Visual Culture Essay: Analyzing Sustainability in Delivery Services

This essay examines the sustainability of delivery services and packaging, drawing upon visual analysis and ethnographic research methods. It introduces the theory of sustainability and explores its application within the context of technology and delivery services, focusing on practices such as using paper bags, optimizing delivery routes with GPS, and employing electric vehicles. The essay evaluates ten images that visually represent sustainable practices in the industry. It also references articles discussing green solutions and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on delivery services, including the use of drones. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of sustainable strategies for delivery services and highlights the researcher's learnings regarding various sustainability practices within the industry.

Are delivery services and
packaging sustainable

Contents
SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................1
SECTION 2- INTRODUCTION OF SELECTED THEORY.........................................................1
SECTION 3- DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL ANALYSIS...........................................................2
SECTION 4- CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................7
SECTION 5- BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................8
Online Sources-............................................................................................................................8

SECTION 1- INTRODUCTION
Technology and delivery services are one of the fastest growing services within
corporate sector. Most of the companies deliver their products through online and they need to
deliver the products on time and in safe manner so that their products will not get damaged
(Bosona, 2020). Hence, to ensure the damage free products, they use effective packaging
materials and to ensure the timely delivery they ensure the usage of technology like GPS system
used to track their delivery trucks and vehicles. Sustainability in delivery services is the main
aim topic of this report. Sustainability consist of that process which ensure to protect
environment and interest of local community (Eun and et. al., 2019). Here, individuals and
companies make sure that they will use the available resources in such a manner which will also
help them to protect the resources for future use. I am interested to choose the theme of
sustainability in technology and delivery services because there is a high scope of sustainability
in chosen services. There are various kinds of innovations seen in this industry which will further
help the industry to grow well. Hence, I can learn something new by choosing this theory and
theme. I hope to discover through this research about the techniques and ways sustainability
takes place within technology and delivery services. The following report consist of evaluation
of 10 images which are linked with theme of the report. The following report covers description
of selected theory, development of visual analysis and evaluation of 10 chosen images by linking
them with theory.
SECTION 2- INTRODUCTION OF SELECTED THEORY
SUSTAINABILITY is the term which is commonly used for human benefits so that they
will exist on the earth for longer period of time. It consist of using natural resources in such a
manner which will protect the resources for future generation. Today most of the companies are
focused to adopt sustainable activities within their organisation so that they will not harm their
natural environment and natural resources (Montalbán-Domingo and et. al., 2019). Few
examples of sustainability within the organisations are using those tools and machines which will
not produce carbon emission and using paper bags for handling products of the company to
customers to avoid plastic usage. The theory of sustainability will be easily linked with
technology and delivery services. The companies in delivery services mainly use paper bags
instead of plastic bags to deliver the products. Secondly, they also use GPS system to analyse the
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shortest distance to reach to customer to avoid wasting petrol. The companies in this industry
make sure that their vehicles will be checked on regular basis so that they will not produce
excess amount of harmful gasses in environment due to any damage in their vehicle. In context
of delivering big size items then the companies use those boxes which are easily biodegradable
so that it will not harm environment. The companies also make sure that they will deliver the
items together to the customers whose location are nearby to each other (Melkonyan and et. al.,
2020).
Null hypothesis- “There is no relationship between sustainability and expansion of delivery
services companies”.
Alternative hypothesis- “There is a significance relationship between sustainability and
expansion of delivery services companies”.
SECTION 3- DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL ANALYSIS
Research methods-
Visual element analysis- Here, researcher analysis the art by using this method. The main focus
of this research is upon colour, scale and line of the art.
Ethnographic research- This is the type of research where researcher analyse the behaviour of
people in their natural environment.
Auto- ethnographic research- This is the type of research where researchers share their own
experience toward a topic (Holguín-Veras and et. al., 2018). The research findings and analysis
are based on the researcher's personal experience.
From the above three mentioned methodologies, the researcher is advised to choose ethnographic
research method because this will help the researcher to analyse what people believe about
sustainability and what all sustainable activities they perform within different location of globe.
For example, most of the delivery services in UK mostly prefer to use paper bags while
delivering any product and same services in another location will prefer to use those vehicles
more which does not produce must carbon emissions.
Evaluation of the collected images-
Figure 1-
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Figure 2-
Figure 3-
Figure 4-
3

Figure 5-
Figure 6-
Figure 7-
4

Figure 8-
Figure 9-
Figure 10-
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From the above pictures it is evaluated the sustainability is one of the key factor for the
development of delivery services. In figure 1, the lady is packing products in hard paper material
for delivery purpose. In figure 2, lot of vegetables are placed in a single paper bag at the doorstep
of an individual. This shows that using the carry bags which is made up of paper is expanding
globally. Figure 3 is showing that a delivery van is containing a lot of items to deliver. Hence,
one single vehicle is used to deliver a lot of items will help to protect the environment
appropriately. Figure 4 shows that bicycle is also used for delivering products for nearby
locations of the company. This will protect the environment from carbon emissions and save fuel
for future generation. In context of figure 5, humans are packaging the products and they did not
use any tool or machine for this. Hence, this will help to reduce less air pollution which is
produced by the tools and machines in this industry (Powell, Gillett and Doherty, 2019). Figure 6
and 7 shows that GPS system is used by delivery partners to analyse the shortest distance to
deliver the products on time. Figure 8 and figure 9 shows that electric vehicles are also used by
the companies in this industry to deliver products from one place to another. Electric vehicles are
the best solution to reduce carbon emissions which are produced by petrol cars within the
environment. Figure 10 shows that regular checking of vehicles are essential within this industry
to analyse whether the vehicles are running appropriately or not to avoid producing much air
pollutants from by the vehicles.
Articles related to theme and theory chosen-
According to the Shirley Mo-chingYeung (2020), it is essential for delivery services
companies to mainly focus upon green solution to the issues which they face. This means that
every problem can be mitigated by sustainable measures taken by the companies. Delivery
services companies can work for sustainability through understanding the importance and
integration of economic returns, social concerns and industry development. This article also
focuses to use those tools and machines which can waste as low as material as required (How to
Make Green Service Delivery Sustainable?, 2020). Waste management is a big concern in this
industry and effective measures for this issue will help the company to sustain effectively.
As per the Li, Mirosa and Bremer (2020), COVID pandemic impacted the delivery
services in a negative manner. Hence, in context of food and retail industry, they use drones to
deliver their products due to government restrictions (Review of Online Food Delivery Platforms
and their Impacts on Sustainability, 2020). Using drones is also one of the most effective
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solution for this industry to retain sustainability for longer period of time. The food deliveries are
taking place within paper bags to avoid using plastic. This article also consist of promoting
online delivery of products so that most of the products will be delivered by a single vehicle
which is also one of the effective measure for sustainability within this industry.
SECTION 4- CONCLUSION
From the above information it is concluded that sustainable is one of the most important
factor for delivery services where they can use paper bags while delivering any products, they
can also use electric vehicles and GPS system to use shortest distance to reach at the customer's
doorstep. There are three types of research methods discussed in this report such as visual
element analysis, ethnographic research and auto-ethnographic research. Ethnocentric research
type is selected by the researcher because of its nature. It consist of analysing people behaviour
at their natural environment. 10 images are discussed in this report which cover the description
of the theme and theory to clear the basic concepts about the topic selected. I have learned from
this research about various strategies and importance of these strategies to use sustainability
within delivery services industry.
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SECTION 5- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bosona, T., 2020. Urban freight last mile logistics—challenges and opportunities to improve
sustainability: a literature review. Sustainability, 12(21), p.8769.
Eun, J. and et. al., 2019. Mathematical investigation on the sustainability of UAV
logistics. Sustainability, 11(21), p.5932.
Holguín-Veras, J. and et. al., 2018. The New York City off-hour delivery program: A business
and community-friendly sustainability program. Interfaces, 48(1), pp.70-86.
Melkonyan, A. and et. al., 2020. Sustainability assessment of last-mile logistics and distribution
strategies: The case of local food networks. International Journal of Production
Economics, 228, p.107746.
Montalbán-Domingo, L. and et. al., 2019. Social sustainability in delivery and procurement of
public construction contracts. Journal of management in engineering, 35(2),
pp.04018065-1.
Powell, M., Gillett, A. and Doherty, B., 2019. Sustainability in social enterprise: hybrid
organizing in public services. Public Management Review, 21(2), pp.159-186.
Online Sources-
How to Make Green Service Delivery Sustainable?, 2020 [Online] available through:
<http://www.ipedr.com/vol69/014-ICEMM2014-M10013.pdf/>
Review of Online Food Delivery Platforms and their Impacts on Sustainability, 2020 [Online]
available through:
<https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/14/5528/>
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