Circularity Academic Poster

Assessment Type

Sustainability | Research | Design | Presentation

Role

Student | Infographic Design | Graphic Design

University

University of Tasmania (UTAS)

Reflections

‘SodaStream - beyond the bottle’ illustrates a circular approach to addressing global challenges such as pollution, nature degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change (Ellen McCarthur Foundation, n.d.), caused by the linear approach to providing consumers with sparkling water and soda drinks in plastic water bottles and aluminium cans.

Researching this topic has shown me that I need to personally make changes, as while some efforts are being made to recycle these products, it is not anywhere near enough to make a significant impact.

I feel that if the 9.275 million households in Australia (Qu, Baxter & Gorniak, 2023) can make their soda drinks at home, they could make a huge impact and help save approximately 5 billion plastic bottles annually from ending up in landfills or being incinerated (releasing toxic fumes) plus reduce carbon emissions by over half a million tonnes, every year! They could also save money (see Appendix 3) and reduce their family's risk of health issues associated with sweetened soda drinks such as diabetes, which is on the rise (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2023).

The demand for bottled sparkling water is growing every year as consumers become more health-conscious and the population increases globally (Grand View Research, n.d.). This means these challenges will continue to grow and strategic action needs to be implemented to protect our environment, health and resources.

The SodaStream findings are a great example that shows how circular products can be viable and profitable while meeting sustainable development goals (SDG) and the six transformations (Ben-Hur & Bolton, 2018, Sachs et al., 2019, United Nations, n.d.).

My children have been encouraging me to purchase a SodaStream and I am now awaiting its arrival. I will be encouraging my social circles to also implement these changes in their households, as every person can make a difference!

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2023). Diabetes  https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/diabetes/latest-release

2. Ben-Hur, S.; Bolton, B. (2018, August 22). Why PepsiCo is splashing out US$3.2 billion on SodaStream. The Conservation. https://theconversation.com/why-pepsico-is-splashing-out-us-3-2-billion-on-sodastream-101929

3. Beverage Industry. (April 19, 2023). SodaStream announces 5 billion single-use bottles saved in 2022. Beverage News. https://www.bevindustry.com/articles/95773-sodastream-announces-5-billion-single-use-bottles-saved-in-2022

4. Blue, M-L. (2018, June 11). What Is the Carbon Footprint of a Plastic Bottle? Sciencing https://sciencing.com/carbon-footprint-plastic-bottle-12307187.html 

5. Business Beyond Borders. (2018). Sixteen principles to circular design. Greater Houston Partnership. Accessed October 10, 2024. https://utas.shorthandstories.com/2024_S2_ZAS118_10_ghs87hg3/index.html

6. Canva. (n.d.) Stock Images [Design Software] Accessed October 5, 2024. https://canva.com

7. Carbon Trust Research. (2013). Take a Stand on Sustainability. SodaStream. https://corp.sodastream.com/sustainability/

8. Coles. (n.d.). Coles Soda Water | 1.25L. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://www.coles.com.au/browse/drinks/soft-drinks/mixers

9. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (n.d.-a) What is the linear economy? Accessed October 9, 2024. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/what-is-the-linear-economy

10. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (n.d.-b) What is a circular economy? Accessed October 9, 2024. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

11. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (n.d.-c) We need to radically rethink how we design. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/introduction-to-circular-design/we-need-to-radically-rethink-how-we-design?

12. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (n.d.-d) Circular Design Guide Accessed October 10, 2024. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/circular-design-guide/methods

13. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (n.d.-e) The Circular Economy in Detail. Accessed October 10, 2024. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/the-circular-economy-in-detail-deep-dive

14. Ellen MacArthur Foundation. (n.d.-f) The Circular Economy introduction. Accessed October 10, 2024. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/circular-economy-introduction/overview

15. FreePix. (n.d.) Flat design circular economy infographic. Accessed October 5, 2024. https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/flat-design-circular-economy-infographic_21095209.htm

16. Grand View Research. (n.d.). Sparkling Water Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Repor, 2021 – 2028. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/sparkling-water-market

17. Harvey Norman (n.d.) Brand | SodaStream. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://www.harveynorman.com.au/brands/sodastream

18. Masterson, V.; Shine, I. (2002, June 14). What is the circular economy, and why does it matter that it is shrinking? https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/what-is-the-circular-economy/

19. Officeworks. (n.d.). Shop SodaStream. Accessed October 11, 2024. https://www.officeworks.com.au/brands/sodastream

20. PepsiCo. (2024). Annual Report 2023. https://www.pepsico.com/docs/default-source/annual-reports/2023-pepsico-annual-report.pdf?sfvrsn=f41a4a17_2

21. PETnology. (2023, 19 April). SodaStream announces 5 billion single-use bottles saved in 2022 in new environmental campaign. https://www.petnology.com/online/news-detail/sodastream-5-billion-single-use-bottles-saved-in-2022-after-switch-to-rpet

22. Ritchie, H. (2023, October 5). How much of global greenhouse gas emissions come from plastics? Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/ghg-emissions-plastics

23. Sachs, J. D., Schmidt-Traub, G., Mazzucato, M., Messner, D., Nakicenovic, N., & Rockström, J. (2019). Six transformations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Sustainability, 2(9), 805–814. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0352-9

24. Sariatli, F. (2017). Linear Economy Versus Circular Economy: A Comparative and Analyzer Study for Optimization of Economy for Sustainability. Visegrad Journal on Bioeconomy and Sustainable Development. 6(1) 31-34. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:157421845

25. SodaStream (n.d.). Website. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://sodastream.com.au/

26. SodaStream (n.d.). WHY SODASTREAM Together We Can Make a Difference. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://sodastream.com/blogs/explore/fight-plastic

27. Sustainability Guide. (n.d.). Circular Economy. Accessed October 10, 2024. https://sustainabilityguide.eu/sustainability/circular-economy/

28. Qu, L.; Baxter, J.; Gorniak, M. (2023). Population, households and families. Australian Government.  Population, households and families | Australian Institute of Family Studies (aifs.gov.au)

29. United Nations. (n.d.). 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Accessed October 11, 2024. https://sdgs.un.org/goals

30. University of Tasmania. (n.d.). Module 9 | Circularity and Decoupling.

31. Vengage. (n.d.). Colour Blind Simulator. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://vengage.com/tools/color-blind-simulator

32. Water Corporation. (2024). Personal water bill – Western Australia.