Nowadays, fresh herbs in supermarkets and shops are mainly sold in two formats: picked and packaged in sealed plastic wrappers, or sold as plants with root systems in plastic pots that are placed in plastic bags on plastic trays. Both options utilise toxic non-renewable material and produce unnecessary trash.
This project aims to design a system where fresh herbs can be sold in the same constellation as they were seeded and planted in and be re-used. Taking away the need for repackaging of the herbs after harvesting leads to a drastic reduction of material waste.
In the design, the circular economy system is modeled after Svenska Retursystemet and their current producer - wholesale - retail - producer, flow line. Similar to their plastic baskets, the wire frames are also intended to be shipped back and forth, with the difference being that they are placed into standard tray trolleys instead of stacked upon each other during transportation. The metal herb pots can be used again or recycled.
