Circular Futures RSA brief
Arts University Bournemouth BA (Hons) Graphic Design level 6 Ásta Karen Ágústsdóttir
Circular Futures Challenge and scope In the pervasive linear economic model, raw material resources are converted into usable products by manufacturers and after use are disposed of by consumers as rubbish. This is fundamentally a wasteful and unsustainable model given the finite resources of the planet and increasing rates of consumption by a growing population; the middle class population of developing countries is predicted to expand by 3 billion people over the next 20 years. Simply using less will not be sufficient. Circular design principles and economic systems make more effective use of materials to create more value through cost savings and by creating new markets or growing existing ones. The circular economy system diagrams developed by the Ellen McArthur Foundation and the RSA’s Great Recovery project elegantly demonstrate the design principles and business models which drive changes to product and packaging by closing the loop of material flows to create significant value for the environment, consumers, businesses and economies. In contrast, conventional recycling only considers waste in isolation of product design principles and value chains. Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) cover a wide variety of products such as food, refreshment, home care and personal care products; this sector generates approximately 75% of municipal solid waste. This brief therefore asks you rethink the future of how consumer goods are delivered, used and ultimately re-captured so that valuable resources can be retained within a circular economy. We are particularly interested in personal care products, which are generally defined as toiletries for personal hygiene and/ or beautification. In approaching this brief, you are encouraged to think about current trends that have the potential to enable circular futures such as 3D printing, e-commerce, digital, the Internet of Things, as well as different consumption and ownership models, such as the sharing economy. You may want to examine how companies like Airbnb, DESSO, and Rolls-Royce with their “power by the hour� programme are adapting to a changing world, as well as how technology can be used for separating material at a molecular level for re-cycling, frugal innovation (eg Jagaad) and changing relationships between consumers and retailers.
You may want to also consider how other waste materials as a consequence of using an FMCG product can be repurposed – for example how water for use with personal hygiene products might be re-used. For the purposes of illustration only, the following would be viable responses: a new product and/or packaging that promotes re-use and is not thrown away a new business model or system that promotes a ‘take/send back’ model for a product or packaging after use a product or service design solution that enables communities to optimise local resources and generate local value chains a communication solution: such as a marketing/advertising campaign or an app that promotes the idea of frugal innovation or re-use a new or repurposed product made from existing waste streams a product designed to inspire the reclamation and reuse of its materials, clearly illustrating the value of waste as material source a system such as an initiative, website or app that facilitates the obtaining, trading or sourcing of secondary materials reclaimed from waste streams … and many others are possible Regardless of your proposal, you are asked to consider how it would exist as part of a wider ecosystem and what pre-requisites would have to be met.
Eco-Efficency vs. Eco-Effectiveness Linear vs. Circular
Our current industrial model is a linear one. Materials are taken from the earth, made into products, used by consumers and then thrown away. As our planet has finite resources this model can not continue uninterupted.
The linear economy is leading to a shortage of materials and therefore rising costs. The basis of growth in a linear economy is coupled with resource consumption.
Eco-effiency is a linear flow of materials through a system. It is a cradle-grave dynamic where downcycling occasionally happens.
The circular economy is based around a restorative industrial system geared towards designing out waste, it goes way beyond just recycling. Recycling is just an outer circle of it, as it requires a lot of energy.
The inner circles of the circular economy are repair, reuse and remanufacturing. The goal of ecoeffectiveness is not to minimise the cradle to grave flow of materials but to develop cyclical “cradle to cradle� systems that
enable materials to keep their status as resources and furthermore accumulate intelligence over time (upcycling).
Upcycling, downcycling, recycling.. What’s the difference?
The first ever recorded recycling of materials was in Japan in 1031. They began reusing waste paper, pulping it down into new paper and selling it once again. In England recycling began in 1865 when the Salvation army was founded in London. The idea of recycling has been around for a while. (Systems, B. 2014)
The idea of recycling has been around for a while and some countries seem to have adapted to it better than others. Sweden is a leading country today when it comes to recycling, the cities power up a quarter of their homes with burnt up waste. They’ve even run out of waste and have had to import some from Norway! (Xong, T. 2008)
Other European countries such as Denmark and Germany have a system in place where you get a small amount of money back when returning your bottles to the recycling plant. This acts as an incentive for people to recycle.
Recycling is returning something to a previous stage in a cyclic process
Downcycling is the process of converting waste materials or useless products into new materials or products of lesser quality.
Upcycling is reusing a material in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.
Iceberg workshop Seeing beneath the surface
The iceberg workshop was really helpful to dig deeper into the issues that the FCMG industry is creating. The biggest problem seemed to be plastic.
Plastic was created in a laboratory it is a synthetic material and cannot decompose in nature. Every single piece of it ever made still exists today.
“Under 10% of all plastics in the world are currently being recycled. The other 90% end up either in landfill or being shipped to third world countries where they are burnt into the atmosphere causing toxic gases.” (Biddle, M. 2011)
“Only 20% of materials in the Fast moving consumer goods sector are recovered” (Partners, 2014)
“People don’t see where their waste ends up - disconnect between self and the planet”
“ Analysis by McKinsey estimates shifting towards circularity could add $1 trillion to the global economy by 2025 and create 100,000 new jobs within the next five years. � (Perella, 2014)
Researching the FMCG sector made me become a lot more aware of the waste I was personally producing. Something I had noticed for a while in particular was the amount of waste created by feminine hygiene products. I wondered where they ended up, did they all end up in landfill?
I had heard of an alternative solution called a menstrual cup, but never really considered using one. If I personally was producing so much waste every month how much was being collectively produced by women over the world?
I contacted Sorpa, the biggest waste management facility in Iceland and asked how these disposable products, sanitary napkins and tampons were being disposed of.
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“One pad equals four plastic bags in waste� (Mercola, 2013)
They replied saying it all went into landfill although a small percentage of it could be considered to be organic matter and that could be used to produce metan which is then used as petrol for cars.
Think before you flush..
Half of women in the U.K. flush down their tampons after use, they consider this a normal method of disposal.
Flushed tampons, applicators or pads can accumulate and block your drains, which can in turn cause flooding to homes and gardens.
“On a national level, it costs £88m a year to unblock the sewers maintained by our water and sewerage companies – we pay for this in our water bills.” (Blincoe, 2016)
Women in the U.K. use
3,600,000,000 tampons a year
It’s hard for waste treatment plants to filter out sanitary products so they can end up in rivers and coastal waters polluting and often having damaging effects on marine life.
“The Marine Conservation Society reports that sewage-related debris makes up about 6% of Britain’s beach litter” (Blincoe, 2016)
Existing solutions Pads
The average women uses 16.800 pads in her lifetime. Pads have more of an environmental impact than tampons because of the amount of plastic in them. The modern pad is made from 90% plastic materials. The plastic is made from crude oil which is a nonrenewable resource.
4.5 billion pads are disposed of every year. Every pad ever made still exists today, it doesn’t break down in the earth for hundreds of years. The pads are often picked up by birds in landfill or blown across lands and into streams. Eventually many of them end up in the ocean where they break
down into smaller pieces which marine animals think is food and attempt to eat it. The cycle then continues as the fish can end up on our plates.
“4.5 billion pads are disposed of every year. Every pad ever made still exists today.”
31% of women in the U.S. use only pads. Not only are pads bad for the environment but they also contain toxins which can be harmful to a woman’s health. Proctor and Gamble are the leading producer of disposable
feminine hygeine products with brands such as Always and Tampax. They are not required to release the ingredients of their pads as it is considered to be a medical device and can therefore be kept as a trade secret.
Most pads are bleached using chlorine which results in the production of dioxin, a chemical linked to breast cancer, endometriosis, immune system suppression, and various other ailments.
Existing solutions Tampons
The average woman will go through 11 - 13.000 tampons in her life. Tampons are made out of bleached rayon, cotton and plastics. They can leave behind fibres in your body and they are known to not only absorb the blood but also the natural fluids that help the vagina clean itself.
Toxic shock syndrome is a rare but life-threatening bacterial infection. In 95% of incidents it is related to women using extra absorbent tampons.
A box of 20 tampons costs on average £2,90. A woman uses on average 4 tampons a day for 5 days. That’s 20 tampons per cycle, £2.90 x12 = 34,80 per year
“Tampons are made out of bleached rayon, cotton and plastics. They can leave behind fibres in your body”
That’s just tampons, most women use a combination of both pads and tampons. A pack of 12 pads is £1,99 assuming a women buys one pack every other month that’s £11,94 per year.
47 pounds per year on just pads and tampons is a lot of money to spend on “sanitary” products.
Existing solutions Menstrual cups
The first menstrual cup was invented in 1884, it was later patented in the shape and form it is in today in 1932. (Coughlin, 2015) The mooncup is a British menstrual cup company based in Brighton. An already great alternative to disposable products the mooncup is:
Healthier - the mooncup respects your natural balance where tampons can cause dryness and leave behind fibres in your body. Convenient it holds 3x more than a regular tampon and is nonabsorbent.
It collects the fluid rather than absorbing it. You don’t need to carry any spares with you or worry about disposing of anything, one mooncup is all you need for light or heavy days. Money-saving the cup lasts for 7-10 years and you can
“The cup lasts for 7-10 years... and holds 3x more fluid than a regular tampon”
make up for the cost of disposables within 6 months. Cuts waste no more tampons or pads going into landfill or ending up in the sea.
So if this great product exists why aren’t more women using it?
Existing solutions Reusable pads and underwear
Thinx is a company started by twin sisters Miki and Radha Agrawal, they felt there was a taboo surrounding the topic of periods and wanted to create a more sustainable option for women to deal with them. They ended up creating underwear which are highly absorbent.
The underwear can be washed and used again and again. The copany’s advertisements have been very provacative for example showing fruit that resemble vaginas. The Metropolitan transportation Authority nearly banned the adverts from the metro in New York City.
It sparked up a heated debate where other advertisements allowed in the metro showing women’s breasts and sexualising them were called into question.
Reusable pads have been around for the longest time of all the existing solutions. Women have made them from all sorts of materials but cotton is the most common one used today.
Lunapads is a company based in Vancouver, Canada. They make reusable pads out of 100% cotton fleece. They are completely free from added chemicals, gels or super absorbent polymers.
One pad will last for a whole day but there are inserts which you need to change as often as you change your pad or tampon, you just insert it into the pad. A lunapad will last for up to 5 years even 10 if taken care of properly.
Having looked into all the d of them clearly stood out to single problem, environmen sustainable. It was the men it is to get people to make t solutions it doesn’t help wh often regarded as “unclean the mooncup is so regarded than a tampon? It’s basicall instances you insert someth touch your own blood and y The only difference is you h
different solutions one to me. It solved every ental, pragmatic and nstrual cup. Difficult as the switch into greener hen it’s on a topic that’s n” or “gross”. How come ed as more unnatural ally the same thing, in both ething down there, you d you have to remove it. have to clean the cup.
The mooncup Where can I get one?
The mooncup is sold on the mooncup website (mooncup.co.uk) in most Boots stores, if they’re not on the shelf you can order it online, and on Amazon. The retail price is £21,99
It’s not surprising that few girls know about them or have seen advertisements but on their website it says: “As a small ethical business selling a one-off purchase, we’ve not got the multi billion pound marketing spend of the disposable
sanitary product giants. We’re committed to not buying into the shame, secrecy or embarassment of old-school feminine hygiene advertising either.”
“Your naughty bits, your peachy lips, that little thing between your hips...”
“Love love love your vagina that important place inside you”
“Mooncup team get out of my face you sound like something that came out of outer space”
“Causing dryness irritation you can’t do your job properly.. we’re coming to destroy your monopoly”
“There’s a reason women need us so much we can absorb everything that we touch”
“You’re weak we can hold three times as much”
“You’re gross and weird and noone understands you.” “And you ain’t got no mates tree-hugging hippies banging on about ice-caps and herbal remedies new age nonsense.. run home to your tp and eat up your lentils”
The two most notable campaigns mooncup has produced are the “Love your vagina” from 2011 and the “Tampon vs. Mooncup rap battle” from 2013. The former one is a song featuring 25 different names women call their vaginas.
“Funny one period it takes 22 of you to do the same thing as one of us can do” “We got love for the earth you make her ill 800 million of you dumped in a landfill... Tampons take off mooncup’s here to stay no strings attached”
The song was based on a campaign from the year before where mooncup opened up a website to which users could submit petnames they had for their vaginas. They then made illustrations of the petnames and put them on posters
which they plastered around the London Underground. Their aim was to break the taboo and change the way people talk and look after periods. (Mooncup, 2002)
Education How were you taught about periods?
“I don’t think I really was.. Or at least nothing stuck I just learnt it through trial and error I guess” (Lucinda)
“I don’t think I was taught about periods, we were taught about sex ed.. about condoms but not about sanitary pads”
Sexual education is a delicate subject to both teach and learn. Through interviews with girls on the topic I found out that the majority of them felt that it wasn’t handled properly at the time. They learnt how to deal with their periods from either their mother or from their friends who had started before them.
Most girls also said they had felt it was a taboo subject to talk about and remembered the feeling of wanting to hide it from others. Wanting a different perspective Janaki and I interviewed guys on the topic as well. Traditionally boys are seperated from girls when it comes to sex-ed.
The guys had different reactions depending on their exposure and relationship with girls and women around them we found. The ones who had grown up with sisters, had a girlfriend or had lived with girls later on knew a lot more about the products and the issues girls face when it comes to that time of the month.
“We had PSHE lessons and they went over it... briefly but it was mostly just chatting about it to my parents” (Zoe)
“They were really awkward about it... we went through the whole STD bit and then we talked about what it looks like but never got too into periods she just said “girls have this..”” (Amy-J)
As we had products to show them the guys who had little exposure to this whole phenomena tended to not want to touch them or even pushed them away. Seeing that all of the guys received a similar education (a very basic anatomic one) their reactions differed severely depending on exposure later on.
What I personally thought was lacking from the education I received was the emotional side of it all, we were mostly just taught why and how it happens, not how to deal with it on an emotional level. The issue of feminine hygiene does not only effect women, if it carries on the same way the environmental impact of it will effect everyone.
What’s with the taboo? P: Hey.. I’m not touching that (the pad and tampon) Which would you rather talk about? P: The condom because I can relate to it, this (points to pad) is a completely different world to me, this is female. What do you think of girls hiding their pads or tampons when going to the bathroom? P: That’s a good thing I don’t want to see that, no one wants to see that stuff it’s very private If roles were reversed what do you think would be different? P: I think men would be a bit less masculine again because of the private aspect of it all
Which would you rather talk about? S: This (the condom) because I’m used to seeing it What do you think of girls hiding their pads or tampons when going to the bathroom? S: It’s quite sad to think that something that they have to do is embarrassing, so yeah not good If roles were reversed what do you think would be different? S: I think that guys would find it a hell of a lot more embarrassing because there’s this whole male provada about not needing help not needing advice and you can just go on by yourself, going back to the whole hiding in your clothes thing.. I would do that
From the beginning periods are treated as a secret. Boys are sent away when girls are taught about it, as if it’s some taboo thing that they can’t know about. When you first start your period you try and hide it from most people. When you have to change your pad or tampon you sneak it up your sleeve or take a bag with you in to the bathroom.
Even the word taboo it stems from the word tapua which means menstruation! (Thinx, 2016) In Indian culture when a girl starts her peiod she is considered “unclean” and she’s forbidden from entering the prayerhouse during. In Japan it is hard for women to become sushi chefs as their body temperatures are said to change
too much during that time of the month and that could harm the food. There are several other cultural examples about how the period is treated and looked upon. This left me wondering, what would be different if men had periods? Men have historically been the more dominant sex in western culture so how would they treat this period problem if it were theirs?
R: Oh for f*ck’s sake (when flipping the second bowl) Which would you rather talk about? R: The Johnny.. I’m more associated with the condom because I have a penis and I am a man What do you think of girls hiding their pads or tampons when going to the bathroom? R: I don’t mind it’s their business... although I suppose if you saw it then you’d be a bit like ooh she’s on it.. so stay clear If roles were reversed what do you think would be different? R: I think from the nature of men they’d probably be a bit more blaisé about taboo subjects
Which would you rather talk about? E: I’d rather talk about these ones (the pad and tampon) What do you think of girls hiding their pads or tampons when going to the bathroom? E: I don’t think they should hide it you know just let it be If roles were reversed what do you think would be different? E: I think they (the products) could possibly be free because of all these stereotypes of men being dominating and stuff, but who knows in the end maybe it’s just about making money
We had guys flip over two different bowls. The first one contained a condom and the second a sanitary pad and tampon. We filmed their reactions and then asked them which they would rather talk about, followed by a series of other questions.
The responses were extremely versatile, I have chosen the four best examples and the ones who differed from one another the most. A good point is raised by Steven about the male provada, would men keep it as hushed as women do, talking about it in whispers between other men or would they joke about it more and turn it into an empowering thing.
We chose to have a condom opposing the sanitary products because although it isn’t directly comparable the condom is also a private item which is awkward to buy at a store for example. We wanted to see how different the reactions would be. Out of 17 interviews 3 guys chose to talk about the sanitary products.
What are girls using? And have they heard of the menstrual cup?
Do you know what this is (mooncup)? J: Yes it’s a cup something.. menstrual cup? Do you know the pros and cons of using one? J: No Have you ever considered using one yourself? J: No I haven’t actually, probably because I don’t know much about it What do you currently use now? J: Pads Are you aware of the drawbacks of using pads? J: No What would it take to get you to try a mooncup? J: Just knowing more about them, I’m tempted to try one now, after this.
Have you heard of the mooncup? I: I have, but I think the concept is just so scary because it’s not something that’s talked about a lot. Maybe you’d be more open to it if it were more of a mainstream thing. The concept of a tampon is scary but it’s something that’s so prevalent in society we’re all so used to it. Do you think you would you consider using one if you got more information on it? I: Yeah I’d be more likely to consider using it if someone spoke to me about it
Do you know what this is (mooncup)? N: Hmm a feminine product? something for periods Do you know the pros and cons of using one? N: I don’t know any cons but pros are that it’s reusable and you’re saving money and it’s better for the environment Have you ever considered using one yourself? N: No I haven’t actually, but my housemate just got one What do you currently use now? N: Tampons Are you aware of the drawbacks of using tampons? N: I know they’re not that great What would it take to convince you to try a mooncup? N: Not a lot, they are quite expensive but I guess the other stuff adds up as well
Have you ever considered the waste that comes from using disposable products? A: Yeah I have, it is a lot and I have thought about switching to cleaner greener solutions. So you’ve heard of the mooncup then? A: Yeah I just don’t like the idea of having to reach up and... I don’t know it’s just kind of gross when it comes to that, I don’t want to touch blood. But if you were told it had the potential to change the future? A: I would really consider that as an option I just haven’t come round to buying one
Have you heard of the mooncup? H: Yeah Would you ever consider using one yourself? H: Yeah.. maybe, I think they’re not widely available enough you know when you go to boots and there’s pads and tampons, it’s not even marketed as an option. I don’t know for some reason I feel like there’s a stigma against it like these (pads and tampons) are really normalised and mooncups aren’t.
The myth of the hymen and its cultural importance
I decided to focus on education as the main reason for girls not trying the mooncup was because they didn’t really know it was an option. If they did know about it they were afraid to use it, they thought it would be messy, that it wouldn’t be comfortable or that it was just plain strange. Most girls didn’t either know about the drawbacks to using pads and tampons, the
environmental impact and how unhealthy they are for the body. The obvious solution would be to tackle the problem fom the start; education. After doing a little research on the topic of sexual education I quickly ran into a few cultural issues. Many young girls do not use tampons because they have been told that they can damage their hymen. This belief usually
stems from either religion or culture. Some new research by RFSU (The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education) is actively challenging and attempting to eradicate certain myths and the current description of the hymen. The have renamed the hymen the “vaginal corona”. According to everything I have been taught, and many others, the hymen is a thin
membrane that covers a woman’s vaginal opening and ruptures either by penetration or by doing sports such as horse-riding, cycling etc. This is not true, the vaginal corona is located 1-2 cm inside the vaginal opening and consists of folds of mucous tissue which may either be tightly or loosely folded. This is why every woman’s corona looks different just like ear lobes or noses.
The “myth” of bleeding for the first time is not caused by the breakage of the hymen. Less than half of women bleed for the first time they have intercourse but if it happens it is likely due to minor ruptures in the corona due to tension or if the woman was not sexually aroused enough. It is equally impossible to see, looking at a man’s penis and a woman’s vagina, it the person
has had sex before. (RFSU, 2009) These beliefs are deeply rooted in cultures though and are more important when it comes to the notion of innocence and “purity” rather than anything else. I do not believe this will be likely to change in the near future and the mooncup would not be seen as a good option for young girls who adhere to the belief of the hymen.
Generation Y And how to reach them
A big target group for the mooncup is “Generation Y” or people born between 1978-1994. These women are now between the ages of 22-38 which means they are menstruating. This generation is particularly hard to reach with traditional marketing methods.
The rapid advancement of technology during their lives has made them accustomed to making quick decision and multi-tasking all the while being bombarded with endless brands and people trying to reach their attention. In order to reach them you need to get to know them. Generation Y or “Milennials” value connection
they are socially conscious and optimistic, craving constant connection and communication. Social media is a very successful platform. They have values they value equality over thoughtless consumerism. They also have a higher tolerance for diversity and are more socially aware.
Milennials like individuality something with personality, being fake is much worse than being uncool. Their lifestyles suggest they value convenience, shopping with the click of a button. Amazon and eBay have become huge with this generation.
An important factor is their distrust, they are very distrustful of mainstream media and cautious of their own personal safety. What they value most are peer-reviews, word-of-mouth and testimonials. (Nahai, 2013)
By making an educational video with girls their age talking about the mooncup its advantages and the disadvantages of other disposables I will hopefully be able to incorporate a sense of social responsibility and give them an incentive to share it with their friends.
The video
For the video I used interview clips of girls that Janaki I recorded together. We showed them a mooncup and asked them if they knew what it was. We then asked if they knew the advantages of using one, which method they currently used and if they were aware of the drawbacks of that method.
I used stills with different bright colour tones as the backdrop for the text. I wanted it to have a clean look and not resemble the usual feminine hygiene ads with rollerblading girls or a woman in a field of flowers.
The questions were designed to make the girls really think about the product and hopefully change their perceived image of it (if they had one already). We informed them as we interviewed them.
In a tutorial with Marten he introduced me to the concept of the balance between good and bad. In order for something to be influential there needs to be a 50% balance between good and bad stuff. In the “I have a dream� speech by Martin Luther King he started
off with establishing what the current situation was, then he compared it with what it could be like. Throughout the speech he does this at least three times. In my video I try and keep this balance. It starts off with most of the girls not knowing what the
mooncup is and reacting rather negatively towards it. I then introduce some advantages of using it, followed by the disadvantages of using the disposable products. Towards the end the girls opinions are more positive and most of them are open to trying one.
The ending
I included two pieces of stock footage which I found online in the video. The first one, the garbage patch one, I included to give the viewer a sense of how incredibly huge the problem has become. I thought the footage showed clearly the position of them and their
size in relation to the countries surrounding. The second footage I found was to show visually the fibres that are left behind from a tampon. I thought it would be more effective to see it actually happen in a glass of water.
The last question the girls answer is “what would it take to convince you to try using one?” Their answers are that they would like to know more about it so the next screen is questioning them if they’d like to know more about it and if so what’s stopping them?
The video then encourages them to “Make the change”. I chose that phrase because you talk about changing your tampon or pad so it resounds with that in a way. The final screen shows links to where you can buy the cup.
Taking it further
What I would like to do to take the video further would be to have a workshop for girls. I would either get in contact with Mooncup and see if they would be able to sponsor me with a few free mooncups or ask the participants to buy them themselves. I would then record
their before reactions and attitudes towards the cup and then ask them to use it for a few months and come back with feedback. I believe this is valueable information that will work towards the credibility of the video.
