Design & Circular Economy (TSB keynote)
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Transcript of Design & Circular Economy (TSB keynote)
good design and the circular economy @frank_oconnor Director @ecodesigncentre
!
to believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
Mahatma Gandhi
Image www.castlereagh.gov.uk
we live in a throwaway society
………… but there is no away
every design choice has a consequence
image source: Chris Jordan
bad design is a crime
source: ads-ngo.com
98% of products are thrown away within 6 months
source: Edwin Datschefski & United NaKons University
80% of environmental impacts
can be locked-in at the design stage
designers interact between industry, users and other actors
industry
consumers
design
designers can influence how people consume, use, behave … industry
consumers
design
!
our mission is to make good design happen
image source: Fuse / GeNy
the single biggest problem in communicaKon is the illusion that it has taken place George Bernard Shaw
source: Nathan Halle6
image source: jubbling.com
source: ZIPcars
source: Apple
neodymium
source: Harman & wiki
car speaker
source: hybridcars.com
polluKon
true cost
source: dailymail.co.uk
toxicity, health
true cost
recovery
true cost
source: retrench.co.uk
source: mywindpowersystem.com
low carbon / high on criKcal materials
NO MAGIC MATERIALS
way forward?
Cradle to Cradle
10
“remake the way wemake things” thinking about the materials we use, howour products are designed and assembled, and their cyclesof use with our customers.
No matter how good your products are, there comes a timewhen their first useful life comes to an end. In considering product life cycles Cradle to Cradle asks us to re-think thecommonplace approach of “take, make & waste” and thisprompted us to act.
During the early stages of the design of Ara we established arelationship with one of Cradle to Cradle’s authors, renowned industrial chemist Micheal Braungart. Throughout the development we have been working with EPEA, Micheal’s C2C organisation based in Hamburg.
We’ve always very carefully considered the materials that we usein our products but our aim in working with EPEA is to ensurethat what we’re using is truly safe, for humans and the environment alike, and successful in technical cycles of reuse.This means looking in much more detail at every chemical ingredient in the materials we use; to determine which inhibitthis aim and need to be substituted or remove as a result.
Cradle to Cradle is an approach to design which looks to makeus truly environmentally effective, by developing products forclosed loop systems in which all the materials used are safe andbeneficial - either to biodegrade naturally or to be fully recycledinto high quality materials for subsequent product generations,again and again. In order for us to maximise the value of the materials used in your chair we’d like to get them back onceyou’ve finished with them. It’s pretty simple, all you need to dois visit our website at www.orangebox.com/endoflife.htm
Returning your ARA at ‘End of Life’
Desig
n En
gin
eering
4
Arm
support that’s there only when you need it.
Our goal w
as to design a new arm
pad that was m
ore comfortable
than ever, using materials that could be segregated easily and recycled
more effectively. The traditional PU
is replaced by a flexible polymer
with a separate insert m
ade from recycled foam
. The result is an arm
rest that’s robust, easy to use and probably the most com
fortablew
e’ve ever made.
Do som
ething really simple; m
ake the chair base 100%
r ecyclable.N
ot the most com
plicated part on a task chair, granted, but we asked
ourselves the question - some look m
uch better than others but allplastic chair bases are pretty m
uch the same, aren’t they? W
ell in onesense they are, and w
ith very few exceptions they all have a m
etal collar m
oulded into the plastic to stop the gas lift creeping throughthe base. G
reat for not dragging your chair across the carpet butnot so great w
hen you come to recycle it, as the collar can be very
difficult to remove.
Smart design and careful m
aterial selection has enabled us to createa base w
ithout a collar insert. A sim
ple point but unlike almost all
other plastic bases ours is 100% recyclable. A
nd rest assured we’ve
tested it like mad.
The Mechanism
Ara’s
synchronous m
echanism
delivers a
smooth,
balanced m
ovement
from
impressively
refined engineering.
Why
synchronous? Quite sim
ply, we’ve alw
ays felt that the action ofseat and back m
oving together in this way provides a natural,
intuitive ride. Proven ergonomic research also tells us that regular
changes in posture improves our w
ell being when sitting at w
ork.W
e know that people com
e in all shapes and sizes. That’s why
smart engineering inside the m
echanism m
eans the ride can betuned and balanced to your precise needs, using adjustm
ent controls that are easy to operate and labelled clearly.
disassembly end of life cradle to cradle
1
30% part reduction 30% faster assembly 37% weight dematerialisation
2
eol local dematerialise
15kg 20kg
mindset changes think ‘resource’ instead of ‘waste’ think ‘need’, ‘use’ instead of ‘consume’ transform ‘stuff’, don’t destroy it think people, think ‘share’ ensure you are contribuCng, relevant
!1
circular economy consideraKons consideraCon of full life cycles / system consideraCon of all ‘sustainability’ issues / focus on greatest impact no shiF of pressure between stages of life cycle / true cost creaCon of goods and services with higher overall quality and value / transformaCve use cycles embrace new models of business & ownership
!2
good design criteria long-‐life non-‐toxic localise renewable energy
!3
designed, made, remade. zero waste.
only resource
!
passport source: Habufa
a world where good design is the norm
!
thanks. good luck. ecodesigncentre.org edcshare.org @ecodesigncentre @frank_oconnor