The Impact of Designed Products on Sustainability

A Report for Unit 3: Managing Design in the Global Society and Economy

MDes Design Management at Ravensbourne College, London, UK.

Author

Marcel Münch

Lang Street 9

E1 4JE London

Student ID 95828012

Assignment due

Tutor & Assessor

30.11.2012

Carrie Huang

Content

II

London, United Kingdom

Content

Content ........................................................................................................... II  

Figures and Illustrations ............................................................................... 3  

Abbreviations ................................................................................................. 4  

1.   Environmental Impact of Designed Products ...................................... 5  

2.   The Past: Putting on Makeup ................................................................. 7  

3.   The Present: Things are Even More Complicated ............................... 8  

4.   The Future: Circles and Loops ........................................................... 11  

Bibliography .................................................................................................. V  

Figures and Illustrations

III

Figures and Illustrations

Fig. 1: Product system from a life-cycle perspective ....................................... 6  Fig. 2: Life Cycle Analysis for a MacBook ....................................................... 6  Fig. 3: Recyclable products will still harm the environment if thrown into

the wrong bin. .................................................................................. 9  Fig. 4: Our buy-recycle-reward scheme and incentives for stakeholders .... 10  

Abbreviations

IV

Abbreviations

DfE Design for Environment EPR Extended Producer Responsibility EU European Union E-Waste Electronic waste GHG Greenhouse Gas LCA Life Cycle Assessment RoHS Restriction of Hazardous Substances; EU Di-

rective on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and elec-tronic equipment 2002/95/EC

Environmental Impact of Designed Products

5

1. Environmental Impact of Designed Products

The question of how to tackle environmental sustainability issues of designed

products is a tough one. Hardly any manufactured product meets a strict def-

inition of being environmental friendly. Most products will fail such standards

simply due to the fact that in the process of manufacturing and production

natural capital is turned into man-made capital. For the most part this is a lin-

ear process, which means that only a small amount of extracted resources

will be reused, and as a result natural resources diminish. ‘All products take

up resources, use energy and produce waste that has to be processed, leav-

ing a “footprint”.’ (Stamm, 2008, p. 278) Hence, the footprint of products well

extends beyond resource depletion and can be as serious as contributing to

global warming, loss of ozone, increased energy use, solid waste and toxic

emissions as well as air and water pollution with all consequences for hu-

mans beings as well as for flora and fauna. (Lewis and Gertsakis, 2001, p.

101)

Based on these insights, Bettina von Stamm states that companies should

focus on creating ecologically compatible products that minimise such im-

pacts on the environment by considering all inputs and outputs during the

product’s life cycle. (Stamm, 2008, p. 278)

A key tool for designing minimum-impact products is the life-cycle assess-

ment (LCA). The goal of such an assessment is an analysis of the environ-

mental impact of a product for each stage of the product’s life as shown in

figure 1. (Lewis and Gertsakis, 2001, p.42)

Environmental Impact of Designed Products

6

Fig. 1: Product system from a life-cycle perspective (Lewis and Gertsa-kis, 2001, p.42)

When analysing each stage it becomes evident that every product is different

regarding its composition and impact on the environment. Taking into ac-

count the energy necessary to power an Apple MacBook for many years, the

environmental impact during use almost equals that of production.

Fig. 2: Life Cycle Analysis for a MacBook (Jansson, 2008, www.images.apple.com, p. 1)

In contrast, the recyclable packaging we have looked at for our unit practical

project only has a very short lifespan in which no additional harm is done.

The Past: Putting on Makeup

7

Furthermore, it is an important insight that no matter at which stage the im-

pact occurs, the design process is ultimately crucial to which materials are

selected and how much energy the product will use its life. (Lewis and

Gertsakis, 2001, p. 14) John Thackara sums this up, stating that eighty per-

cent of the total environmental impact is locked into a product already at its

design stage. (Thackara, 2005, p. 17)

2. The Past: Putting on Makeup

The problem with minimising the environmental impact of products is, that

raw materials are comparably cheap, as is the energy input necessary for

manufacture of most consumer products. Therefore incentives for business

to invest into Design for Environment (DfE) remained weak in the past.

Mostly an additive end-of-pipe technology approach seemed sufficient to deal

with existing waste and environmental problems, for example later installed

filters reduce plant emissions. This approach however leads to additional

complexity, material use and simply hides the real problem under a layer of

makeup.

The reason why this zeitgeist was predominant for a long time, is that the on-

ly relevant costs related to environmental impacts occurred during raw mate-

rial procurement and the process of manufacturing as well as partly for distri-

bution and transportation. In contrast the full costs and the associated ruck-

sack of external effects (such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water,

toxicity) and their consequences, were largely borne by the tax payer and so-

ciety in general.

It is only since the sustainability debate became more popular that, in reac-

tion, governments introduced policies and regulations that aimed to re-

impose costs and responsibility to the polluter and offender. Extended pro-

ducer responsibility (EPR), eco-design policies such as RoHS and recycling

regulations forced businesses to comply. As a result more life-cycle environ-

mental costs got internalised into the market price. (Lewis and Gertsakis,

2001, p. 24)

Furthermore, a change in consumer perception and behaviour fostered by

various campaigns from non-profit organisations contributed to higher pres-

The Present: Things are Even More Complicated

8

sure on businesses towards Design for Environment (DfE). At this moment

forward-oriented companies discovered the potential of products that make

less impact on the environment. They anticipated these trends towards high-

er energy prices (peak-oil hypothesis), governmental restrictions and con-

sumer demands for greener products. In consequence, ‘Reduction in envi-

ronmental impacts became a major driver for innovation of companies in Eu-

rope and the US’. (Stamm, 2008, p. 276) Nowadays design for environment

can in many ways be seen beneficial for long-term business success com-

pared to a shortsighted end-of-pipe approach.

3. The Present: Things are Even More Complicated

Regardless of new recycling regulations, and their potential to make a huge

step towards a more sustainable consumption, recycling today is still at an

early stage. With our practical project we decided to improve recycling be-

cause we felt that it is not working as it should.

Since recyclable products actually are optimised for a minimum of environ-

mental impact, they give an interesting example for the fact that things are

very complicated: Our research made evident that even if a designer fully

complies with regulations and considers all stages of the product’s life-cycle,

this does not guarantee less of an impact on the environment.

This is because the biggest responsibility for recycling still bears with the

consumer, not the producer. We found that a few obstacles prevent consum-

ers to dispose products correctly. For example, bins and recyclable products

we analysed were a variety of colours, shapes and instructions and lacked

universality in the design language.

We also acknowledged that recycling was strongly influenced by the user

setting. People in urban environments are in a rush and multi-tasking and

lack awareness that they put recyclable waste in to wrong bins and would

therefore not be fed back into the materials cycle.

The Present: Things are Even More Complicated

9

Fig. 3: Recyclable products will still harm the environment if thrown in-to the wrong bin. (Source: Author’s own, 2012)

We had to solve the contamination of waste streams and came up with a

minimal bin re-design and a holistic incentive-scheme involving all stakehold-

ers, in order to increase the recycling success rate dramatically.

Our solution included a re-design of recycling bins at busy shopping envi-

ronments. A barcode-system attached to the new recycling-only-bin would

ensure a 100% recycling rate and provide the basis for a buy-recycle-reward

scheme that makes recyclable items valuable for users. Furthermore we de-

signed the bins and barcodes in a way that users would benefit from a learn-

ing-effect and in addition the responsibility and incentives for a successful

disposal would be transferred back to the waste producer. External effects,

as explained crucial to environmental impact, would now become relevant to

businesses and lessen the burden on society.

The Present: Things are Even More Complicated

10

Fig. 4: Our buy-recycle-reward scheme and incentives for stakeholders (Source: Author’s own, 2012)

When reflecting critical on the solutions we developed, one could argue that

this system fosters consumption due to the rewarding scheme and therefore

increase the overall environmental impact again. Also the use of recent bar-

code technology could be criticised as a top-down approach, similar to end-

of-pipe technology. On the other hand it would be interesting to measure the

positive outcomes of the embedded learning and spill-over effects of the new

bin’s feedback system as well as the reduced environmental impact due to

the increased recycling rate and the inter-connection with public transport

system.

The Future: Circles and Loops

11

To put it in a nutshell, design for the environment is even more complicated

than looking at each stage of the product’s life cycle. Our practical project let

us experience how manifold the causes of environmental impact of products

and consumptions are and how difficult it is to resolve them.

4. The Future: Circles and Loops

In the future other ideas and approaches will extend design for the environ-

ment and make it more powerful. Think of technical solutions to recycle plas-

tic and of ways to extract raw materials from complicated waste streams such

as electronic waste and cars. Replacing raw materials with completely biode-

gradable, organic materials might become an option, as shown at a TED talk

given by Eben Bayer. (Bayer, 2010, www.ted.com, p.1)

Already today we could, as John Thackara’s suggests, start to rethink owner-

ship and consumption towards a ‘less-stuff-more-people world’ (Thackara,

2005, p.6) in which hardware transforms into interconnected, shared, less

product-based services and therefore cause less environmental exploitation.

A new circular economy could make the existing waste management obso-

lete. This economy would be based on the principle of designing out waste,

rather than letting it emerge and exist. Products would be designed to fully

close the cycle and material flows would reflect circular systems and loops

instead of linear processes. Circularity would “introduces a strict differentia-

tion between consumable and durable components of a product.” (Ellen

Macarthur Foundation, 2012, www.thecirculareconomy.org, p. 3)

Furthermore, bionics will enable us to learn from nature and to develop prod-

ucts made of biological ingredients that are fully degradable. In a circular

product world and economy, additional energy needed for manufacturing,

use and maintenance would be provided from renewable sources inputs only.

Many of these ideas are at early stage and require a change in people’s

mindset and behaviour. It seems we cannot leapfrog instantly to this future of

loops and circles. We need to go through a process of iteration and adaption

first.

V

Bibliography

Bayer, E. (2010) Eben Bayer: Are mushrooms the new plastic? [online] TEDGlobal. Available at http://www.ted.com/talks/eben_bayer_are_mushrooms_the_new_plastic.html (Accessed 30.11.2012)

Ellen Macarthur Foundation. (2012) Towards the Circular Economy. Eco-

nomic and business rationale for an accelerated transition. [online] Isle of Wight. UK. Available at http://www.thecirculareconomy.org/uploads/files/032012/4f6360009d31c6098f000006/original/Exec_summary_single.pdf?1331912704 (accessed 29.10.2012)

Jansson, S. (2008) MacBook Environmental Report. [online] Cupertino. Ap-

ple. Available at http://images.apple.com/my/environment/resources/pdf/MacBook-Environmental-Report.pdf (Accessed 30.11.2012).

Lewis, H. and Gertsakis, J. (2001) Design + environment: A global guide to

designing greener goods. Greenleaf. Sheffield. Stamm, B. von (2008) Managing innovation, design and creativity. 2nd ed.,

John Wiley & Sons. Chichester, UK. Thackara, John. (2005) In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World. Cam-

bridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press, USA.