Here is the new project for the MKT 309 sections. I'll have https://uncg.libguides.com/mkt309 updated soon. --Steve
MKT 309 FALL 2023 & SPRING 2024 INNOVATION PROJECT
The “Wicked” Problem
Plastics are used to package many consumables, from shampoos and toothpaste to takeout meals and fresh vegetables. These packages are thrown away once the products are consumed. Known as single-use plastic packaging, they represent about half of all plastics production and are steadily growing. However, only 5% of all plastics in the U.S. is recycled, despite the availability of collection bins and processing centers.1 2 Most plastic ends up in landfills due to the high cost of collecting, transporting, and sorting the wide array of plastics, all of which makes recycling uneconomical and infeasible.3 Unfortunately, plastic waste releases toxins and pollutants into the environment, and harms human, animal, marine, and plant life.4 We need a new approach and mindset to address the wicked problem of single-use plastic packaging by tackling the source, namely package design.
Project
For this project, your team will develop an “upstream” innovation to eliminate single-use plastic packaging in a specific industry or business that you choose and identify by name. Upstream means the innovation tackles the source of the problem (the packaging design) rather than a consequence (the plastic waste).
Specifically, the innovation must be a new packaging design, accompanied by product reformulation and/or a changed or created delivery mechanism (how the product gets to the consumer). These three elements (packaging, product, delivery) together form an integrated system that not only eliminates single-use plastics packaging, but also increases the value of the product to the consumer, such as through lower costs, greater convenience, and better environmentalism.
Importantly, the innovation must also be novel and practical. For example, replacing single-use with re-useable plastic or with paper or glass is not novel because it has been done, and moreover simply substitutes one form of material waste with another. Another example is creating an individual plastics recycling system. This solution addresses the consequence and not the problem source; furthermore, it is impractical as the technology would be too expensive to develop and sell, given the diverse composition of plastics and their nonbiodegradability.
Examples
Below are a few
examples of innovations:
·
No
packaging – Apeel is an edible, plant-based coating for fresh fruit and
vegetables that extends shelf life. It eliminates the need for plastic
wrapping. Apeel is both the product and service to apply the proprietary
coating, designed and built into the supply chain.
·
Hi-tech bulk dispensing – Purina One pet food
is dispensed into consumers’ own containers from air-tight cannisters that
remove the risk of contamination, dispense only after being triggered by a specific
user, and travel intact through the entire supply chain. The dispensers are
electronically tagged to guarantee traceability in the supply chain and produce
insights to continuously improve customer satisfaction.
· Return the packaging – VYTAL provides an online platform for pre-ordering home delivery or takeaway food in reusable packaging. The packaging is attractive, durable, and keeps food at the right temperature, and is returned by customers to drop off points or is picked up on a subsequent delivery. Restaurants save 20 – 30% in packaging costs compared to single-use. Customers find the reduced package waste appealing, a key decision criterion for choosing the system, improving their repeat rate, brand loyalty, and environmental consciousness.
Problem-solving Approach
To develop the innovation, your team will study and apply effective business communications principles and carry out the Human Flourishing Innovation (HFI) process [design thinking and human-centered capacities, https://bryan.uncg.edu/uncg-bryan-students-aim-to-relieve-pandemic-stress-through-innovation/ ]. The HFI process is a problem-solving approach that helps teams to identify and develop an innovation by integrating generative human capacities such as character strengths with design thinking tools, activities, and perspectives.
Through the HFI process your team will define the innovation project, conduct primary and secondary research, brainstorm and develop innovation concepts, iteratively prototype solutions, and deliver the final innovation in a report.
1 https://www.statista.com/topics/5127/plastic-waste-in-the-united-states/#topicOverview
2 https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/05/energy/single-use-plastics-volume-grows-climate-intl-hnk/index.html
3 Beyond
Plastics – Bennington College, “The Real Truth About the U.S. Plastics
Recycling Rate,” May 2022.
4 Li, W.C.,
H.F. Tse, & L. Fok (2016), “Plastic Waste in the Marine Environment: A
Review of Sources, Occurrence and Effects,” Science of the Total Environment,
566-567, pp.333-349.
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