The growth of eating lunch purchased out of the home has led to an increased need for pre-packaged food-to-go products. Single-use plastic packaging is frequently chosen for its food safety and convenience attributes; however, the material format is under scrutiny due to concerns over economic waste and environmental impact. A circular economy could transform linear make-use-dispose supply chains into circular systems, ensuring the cycling of valuable plastic resources. However, there has been limited research into how consumers will behave within circular economic systems. Understanding consumer behaviour with packaging disposed out of the home could aid designers in developing solutions society will adopt in the transition to a circular economy. This study evaluates the application of behaviour research methods, and the behavioural insight outputs, with stakeholders from the UK food-to-go packaging supply chain. A novel co-design workshop and business origami technique allowed multiple stakeholder groups to collaboratively discuss, evaluate, and plan how consumer behaviour techniques could be used within their supply chain packaging development process. Although all stakeholders identified strengths in incorporating behaviour studies into the development process, providing essential knowledge feedback loops, barriers to their application include the cost and time to implement, plus the existing inconsistent UK waste infrastructure.

There is both an increasing awareness and concern that human activity is responsible for the climate crisis. The role of polymers within this narrative is not always clear, but by industries engaging in linear economic systems there will always be a need for new plastic production, and the associated planetary cost that comes with it, to meet demand. This is a particular issue for the UK Food to Go industry where single‐use plastic packaging plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity of the packaged contents. The circular economy, in which there would be multiple closed‐loop cycles of plastic reuse before recycling, offers a promising direction but there are several barriers to the UK Food to Go industry's transition. This perspective article introduces a design‐led approach to polymer research, highlighting three advantages that could help to overcome these barriers: frame creation as a way for synthesising complex issues towards novel research directions; the potential for changing consumer behaviour through scripted material characteristics; and multidisciplinary working as a facilitator of knowledge generation and transfer. The article concludes with an introduction to the Perpetual Plastic for Food to Go project, a design‐led research project that combines polymer chemistry with sustainable manufacturing and design to reduce the impact of UK Food to Go plastic packaging. © 2022 The Authors. Polymer International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Industrial Chemistry.

Remote ethnography requires the observation of human interaction in the natural world without the researcher being present. Well-established in industrial and user experience design remote ethnography provides insight into the user's behaviour whilst completing a specific task in a defined environment. Designers in established fields such as Design for Sustainable Behaviour have applied this behavioural understanding to develop interventions to positively adapt unsustainable behaviours. Existing research techniques have evidenced limitations in fully understanding consumer packaging disposal behaviour, with a clear gap in behavioural insights with packaging used out of the home. A novel mixed-methods approach was developed using remote ethnography to explore consumer food-to-go packaging disposal behaviour out of the home, providing insights which could be evaluated for their application within the packaging development process. In explaining the new methodological approach, this paper (a) proposes a mixed-methods approach by which packaging developers can better understand packaging disposal behaviour out of the home, (b) explains this research method in the context of a food-to-go packaging disposal case study and (c) evaluates the value of the mixed-methods approach within the food packaging development process.

The rapid advancement of technology, coupled with global digitalisation and the growing demand for innovative consumer electronics, has led to a dramatic increase in the production and consumption of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). This trend has raised significant concerns regarding the sustainability of EEE usage, particularly in terms of their obsolescence, disposal, and environmental impact. Addressing these concerns, this study surveyed 600 undergraduate students, who reported on 14 different types of EEE, to explore the reasons for obsolescence (RQ1), the most common methods of managing obsolete devices based on their types (RQ2), and students’ awareness of alternative waste management methods (RQ3). Results were reported using frequencies and percentages. Findings reveal that obsolescence is mainly driven by “broken beyond repair,” “worn-out technology,” “outdated technology,” and “lack of required functions,” indicating that absolute and technical obsolescence are the primary factors. The most common way of dealing with obsolete devices is to “keep it” across all device types, with “throwing away” emerging as another frequent method for electrical devices. More than half of the students are aware of accessible alternatives, such as “online sales” and “charity donations,” though irregular or infrequent options tend to have lower awareness levels. This study highlights the behavioural trends and gaps in awareness among students regarding EEE obsolescence and disposal, emphasising the importance of promoting sustainable practices and raising awareness about accessible waste management alternatives.

People in the western world are now living in a service economy due to a general economic shift from making products to providing services. In addition, services are being increasingly embodied in the products we buy. Thus far this has been driven by business motives rather than environmental concerns, as by adding services to their products companies can obtain higher producer-customer interaction and increase competitive advantage. But, there are a growing number of practitioners who are looking to systems and service approaches as a means of achieving consumer value alongside greater sustainability improvements. In these approaches consumer need and value is addressed in place of product functions. Impacts that affect the sustainability of a product occur across its entire life cycle, including material selection, use and end-of-life. Systems and services provide an opportunity to reduce life-cycle impacts. This chapter provides an overview of systems and service design in the circular economy as well as case studies from the field. <!----> <!----> <!----> <!---->