selected solution space from which one is selected as final solution concept. The final solution concept implies separating the presentation function of food packaging from the disposable packaging and shifts the function to a reusable element. The solution concept is developed into an example application: a new packaging is designed for prepacked stuffed wraps. The new packaging is user tested and adapted in an iterative process, based on the test results, until it has shown its potential. Thus, the created systematic overview is verified to uncover at least one ‘void’ and holds the possibility to contain more. This project aims to contribute to reducing the negative environmental impact of on-the-go food packaging by showing that is worthwhile to search beyond existing solution directions. The created packaging concept plays both ways: by being part of the theoretical void finding process in verifying the overview and by being part of a practical solution in reducing the amount of single use material. The application of this concept can be explored further in future research.

Food
Packaging
sustainabilty
Solution Space
Environmental impact
Consumer behaviour

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3f00d742-bb57-47a2-a7c2-f0d44a355b69

Student theses

master thesis

© 2019 Charlotte de Wit