The scope of the project was incredibly broad - there are limitless ways to approach ethical design because there is such a vast pool of ethical issues in this modern world. I quickly narrowed my scope of research to sustainability because I feel passionate about the environment and about the sustainable world we must work for to secure a better future.

When I started this design process, the very first thing I did was write. I wrote out idea after idea, and I attached research notes to each idea regarding their sustainable targets such as climate change, plastic pollution, and renewable energy. One of my first notable ideas was a collectible National Parks charm bracelet (you can purchase a charm at each park) made from a portion of the 60 million tons of garbage cleaned up annually at National Parks nation wide. Other ideas I flirted with included a solar-powered keychain that charges your phone, and a re-usable coffee cup that digitally tracks your rewards at different coffee shops simultaneously, and maybe even completes your transactions using an NFC chip.

Ultimately, though, I thought about my own life and how I could live more mindfully of the planet now. And that is how I came up with NewBag. I realized that I could consume a lot less plastic than I do by implementing a simple change in my shopping habits. At this point I began brainstorming exactly why it is that I haven’t yet bought a re-usable grocery bag, because it would be so easy right? And I also thought about why others might feel the same way.

Americans use 5 trillion single use plastic bags a year. Our waste just accumulates and accumulates year after year and ends up in oceans and landfills, never completely breaking down. Instead, plastic breaks decomposes into smaller and smaller units of micro plastics that are harmful to both animal and human health. The plastic-manufacturing industry uses crude oil, natural gas and coal - yes, fossil fuels - to produce plastic pellets which are melted and molded in the manufacturing process to form a wide array of plastic products. This process of refining crude oil into naphtha, a mid-value petroleum fraction used in plastic production, as well as other components such as kerosene jet fuel, butane and gasoline, releases immense carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and contribute to the warming of our planet.

There is no established brand that creates sustainable re-usable (grocery) bags that take advantage of good design and social pressure felt by young people to be sustainable. I think that many young people, aside from feeling that pressure, also truly desire ways to simplify their own lives as well as be better about their environmental impact. NewBag kills both those birds with a single stone. It is designed with trendiness in mind, it is designed to be visually appealing as well as functional for college students - the bag is compatible so as to easily fit into a backpack, eliminating the need to remember to grab it before leaving. NewBag is designed to always be with you.

There’s a million and one reusable tote bags you can get for grocery shopping, but they’re not in the limelight, they’re never blatantly, glaringly in my line of sight, and so I ignore them completely because it’s easier to. This os what makes NewBag different. It’s in your face, I imagine it being sold at stores like target, screaming its mission with signs and arrows and lights like LOOK AT ME! It’s designed to be a conversation.

Aside from its functionality, NewBag practices sustainability in other ways, such as via its own composition. The bags are made from re-sourced plastic, and are designed to last. Additionally, each purchase will send a portion of profit to a company that takes action to establish infrastructure systems that manufacture new products using recycled materials. This supports the mission to stop introducing new plastic into circulation and instead use the perfectly viable waste we have already produced. All of this is to discourage single-use plastic and promote an ethical, sustainable future where we turn old things into new ones.

Effect of single-use plastic on the environment and why a tote bag can help: https://noissue.com.au/blog/the-environmental-benefits-of-using-tote-bags/https://noissue.com.au/blog/the-environmental-benefits-of-using-tote-bags/

This is the type of product I would imagine blowing up on Tik Tok for its compatible functionality - perfect for storing in a college backpack - for its recycled-plastic-sourced material. Maybe it has a simple design so that people don’t get tired of it and buy another, a very prevalent issue in this consumerist society, which defeats the purpose of an eternal bag, but I suppose if you get sick of your bag you could send it in and get an updated design.

Taking advantage of Tik Tok culture and branding is central to NewBag’s marketing model, similarly to brands such as Hydro Flask which leads in its industry as the water bottle. I see NewBag as being the bag.

The bag has bright and bold branding, making it a walking-advertisement. I imagine this product being sold in grocery stores or campus bookstores, at eye level of targeted consumers, in order to give them that extra push to live more simply, and to support sustainable efforts.