OUGD601 - Context of Practice 3: TRM Pack Inquiry

During the Summer holidays I made a phone call to TRM pack who are based in Burscough in Lancashire. I noticed that they produce packaging and thought it would be great primary research if I was able to visit them and see all of the machinery and perhaps meet the designers.

When I phoned up however, I was told that the design studio is down south and that most of the production happens there. This was a shame but I was glad I had made the effort, and they wished me luck with my work! 

OUGD601 - Context of Practice 3: Meeting Number 1 With Tony Scott

First meeting with Tony - Waste Prevention and Sustainability Manager

This morning I met with Tony Scott, who I was introduced to at the Liverpool Food Festival initially. He is the Waste Prevention and Sustainability Manager and also works with Love Food Hate Waste. I met him at Mann Island in Liverpool to just have a chat about my work and my current ideas relating to my context of practice 3. I spent a couple of hours there in total and came away with a lot more resources and little bit more of an idea of what direction to take my essay and my practical. There is still a long way to go yet and I am aware that all of my thoughts will develop a lot from now until January, but I feel it is important to allow the ideas to develop and grow, and by having this conversation today I was able to plant the seed in hope that I will have further conversations in the future with Tony and others about the final product and outcome. 

(All of the text which is highlighted I will be researching into further as soon as possible)

Notes:

- Research into packaging recovery notes

- "All resources will be brought back into the system" - Tony Scott

- Research into the Ellen MacArthur circular economy

- Mention resource efficiency in essay

- There are 9000 landfills in the UK

- "The supermarkets control what we eat" - Tony Scott

- Look into film that we can't recycle

- Look at consumer demand

- Research WRAP website as there are plenty of reports and research

- "Consumers end up getting into a habit when it comes to shopping in supermarkets, they gain trust in certain manufacturers" - Tony Scott

- "8000 more tonnes of waste expected this year" - Tony Scott

- "The most wasted product in people's bins is food" - Tony Scott

- "Don't shop when hungry!" - Tony Scott

- Research Mintel online journal

- Research Courtaulds Commitment WRAP UK

- We are currently in phase 2 of the agreements and it is a voluntary agreement with all major players being a part of it

Product/Practical Outcome:

We then started to discuss the practical element of my COP3 work. This conversation wasn't so much about the end product itself, but mainly things which we had noticed recently as being inventive and worthwhile of mentioning/researching further into.

Notes:

- We spoke about packaging reduction or reuse and Tony mentioned how it would be worth considering sleeves as opposed to boxes in some cases.

- Tony also mentioned the Lynx deodorant bottle which has just recently been manufactured, this is something which I had already looked into as it is a Unilever product. This then led to us talking about Unilever and all of their products, making comments on how amazing it would be if I was able to get a placement with them. 

-  He also informed me about how margarine and yoghurt pots are different types of plastic and they are hard to recycle and yet only a couple of pence to produce. This is something I could refer to in my essay as well. 

- By halving the size of packaging we can halve the waste as well.

- Tony suggested that I should buy the book Tescopology as well, so this is something I am going to do today and reference in my essay.

- I was also told that the shelves are paid for by the food producers. This is really interesting as it will have a considerable impact on the positioning of food products in supermarkets. 

- I told Tony that I have been thinking about the possibility of designing some packaging for bread to keep it fresh for as long as possible, but also design a package which is reusable. The idea behind this would be to encourage the consumer to recycle the packaging as well as the food. A lot of people throw their left over bread away, so I would like to inform people about the other possible uses for it, such as breadcrumbs. I explained this in quite a lot of detail but also discussed the possible set backs of this idea and the possibility that everything may have already been covered before. Therefore at the moment it is just a possible idea... Tony then suggested creating a 'bread roll' which emphasis on the roll. So it is obviously a play on words but it could roll out to reveal the product inside. 

- At Love Food Hate Waste, one thing that they really push is the idea of freezing your food rather than letting it go to waste. Tony therefore suggested that I could design a type of freezer bag to keep it fresh with the information of possible uses printed on it. 

- Love Food Hate Waste also have branded cooler bags which they give out at their events (I was given one at Liverpool Food Festival) and inside they place possible recipes for left over food as well as other things like a spaghetti measure to help reduce food waste. This idea pushed us both to discuss the potential behind creating a bag in the same format, with the silver flask inside to keep bread fresh. These were all just ideas though and were also verging on the idea of product design as opposed to packaging. Product design however, is something I seem to becoming more and more interested in. 

- Tony also mentioned the Coca Cola starch bottles. This is a case study I looked at in great detail last year on the course, but it is also very relevant for this essay too. 

- Consider the legal definition of the term 'reuse'. This is important as people perceive it in different ways and this will have a considerable impact on my essay depending on how I use the word. 

At the end of the meeting I spoke to Tony about Love Food Hate Waste a bit more. Earlier on in conversation he had mentioned that they have just signed a two year contract with Tesco. I therefore asked whether there would be any opportunity for me to pitch at idea to Tesco later down the line if it was relevant to their store or any of their food products. He responded with a definite yes as he has contacts there. I then thought to myself that I am probably putting myself under unnecessary pressure for the purpose of this module, but at the same time I would much rather put my work into practice and have it make a difference in the real world in some way, rather than it just be a conceptual product. Obviously at the moment these are all just options but I am hoping that Tony will organise for us to have a meeting again as soon as possible, and next time hopefully with Tesco!

OUGD601 - Context of Practice 3: Liverpool Food and Drink Festival (Photography)

Today I visited the Liverpool Food and Drink Festival. I had initially planned on going to the Good Food Show in London to gather primary research, however when I asked people about it who had already been in the past, they explained that it isn't as closely related to food as you would imagine, as they have more gadgets than they do food products. I therefore decided that it wouldn't be as worthwhile me making the journey to London for it, and instead searched for more local events. This being on of them.

I went on a Sunday, hoping that it may be slightly less busy and I would get an opportunity to speak to more people this way. However when I arrived it was still extremely busy as the weather was lovely! I took some photographs to document the day and to use for inspiration for my practical as well as my essay. 

At the moment, as I am considering designing something to help reduce bread waste, I took as many photographs as I could which related to this topic. I didn't know whether the photography may be useful at a later date, depending on what I decide to design. 

I also wanted to have references to all of the different brands and organisations that were there. There were a lot of restaurants from Liverpool holding their own stands to promote their offers and their products. It was therefore interesting to see how they distributed their food and what containers they used to store it all in. Whether they were being sustainable or not. 

I also quite liked the variety of signage which was on show. I thought it might be a good idea to photograph this as well as I may need to create my own branding at some stage within my development and I quite like the idea of creating something which has quite a hand rendered feel to it like this example below. 

As well as there being lots of restaurants in Liverpool with their own stand, there were also quite a few independent businesses. I quite liked how a lot of the food was presented in individual baskets as it gave it a rustic, home made feeling. 

I also really loved this packaging. The branding is so simple yet so effective and memorable. If I end up branding my own product range I would definitely take inspiration from this example. I also think it is really lovely the way the brown boxes have been used to package the products, giving a sustainable feel to the packaging. 

I also quite like the idea of creating a range of products, based around bread. So for example I could redesign the bread packaging as well as some other products which complement bread, such as different flavoured oils. 

This stand was interesting as they were a similar kind of company to Graze and Abel and Cole who all distribute fresh products within the UK. Again, I quite liked their branding and the simplicity of it. The brown paper bags were recycled as well. 

I think this photograph could work really well if I need any to use for my practical outcome. All of them were taken on an SLR so they are all high quality which is good. 

A lot of the packaging hadn't really been considered as much as it could have been, for example, here the distributor has simply bought a variety of different coloured boxes and stuck their branding on to it. It would be even better if all of the boxes could then be used for something else after they have finished eating the food inside. 

As I was walking around I came across the Love Food Hate Waste area. I had read online that they would be at the Food Festival and was really interested in looking closer to find out more information. Below are some photographs which were taken in their particular area. They had a larger space than most and were raising people's awareness on food and drink waste in the UK. 

Behind their stand they had an indoor marquee with lots more to engage with. There was a lot of information about composting and there was an opportunity for people to engage with a lot of the items they had on display.

When they weren't too busy, I saw it as an opportunity to try and talk to someone there to find out more information. They gave me this questionnaire to fill in at first, which was simply asking me basic questions about waste and how I feel towards it. This then enabled me to receive a free cooler bag with lots of different things inside. Including a spaghetti measure, rice scoop, clip to keep food fresh, as well as pens and a magnetic board to go on the fridge. I was really happy when I received all of these items as it instantly sparked off a few ideas in my mind. 

I was fortunate enough to then be introduced to a man called Tony Scott who was in charge. I explained that I am a graphic design student currently gathering as much research as possible for my dissertation to enable me to come up with a suitable title and ideas for my practical. I said I had a particular interest in food and packaging waste and love the idea of trying to create packaging which enables food waste to be minimised. 

Tony was extremely enthusiastic and gave me his details. He said that if I contacted him and organised a visit, I could go in to their office and he would give me lots of statistics and the opportunity to discuss ideas further. 

I therefore felt over the moon at this point because it had made the whole day really worthwhile and I feel as though I am making really positive progress, which is wanted I wanted to achieve over the Summer holidays. 

One thing I did notice was the fact that there were very few recyclable bins around the venue, and at such a large event it is probably really hard to keep track of waste, which is why it is so important that people are aware of the impacts. 

In the marquee they also had a lot of free standing banners like the ones pictured below. I wanted a visual reference of these but ended up being given a lot of free leaflets by Tony anyway, which had a lot of the information printed on them. 

Below are a selection of the leaflets which were given to me. Interestingly, I was given a lot of information about Tesco, this is because Love Food Hate Waste have a huge involvement with Tesco and are currently implementing a variety of schemes to help reduce their food and packaging waste. I definitely think that there is potential here for development.