SMART DESIGN
The main barrier to designing out waste is getting everyone in the chain to appreciate the possibilities, and most importantly for those interested only in the bottom line, to harness circular business models.
The potential for smart design is realised when reuse and recovery of materials are seen as integral parts of the sales process and not nice bonuses at the end of it.
“We prefer not to think of designers’ roles as being ‘designing out waste’, but being ‘resource effective’, making them go as far as they can”
Physical products require materials and have finite lives in the hands of a single consumer that need to be carefully managed. It’s no good employing all the world’s best resource-efficient design strategies if the product just ends in the bin.
These product stewardship models would open up all sorts of design implications for reducing waste: they could be set up for longevity (leasing to multiple customers), high-intensity use (sharing for products like lawnmowers), refurbishment (for take-back models) and so on
The potential for smart design is realised when reuse and recovery of materials are seen as integral parts of the sales process and not nice bonuses at the end of it.
“We prefer not to think of designers’ roles as being ‘designing out waste’, but being ‘resource effective’, making them go as far as they can”
Physical products require materials and have finite lives in the hands of a single consumer that need to be carefully managed. It’s no good employing all the world’s best resource-efficient design strategies if the product just ends in the bin.
These product stewardship models would open up all sorts of design implications for reducing waste: they could be set up for longevity (leasing to multiple customers), high-intensity use (sharing for products like lawnmowers), refurbishment (for take-back models) and so on