This Independent Research Project (IRP) was developed as part of the MA Service Design programme at the Royal College of Art, by Plu Phumchumphol[Me] in collaboration with Miran Jurisevic and Madeline Mai, under the guidance of tutor David Evan-Eveleigh.
The aim of the IRP is to apply service design methodologies within a complex real-world context, in this case, the UK food retail system, and to critically examine both their potential and their limitations. Through a transition design approach supported by speculative design, this project explores how food retail can evolve toward a more circular and collaborative future in response to rising co-living trends and growing food waste.
By navigating constraints such as industry inertia, territorial food behaviours, and systemic misalignments, the project interrogates how service designers can not only adapt methods to context but also stretch the boundaries of the discipline itself, advancing service design as a tool for long-term societal transition.
Challenge
Globally, around one-third of all food produced is wasted, amounting to approximately 1.3 billion tonnes annually (FAO, 2013). This contributes not only to hunger and resource depletion, but also to nearly 8–10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (UNEP, 2021).
The world currently produces 1.5 to 2 times the amount of food needed to feed the global population (Better Meets Reality, 2022). Yet every year, over 1.3 billion tonnes of food goes to waste, contributing to nearly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (UNEP, 2021).
While household behaviour is often the focus of intervention, our research shows that the retail system itself is a major leverage point in driving overconsumption and waste.
The current structure encourages:
Impulse buying, with 60–80% of shoppers admitting to purchasing items simply because they’re on sale (Slickdeals, 2022)
Oversized packaging and volume-based discounts, which reward buying more, not buying smart
A centralised distribution model, where 85% of UK groceries are purchased through supermarkets (Statista, 2025)
And despite all this surplus, only 7% of excess food from retail and manufacturing is redistributed (WRAP, 2021)
People in the UK still primarily cook and eat at home, and most of those ingredients are purchased through mainstream grocery retailers. This reinforces why the retail system plays such a critical role in shaping both what people buy and how much food gets wasted.
71% of meals are eaten at home rather than out
43–59% of adults cook for themselves or their household daily, and over 84% cook at least once a week
Even though cooking time has shortened, home kitchens remain central to food consumption (Source: Public Health England, 2023)
So while cooking remains rooted in the home, the rules of what’s available, affordable, and waste-prone are still being set by the retail system.
This project recognises that reducing waste isn’t just about changing consumer behaviour, it’s about redesigning the system that shapes it.
Research
Design:
Insight Summarisation
Film Ethnography
Casual loop diagram
We translated these coded themes into a detailed system map. This map visualises the interconnections between factors like storage limits, emotional burnout, retail overportioning, hygiene expectations, and accountability breakdowns. We highlighted feedback loops and leverage points within the co-living context. We wanted to understand not just what the problems are, but how they interrelate and reinforce one another. Mapping the system helped us see where small design interventions could disrupt negative cycles or enable positive change toward shared responsibility.
Transition Pathway
We then systematically mapped responses we captured earlier, using the insights to clarify what elements of the current system need to be phased out, what valuable practices and values should be retained, what disruptive opportunities already exist, and what early indicators of our desired future are already emerging. We then synthesised all this work into a cohesive Future Vision statement. This text integrates critique, aspiration, and practical possibilities into a shared, design-oriented vision for more collaborative, circular, and sustainable ownership models in food systems.
Near Tearm Future
Mid Term Future
Long Term Future
Reflection
At first glance, the simplest solution to food waste in co-living environments might be to just reduce packaging sizes, offering smaller portions to match smaller households. But through our research, it became clear that this would only address the symptom, not the system.
Smaller packs can actually lead to higher packaging waste, increased per-unit costs, and greater strain on logistics and inventory systems, all of which retailers are hesitant to adopt. Moreover, this approach assumes that individuals are the primary unit of consumption, ignoring the social dynamics and emotional labour involved in shared spaces. Our ethnographic findings revealed that waste isn’t just caused by quantity, but by ambiguous ownership, lack of trust, poor redistribution mechanisms, and systemic incentives to over-purchase.
Simply reducing portion sizes does not make sharing easier, ownership clearer, or systems more equitable.
In a system optimised for volume and profit, small-pack solutions are quickly co-opted as premium products, rather than tools for circularity. Without rethinking the underlying structures of ownership, coordination, and shared stewardship, small packaging becomes a technical fix applied to a relational and systemic problem.
This project showed us that to meaningfully reduce waste and redesign food systems, we need more than smaller sizes, we need smarter systems.
