1. Sustainable design
Sustainable design is the broadest concept. Generally, it indicates you
design a product in a way that takes the reduction of social, environmental,
and economic impacts at the heart. Minimizing these impacts as much as
possible.
Reducing ‘economic impacts’ refer to boosting renewable- and minimizing
exhaustible natural resources as physical inputs for economic production.
In product design, this ‘economic impact’ aspect is mainly covered through
making environmentally beneficial choices that minimize exhausting natural
resources. E.g. by looking into recycling, upcycling, and other circular
design aspects.
1.1 Sustainable product design in practice.
The best and most common approach in sustainable product design – is
looking at design choices that reduce social and environmental impacts
along every step in the life cycle of your products. So, from raw materials to
the production, to transport, to use by customers, to the waste phase.
For example, take a simple T-Shirt and map out all the life cycle stages.
Per stage, critically analyze the social and environmental aspects of your
value chain.
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Social impact: Are workers being paid fair wages? How are the
working conditions for workers in manufacturing processes? Does
your product have health-endangering effects on consumers when
used?
Environmental impact: Which materials in my production are impactintensive? Which of my manufacturing processes can be sustainably
optimized? How does the waste of my products impact the
environment? The best way to answer these questions is by using
environmental data to test their effect on your footprint.
2. Ecodesign
Ecodesign is a sustainable design approach. Whilst sustainable product
design focuses on both social and environmental sustainability – Ecodesign
focuses only on reducing environmental impact at every step of your
product’s life cycle.
The term Ecodesign is very intertwined with the EU Framework established
in 2005: the European Ecodesign Directive. The Ecodesign Directive wants
to make durable and sustainable products the norm. It was first developed
for energy-consuming products, providing Ecodesign rules to limit the
energy consumption of electronics. Its rules now expand to other branches
under the proposed “Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation”
proposal (ESPR). Think of Ecodesign rules for construction products, textile
products, packaging, chemicals, etc.
The ESPR stimulates sustainable products that are (energy) efficient in
use, have a longer lifespan, use recycled materials instead of primary raw
materials, and are marketed using circular business models.
2.1 Ecodesign in practice.
The foundation for Ecodesign is environmental data. This data is the result
of performing the scientific method for environmental footprinting called Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA). An LCA measures 15+ impact categories for
each step in a product’s life cycle. Its environmental data tells you exactly
which process, material, or component in which life cycle phase, causes
your biggest impact. It provides focus on where to improve your design – to
gain the biggest impact reduction potential.
A couple of Ecodesign strategies are:
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Product Stewardship: Take full responsibility for your product’s entire
lifecycle. Ensure the product isn’t lost at the end of its life- but stays
in the value system. A key element here is a take-back system. A
business example here is our customer Philips.
Dematerialization: Generally, more materials mean more impact.
Dematerialization is all about reducing the weight, size, and number
of materials you use in your design.
Modularity: Design your product in a way that every individual part
can be rearranged to fit the end-user’s needs. The result: products
have longer lives as individual parts get updated to fit required
changes over time. A business example here is the modular phone
from Fairphone.
Longevity: This means you want your product to have the longest life
possible. By making products durable and that retain value over time
so people can pass them on or resell them. E.g. Think of high-quality
watches or cars that are aesthetically timeless. A business example
here is the shoes with extra long lifespans from EMMA Safety
Footwear.
Disassembly: Design your product to be easily taken apart for
recycling at the end of its life.
Recyclability: Focus your design on the recyclability of every
material/part of your product. Look how easy it is to recycle the
product/materials- to ensure they actually end up being recycled.
3. Circular Design
Finally, there’s circular product design.
According to the Ellen McArthur Foundation, Circular design means
designing a product or service that creates no waste and pollution and
keeps products and materials in use. Circular design essentially contributes
to a closed-loop system in our economy where everything is shared,
repaired, reused, or recycled. The desired outcome: no waste, no impact.
3.1 Circular design in practice
In practice, circular design means you look at your product’s design with
two specific goals.
(1) Minimum (preferably zero) waste & pollution throughout your product’s
life cycle.
(2) Make sure your product’s value doesn’t decrease at the end of its life.
Find some of the circular design strategies – as highlighted by the Ellen
McArthur Foundation in the list below
The Ecodesign Directive and circular design practices both have circular
business models and minimum waste & impacts as end goals.
Environmental data, again, plays a huge role. However, measuring
circularity is very difficult and there isn’t one commonly accepted
measurement method, like LCA in Ecodesign. There is the Material
Circularity Indicator (MCI), which also uses LCA results as its foundation.
You can find its methodology here.
Some examples of circular design strategies:
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Designing for inner loops: Inner loops are the most high-value
material loops. It’s where the materials in your product maintain the
highest value during- and after the end of its life. Think of designs
made for reusing, sharing, remanufacturing, or refurbishing.
Recycling is the value loop that lowers the value of your materials the
most.
Moving from products to services: This is all about shifting from
ownership to access. Consumers often only need a product for a
shorter time. So instead of buying it, you can offer your product as a
service (e.g. via a subscription). This way, many different consumers
use the same product. An example is Swapfiets.
Product life extension: Making products that last is a key element of
the circular economy. It results in the production of fewer products,
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hopefully, used by multiple owners. Here, design focuses on creating
emotionally, esthetically, and physically durable products.
Safe and circular material choices: It’s crucial that we choose
materials safe for both people and the environment. The Circular
Design Guide has many methods and tools to help you do so here.