Decision tree for plastic drinks bottle

The image below resulted from my insights in the previous post. I realised that not everyone will see the second-life potential of consumer 'waste' items such as plastic bottles. I therefore asked a fellow student about the decision process he makes after he has consumed the coke, fanta, etc in a plastic bottle.


The image shows that the student would be most likely to recycle a plastic bottle and be least likely to upcycle it. He stated that he didnt find the idea of upcycling appealing and felt many upcycled objects were far too art/craft-like. I may be better off designing something that would attach to a plastic bottle to make it more valuable rather than altering the bottle itself.

I must consider the reasons why people view plastic bottles as waste. The image above hinted at a few examples, such as the valuable thing is the liqid, not its container and once it has been consumed, the natural action is to dispose of the bottle.

The plastic bottle must be percieved to be valuable when empty. If it is viewed in this way, individuals will care where it ends up, and I aim that that place will be the recycling process (but only after it has had a second-life function achieved).