BRAND STRATEGIST

AMANDA LAPIN

JunkLabz

Brandcenter Live Client Work with UVA

Seeing something as trash suggests it no longer serves any purpose. JunkLabz challenges this notion by encouraging people to view plastic not as trash, but as waste—something with untapped potential. At JunkLabz, we believe that waste can be more than it seems, and we make sure nothing goes to waste.

TRASH AND WASTE ARE NOT SYNONYMS

WASTE CAN HOLD POTENTIAL TO BE REPURPOSED WHERE AS TRASH IS A ONE TIME USE PRODUCT

ASK

Help JunkLabz gain exposure on their all in house recycling process for clear #5 plastics

PROBLEM

While people are now more aware of how they are impacting our environment through overconsumption, specifically with plastics there are still misconceptions about what is something that can truly be recycled to carry out the line of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” and what is something that truly is considered “trash”. In 2024, in the United States, people have produced approximately 268 million tons of municipal solid waste with only 69 of these 268 million tons officially ending up in the recycling pile.

Plastic waste is a societal flaw, not a product flaw

RESEARCH TACTICS

However, in JunkLabz case, they are more focused on more specific types of recycled goods instead of your everyday soda and water bottles. JunkLabz works only on recycling clear #5 plastic medical pipets.

So to understand what makes their process for making recycling more efficient and effective for keeping plastic out of landfills, we spoke to the founders and learned their all in house five step process to finding the potential in what others would see as “trash”. to experience first hand how different they all felt as a shopper. We conducted 1:1 interviews with employees and followed up our interviews with social listening via Reddit to understand why their OG target audience no longer felt connected to the brand.

Discussing different types of recycling processes

THE JUNKLABZ PROCESS

TARGET

Artists Seeking Materials

Our JunkLabz Founders and Artists Seeking Materials are both alike with how they can see more than an objects intended purpose… they can see the potential that this plastic holds to be something beautiful. These Artists Seeking Materials are people who are currently in the process of creating their art with more sustainable practices such as Upcycling, Eco Art or repurposing glasses, woods, metals, cardboard or other plastics into their works. Their creativity thrives on finding inventive ways to incorporate sustainability into any and all of their pieces.

INSIGHT

Recycled products have the most potential for artistic design

Our insight came from a starting point of “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Much like the founders of JunkLabz, artists seeking materials and our group we all saw past the physical and intended purpose of the plastic and saw something even better… it’s ever lasting potential. The ability for something as universally used as plastic could always have the ability to be something else. It could even hold potential to be more beautiful in a different form compared to its initial form.

STRATEGY