Sunday, October 14, 2012

Product Service Systems - Re-Store

My proposed PSS design focuses on reducing the amount of waste that is being produced by fish markets, focusing on Asian markets where produce is delivered in the morning via either a cooled small 1.5T truck or delivery van. The fresh produce arrives in polystyrene boxes covered with ice. Stores generally place the goods inside the cool room immediately but some bring it out into the front and start cleaning the fish. The fish are washed, gutted, de-boned and heads are often removed and binned along with the polystyrene boxes.


The problem lies with the destruction of polystyrene boxes which adds into landfill. Throwing these out also reduces the space available inside the garbage bin, and my design aids this issue and also provides a system where recycling is also possible.

Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. It is becoming more commonly used in the Industry to manage biodegradable waste, which reduces the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere. More common practices with anaerobic digestion are small compost piles at home, or on a larger scale, the production of biogas which can be used directly as cooking fuel, or can be upgraded to natural gas-bio-methane.

What my PSS design provides is a system where it is able to eliminate polystyrene boxes and reduce increasing amount of trash going into landfill. The Re-Store is a polypropylene injected moulded storage unit, which is able to be retrofitted and used with current systems in place and provides a recycling service. It will work with current transportation methods by fitting into the racks inside the vans or trucks during transit. It can also withstand average cool room temps of -10 degree Celsius inside storage facilities.

The Re-Store unit is used as a replacement for the polystyrene boxes, where deliveries arrive in the morning with fresh produce and can be stored inside cool rooms or is ready for the fish to be brought in to be cleaned and processed. During cleaning, all unusable parts of the fish (such as fish heads, bones, scales) can be placed inside the Re-Store tub, and closed up and placed inside the cool rooms awaiting pick up the next day for recycling. The unit is then transported to recycling plants for recycling and once completed; it is then cleaned and shipped back for restocking and delivery of fresh produce to fish markets.
This PSS will aid the reduction of polystyrene boxes and reduce excess trash and promote recycling within the community.






5 comments:

  1. I like the service you are providing, as it fulfills a real need and solves a very real problem. I like the design of the product and the graphics compliment it well. I think the colour could be reconsidered though, it seems to bright and neon-like.

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  2. I like this design. Food waste from suppliers can be a big problem so I like the idea of turning waste product into cooking gas. I think you could make the colour a bit less bright as it's likely to get dirty easily from the fish scraps.

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  3. I like that your design has tried to tackle the issue of commercial packaging waste. Your form has considered stacking requirements for storage and it is brightly coloured so that it can be easily distinguished from other boxes. However i am not sure of how effective this would be compared to the standard PS boxes.

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  4. Nearly all markets have their produce delivered with some sort of polystyrene box and it all goes straight to landfill. This is an ideal solution. If it can be implemented in a cost effective way then it has the potential to be picked up by the big supermarket chans

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  5. Great Idea as polystyrene is not only hazardous to the environment but does take up a lot of space in bins. As long as the cost of the recycling is down for industry definitely a viable option for fish markets good job!

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