Solving The Problem

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My Opportunity: 
As more local governments are implementing laws to phaseout or ban single-use plastics, businesses and individuals are having to find alternatives to these items. Many consumers believe that businesses should be responsible for providing an alternative to items like plastic shopping bags and straws, but many are also willing to pay for eco-friendly options. Businesses are going to have to decide what kinds of alternatives to offer and whether or not they will charge for them. Some businesses like Aldi have already implemented ideas like this, by selling paper and reusable bags instead of offering plastic bags for free.

My Product/Service:
I think that the best group for me to market this opportunity to is small businesses. I think that small businesses are going to have the hardest time finding a solution to the problem that these bans are going to cause because their customer bases are likely going to expect them to provide an alternative and they have less margin for purchasing alternatives like these. I think that I could help small businesses to design reusable bags to sell to their customers. If they can get customers to purchase bags with their logos, it will help decrease their costs (because they are not having to spend money on plastic bags and can make their money back on reusable bags) and it will provide free advertising.

Comments

  1. Lauren Jae BuschurJune 9, 2019 at 9:37 PM

    Alex,
    I think ideas like this already exist, so how will you make your service better or different? However, I do like the direction you are heading with an eco-friendly way to advertise. I think more businesses should do this, but how will you convince them to act and implement your service? Can't wait to hear more about your idea! Keep up the good work and critical thinking!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BandyJune 10, 2019 at 8:20 PM

    Hey Alex, this sounds like a pretty cool idea. You probably just have to look into the other companies that might be doing something similar so that you can figure out what would make your product stand out even more. It'll be great if you're able to come up with a type of material or maybe a new style of grocery bag that is durable and peculiar to the store it's offered at. You can also find a way to incentivize the use of your product.

    ReplyDelete
  3. rkuninJune 10, 2019 at 11:35 PM

    Alex,
    I currently live in San Diego and this is a big problem that was faced once the vote was passed here to ban single use plastic bags. The latest thing to hit California is the ban on single use straws from restaurants. All of California is switching to paper straws and they really don't last very long in a drink. My advice would be to look into a better straw alternative for the state, and believe me, we would all be very grateful!

    ReplyDelete

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