ReSolve - closing the loop in the beauty industry
*Top 10 Finalists of the PDMA Whitespace Challenge*
Jan - Apr 2022 | Whitespace Challenge | Team of Three (Palak, Smrti, and Myself - Design Researcher)
This three-month project is part of the Whitespace challenge. Throughout the project, my team received professional mentoring from Associate Professor of Practice Mark Jones, Adjunct Faculty Shilpi Kumar from IIT Institute of Design, and Steven Jambor, Managing Partner of Northwestern University.
Project Overview
Challenge (Why?)
Our objective was to identify the gaps that prevent individuals from easily adopting sustainable lifestyles. Specifically, we examined the disconnect between beauty organizations and their supply chains regarding recyclable practices. Our goal was to empower individuals by addressing these gaps and enabling them to thrive in their sustainable lifestyle pursuits.
Solution (How?)


By developing an innovative and transparent recycling solution to minimize high-grade beauty waste from going into landfills.
Breakdown by
- increasing active recycling by consumers 

- easing sorting for recyclers
- 

preventing high-grade material from going into landfills
Outcome
"The team is commended for taking on a real and big problem. A solid body of work that can serve as a starting foundation to help answer key questions about the business case viability."
- Judge 2
"Great job identifying a white space and breaking down the problem. You make a very compelling case for recycling, I don't think that anyone can argue against that and address the fact that recycling often doesn't work even when there are willing participants."
- Judge 3
"This service addresses a different challenge for each of the three players in the ecosystem. For the consumers, it's fulfilling their desire to be responsible for the impact on the environment. For the brands, it is about positioning themselves as sustainable. And for the cities, it's about creating a greener environment by producing less waste."
—Shilpi Kumar, Adjunct Faculty
Our Research Process
Phase 1 - Understanding the Context, Observations and Problem Framing
Our glowy skin & bouncy hair have left deeper ecological footprints. The booming beauty industry heavily relies on plastic making.
12%
incinerated
79%
ends in landfills
They are leading consumers to look for smaller indie brands which have better fundamental environmental policies, greener formulations, and better recycling options.
Current Gaps that exists as today’s greener actions are not enough.
The inability of brands to be completely plastic free
Lack of green options available in the market
Operational limitations of the supply chain
Unexciting/undifferentiated refill packs
+
Our approach involved solving for these three key players
Let's look at our consumers.
But the gaps in the disposal and supply chain can create an unbalanced and inefficient system.
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Our Approach
Phase 2 - Synthesizing, Prototyping and Implementing
How might we..
- increasing active recycling by consumers 

- easing sorting for recyclers
- 

preventing high-grade material from going into landfills
Based on these insights, we developed our core value principles and chose a people-centric approach -
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How does ReSolve work?
Learnings and Reflections
Leadership, Collaboration, and Project Management
Reflection: As the team lead, I worked closely with two other team members to coordinate our efforts and ensured that we stayed on track with the project milestones. My responsibilities included delegating tasks, facilitating communication, and providing guidance to team members as needed. Along with developing my research skills, I was also able to develop my leadership and collaboration skills, as well as gain valuable experience in project management.

For more information feel free to contact me 💬