Pack2Park: Make Your Own Food Park (Scale Model) With Food Packaging Waste

Excessive food packaging waste contributes significantly to environmental pollution. The accumulation of single-use packaging materials poses a pressing challenge for waste management and sustainability efforts. 

“Pack2Park” aims to raise awareness about food packaging waste and advocate for upcycling practices through a captivating food park diorama, featuring miniature food establishments or kiosks crafted from food packaging materials. Pack2Park aims to showcase innovative ways to repurpose food packaging materials, highlighting creative solutions for waste reduction and recycling.

Materials:

• 200 mL Oatside tetra pack (and straw)
• McCafe coffee cup (and cup holder)
• Shin noodle soup cup 
• 320 mL Coke can 
• Sintra boards
• Cereal boxes
• Thin popsicle sticks 
• Paper clips
• Styrofoam 
• Chopsticks 
• Thin clear acrylic sheet
• Thick paper bag
• Paper
• 25-centavo coin
• ¼ illustration board 
• Miniature humans (1:50)
• Miniature model trees (1:50)
• Powder artificial grass
• Acrylic paint 
• Mighty bond 
• Elmer’s Glue

Tools:

• Dremel rotary tool
• Cutter 
• Scissors 
• Tweezers 
• Glue gun 
• Compass circle tool

Creating your own food park scale model doesn't have to limit you to the above-mentioned food packaging materials! You may use any food packaging waste available and be creative with its design. 

With this, the scale of your project can change based on the size of the food packaging materials that will be used. However, for this project, we will use a 1:50 scale.

Scale model humans can aid you with measurements and proportions. Additionally, it helps if these are in a variety of activity poses, such as walking, standing, and sitting, since this can help you determine the appropriate height for the tables, counters, chairs, and benches. Referring to your human scales will save you time rather than having to manually determine the measurements for every component of the scale model.

Once the scale that will be used has been established, you can now plan the design of your food establishments. You can make sketches to guide you throughout the production process. A sample sketch is presented above. 

NOTE: Scaling and feasibility concerns may prevent you from sticking to your original design during the production process. 

For this project, a total of four food establishments were made. 

Make sure to clean all food packaging materials first before proceeding.

Using a cutter, cut through the packaging of your 200 mL Oatside tetra pack by drawing two squares on the front and the right side. These openings will serve as your windows.

For better proportionality, place the windows in the middle of the tetra pack, but because this will be too high for the humans, construct stairs out of cereal boxes for them to stand on. 

The right side of the juice stand is designated for the small eating area. To make this, create a platform and counter out of Sintra board. Use the straw from the tetra pack for the platform's support. Remember to refer to your scale model humans for guidance. 

Complete the windows with an awning canopy to provide shade. First frame the windows using thin popsicle sticks. Do not place any frame on top of the window since this is where your awning canopy will be attached. To create the canopy, measure the desired length of the canopy in a cereal box and then add a 0.5 cm flap to the top end. This flap is required to attach the canopy to the tetra pack. After affixing it to the tetra pack, reinforce this with thin popsicle sticks. 

As the last touch, attach the tetra pack straw on top with Mighty bond.

Take your McCafe coffee cup and cut out three openings. The central aperture will serve as the entryway while the remaining two will function as windows.

Using the coffee cup holder and thin popsicle sticks, frame the two windows. For the vertical frames, use popsicle sticks; for the horizontal frames, use the cup holder. The McCafe cup holder can easily follow the round body of the cup because it is made of corrugated cardboard. After that, cover the windows with clear acrylic sheets. 

Cut two identical-sized acrylic sheets to suit the entrance opening, then use the cup holder again to create the frames for the doors. 

To make the awning canopy, use paper to make a circular ring guide. This guide will be used to trace the real canopy onto the thick paper bag. Your canopy's length will be measured from the rim to the hole. How high you want the cover to be positioned will determine the size of the hole. Once you have made your guide, trace this onto a paper bag and then cut it out. Attach the canopy to the cup with Mighty bond. 

Take your Shin noodle soup cup and take off the packaging's outer paper sleeve. 

Using a cutter and scissors, cut out an opening in the package to function as the restaurant's entrance.

To make the restaurant's archway, you will need popsicle sticks, a cereal box, and the extra corrugated cup holder from the McCafe cup. To create the reinforcements, stack three thin popsicle sticks together and adhere them with Mighty bond. Next, glue two more popsicle sticks together side by side. Once dry, attach this to the reinforcements. This will serve as the roof's horizontal reinforcement.

Using the corrugated cup holder, create the roof and attach it to the main archway. The height of the roof is entirely up to you. Once attached, cover up the roof and add details using a cereal box. 

Take pieces of corrugated cardboard (from the cup holder) and cut and glue them together to build the fence for the bamboo plants that will be placed outside the restaurant. 

Note that this is a later step. Attach the noodle cup's archway and fence as soon as it is glued onto the illustration board. Afterward, add some Elmer’s glue on the area inside the fence and sprinkle some artificial grass powder. Once dry, add the bamboo plants and attach them using a glue gun. 

Finally, take your 320 mL Coke can and create a big opening using a Dremel tool. Because of the Coke can's material, this will be the hardest establishment to make. After cutting the Coke can, affix it to a piece of Sintra board to serve as the base. 

In creating the opening, make sure to leave out a rectangular piece that will serve as the counter of the kiosk. Using Sintra board, create an L-shaped countertop and glue it to the rectangular piece that was left out. Cover the counter with the extra aluminum that was removed from the can. 

To make the tables for the kiosk, trace a 25-centavo coin on a Sintra board and cut it out with scissors. For the table’s reinforcement, cut out the tip of a chopstick. Use a compass tool to draw a smaller circle on a cereal box which will serve as the base. Assemble all of these pieces together with Mighty bond. 

To make the high chairs for the kiosk, create a small circle big enough for your scale model human to sit on. Make this on a Sintra board and cut it with scissors. To make the chair's legs, use paper clips. Assemble these together using Mighty bond as well. 

Make the reinforcements first by gluing three thin popsicle sticks together in a stack. Using Sintra board, create two horizontal panels, then use Mighty bond to secure them to the reinforcements. This is where the signage will be attached.

Prior to creating the signage, draft the letters on paper, being careful to account for the length of your horizontal panels. When the letters are finished, cut them out and trace them onto the extra corrugated cup holder. Using the cutter, cut out the letters and use Mighty bond to attach them to the archway. 

To construct the table, take three thin popsicle sticks and glue them side by side. To improve the proportions, trim off a small section of the popsicle sticks on each side once dry. Next, install braces underneath the table, to which the table's legs will be attached. Next, cut two horizontal reinforcing pieces and glue them to the legs. Finally, attach the benches to these horizontal reinforcements. 

Now that all of the major components of the diorama are finished, it is time to add the finishing touches!

Painting

Use acrylic paint to add color to your food establishments to make them stand out more. 

Signages

Create the signages with a pencil on a Sintra board to round off the overall look of your restaurants. After all signs have been drawn, cut them out and paint them with acrylic. 

TIP: You can also outline the letterings and symbols with a fine black marker to make them more readable. 

Layout and Landscape

On a ¼ illustration board, lay out all the food establishments, benches, and the main archway and mark their designated positions. Additionally, leave space for a few trees. 

For the trees, carve out styrofoam islands that will serve as their support.

For the bench area, leave out a space in the center for a pocket garden. Using Sintra board, create a border for the garden. Trees and artificial grass will be added to this area. Just like for the Ramen restaurant, apply the artificial grass with Elmer’s glue. 

Scale Model Humans

Finally, add your scale model people to the scene to finish your project and give your diorama more life!