Shopping With The 3rs Case Study

3.2 Shopping with the 3Rs

Existing Technologies

1. The idea of reusing old milk bottles has been around since years ago. Customers would place their empty milk bottles at their doorsteps to be collected, washed, sterilised and finally sent back to the factories to be reused . Being a non-profit organisation, many companies refused to adopt the idea, after realising the benefits of convenience since the milk bottles would be sent back, it would save costs instead on obtaining losses in a long run. For example, the Beverage Container Management Board (BCMB) in Alberta reuses bottles by having a system of returning their used bottles to a bottle deport. Enabling customers to have a refund of approximately $0.10 on average with every bottle they return . This have been implemented since the 1990s, and proven to be effective, convenient and cost-efficient system adopted by its people .

2. The Quick Response (QR) code is a code that contains the link of the website that enables the customer to be directed when scanned .

3. The points system enables customers to accumulate their points they have from shopping which is turn enabling them to enjoy incentives such as discount on their next purchase or free gift.

Rationale

By returning the boxes to the deliveryman, the boxes can be recycled to deliver goods to other customers, saving on the cost of producing boxes. In addition, to encourage shoppers to recycle, our group decided to implement the point system where the usage can attract customers to shop more. Hence our group wants to award additional points to customers who recycle so they can accumulate more points and receive more