Improving waste recycling
· case study ·
Creating new revenue streams and reducing negative impacts, improving waste recycling
Since the 70s, posters have been one of the most used way of adversiting for companies. Paper being one the main raw material being used.
In the world, 35% of harvested trees are consumed by paper manufacturers when 40% of landfill waste is paper.
The need to recycle posters seems obvious, but the ease to do to isn’t. Indeed, the material, process to hang it up and take it back need to be considered at the design stage to make the recycling possible.
That is a company in outdoor advertising (confidential) called Circulab to design a new solution to increase the capacity for recycling its paper waste and its price.
Exploring the current industrial process
In order to identify the areas of concern and drivers for action, it was required to explore the current system for the value chain and the paper life cycle from printing to end-of-use.
Visits in factories, interviews with operational teams and discovery of the existing partnerships and recycling plants made possible to map different scenario of solutions. The objective for the client was not to change the machinery park but to adapt the new solution to its industrial process.
Designing the solution
One main weakness in the life-cycle of posters for outdoor communication is that it requires tape or glue hardly removable for paper waste recycling.
To solve that issue, three main scenario were reported to the client at different steps of the industrial process. Rough sketches and mockup were given for each alternative.
Expectation for the new revenue streams from the waste paper sale was 300 000€/year.
