Plink

Water is a relatively cheap, ubiquitous substance, at least in the developed world. So why do we ship water around the world when we can get it in our home or office? Plink is a concept for reducing packaging and the mass of transport of sanitation products. It looks at shipping a dried sanitiser 'cake' and asks the user to add water to make the product ready to use. By removing water from transport we can reduce waste, as well as shipping emissions.

Objectives + Challenges

Problem Statement

How can we make personal hygiene and sanitisation more sustainable?

Target Audience

Glider pilots | Glider manufacturers

Goals	Constraints
Drive innovation in the hygiene space Ask the question of why we transport water Propose a thought provoking concept	Budget: $0 timeline: 1 week Single image

Collaboration

Team size of 4. I was heavily involved in concept refinement and finding reasonable backing the the feasibility of the concept. CAD design and Rendering responsibilities as well.

Process + Approach

Methodology

We brainstormed and ideated across a wide range of ideas for this project. It was generally low method beyond using the three project goals as our north star.

Key Activities

Ideation
Basic concept refinement
Imagery and presentation

Tools & Technologies
3D CAD - Fusion 360 Keyshot Photoshop

Solutions, Deliverables + Outcomes

Final Output

The Plink concept visually imagines just adding a pill to a spray bottle to create a sanitiser. We can see the volume reduction in the pill sized sanitiser and the reusable bottle.

Key Features

Water free Sanitiser pill/cake for shipping
Reusable bottle

Outcomes + Comments

Outcomes

We were shortlised with this project for the sustainable design category.

Lessons Learned

This was a great excuse to look at the potential to reduce transport weights and emissions. A deep analysis of the impact wasn't done at the time, but it inspired creative thinking of what needs to be sent with a product.

Personal Commentary

This was a fun project which could have been a springboard for building a real product if so desired. Many products are predominantly water, but we still ship them all over the world. Reducing things to a concentrate and then adding water on site seems sensible in a lot of settings.

Beyond just water, how often do tools get shipped with a product? I have a whole collection of allen keys, screwdrivers etc. that were sent with something I bought. I already have the majority of these tools so they were really just extra waste.

We've seen this reduction happening, chargers no longer shipped with phones, more and more home cleaning brands send cakes and concentrates. Let's do more of this.

Awards/Recognition

Shortlisted - Sustainable Design: Fountain of Hygiene

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