"How might we foster a behavior shift in shoppers to adopt reusable bag use?"
Single-use plastic bags continue to be a harmful environmental contributor. In New York City alone for example, shoppers use more than 10 billion single-use plastic bags a year, accounting for 1,700 tons of residential garbage a week. A national study found that nearly 50% of these bags become litter ending up in our natural systems, such as water and trees, with plastic bags taking at least 1,000 years to decompose.
ROLE
Research
Community Partnerships
Journey Mapping
Co-creation
Strategy
Prototyping
Co-Design
Testing
DURATION
Six Months
CHALLENGE
Most people know that plastic and single use-bags are harmful for the environment, yet there remains a barrier to getting into the habit of switching to using reusable bags. Some interventions prove to have an impact. Some state and municipalities have implemented single-use bag bans. Grocery stores have created policies to motivate reusable bag use, such as single-use bag fees as well as raffle prize programs for shoppers that bring reusable bags. These solutions are a great start, however there are still great challenges to reusable bag adoption. Reusable bag use is not a conceptual barrier but rather a behavior barrier.
“It’s because of my chaotic life- when I plan, I bring my bag, but it’s the spontaneous purchase I wish I had my bag” - Shopper
LINES OF INQUIRY
FIRST INQUIRY
Inquiry at outset:
How might shoppers get in the habit of using a reusable bag?
SECOND INQUIRY
Deeper line of inquiry: What are the drivers to routinize reusable bags
INSIGHTS
Reusable bag use addoption is driven by rewards
“It’s all about the reward- my grocery store offered a discount for bringing my bag, which got me started and I’ve been brinings my bags since ”
Reusable bag use addoption is driven by reminders
“If I don’t pack my bag right away [when I get home] I have to hang it up where I see it in the morning so I remember to bring it before I leave”
OPPORTUNITY:
Reusable Bag Rewards and Reminders
Partnering with Key Foods, North Brooklyn Neighbors, Future Meets Present and NYC Department of Sanitation, we worked to collaborate on designing and test several reward and reminder prototypes to test reusable bag adoption and use. Based on feedback from over 100 shopper interviews and observations, the aim of the prototypes was to assess the efficacy of the interventions in order to make a single recommendation. Due to COVID-19 several of the prototypes were disrupted pivoting the research, strategy and design to focus on Make Your Own Reusable Bag Hooks.
DELIVERABLES
Door Hanger Reminder
Express Line Prototype
Reusable Hook Guide
CO-DESIGN
North Brooklyn Neighbors
Future Meets Present
KeyFoods
NYC Dept. of Sanitation
Shoppers
PROCESS
Interviews
Observations
Co-Design
User Testing
Email Surveys