Plastic Utensils Pollution In America

In the United States, more than 100 million plastic utensils are used every day, and they can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. With the rise of online food shopping and delivery, the demand for single-use plastic utensils keeps growing. Also, given the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, people nowadays prefer using single-use utensils to assure a high level of hygiene on tabletops. Apart from generating wastes, consuming plastics also creates many negative impacts on our planet, such as water pollution and wildlife endangerment.

How might we convince more young people to use less single-use plastic utensils and create a trend towards reusability?

• Students use plastic utensils because they don't have other options.
• People do not know any other alternatives instead of using a plastic utensil.
• The switching cost is expensive to customers.
• There is an increased amount of plastic waste because of lockdowns.
• Restaurants use plastic utensils because they are cheap.
• Consumers are aware of the harm of plastic utensils but decide to use them anyway.
• Restaurants are NOT proactive in seeking other sustainable ways to replace plastic utensils.

Onsite Observation

We did some causal observations around the campus. We went to a Coffee Shop "Foxy Loxy" and observed how people use plastic utensils.

Survey

We designed a survey on the Usage of Plastic Utensils for people in the US. Here are some of the research questions:

• In the past 7 days, how often did you eat/order out?
• How often do you use plastic utensils?
• How important is it for you that plastic utensils should be provided in a full set (Fork, Knife, Spoon) instead of individually?
• Do you keep the unused utensils?
• Do you recycle the unused utensils?
• Why do you use plastic utensils?
• How often do you bring your own utensils when you go out to eat?

Secondary Research

We researched and analyzed newspaper articles, journals, scholarly sources, and videos to build a foundation of knowledge about the circular economy, and the plastic utensils use in the USA.

Co-creation and Sensory Detail Workshop

We designed a one-hour-long workshop and invited 4 participants to share their views and experience about plastic utensils.  We also showed them existing utensils and different materials and got their opinions on them.

Key Findings

Affinity Mapping

We grouped and cluttered all the data into different categories to find out any meaning correlations

Empathy Map

We create different profiles for our interviewees to understand their user journey and feeling

Pull & Push Factors

We listed out the pull factors that can motivate people to use more reusable utensil. Meanwhile, we listed out the push factors that can discourage people to use plastic utensils.

Eisenhower Matrix

Based on the level of feasibility and impact, we positioned all possible solutions and decided which one to develop further.

Key Insights