FAB Ideation “Waste Reduction During Pandemic” Report

On 06 August 2020, we joined together for an online mini jam. The sixth in a series of events titled Fab Ideation, in which we discuss important design challenges and explore solutions together through fun and creative Design Thinking activities.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the plastic waste crisis are both serious problems in Hong Kong. While many of the city’s residents have been forced to stay-at-home amidst the pandemic, they have been ordering more takeaway food and dumping an estimated 101 million pieces of single-use cutlery and food containers every week. The focus of the event was therefore to find alternative ways to maintain social distancing without increasing the plastic consumption.

As the event was conducted online we have been further practicing the use of online tools. We used the video communication platform Zoom, in conjunction with Miro, a collaborative whiteboard platform. This allowed us to adapt many Design Thinking tools and methods, which would normally only work in physical space, to an online format – including customer journey mapping, ideation brainstorming and concept sketching.

The first main exercise for the participants was to develop a Customer Journey Map. Together, we considered and marked down all the activities of an in-dining or take-away restaurant experience. After that, we did the same for all touchpoints the customer would interact with, and the emotions they would have, during those activities. Through this exercise, we built a better understanding of what is currently happening from a customer perspective.

The second exercise was Ideation Brainstorming. The purpose of the exercise is simply to write down ideas that might be useful to develop a solution to the challenge. As a general practice, we emphasize quantity over quality, that there are no “bad ideas”, and that one sticky note should only contain one idea. Within this safe and creative mindset, we came up with a large and diverse set of early ideas. A few of the ideas were existing ideas, like discounts for reusable containers and re-arranged seating arrangements. Other ideas considered different stakeholders and government policies. And some ideas were more imaginative and crazy, like automatic cutlery dispensers, single-direction interior design, or restaurants with live video chat.

In the third and last exercise we reiterated and refined on those early ideas by making Concept Sketches. We asked the participants to draw their ideas with pen and paper, which allowed much deeper sharing and discussion. The final concept sketches are shown below.

Thanks to all the participants who joined the session. Stay tuned for our event announcements on FabCafe website and our Facebook page.