With its quest for profit and its resistance to regulation, neoliberalism promotes a linear economy that follows a take-make-waste philosophy. Plastic waste in 2015 totaled 275 million tonnes and in 2020 global CO2 emissions reached 34.81 billion tonnes. Businesses that wish to embrace a sustainable model, like the circular economy, need to find ways to develop and demonstrate viability. Our project team worked with Alpakas, a Berlin-based startup that offers zero-waste grocery delivery. We aimed to help prove Alpakas’ sustainability metrics to be effective. By conducting key informant interviews, we identified plastic waste reduction as the central KPI around which we would organize our field work. To identify Alpakas’ ability to reduce plastic waste, we presented our findings through a spreadsheet dashboard tool as well as an infographic. The spreadsheet tool quantifies conventional grocer plastic waste and directly compares it to the Alpakas inventory. To address a second KPI, we researched CO2 emissions of gas and diesel cars and light commercial vehicles. We compared that with the small amount of CO2 that Alpakas e-cargo bikes produce and represented our findings in another section of the dashboard. This section identifies the amount of CO2 saved in transportation by shopping with Alpakas based on distance the distance the customer lives from the warehouse. We created the infographic with the intention of it being displayed on the company's website so as to explain the benefits of shopping with Alpakas. Ultimately, we found a way for Alpakas to demonstrate its sustainable practices, and exercise ideas of the circular economy.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Omura, David
• Ankstitus, Brianna
• Murphy, Ciara
• Gustafson, Eric

Subject

• Computing
• Energy
• Industry
• Sustainability
• Environment
• Food

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• 66876
• E-project-050222-052308

Keyword

• Zero-waste
• Groceries
• Delivery
• Sustainability

Advisor

• Foo, Katherine
• DiMassa, Daniel

Year

• 2022

Center

• Berlin, Germany Project Center - IQP

Sponsor

• Alpakas

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
• 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production

Date created

• 2022-05-02

Resource type

• Interactive Qualifying Project

Rights statement

• In Copyright