Designing for human behavior to enable circular packaging

Abstract

Society's linear model of consumption - make, use, and throw - is not sustainable. Waste management systems have not been built to handle the production and consumption patterns of the modern age nor are they equipped to swallow the dramatic escalations and changes in product packaging. Single use packaging is an issue that resonates with customers and helps them understand the impacts of climate change, which creates an opportunity to engage with interested stakeholders and incite customer action that could lead to wider and longer-term behavioral and system changes that benefit the environment. This thesis leverages the human-centered design process to understand the context of and challenges with packaging today for a consumer technology company, uncover insights and form a specific research question, generate potential solutions, and gather user feedback on the potential solutions. This thesis presents findings from users on concepts to reduce the environmental impact of single use packaging and highlights themes in human behavior that could inform packaging design for sustainability.