Chicago Brand Museum | Tracking plastic to understand the past

Fred Richards, founder of The Hive Principle and curator of the Chicago Brand Museum, spent 12 months collecting every piece of plastic his family discarded. Scrapp® then categorised and analysed the entire collection — transforming an overwhelming pile of waste into a 63-page data report that revealed exactly where household plastic comes from, what can be recycled, and how one family could reduce their plastic footprint by up to 82.4%.

The question that started it all

Fred Richards has spent his career in brand design. His personal collection of over 20,000 vintage packaging items at the Chicago Brand Museum tells the story of how consumer products have been presented to the world for over a century. But one detail kept nagging at him: there was surprisingly little plastic in the older items.

A conversation with Evelio Mattos, CEO of Packaging Unboxed, turned that observation into a challenge. How much plastic waste does an average family actually generate in a single year? Not an estimate. Not a national average. A real, counted, categorised total from one household.

The concept was simple. Fred committed to collecting and saving every single piece of plastic his family threw away over 12 months — from food packaging and personal care products to household items and everything in between.

Within weeks, the scale of the problem became visible. Plastic accumulated faster than anyone in the family had expected. Despite considering themselves environmentally conscious — they recycled regularly and made deliberate purchasing choices — the volume of plastic waste was relentless. Storage became a logistical challenge.

As Fred put it, the scale of the issue far exceeded any of their initial projections. What they assumed was a manageable experiment became a confrontation with the reality of modern consumer packaging.

The collection grew. But without a way to turn that pile of plastic into meaningful data, the experiment risked being exactly that — an interesting exercise with no actionable conclusion. That's where Scrapp came in.

How Scrapp turned a pile of plastic into a 63-page data story

When the plastic collection began overwhelming Fred's storage, Mikey Pasciuto from Scrapp entered the project. As a self-described waste accountant, Mikey brought the analytical methodology needed to transform raw waste into structured, usable data.

Using Scrapp's SKU-level waste categorisation system, every piece of plastic was logged, categorised by material type, product category, and packaging component, then analysed for recyclability against actual waste infrastructure. The process went far beyond counting — it mapped patterns in consumption and waste generation that would have remained invisible without systematic analysis.

The work covered:

• Material-level categorisation of every piece of plastic collected over 12 months, identifying the specific polymer types, packaging formats, and product categories driving the household's plastic footprint
• Recyclability analysis comparing each item against real-world recycling infrastructure — not just whether the material could be recycled, but whether the family's local program actually accepted it
• Consumption pattern mapping revealing which product categories and purchasing habits generated the most plastic waste, and where the highest-impact reduction opportunities existed
• End-of-life pathway analysis tracing each material to its most likely destination: recycled, landfilled, or contaminated
• Reduction strategy modelling calculating the potential impact of specific behaviour changes — from switching to concentrates and buying in bulk to eliminating bottled water

The data revealed patterns that surprised even Fred. Nearly 72% of food packaging was recyclable by weight — a higher proportion than most people would guess. But perhaps most striking was the finding that drink packaging contributed over 50% of all plastic generated during the year. A single product category was responsible for more than half the family's plastic footprint.

The analysis culminated in a comprehensive 63-page report detailing every aspect of the Richards family's plastic consumption — from the materials driving the biggest impact to the specific strategies that could reduce their footprint by up to 82.4%.

The findings were presented at Pack Expo, one of the packaging industry's largest trade events, turning one family's data into a conversation starter for the entire sector.

What the data changed

The study didn't just produce a report — it transformed how the Richards family thinks about consumption.

Before the experiment, the family assumed that using their recycling bin regularly was enough. That assumption, as Fred reflected afterward, was wrong. Regular recycling created a false sense of comfort — a feeling of doing their bit that masked the actual scale of plastic flowing through their household.

The data shattered that illusion. Key findings included:

• 82.4% plastic footprint reduction was achievable through targeted behaviour changes — not radical lifestyle overhauls, but practical swaps like using concentrates instead of water-heavy products, eliminating bottled water, and buying items like coffee beans in bulk
• Drink packaging was the single biggest contributor, accounting for over 50% of all plastic generated — making it the highest-leverage area for reduction
• 72% of food packaging was recyclable by weight — suggesting that correct disposal of food packaging alone could significantly reduce the family's landfill contribution
• Many items assumed to be recyclable weren't — the gap between what recycling symbols suggest and what local infrastructure actually accepts was a recurring theme throughout the data

The 82.4% figure is particularly important because it demonstrates that the problem is addressable without waiting for systemic change. Industry-level shifts in packaging materials and policy reform will take years. A family can make targeted swaps in weeks and see measurable results immediately.

Why this matters beyond one family

One household's plastic data might seem like a small sample. But that's precisely what makes it powerful. National waste statistics are abstract — millions of tonnes, percentages of GDP, landfill volumes that are too large to visualise. One family's data is tangible. It's a year's worth of shampoo bottles, yoghurt pots, cling film, and drinks containers. People see themselves in it.

When the findings were presented at Pack Expo, the response reflected this. Industry professionals who work with packaging data every day were confronted with the consumer-side reality of the materials they design and produce. The data reframed packaging waste not as an industrial challenge, but as a lived, daily experience — multiplied across millions of households.

Fred drew a sharp parallel: the scale of society's relationship with plastic is comparable to historic public health challenges that required a consumer-led shift in behaviour to resolve. The alternatives to most plastic packaging already exist — reusable, sustainable, practical, and affordable. What's missing is the awareness and the data to drive the change.

This is where Scrapp's methodology has broader implications. The same waste categorisation and analysis system that mapped one family's plastic footprint can be applied to any household, any business, any product line. The approach scales — from a single-family study to a brand-wide packaging audit to a municipal waste assessment.

The environmental case: data turns awareness into action

Awareness alone doesn't reduce waste. People have been aware of plastic pollution for years. What changes behaviour is specificity — knowing that this product category accounts for 50% of your plastic, that these three swaps would cut your footprint by 82%, that this item you assumed was recyclable actually isn't in your area.

Scrapp's analysis gave the Richards family that specificity. And the data is transferable. The consumption patterns of one American family in Chicago are broadly representative of millions of similar households. The product categories, materials, and disposal challenges are the same. The reduction strategies that worked for the Richards family — concentrates, bulk purchasing, eliminating single-use drinks containers — are available to anyone.

The full report from the project with Fred is available to read here.

Want to understand your waste footprint with real data?

Whether you're a brand trying to understand the end-of-life impact of your packaging, or a business that wants to see exactly what's in your waste stream — Scrapp turns raw waste into structured, actionable data.

Book a 15-minute call with the Scrapp team to find out how.

See how other organisations are using waste data to drive real outcomes: Beech-Nut | Oddisea | Pete & Gerry's

Or explore Scrapp's industry reports to see the data behind smarter waste decisions.