4A - Forming an Opportunity Belief

1) Beginning Point: I strongly believe there is a need for an alternative to plastic, specifically an alternative for bottles, straws, and bags.

2) Description: It is extremely apparent in today's generation that our environment is heavily polluted with plastic and debris that is either littered or unluckily ended up in our oceans and forests. Animals are dying from run-ins with this debris and the leftover trash causes many problems aesthetically and environmentally. There is a need for plastic alternatives as our oceans become more polluted and our coral reefs are dying at an alarming rate. Environmentalist, fisherman, and in general people who eat or enjoy marine life should be aware of this problem because in the future it will affect fishing, swimming, and marine life. Many people are working on this problem now by introducing paper bags for groceries. I am 100% sure this opportunity exists but I am unsure of how important it is to people now, especially for ones who do not look at the bigger picture. 

3) The prototypical customer should be everyone but a more specific set of people would be people who live near water or value marine life. This includes fisherman, divers and swimmers, and boaters.

4) Iteration #1: I recently talked to one of my old neighbors, (I used to live on the water), and I asked him about trash in the ocean and how often he saw it when he went out on the boat. I wasn't surprised when he said that he saw it everywhere, even bottles just floating in open waters and even worse when they were close to shore. He mentioned how he started seeing this back in the 90s and how trash was starting to appear on the water when he would fish and has steadily increased. He said it's a shame because he loves being on the water and seeing it polluted isn't how it should be. He also said if there was an alternative to plastic bottles he wouldn't mind paying a little extra to help save the planet. 

 Iteration #2: I interviewed my brother, who is interested in environmental science and his take was also similar to my neighbors. We used to live on the beach so we would always be on the water and trash would wash up on shore and it would piss him off he says. He says it's a real problem because it not only affects humans but the wildlife that we eat. He talked about the beach clean-ups he participated in back in high school and said you wouldn't believe the things that they found while cleaning. It was disappointing he said. When I asked what we could do to solve the problem he said we could spend a little extra on reusable bottles and those reusable straws that people carry around and that would slowly help out our oceans in the long run. Although we don't live on the water anymore and we don't see the trash everyday, he knows it is still an important issue

Iteration #3: I got on the phone with one of my dad's friends, who is a commercial fisherman, and what he had to say really brought some insight to the problem. I asked him when he became aware of this problem and he said ever since he started working for the company trash and pollution has been a problem when they are fishing. For him, this is an everyday problem and he mentioned that everyday he goes to work, when they bring in the nets that are supposed to be full of fish, a quarter of the weight that they pull in is from accumulated trash. You can see where this would be a problem as the very fish that we eat is covered in trash while being brought on the commercial fishing vessel. Obviously this isn't a problem you can just come up with something and it will be fixed overnight he stated, but instead people need to do more recycling, throwing their trash where it belongs and using alternatives to plastic such as biodegradable items and reusable bottles. 

5 & 6) Reflection: I learned so many different things when interviewing my 3 subjects. The biggest surprise for me was when talking to my dads fisherman friend and him explaining how much trash they pick up on a daily basis. Maybe this is only a problem for people directly in contact with the water and have to see this type of thing everyday but for the people that are aware of our environmental problems, they know that something needs to be done in order to save our oceans. I also found a common thing among the three interviews I conducted which was that each person wouldn't mind paying a little extra or putting in a little extra work for an alternative to plastic bottles, bags, and straws. Little things like paper bags and reusable straws went a long way and many restaurants have gone towards not giving out plastic straws. 

7) Summary: I believe my opportunity is still there and it's even stronger in the places that experience this everyday. In my personal opinion I didn't think that many people would see this as a problem because not many people are in direct contact with the trash in our ocean but even the ones who are not seem to be fairly educated on the problem that arises from littering and the long-term affects of plastic. I believe a new opportunity also exists in taking care of the current trash in the ocean with some sort of vessel that can extract trash and take it to dumps and waste facilities on land to properly dispose of the litter. I believe that entrepreneurs should base 80% of their opportunities based on customer feedback because those are the people that are going to purchase your product and therefore put money into your pocket.