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“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.� -Albert Einstein
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Student document publication. Meant for private circulation only. All rights reserved. B.Des,Product Design 2016-2020 National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad. No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically including photocopying, videography,photography without written permission from the publisher Evelin Edison and National Institute of Design. All illustrations and photographs in this document are Copyright Š 2019 by respective people/ organizations. Edited and Designed by: Evelin Edison Processed at: National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India 380007 Nov 2019
An initiative by Team Product journey- Daksh,Thidabawr, Evelin, Mangesh, Araisrang Content Written by: Mangesh Kamble Book Design by : Evelin Edison Illustration and flowchart : Thidabawr, Daksh Savla Cover Design by Daksh Savla
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This book is based on the research analysis conducted on the simple product design projects by the students of NID, batches UG 16 and 17. We are grateful for a number of friends and colleagues in encouraging us to start the work, persevere with it, and finally to publish it. We thank our mentors, friends and family especially Shri Praveen Nahar and Shri Sahil Thappa for academic support and friendship. We are grateful to our dear ones, batchmates, juniors and seniors who never stopped challenging us, and helping us in develop our ideas. A special word of gratitude is due to Shri Sahil Thappa who has read and commented on several phases and has shown confidence in our work, and we are grateful for his patience and help. Finally, we would like to acknowledge with gratitude, the support and love of our Simple Product Design guides, Shri Naim Shaikh and Shri Sahil Thappa, whose insights and directions throughout our time in Product Design lead us here. They all kept us going, and this guidebook would not have been possible without them.
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As Product Design students we all want to design functional, aesthetic and emotional products. We have always been keen about exploring the ambiguous and learning by doing. But we have a very linear approach towards problem solving which is why we end up creating unforeseen problems and hitches, thus creating waste. We don’t have answers about the future, no one does. But asking the right questions, taking on projects and exploring all the extraordinary possibilities is what one must do. But making the shift isn’t easy. That’s why we created this guide, to help the Design Students create more elegant, effective, creative solutions for the circular economy. Solutions that are invaluable for people are regenerative for our world. The design thinking approach that underpins this guide allows you to explore new ways to create sustainable, resilient, long lasting value in the circular economy, giving you the creative confidence to redesign the world around you. The shift is already in motion, so roll up your sleeves and get started.
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Contents PHASE 1
Research to define user and problem areas Approach 01 Define your challenge 02 Testing alternate direction 03 Inside out thinking 04 Design with nature
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PHASE 2
Research to define user and problem areas Approach 01 Understand the possible impact caused by your product 02 Understanding the carbon footprint reduction 03 Calculating the total energy input in terms of quantified value for your product manufacturing 04 Part count reduction 05 Listing down materials with respect to their parts 06 User centric design 07 Understanding value generation 08 Make local 09 Building questionnaire 10 Narrating new brand promises 11 Creating responsible stakeholder engagement
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Page 36 40 46 50 56 64 70 74 78 82 86
PHASE 3
Develop and make Approach Page 01 Reducing manufacturing wastes 92 02 Circular brainstorming 98 03 Concept selection 102 04 Rapid prototyping 106 05 Safe chemistry 112 06 Built in curative teams for maximizing sustainable qualities 120 07 Design for ease of product maintenance and repair 124 08 Design for disassemble 128 09 Design for increase durability 132 10 Design for modularity 136 11 Design for reverse cycle 142 12 Design for recyclability 148 13 Ideation and conceptualizing with smart material choices 156
PHASE 4 Deliver
Approach 01Creating awareness for the enhancing customer engagement in circular economy 02 Awareness about advantages of circular economy 03 making policies for stakeholders to embark on circular economy transaction 04 Rethinking packaging through reuse 05 Creating feedback loop 06 Aligning organisation 07 Imagine new partnership Bibliography
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Glossary RESTORATIVE In the technical cycle surplus energy is used to create order in matter so as to be able to build infrastructure, tools, and products. Processes such as remanufacture restore this order, using less energy than would be needed to start from scratch. SYSTEM A system is a set of interacting components forming an intricate whole. The circular economy is particularly concerned with complex adaptive systems (such as the global economy and the biosphere), which have features like emergent behavior and self-organisation. BIOLOGICAL CYCLE Consumables in a circular economy are made from biological nutrients that are non-toxic and possibly even beneficial to the biosphere whence they are returned after being consumed. BIOSPHERE The biosphere is the global ecological system comprising all living beings and their interactions, including with, for example, the atmosphere. It is the global sum of all ecosystems. CRADLE TO CRADLE The Cradle-to-Cradle concept and certification process, developed by William McDonaugh and Michael Braungart, is a design philosophy that considers all materials, both technical and biological, to be nutrients for the system. It focuses on the design of effective products with a positive impact. For more see: http://www.cradletocradle.com
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REGENERATIVE A system is regenerative if its processes are able to renew or regenerate the sources of materials and energy that they consume. Regenerative design is associated with the Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies in California (https:// env.cpp.edu/rs/rs). STOCK The stock of a non-renewable resource such as a metal ore or fossil fuel is finite outside geological timeframes. The stock of a renewable resource such as a forest or soil can be regenerated. In a circular economy stocks of both types are managed. TECHNICAL CYCLE Technical materials (nutrients), such as metals and most plastics, are not suitable to be safely returned to the biosphere and so are designed from the start to enter the technical cycle, consisting of loops of repairing, reusing, remanufacturing, and recycling. BIOMIMICRY Biomimicry is learning from and then emulating nature’s forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more sustainable designs. CASCADE Cascading materials and components means making use of them for another purpose once they reach their end-of-use phase, thereby extracting value from stored energy and material coherence. Along the cascade material order declines as entropy increases. FLOW The flow of a non-renewable resource is the rate at which its finite stock (or known reserve) is depleted. The flow of a renewable resource is the rate it is used in (or degraded by) the economy; when its flow rate exceeds its regeneration rate the stock starts to degrade.
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Research to define user and problem areas
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Phase 1
Approach 01
Define Your Challenge
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Articulate and frame what circularity challenge you want to solve and the impact you hope to have by taking a circular approach toward your project. As there may be multiple direction or maybe no direction and so to have a clear definition of what you should try to solve and how to plan to go about it, this will require thought from like-minded people who may or may not belong to same discipline A clear goal and defined challenge shall help to have a well-defined intention and may set a definite direction for thing to be done and planned out
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Gather with the team that will be working on your design challenge.
Start by clarifying your goal – what are you looking to accomplish? (Make sure you are focused enough that the challenge feels manageable, but broad enough that there are opportunities to discover new or unique solutions.)
As a group, continue with the following questions, and capture the answers as you go: •What impact do you hope to have? (set a small and achievable goal) •What does success look like? How will you know when you get there? •What’s working for you? How can you amplify these forces? •What’s working against you? How do you plan to address these challenges?
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One by one, have each person in your group share their thoughts for each of these questions. On the last question, take a minute to work on the Barriers Breakdown Worksheet to make sure you are set up for success.
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Now, shift to action. What small steps will you take to make this happen? •What questions do your team need to explore to move forward? •Who are the key players and collaborators you need to make this happen? •What is the early narrative you want to create around your intentions that you can share with others? •What are the next steps?
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Capture and share so everyone in your group can use this as a basis for telling the story to others.
This activity will help you articulate and frame what circularity challenge you are looking to solve and the impact you hope to have. In addition, it’s an opportunity to bring a team together to align on your goal(s) and the approach you might take.
Who is doing it well... Desso created a take-back program for its flooring made of recyclable yarn. This was a change of direction for the business and their product range which they undertook after learning about Cradle to Cradle
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Approach 02
Testing alternate directions
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Understand the different ways to shift your product or service to be more circular. How can you get started designing for the circular economy? At its core, a circular economy means that products no longer have a life cycle with a beginning, middle, and end. Therefore, they contribute less waste and can actually add value to their ecosystem. When materials stop being used, they go back into a useful cycle, Imagine what would happen if everything was designed to be restorative and regenerative Try new directions to solve the challenges of your desired brief By trying approaches to turn common products into a service model. Could your product be transformed into something that takes on a new or unexpected route to enter into one of the circular flows? The shift starts with understanding the underlying user needs and thinking more creatively about how they can be met.
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Do you need a new product to solve problem?
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Owning this product is necessary
Just a new way of using the product might meet the problem need
Try to analyze and put the product in circular flow
Shifting thinking from product to service
Proposing a thoughtful model for Reuse/ Refurbish/Recycle/ Remanufacture
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Following are steps for testing where does a product fall in the available framework of circular flows to achieve the circular economy
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Download the Circular Flows Worksheet and get acquainted with the different ways of being circular. At a glance, which of these loops feels most relevant or achievable for what you are designing? If you are working with an existing product or service, consider its current position within the flows.
Now dive deeper and go through each loop as a lens for your new product or service. For each loop, ask yourself: “What would it take for this to work for my new product or service idea?” and “What’s standing in my way, stopping this working now?”
You may notice that on the technical side of the diagram, there is a pattern as you go from the inner loops to the outer loops: the inner loops are more in your control and the outer loops are less in your control: •Reused goes directly back to your users •Refurbished comes back to you (as the service provider) •Re-manufactured goes through the manufacturing process •Recycled goes back to the materials processor
Ask yourself, can you try to stay in the inner loops? What would you be able to influence right now? Once you feel like you have a starting point, try the Circular Opportunities or Service Flip activities which might prompt different ideas. If you want to try a fun activity which helps to understand circular flows, download this Circular Card game.
Following are steps for testing if the product can take a form of a service
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Download the Service Flip Worksheet and start by identifying the core needs the three product examples are trying to meet: a DVD player, a washing machine and clothes. (The core need of a car, for example, might be “to get me from point A to point B.” It’s not about owning the vehicle necessarily, but providing mobility whenever someone needs it). Now brainstorm other ways to meet those needs that go beyond having to own that individual product. For each of the three examples, try to come up with a few ideas.
For the last box, flesh out what the new service experience might look like for each. (For mobility, the solution might be car sharing – enabled perhaps by an Online platform, GPS technology and maybe even driver less cars).
Now, do steps 1–3 for your own product, starting with the core needs you’re trying to meet, a few ideas about how to solve for these in a new ‘circular’ way, and a description of a service model approach that could be beneficial for both users and producers.
To wrap up, ask yourself: if I was to offer a service, what systems would need to be in place to ensure a positive result? Which partners would I need to support this change? What feedback or data would be important to have (and which technologies might you rely on to collect it)? Could the data be of benefit to others (e.g. might someone want to buy it)?
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Who is doing it well... Growing alternatives to petroleum-based packaging This innovative biomaterials company created mushroom based protective packaging products like Myco-foam to replace plastic foams such as Styrofoam.
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Image source :IKEA mashroom packaging
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Approach 03
Inside out thinking
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Take apart an everyday product to build empathy and understanding around the implications of disassembly and recovery of materials and parts. Have you ever stopped to wonder what’s required to create our everyday products? How are they held together? Which components do they need and why? Think of this activity as a hands-on entry into analyzing material flows and understanding the wider system conditions needed to make each product.
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Get together with a few friends or colleagues and find a product that you don’t mind destroying – a piece of technology you don’t use anymore, a hairdryer, mobile phone, etc.
Take the product apart using screwdrivers or pliers and organize all its components by size or material type. You can use the Disassembly Worksheet to help with this.
Once you have everything laid out, ask: •Which materials and components could be recovered from this device and reused? •Does the manufacturer produce individual parts if you needed to replace only a battery, for example? •Is it economically viable to disassemble them in the way you have done? •If not, what needs to change to make it so? You might like to consider a range of interventions such as product design, business models, reverse cycle or policy enablers.
Now that you have disassembled the product, discuss what you will do with these components and parts. Can you figure out a more circular solution than just throwing them away?
Bonus: Post a photo and tag #InsidesOut to share what you’ve disassembled.
Image source : The agency of design
Who is doing it well...
Designing the Optimist Toaster Simple, durable design: the mechanical parts can be user-serviced and the cast aluminium toaster is made of one material so it can be melted down to be turned into something new if it breaks.
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Approach 04
Design with nature
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Ask “how might nature solve this problem?” for your design challenge. Learn how biological systems can help inspire new solutions for your product or service that are inherently more circular and holistic. In short, biomimicry is the design of products and systems that are inspired by and modelled on existing biological processes, which have feedback built in. Looking outside of your industry is a great way to inspire the development of your own ideas, and looking to nature is one way to do this. As Janine Benyus stated, “living systems have had 3.8 billion years of R&D.”
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Start by writing down your design challenge.
Identify the function that your product or service is trying to solve. Just write down the function, don’t try to solve it quite yet (e.g.: “My product needs to keep food safe in transit” or “My product needs to keep people warm”).
Take one function and brainstorm all the ways that nature might solve this problem. Try to brainstorm as many ideas as you can think of (in the case of keeping food safe, you might say things like, “Peels that biodegrade,” “Keeping fruit in trees until it’s ready to be picked,” or “Shells to protect nuts”). You can use Ask Nature as a resource for this.
When you feel like you’ve come up with an exhaustive list, take one example and see if you can use it to create guidelines for your own product or service. (Keeping with the packaging example, you might list things like, “The packaging biodegrades after use” or “The packaging is highly durable,” etc.
Who is doing it well...
CBPAK Bio-based material for single-use food containers
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Research to define user and problem areas
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Phase 2
Approach 01
Understanding the possible impact caused by your product
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Researching and calculating the damage caused by the product after its primary use and purpose is fulfilled by the user so cautious decisions are made in further process of developing the product with respect to circular economy Damage assessment helps to avoid narrow outlook on environmental concerns and help to understand the product impact to the environment from its production to disposal, being aware of this data at this stage will help in designing circular Products
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LCA-Lifecycle assessment is one the tools used to articulate the damage caused to the environment due to a product. LCA is analysing a products entire lifecycle in terms of sustainability
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LCA basically consists of 4 major steps. Goals and Scope: Try to articulate the goal of the study and defining what extent of result do you aspect at the end of the study
Inventory analysis:
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Understanding and listing all the components of the inventory that goes from Raw materials, energy, consumptions and workfoce involved and by products during manufacturing and emissions of pollutants and waste streams -Try to get some Quantitative values to every component that ends up in your list for analysing the data
Impact assessment: Your draw conclusions and classify them into environmental impacts and other themes such as Global warming ,these classifications are done with a comparison of the quantitative date from the previous step and also through understand the impact driven from that data and to reach to a conclusion
Interpretations:
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This is to check that the conclusions are sustainable and cater to a sustainable goal and give a direction to work on the further stages of a design process LCA is one of the framework used to assess the environment impact of a product or a service at a corporate and industrial level however it can be performed in a lower level as stated above Do not use connections that enclose a material permanently. Avoid methods such as: moldingin inserts into plastic, rivets, staples, pressfit, bolts, bolt and nut, brazing, welding and clinching
Who is doing it well... The Simapro report on LCA provides a tool for quantifying the environmental performance of products taking into account the complete life cycle, starting from the production of raw materials to the final disposal of the products, including material recycling if needed
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Approach 02
Understanding carbon footprint reduction
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A carbon foot print measures the total greenhouse gas emission caused directly and indirectly by a person, organisation, event or product Understanding carbon and resource foot print of your product and service provides a usable data and key info that can be used to manage risks as well as identify cost reduction and product development opportunities Thus, providing new opportunities for further phases of design
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Following are the ways to few ways to reduce carbon footprint designers can take such ways into consideration for developing better solutions.
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Switch to a renewable energy option through your utility or a certified renewable energy provider (U.S. and Canada).
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Minimize driving by setting concrete reduction goals and walking, biking, carpooling and using public transit as much as possible. Set a goal of walking or biking anywhere within 2 miles of your home.
Calculate your carbon footprint and buy carbon offsets from a certified provider (U.S. and Canada) (you can always reduce payments later as you make other changes)
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Take the time to research the energy efficiency of large purchases as these offer the biggest opportunities to reduce your ongoing impact: •Home (size, proximity to work/ stores (check the walk score) and energy efficiency) •Equipment and appliances (energy star) •Autos (buy used, electric/ hybrid, lowest emissions or choose a car-free lifestyle)
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Minimize purchases of new products, especially resourceintensive, heavy or heavilypackaged products.
Embrace a minimalist lifestyle. Declutter your home and donate unneeded items to charity. Buy, borrow or rent used clothing, electronics, house decorations and furniture, cars and other products whenever possible. Swapping is the New Shopping - Reduce your Carbon Footprint
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Here are quick steps to reduce energy use •Focus mainly on buying efficient space heating/cooling and water heating •Seal your heating and cooling ducts •Keep up on regular equipment maintenance •Add insulation and weatherstripping - especially for doors, windows, attic and attic door •Buy energy efficient office equipment •Get an energy audit •Take the zero-volt challenge to quickly and easily reduce your electric bill •Switch to LED light bulbs Energy Usage Breakdown in Home •Minimize use of fireplaces or wood stoves •Unplug unused electronics to minimize standby power consumption •Wash clothes in cold water and hang them to dry •Check lights, appliances, and curtains every morning and night and anytime you leave home •Install a programmable thermostat and don’t set it too high or low their products whenever possible. Swapping is the New Shopping - Reduce your Carbon Footprint
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Buy locally sourced, organic, plantbased, unprocessed foods from local farmers (Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)), farmers markets, green restaurants and health food stores. Minimize food waste by planning out meals ahead of time and freezing as much as possible
Reduce water use (buy low flow shower and faucet heads, water efficient toilets/ washing machines/dishwashers, check for leaks, buy native drought-tolerant plants, etc.).
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Support organizations that educate, protect and empower girls and women (and stabilize our population) such as Camfed.org, Girls Not Brides, Tostan, and Population Services International
Who is doing it well... SANTA VITTORIA One of the purest waters available, Santa Vittoria Italian Mineral Water is bottled at the source in Northern Italy - part of this purity and quality includes meeting environmental standards, which is why Santa Vittoria chose to work with Carbon Neutral.
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Approach 03
Calculating the Total Energy input in terms of quantified value for your Product Manufacturing
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Estimating the total energy that goes into production of a product by using guides and tools, by and understanding how much energy a product consumes during it production By understanding the total energy input during production and manufacturing, conscious decisions can be taken to understand and articulate/propose better manufacturing processes, that use lesser energy consumption pathway for production
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Calculate the total embedded energy in a quantitative form and compare it with the other aspects of energy generation required while manufacturing
Consider the energy intensities of every manufacturing processes either conventional or advance, consider aspects such as materials variety and other energy inputs during the manufacturing processes For this you may refer to the material data available on a tool to estimate material and manufacturing energy for a Product (the link is below )
Use this given bill of materials given in the tool to estimate material and manufacturing energy for a Product pdf to further support the above data. And also refer to the given 9 case studies on LCA mentioned on the same pdf
Try to validate it with the curative team
Who is doing it well... It is a thesis done by Samantha L coreoran from the university of Wichita state that gives a very elaborate energy analysis of manufacturing equipment in a production setting of aircrafts.
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Approach 04
Part count reduction
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This phase is to understand and challenge yourself to design and plan for the reduction of component and part count. That demands designing a product with a number of guidelines and also keeping in focus not to hinder the functionality aspect of it. Reducing the number count of a product can save a high amount of money in direct and indirect cost of the product as the part count reduces its carbon emission in the manufacturing of the parts reduces ,thus making production planning more efficient and resulting in higher quality of product Minimizing part count can generate huge cost savings, mainly with large quantities. In addition, this approach results in a better quality product.
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Following is the list of reasons why part count reduction is beneficial
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Less inventory management If you don’t need the item, it can never exceed shelf life or delivered too late. Inventory management plays a crucial role during the production. If only one item is out of stock, the product cannot be assembled. This obstructs the entire production of the product.
Less suppliers When you have less different parts, you need less suppliers to deliver all the parts. This makes you less dependent on other parties and requires less communication and documentation.
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Less re-work at errors
Parts are never produced 100 percent perfectly. There is always a percentage of parts (the scrap rate) that is not properly produced or delivered and needs to be discarded. Precious parts, however will be updated instead of discarded. When you have less parts, you will have less rework.
Lower tolerance stack-up
With assemblies the tolerances are important, because parts should fit correctly to each other. Each parts has its own (geometric) tolerance. When you combine several parts, it creates a tolerance stack-up. This gives you several variations in the geometry of your product. The smaller the tolerances, the more expensive it is to make the part. So with less parts, the tolerance stack-up is usually smaller, which provides less deviation. This causes less fitting issues during assembly and it improves the quality and reliability of the final product.
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Less documentation & communication Each component involves paperwork. Think about the specifications, technical drawings, datasheets, version management and all related activities, such as document preparation, reviews, updating and verifying documents. You also have to deal with the necessary communication between engineers, manufacturers and suppliers. When the item can be omitted, all these overhead costs are saved.
Less inspections and associated fixtures
When there are less parts, you also have less work on quality checks and inspections to make sure the parts are made within the specifications. In addition, you also need less fixtures for these inspections and for positioning the component during assembly.
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Simpler production control
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When producing a product, it is important to make the processes as efficient as possible, so all resources such as machines, materials, labor, time and inventory are optimally utilized. For example, if a component leaves a machine, it must take a particular route for the next station to be processed or assembled. This process and the associated logistics are less complex with fewer parts. This also ensures that automation is easier to implement.
Less assembly costs, material costs and tooling costs
For each component that has to be made, materials and machines are required to manufacture the component. In addition, each additional component brings an additional step in assembly, which takes time and costs money.
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Higher quality product When you sum up all the reasons above, the reduction of parts provides a higher quality product. There are less dependencies and less parts can be broken or be incorrectly assembled. This generally reduces all (human) activities during production and the errors that may occur Following is a flowchart that might help in the analysis to understand which parts are essential for the production thus leading to the production of only essential components and elimination of the production of unnecessary components from the process
Data source :https://time.com/3931946/lego-sustainable-materials/
More information related to the flowchart is provided on the blog of meulemans .io for which the below link can be used
Who is doing it well... The DfMA .com provides a number of case studies of application of reduction of part count which explain the application and importance the above explained concept
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Approach 05
Listing down materials with respect to their parts
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Explore the next step in making safe and circular material choices ;material health is a key component when designing for circular economy ,to ensure that safe materials can stay in circularity .billing down the materials will help to understand the material journey .Identifying areas in which material health may influence factors in safe, health and costing To effectively design a product for one going cycles, its important to consider the impact of material choices across each of these lifecycles stages and developing an awareness of these risks in the first step towards designing in a different way further with the data multiple approaches can be taken to ensure safer material choices in further design stages
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The following framework can be used in efficiently categories materials
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Choose a product that you are familiar with. Try to select one for which you have a deep understanding of its parts, how it is made, how it is used, and what happens to it after its use phase. Don’t worry if you don’t have all the details: the purpose of this exercise is to explore and map what you do and do not know. Download the Safe & Circular Materials Journey Mapping worksheet and put this product in the centre of the worksheet by either making a quick drawing of it or by writing its name Identify on the worksheet what you already know or can identify about the materials and chemicals used in the product. Find inspiration by looking at some of the results of the Circular Design Brief.
• The Use Phase Make a small drawing of the product in the product bubble. Depending on what you select, you may also think about any additional input necessary in the use of the product. For example, a coffee machine needs ground coffee, and a car needs fuel.
When you have a closer look at the product, identify what you know about its parts and materials. Also, consider packaging and other factors that may be necessary to deliver this product to its user. Try to go all the way back to the raw materials that are necessary to make this product, as far as you are able.
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• Production
Now that you have a list of all the parts and materials, you can start to map the production process. Think about the production and treatment processes required to create the product. Are there any coatings, finishes, dyes, bleaching agents, or other additives used?
• Sourcing
Next, consider where the materials originally came from. How are they sourced? Are there chemicals needed in the sourcing phase?
• After-Use Scenario Finally, map out what happens to the product at the end of its initial use phase. Where does it go? What happens to it when it is no longer useful to the user? Explain the after-use scenario of the product.
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• Processing
Are there any steps required to transform the product after its initial use phase before it starts a new use cycle?
Remember you don’t need to have all the answers. The focus of this exercise is to help you explore and map what you know, where gaps may be, and identify how you can take steps forward.
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Complex Products Even some products that we assume to be simple can turn out to be complex when trying to understand their chemistry.
Reflect
Reflect on what you know about this product’s life cycle: •What information do you have access to for each of the life cycle stages? •Is there information missing? What other information would improve your understanding of the product and its wider system? •Are there other members in your team that could have more information about the product? Would suppliers be able to share more information?
Identify Potential Chemical Risks Chemicals of concern can be included intentionally or unintentionally at each stage of a product’s life cycle. These chemicals can pose risks to people in the sourcing, manufacturing, use, and throughout the after-use scenario, as well as to the environment (e.g. polluting water, air or ecosystems) Mapping the product life cycle can help you spot where the product’s hazards may pose a clear risk to humans or the environment.
Identify
Identify in your map where you foresee the potential for chemical risks at each stage of the life cycle. •Where are your materials sourced from? And how? •What chemicals may be used in the processes of sourcing, manufacturing, production, use and after-use? •What chemicals may be released as effluents during manufacturing? What happens to manufacturing waste water? •Who are the potential subjects of chemical exposure at each life cycle stage? Consider workers, communities, wildlife, the user, the maintenance person. •What are the pathways to exposure? Is it through air, water, soil, ingestion, inhalation, or skin contact? •Are there aspects of the product design that may reduce or eliminate exposure of chemicals of concern in the product to humans or the environment?
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Assign an Approach You have now identified where chemical risks can occur. Mitigating these risks begins with three different approaches: transparency, chemical management, and innovation.
Transparency in the context of material
health, creating an inventory of the materials and chemicals used in a product and its manufacture involves engaging with the supply chain. Compiling accurate and transparent information on the chemicals and materials used in a product is the first step towards ensuring their safety. Activities related to the inventory approach include engaging with raw materials suppliers and creating a materials inventory or bill of materials (BOM).
Chemical Management: the
screening of chemicals takes place in a number of ways. From regulatory compliance and restricted substances lists to proactive toxicological assessments, data is used to eliminate known or suspected hazardous substances and move toward safer chemistry.
Innovation: when suitable substitutes do not currently exist from a chemistry perspective, design innovation can help eliminate the need for chemicals of concern while ensuring a product continues to meet its function, quality, performance, value and aesthetic requirements. Designers play an important role when it comes to innovation as an approach to designing out chemicals of concern. Activities related to the innovation approach are set out in the Safe & Circular Strategy Cards.
Reflect on the life cycle stages that could result in risks and identify the approaches that you could take to mitigate them.
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Consider the Designer’s Role Finally, consider where your role as a designer could have the most impact on making safe and circular materials choices. From a design perspective, a chemical of concern identified through Material Health assessment may potentially be substituted by a safe chemical. Alternatively, when these chemicals are critical for desired performance, innovation may play an important role to reduce risk. Reflect on how you as a designer can integrate safe and circular thinking in the design process
Remember
Who is doing it well... Materiom is an opensource online platform that offers “recipes” for designing with locally abundant biological materials.it features open source recipes for materials made from abundant biomass that can be locally sourced. Recipes use green chemistry methods and nutrients such as sugars, proteins, fats and common minerals, making them biodegradable by design
It’s important to remember that these approaches are often not taken in isolation. They are part of an iterative journey of continuous improvement, so you may layer a number of these approaches as part of a multiphase process.
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Approach 06
User centric design
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Understand the needs of everyone involved in the use cycle of your circular proposition – the end users or beneficiaries, but also suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and others who may reuse your materials User-centered research helps you gain empathy for the people you are designing for. In the circular economy, you are not only designing for a customer or user, but also for a range of people who may sit within your extended value chain. It will help you gain a better understanding of what’s important to people each step of the way for the product or service you are creating.
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Start by defining all of the individuals who sit within your value chain. This should include your potential users. Who are the people you envision benefiting the most from this product or service?
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Set up a time to speak with these individuals. It’s best if you can meet them in their environment to gain a better understanding of their world. (If you are meeting a user, can you meet them in their home or workspace? If you are talking with a manufacturer, can you meet at the factory? Or if you are meeting with someone who might reuse your material, can you meet them in their workspace, or a recycler in their plant?)
Next, create a set of questions based around what you’d like to learn. Most importantly, see if you can come up with questions that look to understand user needs. What do they experience? What could make their lives easier? etc. For tips, head to the Interview Best Practices guide and prepare for your conversations.
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When you speak with these individuals, capture what they say as stimulus for discussion with your team. If possible, take photos of things you find interesting or inspiring.
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Once you’ve completed all of your interviews, spend some time with your team capturing your learnings and insights. Take turns telling the stories of what you’ve heard. (Ask yourselves – what surprised you? How might what you learned affect what you design? What ideas might these learnings inspire?)
Finally, now you have your main user needs, think about what circularity could offer around this product or service, and pair them to user needs before heading into brainstorming
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Who is doing it well... Circular children’s clothes subscription service Vigga offers a clothing service for children that does not require ownership. When your child outgrows their clothes, you simply send them back to receive the next parcel of neatly folded clothes, in the correct size.
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Image source : Vigga
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Approach 07
Understanding value generation
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Taking a product or a service you wish to work on and understand its different aspects such as its lifecycle where you can look and understand, what waste by-products and outputs is produced during the cycles and when does a specific object ends up becoming the waste This might enable you to derive new narrative and user manual for the use and making of product leading into less waste generation
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Framework 1
Following are the steps that can be followed for understanding waste generation
01) Map out the different stages of production in the products production stage from raw material till it reaches the user 02) Bill down all the possible waste produced during the different stages that were mapped out in the previous stage 03) Understand and derive new ways of treating the by-products or at least new pathways for them to reach out to stakeholders who might generate or increase value of the byproduct 04) The conclusion might help generate more valuable narrative or new design direction to work on and possible increase scope of design interventions
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Framework 2
01) Map out the product journey when it reaches the user or the production journey when, from the very beginning with raw materials 02) Try to understand the users attitude toward the usage of the product 03) Try to understand where the usability value of the product gets deteriorates or damaged 04) Try to articulate designerly ways to increase the product value at the value damaging stage
Who is doing it well... Practice Greenhealth offers tools and case studies to help our members assess the best way to reduce solid waste. Our goal is to provide step-by-step resources that will make it simpler for any hospital with a waste reduction goal to design, implement, and measure the success of their reduction strategies.
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Approach 08
Make local
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Articulate and analyse the product of your interest, to see whether it can be turn into a locally produced commodity or all the aspects of the service can be satisfied by generating role from with the locally available system Employment is one of the major goals that circular economy caters to empower the local making technique and local population helps in generating economy within a local setup and thus also satisfies the goals of aligning stakeholders of a particular sector Using design methods and innovations to generate local economy and aligning stakeholder can be Further used to form new circular loops for products, commodities or even waste within a local setup
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Select any product or service of your interest and start researching in the key functionality factor for the product
Understand and analyse the working mechanism and internal manufacturing details from a corresponding function
Try to come up with a similar product or parallel concept that cater to the same mechanism and manufacturing patterns within a reachable and available local setup
Using innovation and design thinking and DFMA techniques to articulate parallel d=solutions for the manufacturing of the same product or facilitate the same service setup
Connect multiple stakeholders to satisfy the requirement for making within local setup ,try making circular loops with in the local setup for economic and materialistic transaction, understand stakeholder, discussion and workshop with them too might help generate multiple models
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Such design directions can result for new product development and new opportunities for making cost effective economy friendly, local centric and circular product
Image source :Screenshot of makers row website
Who is doing it well...
Spand-Ice an American company has shifted their business toward producing local and having been practicing it. reshoring their production process towards the local perspective helped them towards saving time, hassle and ultimately money ,even they come establish quicker turnaround times between product samples and easy communication
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Approach 09
Building Questionnaire
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A Questionnaires, interviews are primary source of communication and resource generation for a design process.to understand and take circular economy challenges in a design process, one has to keep in mind certain aspects during the research and communication phase that are important and cannot be neglected
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Below are certain examples of questions that need to be answered before starting to design for circular economy .the questions can be answered by stakeholders or the interviews themselves with respect to the demands of the design process. A well answered questionnaire might help to understand the stakeholders and other aspects better and reduce unseen damage that can be caused due to ignorance of certain aspect of the process •What impact do you as a designer hope to have from these process? •Which specific SDGs are you catering to? •Is the user aware of the concepts such as reuse, recycle, remanufacture, and repair? •Are the manufacturers aware of the damage caused due to the product, if yes how are they willing to help for the same cause? •What’s not working for them so that they can achieve the circularity culture? •Are the stake holders aware of the profits that they can make by undertaking your approach of circularity? •Research and collect data about the policies and regulatory infrastructure that cater to the goals and lifecycle of your concerned product? •Evaluate employment that is sustained due to the current existing system? •Compare waste reduction against the resource impact of recycling? Many more such questions should be answered to achieve successful data collection and prevention of unseen damage to the system
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Image source :world resources institute website
Who is doing it well...
World resource institute provides data about the possible damage due to circular economy if not applied properly
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Approach 10
Narrating new brand promises
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Uncover which elements of circularity reinforce your brand purpose to hone your message to your customers. Build your brand around your circular innovation Brand purpose is emerging as one of the drivers of customer engagement. Increasingly, people are making decisions based on an emotional connection to a particular brand. Reinforcing your brand through a circular innovation strategy is one way to build customer loyalty, but finding the right messaging is key. What are the underlying benefits to customers that will drive their emotional response and attachment?
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Use the Brand Template to create or review your brand promise. This will help you think about how you engage customers emotionally. What does your brand promise to do for your customers that differentiates it from anything else out there?
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Next, list out what your customers value, e.g. convenience, status, being the first, etc
Then write down your circular opportunity or concept. Ask yourself, based on your brand promise and your customers’ values, how should this initiative make them feel? What are the emotional qualities that your product brings when they buy or use it? (For example, do they want to feel empowered, safe, altruistic, inspired, etc.?)
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Consider what this circular opportunity or innovation could add back into the brand promise – what might it refresh or emphasise? Also consider how your promise might play out to other partners or users in the value chain
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Next, capture the messages that would appeal to your audience to make them feel invested in this concept. What matters most to them? Your goal is to figure out how to make your circular initiative feel relevant in a way that relates to their values.
Image source :Greencarreports
Who is doing it well...
Performance, safety, and styling Tesla understands what its customers want. They focus on the things that appeal to the car-driving masses: performance, safety, and styling. The fact that it uses no petrol is an added bonus.
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Approach 11
Creating responsible stakeholder engagement
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In today’s competitive market, companies that incorporate social and green policies can leave a lasting impression on the consumer. As Sofia Ribeiro pointed out in her post Using Community Involvement as Part of Your Green Marketing and CSR Strategy, a Cone Inc. survey revealed that 83% of people will trust a company more if it is socially/ environmentally responsible. With this in mind, how do companies go about communicating their best initiatives? Recently, Perry Goldschein took the podium at Sustainable Brands 2010 to talk about the seven best practices of corporate social responsibility (CSR). As the founding partner of SDialogue LLC, a strategic sustainability communications firm, Perry provided insights on how to engage your consumers and stakeholders. Follow this recap with CSR’s Seven Best Practices to learn how to put your organization’s best social and environmental practices in the spotlight. 87
Following are the practices that can bet taken for a making responsible stakeholder
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Set Measurable Goals:
Return on investment has always been a difficult thing to measure. In order to accomplish this in your CSR policy, Goldschein suggests implementing small changes close to home, such as improving employee policies that decrease turnover and improve recruitment.
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Stakeholder Engagement:
Leaving their stakeholders out of the loop is one of the top mistakes companies make when trying to jump on the green/ socially responsible bandwagon. In order for your company to articulate its values, missions, strategy, and implementation in the creation of your CSR plan, it is important for everyone to be on the same page.
Sustainability Issues Mapping:
This approach uses interactive maps to help prioritize and narrow down key issues, saving your company time and money during the initial research stage.
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Sustainability Management Systems (SMS):
Develop a framework to ensure that environmental, social, and economic concerns are considered in tandem throughout your organization’s decision-making processes. Start by identifying and prioritizing sustainability aspects and impacts.
Lifecycle Assessment:
Product design is critical. Gone are the days where the immediate product the only thing that matters, without any given thought to its afterlife. A cradle-to-cradle approach exhibits your company’s creativity and innovation and can, consequently, improve your bottom line
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Sustainability/CSR Reporting: CSR reporting has increased in popularity over the past few years, due to increasing government regulations as well as self-regulation by forward-thinking companies. It’s important that your consumer base has easy access to your latest and greatest efforts, in a way that doesn’t minimize what you’re doing
Sustainability Branding:
Transparency is key in sustainability branding. For example, Clorox Green Works, when endorsed by the Sierra Club, was able to capture 42% of the market share in their first year! The market for natural cleaning products has since increased, paving the way for smaller brands like Seventh Generation and Method to reach to a broader customer base.
Who is doing it well... Local Futures works to renew ecological, social and spiritual wellbeing by promoting a systemic shift towards economic localization. A pioneer of the new economy movement, Local Futures has been raising awareness for four decades about the need to shift direction – away from dependence on global monopolies, and towards decentralized, regional economies.
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Develop and make
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Phase 3
Approach 01
Reducing manufacturing wastes
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Understanding one of the major aspects of manufacturing is its waste that gets generated in every manufacturing plant. Which leads to rise in disposal costs , regulatory pressures and changing preferences .hence companies need new innovations and approaches to establish new ways of reducing wastes therefore proposing designing as a medium to articulate new tools and methods to improve its efforts Waste minimization strategies not only provide companies with environmental and social benefits, they provide cost-effective solutions to the production process as well. Although implementing these programs may seem intimidating, the benefits to the environment and your company’s bottom line make it worthwhile.
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Following are the possible ways for reducing manufacturing wastes
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Efficient Inventory Management
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Reduce Packaging Materials
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You can reduce manufacturing waste, according to Greenne, by controlling the materials being used in the manufacturing process. Reduce the amount of excess raw materials in stock and quantity of hazardous materials to bring down the amount of waste generated.
Redesign the product packaging to ensure it uses the minimum amount of materials. Try to incorporate reusable or recyclable packaging content, such as air packs or corn-based packing peanuts, to provide cushioning. Buy products in bulk as it will have reduced packaging.
Volume Reduction
Volume reduction refers to the segregation techniques that remove the hazardous portion of waste from the non-hazardous portion. These methods help in reducing the volume and the cost of waste disposal
Recover, Reuse, Sort
Recover as much waste as you can from onsite and offsite locations by employing different techniques like electrolysis, filtration, reverse osmosis, centrifugation, etc.
Establish a Preventative Maintenance Schedule
Although wear and tear is a normal occurrence in any manufacturing process, if regular maintenance is not performed, your business will end up wasting a lot of time and money on seriously damaged equipment.
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Label and Organize the Warehouse Properly
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Ensure your warehouses are organized and well-marked. All the locations of inventory, tools, supplies, and assets necessary to manufacturing processes must be clearly marked throughout the warehouse. This may result in incorrect finished goods being shipped to customers or increased time being spent on searching for the right tool needed for an urgent repair. Replace the faded tags and repaint the floor lines regularly.
Adopt a Closed Loop Manufacturing System
Green chemistry would be a good technique to reduce waste generated by various processes. Closed loop systems help in extending the lifespan of chemicals by maximizing how efficiently they are used. This helps in reducing the amount of contamination being produced and minimizes the number of new chemicals that need to be purchased.
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Minimize Water Usage
Industrial sludge and wastewater make up a significant portion of manufacturing waste streams. You can reduce these elements by minimizing water usage in the operations. This can be achieved by using chemical drying agents, reverse osmosis, dry machining, or membrane biological reactor.
Green Chemistry
The term “green chemistry� refers to the design and use of chemical products and processes that minimize the amount of hazardous substances that are generated. Unlike remediation activities which remove hazardous materials from the environment, green chemistry prevents these materials from entering the environment in the first place
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Who is doing it well... Sainsbury’s mapped waste in its apple supply chain and, despite finding generally low levels of waste, still found opportunities to make changes to primary and secondary packaging that have the potential to reduce Sainsbury’s apple waste by over 125 tonnes and save over £100,000 annually.
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Some businesses and organizations are going a facility at a time to achieve zero waste goals while others have pushed for their entire company to take on a landfill-free persona.
Think of aluminum cans. When you finish drinking a beverage out of a can, you put it in a recycling bin. Factories salvage the aluminum and make another can that is shipped to a store, where anyone can buy it. The process can be repeated thousands of times. Image source :https://www.thesca.org/connect/blog/environmental-impact-aluminum
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Approach 02
Circular brainstorming
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Learn and practice ideas around the principles of circularity, the previous aspects must have clarified the goals and scopes of your projects Using design for generating ideas may result in a broad spectrum of ideas and then, with the help of a team effort by narrating down into what feels relevant to the challenge at hand it’s important to keep an open mind without judgement, and apply a critical lens only after you have gone broad. Such brainstorming sessions might open different spectrums of perspective for a single challenge and thus resulting into the generation of non-judgemental versatile and critical concepts for much effective results in the future making process
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Following are the steps that can be taken for a effective brainstorming
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Start by getting your core team together. Brainstorms are most effective when you have a group of people and are able to build on each other’s ideas. If you haven’t done too much of this before, check out the rules of brainstorming here.
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Now that you have an idea of how this works, what questions might have arisen from your User-Centred Research that you want to explore? What else can you brainstorm that could make your offering more circular?
Once everyone has sketched out a variety of ideas. Put them all up on a board. Use something like post-its or stickers to vote on the ones you are the most excited about. What do people gravitate towards?
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To jump in, a good brainstorm always starts with a good question. Here are some example questions to get you started: •How might we make our product or service more modular/adaptable? •How might our product be inspired by living systems? •How might we turn our product offering into a service? •How might our product be refurbished over time?
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Using a concept sheet, sketch out ideas that come to mind as you brainstorm. Go for quantity. Defer judgement. Encourage wild ideas. Build on the ideas of others. Be as visual as possible. This isn’t the time to second guess your ideas. Just get them out there and keep going!
Who is doing it well... Structure your thinking Brainstorming isn’t just a free-for-all. To get the best out of the team follow IDEO.org’s simple rules for encouraging collaboration to get the ideas flowing.
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Approach 03
Concept selection
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Prioritising which of the circular concept to take forward, based on how they relate to your challenge and goal selection. With plenty of idea generated around to mitigate the challenge one needs to decide which idea or concept will prove to be the most beneficial for which take a step back and assess the merits from a strategic business perspective and also understand your ability to progress with the concept A better and clarified design concept will be beneficial for further direction in the process of making a curated feedback for narrowing down will result into a much effective concept generation
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Following are the steps for a better concept selection
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Take your Business Model Canvas and your circular innovation concepts.
For each concept, ask whether it fits within at least one of your innovation priorities? For example: •Viability – Addresses the strategic long-term business goals •Desirability – Provides value for end users or creates a new market of other users of your materials or product •Feasibility – Is there a technology that will make your product better
Next, assess the concept against the principles of circular economy. Is it meeting all or most of the principles? Which ones need to be addressed?
Finally, plot your concepts on this Matrix which measures their difficulty to implement against how much impact they could have. Consider these types of questions as you go: •Does this require you to do things differently than your current processes allow for? If yes, does this discomfort provide a compelling new opportunity to learn? •Does the potential opportunity gain justify the disruption? •Could you set up a new venture incubator to design and test a new innovation approach and business model? •Could you acquire the capabilities through new partnerships?
Image source : The agency of design
Who is doing it well... The Agency of Design built out three different versions of their toasters to test and understand the implications of material usage and ease of creating the most effective model for circularity. Their mission with the project was to look at the end-of-life for electrical products and designed alternative ways to make the most of the material that they embody.
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Approach 04
Rapid prototyping
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Creating rough and rapid prototypes to test your concepts before going to market as prototyping is a great way to make your idea tangible and get a input in a low stakes environment where the product or the service is tested before a substantial investment in materials and labour ,it is useful to gain the buy in of the stakeholders and other partners in your value chain Creating such a prototype at a rapid and subsequently smaller scale to produce adequate results helps the stakeholders to understand the tangibility ,and becomes easier for them to understand the concept and potentially commit resources .building just enough to get feedback you need and adapt along the way
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Following are the steps for achieving the benefits of rapid prototyping
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Start by clarifying your learning goal. What do you want to learn from prototyping? For example: How easy is my product or service to use? Does it produce any waste? Does it work for the other users in the chain? What will encourage usage? How will we collaborate with partners? Are there clear technological or infrastructure changes we need to test? You may want to refer back to any barriers you identified when you Defined Your Challenge.
Then develop an experimentation plan: •What will you test? (See if you can stay focused to reduce the number of variables) •Who will you test it with? •How do you plan to test it?
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Next, create your prototypes. You can make any number of types of prototypes: models, digital mock-ups, simulations of a service, or storyboards. The goal here is to make something tangible that conveys the idea you want to test. No need to make it perfect, just make it good enough to get the idea across. (Ask yourself, how you’ll convey this idea with the least amount of materials possible?)
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Where will you plan to test it? Remember, you will also need to test your embedded feedback to check whether you are able to capture the data you need for future design loops. Try to simulate as real an environment as possible.
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Now run the prototype with the people you want to get feedback from. Try to get feedback not just from end users, but all the key stakeholders or users of materials in your value chain. As they experience the prototype, observe how they engage with it. What do they think? What could be improved? Which feedback loop will you focus on first for product launch? Have there been any unintended consequences (e.g. material choices causing problems down the line)?
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Iterate based on what you learn. Do this as many times as you need to before you feel confident in your product or service, or when you have designed out any negative consequences that are holding back the circularity. Keen to learn more about prototyping? Consider enrolling in IDEO.org’s free online course with Acumen.
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Who is doing it well... Learn, explore, learn some more Royal College of Art student Thomas Leech used his studies to explore and prototype the use of leather offcuts to create a range of sustainable shoes for children. This reuse approach is a potential solution for the sustainable production of children’s shoes as Leech points out that “children’s feet grow half a shoe size every three months, so shoes are normally outgrown before they are worn out”.
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Image source :http://thomasleech.co.uk/
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Approach 05
Safe chemistry
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Exploring the implications of safe and circular material strategies in the design process to understand the essential role of materials that are fit circular economy There are chemical concerns that may be polluting and potentially hazardous for humans and the environment, however it is often overlooked due to the functionality concerns of the products performance with such redesigning interventions we can try to implication of integrating safe and circular materials
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OBJECTIVES
In this method you will… •Explore examples of chemicals of concern and how they may be tied to material characteristics. •Become familiar with screening chemicals in a product. •Explore how to use different strategies that can help to design out chemicals of concern. •Reflect on how product design can be linked to implementing safe and circular materials.
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Explore In the workshop, we will use a carpet tile as a sample product for redesign - the type you might find in an office or hotel. This presentation will help you and the other participants to get familiar with the design of a carpet tile. The design goal is: redesign a commercial carpet tile to make it safe and circular. Choose a commercial application for a carpet tile. Ask yourself the question or interview one of the workshop participants on the value that a commercial carpet tile brings. What are the needs of the user? How is it used? What features do users value, and which are essential? Write down the key values of commercial carpet tiles on the worksheet
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Select Homogeneous materials comprise part or all of a product’s make up. Homogenous materials are defined as having uniform composition and are not, in theory, able to be separated mechanically. The chemical components of a homogeneous material often have characteristics that make the material important to a product’s overall performance and its value to the user. On the worksheet, some of the chemicals that can be found in homogeneous materials are listed. These chemicals may be necessary for the material to possess its valuable characteristics. Select two materials that deliver the key value of the carpet tile to the user
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Screen The next step in the process is to screen the two chemicals you selected. The screening process enables you to explore whether there are any known chemicals of concern in the materials. The MaterialWise platform includes a free and online screening tool that can help you do this On the worksheet, you will find a list of chemicals that appear in each of the carpet tile materials. 01)
Go to
02) Log-in or register with your email address. 03) Create a “Project”. 04) Search for each substance through its Chemical Abstract Service number (CAS number). 05) Add a concentration for each substance. When you are unsure, fill in a random number. 06) Press “Screen” when you are ready. 07) Review the output. 08) Highlight the substances of concern
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Ideate Now that you have determined which materials contain known chemicals of concern, you have the information you need to prioritise them for redesign. But first, take a step back and reflect on what roles those chemicals play in the product. Next, read through the Safe & Circular Strategy Cards and come up with new carpet tile product ideas using safe and circular materials. Designing out chemicals of concern will require different strategies for different products. The Safe & Circular Strategy Cards are meant to prompt your thinking on different approaches.
Read all the cards. Come up with quick ideas for each of the strategies. Select one idea with the group. Explain this idea with a visual approach. Your ideas may include changing materials or chemicals, a more holistic redesign of the product, or even creating a new material.
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Discuss Reflect on the design strategies and approaches you typically use. Where could you include consideration of material health in your own design process? How might you need to change your design strategy to incorporate material health? To help with these reflections, you might ask the following questions to yourself or the group: What kind of information do you need to select safe and circular materials for use in your product? How can you access this information? How can you work together with your team members and your supply chain to gain access to information on the chemical composition of a material? What needs to shift in your design approach to ensure material health is seen as an opportunity and a creative starting point by your team? What information and context must be included in the design brief in order to integrate material health and safety into your design process? Who from your organisation needs to be involved? What kind of expertise is needed on your team to ensure material health considerations are fully addressed? Where and how can you access this expertise?
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Share Pitch your idea to the group. Elaborate on how the implementation of strategies to use safe and circular materials will influence the design process. Finally, share your outcomes on the Circular Design Guide LinkedIn group and continue the conversation. If you have any feedback or questions on this workshop, feel free to post them on the LinkedIn group and share your thinking with the community
Who is doing it well... This innovative biomaterials company created mushroom-based protective packaging products like Myco-foam to replace plastic foams such as Styrofoam. All Tandus Centivabranded soft surface products are now made with Eco-Ensure, a new fluorine-free soil protection technology. Perfluorocarbons
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Approach 06
Built in curative teams for maximizing sustainable qualities
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Building interdisciplinary teams to strengthen knowledge and enterprise for designing outputs for circular economy such teams can be transformative and can think holistically with such teams many perspectives can be generated and the variety of skillsets will lead to creative outcomes such creative and curative teams are empowered by the creative friction of thoughts which are key elements to create new ways of doing things Sum up of creative heads and thoughts will lead a number of knowledge input and valuable creative output
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If helpful, refer to your initial stakeholder and map to define who needs to be involved to make this project a success. Roles you might need for your project are: a project lead, content expert(s), designer(s), implementers and/or technical experts, and advisors.
Find time to get these people together. Make sure you spend some time Defining Your Challenge if you haven’t already. When you are in one place, discuss your roles. Questions you might ask are: •Who will spearhead the initiative? •Who will lead the design process? •Who will provide expertise around best practices in circularity? •Who will lead implementation? •Which stakeholders or advisors need to provide input along the way? •Who are the partners outside of your organisation that you need to engage with?
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When reaching out to these people, make sure you set clear expectations around what you are asking of them. Remember they will often be outside of your immediate organisation or team, so you will need to be clear on the commitment required.
You may then want to switch gears to discuss how you plan to collaborate. Again, refer back to your stakeholder map, if helpful, and work through the following questions: •How will you collaborate internally? •What are the creative tensions? How can these help us find new pathways and disrupt existing pathways? •How will you collaborate with outside partners? •How will you engage your key stakeholders to ensure they feel invested? •How will you engage your users across the value chain?
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Make sure to take notes and capture your collaboration plan for everyone to reference as you move forward
Who is doing it well... The Textiles Recycling Valley initiative in Northern France puts interdisciplinary collaboration at the forefront of a drive to dramatically increase collection and reuse of textiles. Core partners of the project each bring different skills or knowledge in convening relevant stakeholders, textile innovation, reverse logistics, materials reuse and economics
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Approach 07
Design for ease of product maintenance and repair
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It is to design the product as such that it is easy to maintain and repair by its user ,this prolongs product quality and will postpone the need for product replacement , there by allowing for a longer lifetime of this products It counters functional obsolesce by ease of maintenance to keep a product in working condition and non-challenging reparability and replacement of broken parts to extend the end of life
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Guidelines
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General design guidelines
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Modules & joining mechanisms
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• Unambiguity with regard to product use, maintenance and repair activities • Predictability of product performance and maintenance • Safety of product • Testability of product performance • Monitoring ability inherent to product • Standard interface of product
• Modularized components and systems • Fasteners practical and compatible with regards to maintenance and repair activities
Product handling & access • Maintenance points appropriately located and designed • Access points appropriately located and designed • Maintenance activities understandable and easy to perform
Components & materials • Standardized, universal components • Modularized components • Ease of component and material handling • Practical location of components • Component usability and tolerance range
Who is doing it well... Renault makes a priority of replacing raw materials, based on natural resources, by “secondary� materials, made from recycling. Renault leads the way on the use of recycled plastics on its vehicles. The use of recycled plastics is increasing from generation to generation, due to greater availability and the constant search for new applications.
iFixit is a global community of people helping each other repair things. Let’s fix the world, one device at a time. It has provided an open source repair guide that has guides and frameworks to repair a range of commodities. Their main focus is to prevent the prevent the product from its end of life phase and increase the life of the product
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Approach 08
Design for Disassemble
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To design the product as such that it can be easily disassembled and reassembled without its various components losing their initial function due to damage or deformation. It counters to systemic obsolescence by designing products and their parts to be eventually easily separated and reassembled. This strategy has a big impact on component and material reuse and remanufacturing as there is no need for replacing the current product with a new one. In this way, the product’s lifetime is extended.
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Guidelines
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Less disassemble work
• Minimize material and component variability • Combine elements of same material • Use standardized and compatible components and materials • Modularize related components • Provide easy access for harmful, valuable, reusable components • Provide easy access to joining points
Predictable product configuration
• Avoid ageing and corrosive material combination • Protect subassemblies against soiling and corrosion
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Easy disassembly
Use standardized and modularized components • Accessibility of key components • Simplicity of joining mechanisms • Uniformity of fasteners • Linear and unified disassembly direction • Avoid turning operations • Enable simultaneous separation and disassembly • Base-part product structure with key elements • Avoid metal inserts in plastic parts
Easy handling
• Surface available for grasping • Avoid non-rigid parts • Seal and modularize harmful substances • Parts easy to store and transport
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Easy separation • Use standardized and modularized components • Avoid secondary finishing • Labelling of different materials
Variability reduction
• Use standardized and modularized components • Limit number of materials and fasteners
Who is doing it well... The Agency of Design built out three different versions of their toasters to test and understand the implications of material usage and ease of creating the most effective model for circularity. Their mission with the project was to look at the end-oflife for electrical products and designed alternative ways to make the most of the material that they embody.
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Approach 09
Design for Increase durability
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To Design the product as such that this product will last as long as possible. Key in this is to guarantee and improve the product’s reliability of use. Such Designs creates products resistant to wear and tear, in other words, physically durable products. Here, the material choice is crucial in overcoming functional obsolescence
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Guidelines
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Use of degradation resistant materials
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Ruggedization of product
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Post-purchase services professionalized
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Materials can a variety of range and are effected by many factors, using materials with high resistance towards such exploiting effects helps to make products that last longer and have efficient productivity
Designing products that are made with increasing strength to resist wear or abuse that improves the ability of a product to function under given conditions and for a specified period of time without exceeding acceptable failure levels
Improvising inspection and Maintenance services for keep the product in systematic usage loop and reduce new product needs
Simplified product
1.Designing products that are less complex to use so as to cater towards better attitude towards product usage 2.Making products with less complex components that are less exposed to be damaged during usage cycle 3. Improvising mechanisms of usage of products so product handling is improved.
Product replacement potential
1. Designing products with components that are easily accessible and open sourced resulting in improved lifespan of products 2. Using materials that have high replacement potential
Reduced product variability
1. Designing with less variable materials that increases its potential to stay in closed circular loops for improved product life 2. Using standardised components
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Product redundancy
Duplicating the crucial product components, which make the availability of components possible and prevents cease of product from usage cycle and providing parallel systems for same functionality satisfaction
Manufacturing processes optimised
1.Tring opportunities and methodologies to bring effective materials during the production process 2.Optimizing the assembly process by making efficient assembles that are resistance to wear and tear 3.Installation process optimization as if the service or a product needs installation its possibility of interaction with other components of the surrounding might result in its abuse and thus optimizing this will strengthen is life
Who is doing it well...
The Casio G-shock watch, first released in 1983 is one of the prime examples of how extremely durable design doesn’t equals a high price. The G stands for gravitational, which refers to the fact that the watch can withstand great pressure and to be dropped from high heights. The sturdy watch have had several fashion revivals since its first initial success and today the product line sees new extensions every year.
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Approach 10
Design for Modularity
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To design the product as such that this product will be capable of “performing in harmonious or congenial combination with different parts� Product compatibility may be achieved through standardization, meaning that products or product components are designed and produced in a defined and uniform way or through developing adapters between incompatible parts of this product. It counters systemic obsolescence by designing product’s parts and interfaces suitable for other products and aims at multi-functionality and modularity
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Guidelines
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Determining whether product compatibility is desirable
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Determining the type of product compatibility
1.Is interchangeability of product components or systems favourable? 2.Is there a sufficiently interesting opportunity to become a ‘leader’ within the market by introducing a compatible product? 3.How innovative is the new technology that will be introduced? 4.Is mass production and mass customization desirable for this product from financial and/or market share perspective? 5.Is ease of communication among users in the same product network or system favourable? 6.How large and promising is the current installed base of the product for which a compatible product or component would be designed?
• What kind of compatible product or product component is most favorable? 1. New product as a whole 2. New product component as a whole 3. Product component that can be added to an already existing product system of the producer 4. Product component that can be purchased and combined so as to form a product system; this involves components of more than one producer
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Determining the most optimal way to obtain product compatibility • How can this compatible product or product component best be obtained? • Designing product or product component in such way that it is compatible with existing production standards • Designing product or product component in such way that it is directly compatible with other products or product components 1. Compatibility through similarities of inherent product or product component characteristics 2. Compatibility through integration of a convertor in the product or product component 3. Compatibility through an external converter between the products or product components that are to be made compatible • Use of product modularity
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Who is doing it well... Lego, a product known by almost every kid that grew up in the Western world. Little pieces of plastic in blue, red, green, white and yellow forming little standardised building blocks to build whatever comes up in the mind. Lego has created a tool for kids (and adults) to be creative and have the possibility to explore freedom in form over and over again because of its ease to dis- and reassemble. Lego’s group motto is “only the best is the best�, to encourage the employees to always value quality above everything else; long lasting because of its high quality.
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Image source :https://time.com/3931946/lego-sustainable-materials/
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Approach 11
Design for Reverse cycle
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To New and additional skills are needed for cascades and the final return of materials to the soil or back into the industrial production system. This includes delivery chain logistics, sorting, warehousing, risk management, power generation, and even molecular biology and polymer chemistry. With cost-efficient, betterquality collection and treatment systems, and effective segmentation of end-of-life products, the leakage of materials out of the system will decrease, supporting the economics of circular design. This ensures enhanced flows of goods and services. That will help in rebuilding capital, whether this is financial, manufactured, human, social or natural.
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Following are the principle that are considered while creating design for reverse cycle
Principle 1 Preserve and enhance natural capital by controlling stocks and balancing renewable flows concepts of regeneration, virtualization and exchange can be put to use
Principle 2 Optimize resource yields by circulating products components and materials in use at the highest utility at all times in both technical and biological cycles and ideas of regeneration, sharing ,optimising and designing for circular loops can be used to achieve desired goals in this area
Principle 3 Foster system effectiveness by revealing and designing out negative externalities
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Reverse cycles caters to the concept of creating reverse loops for products in economy following step can be put into action to achieve the above mentioned principles and goals of reverse cycles
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See the Circular Flows chart/Diagram at the front of the guide and get acquainted with the different ways of being circular. At a glance, which of these loops feels most relevant or achievable for what you are designing? If you are working with an existing product or service, consider its current position within the flows. Now dive deeper and go through each loop as a lens for your new product or service. For each loop, ask yourself: “What would it take for this to work for my new product or service idea?” and “What’s standing in my way, stopping this working now?” You may notice that on the technical side of the diagram, there is a pattern as you go from the inner loops to the outer loops: the inner loops are more in your control and the outer loops are less in your control: •Reused goes directly back to your users •Refurbished comes back to you (as the service provider) •Remanufactured goes through the manufacturing process •Recycled goes back to the materials processor
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Ask yourself, can you try to stay in the inner loops? What would you be able to influence right now? Once you feel like you have a starting point, try the Circular Opportunities or Service Flip activities which might prompt different ideas. If you want to try a fun activity which helps to understand circular flows, download this Circular Card game.
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Who is doing it well... Re-Tek provide reverse logistics and data destruction services for redundant IT equipment. Refurbishing equipment for re-sale or donation to charitable causes, Re-Tek divert equipment from energy hungry recycling processes, extend the life of the asset and minimise environmental impact.
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Image source : https://www.cohenusa.com
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Approach 12
Design for recyclability
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With increased environmental awareness and depleting resources, efficient recycling of products becomes more of an imperative requirement for both society and producers. Most products available nowadays in the market are not designed with the end of life scenario of recycling in mind. In order to change this current situation, companies have to adopt new design paradigms where the ability to recycle a product is taken into consideration from the start of product conceptualization. Although functionality is still the primary consideration in design, designers now have a responsibility to design with the economic use of materials and end of life recyclability in mind
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Following are some Guidelines and design strategies for recyclability; there are 4 major guidelines which are further elaborated.
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GUIDELINE 1:
Do not use hazardous substances 1.1 Do not use any BFR’s (Brominated Flame Retardants; PBDEs, TBBPA, PBBs, HBCDs, etc.) in the product. Make it 100% BFR-free. 1.2 Do not use substances that are listed for future restriction in the ‘CARACAL list’ The ‘CARACAL list’ is a list of substances that are not restricted yet, but are a good indication of substances for future restriction and regulation. 2 -PFOS, heptadecafluorooctane-1-sulfonic acid, 3 perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, 4 ammonium heptadecafluorooctanesulfonate, 5 ammonium perfluorooctane sulfonate potassium heptadecafluorooctane 6 1-sulfonate, potassium perfluorooctanesulfonate 7 Bis (2-methoxyethyl) ether 8 2-ethoxyethyl acetate 9 1,2-dimethoxyethane 10 Buta-1,3-diene 11 Hexachlorobenzene 12 2-methoxypropyl acetate 13 Thioacetamide – 14 N,N-dimethylformamide 15 Hexachlorobuta-1,3-diene 16 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene 17 4,4’-(4-iminocyclohexa-2,5-dienylidenemethylene) dianiline hydrochloride 18 4,4’-methylenebis[2-chloroaniline] 19 Diisobutyl phthalate
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GUIDELINE 2:
Enable easy access and removal of hazardous or polluting components 2.1 Use click/snap solutions to fix batteries in a product. Avoid permanent fixing such as glued, welded and enclosed solutions. 2.2 Use click/snap solutions to fix valuable components (PCBs, cables, wires and motors) in a product. Avoid permanent fixing such as glued, welded and enclosed solutions. 2.3 Use drains for operating liquids and gases and enable easy removal of components such as oil tank, compressor and hoses. 2.4 Use detachment possibilities for polluting components/materials (dust bags, lamps, cord sets, cord winders, paper, cardboard, textiles, wood, foams and glass). 2.5 Use a module for hazardous components in the product structure to enable taking out one non-recyclable module instead of searching for several different hazardous parts.
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GUIDELINES:
Use material combinations and connections that allow liberation 4.1 Do not mould different material types together by 2K or K processes (different plastic materials injected into the same mould) such as moulding a thermoplastic elastomer onto PP (e.g. toothbrush). If the material types are the same and only differ in colour and additives it is ok to use, for example moulding red PP containing antioxidants on black PP containing talc. 4.2 Do not fix ferro metals to non-ferro metals in either parts or fasteners. For example, do not use a screw (ferro metal) to attach a plastic part to aluminum (non-ferro) 4.3 Do not permanently fix Aluminum, Copper (including Brass), Stainless steel or Steel together in the following combinations: - If the main material in a component is Al (cast), do not attach a part of Stainless steel or Steel onto it. - If the main material in a component is Al (wrought), do not attach a part of Al (cast), Copper, Stainless steel or Steel onto it. - If the main material in a component is Stainless steel, do not attach a part of Copper onto it. - If the main material in a component is Steel, do not attach a part of Copper or Stainless steel onto it. - If the main material is Copper, do not permanently fix a part of Iron, Lead, Antimony or Bismuth to it. 4.4 Do not use connections that enclose a material permanently. Avoid methods such as: molding-in inserts into plastic, rivets, staples, press-fit, bolts, bolt and nut, brazing, welding and clinching
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GUIDELINES:
Use recyclable materials 3.1Use only common plastics in the product such as ABS, PE, PP and PS. 3.2Do not use coatings on plastics such as painting, lacquering, plating, and galvanizing, since it can result in changed density of the plastic. A density difference < 1% of the materials weight is ok. Always avoid plating since it is a problem as it connects plastic and metal. 3.3 Do not use elastomers. When elastomers are necessary, use elastomers with a different density than the common recycled plastics (not in the density range of PP, PE, PS and ABS which is 0.888e3 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1.070e3 kg/m3).
The guidelines are further elaborated in the study document
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Who is doing it well... MUD Jeans are made with up to 40% recycled content. The remaining material is organic cotton, a resource that is subject to similarly significant price fluctuation and supply disruption, even more so than non-organic cotton due to extra focus on the provenance of the material. Free repairs are included in the offering. For those who have decided to keep the jeans, the company offers financial incentives to return items, to encourage recovery .More flexibility for customers; more predictable material supply chain for MUD. Lower environmental impact associated with jeans.
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Image source : https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/case-studies/pioneering-a-lease-model-for-organic-cotton-jeans
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Approach 13
Ideation & conceptualising with Smart Material Choices
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Materials play an essential role in a circular economy, so we need them to be made of safe ingredients that can be continuously cycled. By keeping material streams as pure as possible from the beginning and through the entire use cycle, the full value of a material is retained. Value retention is key to activating the systems that make the circular economy function, including the incentive for manufacturers to take back products because they have value and the motivation for entrepreneurs to create robust secondary markets. Material health is a key component when designing for a circular economy, to ensure that safe materials can stay in circulation. As a designer, you may wonder how you can begin to incorporate safe materials, fit for a circular economy, when products are already being manufactured. While a designer has an important role to play in selecting materials for products with circularity in mind, certain aspects of product design and manufacturing may be challenging to influence independently. By designing products with materials that come from, and safely flow, into their respective nutrient cycles, you can be part of creating an optimised materials economy that eliminates the concept of waste. you can find new opportunities for improvement, and reflect on how transparency, chemicals management, and the role of innovation can help you achieve business goals, develop new partnerships, and enhance relationships with your customers and stakeholders. As material selection plays a very important roles in designing for circularity the following guide can be taken to make smart material choices 157
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Consider what parts your product is made of (tags, zipper, basic fabric, buttons, etc.) Here’s an example of a product and the mapping of its parts:
Now, let’s look at the individual parts. Download the Smart Material Choices worksheet, and create a list of the raw materials and components required to build or manufacture your product.
Using the decision tree in the worksheet, see if you can estimate the value of what goes into your product and how smart your material choices are.
If any material(s) are not yet fit for the circular economy, ask yourself: “What would be better alternatives?” “Is it possible to meet the user need without wasteful materials?” For examples of materials that have been assessed for material health, material reutilisation, renewable energy, water stewardship, and social fairness see the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ Materials for Designers resource.
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If you’d like to go next level and learn more about materials we have a few suggestions for you: •EU REACH Regulation provides a list of substances of very high concern •The Cradle to Cradle Banned List provides a list of known hazardous materials so that you can avoid these from the beginning •Take your knowledge a step further by participating in the free Cradle to Cradle Certified Catalyst Programme.
Who is doing it well... Developing Product Passports for recovery and reuse Maersk Line’s aim is to make new ships from used materials by designing vessels for quality recycling. To do this they developed a Cradle to Cradle Passport to identify and then recycle materials. They are doing so for exploring how to prepare ships for quality recycling in the design phase, and developing a Cradle to Cradle Passport. The aim is to gain greater control over the materials they use, and ultimately make new ships from old.
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DELIVER
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Phase 4
Approach 01
Creating awareness for enhancing customer engagement in circular economy
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Consumer Awareness is the process of making the consumer of goods and services aware of the potential ways to play their role in the implementation of circular economy. It involves educating a consumer about the multiple ways through interventions and ideas. It is one of the most persistent problems the world faces when it comes to achieve circularity goals. To resolve this problem new ways need to be generated to achieve the goals of circular economy Consumers have five responsibilities: critical awareness; action; social concern; environmental awareness; and solidarity that caters to their contribution for the circularity goals. The five aforementioned responsibilities were defined in order to delve deeper into the role of a consumer in society for awareness. When put into practice by the consuming public, they can greatly contribute in achieving the idealgoals for circular economy.
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Further are brief introduction to the five responsibilities that should be taken into consideration during awareness
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Critical awareness
The consumer responsibility to be more alert and questioning about the use, price and quality of products and services. And awareness of the possible measures that can be taken for increasing life of the product they use
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Social concern
The consumer responsibility to be aware of the impact of our consumption to other citizens, especially the less fortunate, exploited, disadvantaged or groups whether in the local, national or international community. In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s difficult times where resources are scarce, it is your responsibility as consumers to think of what will be the effect of your actions and choices to other peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives.
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Action
The consumer responsibility to assert yourselves and act to ensure that you get to play the fair part of your contribution to your society and action taken shall product the results for the circularity goals. Remember that as long as you remain passive consumers, you will continuously be exploiting the product and its effecting to the environment
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Environmental awareness
The consumer responsibility to understand the environmental consequences of your consumption. You should recognize your individual and social responsibility to conserve natural resources, and protect Earth for the future generations. The planet we are living in is our only home. We should protect and preserve it, for it is our only our source of life.
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Solidarity
The consumer responsibility to organize together to develop the strength and influence to promote and protect the rights, welfare and interests of the consuming public. Make your voices heard as a united consumer sector. Cooperate and collaborate with the government in ensuring consumer protection in the country.
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Boosting CE engagement by strengthening proenvironmental attitudes and awareness: Environmental awareness and positive attitudes towards environmentally favorable practices, like buying second hand products and repairing products, were found to be key determinants for sustainable consumer choices.
Create financial incentives for repairability and durability: Building on the importance of price in consumer decisionmaking, fiscal instruments providing economic incentives to producers and consumers to produce and purchase/ rent/lease durable products or to repair could enhance CE engagement. However, further consumer research would be required to determine if there is sufficient price sensitivity in consumers for such stimuli to be effective.
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Making repair easier: Consumers are generally willing to repair broken products, yet their intentions can easily be tainted if repair is viewed as too much effort compared to simply replacing the product.
Strengthened enforcement of legislation requiring the provision of accurate information to consumers: The provision of information not only needs to be presented in a way that consumers can understand and effectively use in their decision-making, but it also needs to be accurate. In order to ensure the accurate provision of information to consumers at the point of sale, continued and strengthened enforcement of national consumer laws
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Making durability and repairability information available at the point of sale: The study showed that consumers lack durability and repairability information and that the provision of such information is potentially very influential on purchasing decisions. Therefore, the following options should be explored: •Integrate durability and repairability information into existing (EU) labels •Develop new EU rules for this purpose •Examine the development of a scoring system for repairability of products7 •Provide information to consumers on the availability of spare parts and repair services
Who is doing it well... The report by ellen macarthur foundation provide a study that shows the benefits and effects the enhanced consumer engagement in the economy
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Approach 02
Awareness about advantages of circular economy
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The circular economy and how it can be implemented is now the topic of considerable debate in corporations, universities and parliaments across the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond. Given rising concerns around the realities of resource availability, price volatility, pollution and an increasingly fragmented, often poorly rewarded workforce, hopes are being pinned on looking again at the question â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;how do we produce?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; Adopting a circular economy approach might enable organisations to transition away from take-makedispose linear production, towards business models that allow goods to be designed and produced for extended use, disassembly, reuse and recycling from the outset.
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Following are few of the examples of the advantages and new narations that can be formed by implementing circular economy
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Product ownership will become a thing of the past Products in the near future will be designed to last longer and will be suitable for repair and eventually recycling at the end of useful life because the benefits of manufacturers or their business contractors retaining ownership become visible. The pursuit of extended lifecycle strategies involve substantial investment in product redesign, maintenance and upgraded support services.
Servitisation and sharing will be core to business value Going downstream has been the call for decades by organisations adopting servitisation as a strategy that extends value, by shifting the emphasis away from product sales to aftersales customer care. But greater levels of information sharing will be required by both producer and consumer.
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Future trading will be dominated by legislation and prices of raw and recycled materials Savvy organisations will be already re-orientating their existing sustainability strategy towards one of circular implementation with trusted trading partners of a similar persuasion, and not waiting to act until new legislation or spikes in commodity prices hit home.
Business relationships will be more flexible, based around transparency and collaboration The need for closer relationships between suppliers and buyers seeking to detoxify their supply chains in the interests of environmental sustainability is not new. However, the circular economy requires a different type of relationship which recognises the significance of creating not only closed loop material flow
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Customers will increasingly try to bypass traditional trading channels Big brand manufacturers need to be aware that increasing customer sophistication, market awareness, and increasing information transparency via the web, are creating scenarios where customers bypass traditional trading channels and develop direct supplier relationships.
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Whether global or local, the issues of resources, pollution and workers are interlocked There is a sense that circular economy is symbiotic with the changes being wrought by the digital revolution in an era of low economic and productivity growth. circular business advantage offers a pathway for both large and small organisations to identify, capture and retain additional revenues or reduce costs while meeting customer demands in new ways.
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Approach 03
Making policies for stakeholders to embark on circular economy transactions
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The circular economy offers business leaders and government a clear opportunity for long-term growth that is less dependent on cheap materials and energy, and which can restore and regenerate natural capital further guidelines provides an actionable toolkit for policymakers who wish to embark on a circular economy transformation. Such policies offers business leaders and organisations a clear opportunity for long-term growth that is less dependent on cheap materials and energy, and which can restore and regenerate natural capital. This approach looks at the circular economy opportunity from a country and policymaker perspective, and aims to provide policymakers with an actionable toolkit to help accelerate the transition towards the circular economy.
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Following are the guidelines that should be taken into consideration while making policies for circular economy
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Many circular economy opportunities have a sound underlying profitability, but there are often non-financial barriers limiting further scale-up or holding back development pace. Policymakers can play an important role in helping businesses overcome these barriers. Barriers include unintended consequences of existing regulations (e.g. definitions of waste that hinder trade and transport of products for remanufacturing), social factors such as a lack of experience among companies and policymakers to detect and capture circular economy opportunities, and market failures such as imperfect information (e.g. for businesses to repair, disassemble and remanufacture products) and unaccounted externalities (e.g. carbon emissions). In addition to creating enabling conditions, policymakers can, as appropriate, set direction for a transition to the circular economy.
Sector-by-sector analysis can be a valuable approach to address the variety of opportunities and challenges involved in transitioning towards the circular economy. Within each sector, effective circular economy policymaking requires the combination of many policy interventions, and does not rely on a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;silver bulletâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or blanket solutions. Policymakers can address market and regulatory failures to create the right enabling conditions for circular economy initiatives to reach scale. They can also more actively steer and stimulate market activity by setting targets, implementing circular and total cost of ownershiporiented public procurement, and investing in innovative pilots and R&D.
Broader changes to the existing fiscal system and the measurement of economic performance could help enable a systemic transition towards the circular economy. While many circular economy opportunities already have a sound underlying profitability, a number of international organisations, such as the European Commission, the OECD, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the International Labour Organization, have suggested further opportunities could be unlocked by shifting fiscal incentives towards labour from resources. However, any such shift is
a sensitive matter and needs to be seen in the light of international competitiveness, administrative issues, tax revenue stability and distributional effects. Complementing today’s flow-based metrics such as GDP as a measure of economic success with measures of a country’s stock of assets could be an instrument for policymakers to account for the restoration and regeneration of natural capital.
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Industry involvement and cross-government department collaboration are crucial. As the Denmark pilot has shown, involving businesses intensively throughout the process is especially important, for three reasons: (i) get insights and knowledge to identify the most relevant circular economy opportunities and barriers in each focus sector; (ii) create early alignment on common direction for the country and the focus sectors; (iii) further demonstrate circular economy benefits to businesses and build skills as well as capacity. As businesses are already starting the transition, the circular economy offers an opportunity for policymakers to collaborate with businesses. Furthermore, there is a need for cooperation between different government departments (including business/industry, finance and environment) so that no new unintended policy barriers are created and – like the business solution – the policy response is designed to maximise system effectiveness. Other society stakeholders, including citizens and consumers, labour unions and environmental organisations, should also be engaged.
Even in a country with a starting position as advanced as Denmark, there are significant opportunities to scale up the transition towards the circular economy, and policymakers can play an important enabling role. Opportunities were investigated in five focus sectors, and the economic potential appears to be the largest in Construction & Real Estate and in Food & Beverage. In Construction & Real Estate, building sharing, switching from lowvalue recycling to reuse and high-value recycling, and industrial production and 3D printing of building modules could unlock significant value. In Food & Beverage, maximising value from organic by-products and waste streams through cascaded value extraction in bio-refineries could be an important opportunity. The potential identified in Denmark could, with the right enabling conditions and direction, mostly be captured within the next 20 years.
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In European Union member states, EU-level policy interventions would need to complement national policies, as the value chains of many products extend across borders. Product policy and promoting the market for secondary raw materials are just two examples that could be coordinated at the European level so as to simplify and reduce the cost of doing (circular) business.
The outcomes of applying this toolkit will differ for each country depending on economic and policy starting positions. The process to get to these answers will be similar, with adaptations to local circumstances. In a first assessment, three factors seem to be the most likely to influence the process itself: (i) level of circularity already achieved and support for circularity; (ii) institutional set-up; and (iii) available resources. While more basic starting positions allow a country to leapfrog to high-performing circular systems, strong starting points provide confidence that circular economy is a viable option to create economic value, and allow a country to move from strength to strength.
Who is doing it well...
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CircE Project (European regions toward Circular Economy) involves 8 partners both at regional and local scale and representatives of different European social and economic scenarios. In particular the project aims at helping the Partners involved to increase the capability of their Policy instruments to steer economy towards a circular model. The project carries out this task by aiming at modifying or readdressing the selected policy instruments through an exchange of knowledge/experiences among Partners, through a continuous involvement of Stakeholders and through a deeper analysis of economic system.
Following are the types of policy interventions in order to achieve circular economy goals
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EDUCATION, INFORMATION & AWARENESS
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COLLABORATION PLATFORMS
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•Integration of circular economy/systems thinking into school and university curricula •Public communication and information campaigns •Public-private partnerships with businesses at national, regional and city level •Encouragement of voluntary industry collaboration platforms, encouraging value-chain and cross-sectoral initiatives and information sharing •R&D programmes in the fields of, for example, material sciences and bio systems
BUSINESS SUPPORT SCHEMES
•Financial support to business, for example direct subsidies, provision of capital, financial guarantees •Technical support, advisory, training and demonstration of best practices to business
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT & INFRASTRUCTURE •Public procurement •Public investment in infrastructure
REGULATORY FRAMEWORKS
•Government (sector) strategy and associated targets on resource productivity and circular economy •Product regulations, including design, extended warranties and product passports •Waste regulations, including collection and treatment standards and targets, the definition of waste, extended producer responsibility and take-back systems •Industry, consumer, competition and trade regulations, for example on food safety •Accounting, reporting and financial regulations including accounting for natural capital and resources, and the fiduciary duty of investors and managers
FISCAL FRAMEWORKS
•VAT or excise duty reductions for circular products and services •Tax shift from labour to resources
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Approach 04
Rethinking packaging through reuse
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Of course there are multiple ways to treat packaging but here we are considering reuse to understand the concept. Converting 20% of plastic packaging into reuse models is a USD 10 billion business opportunity that benefits customers and represents a crucial element in the quest to eliminate plastic waste and pollution. It aims to inspire and help structure thinking. Reuse - Rethinking Packaging provides a basic description of how different reuse models work as well as typical implementation challenges Reusing is an untapped business potential and the urgency to act on plastic pollution is now widely Understood. Now the Customer demands are more sophisticated than ever and include personalisation, quality, and positive environmental impacts. Reacting to user preferences, retail is now physical and digital. 2 Innovative reuse models can tap into these shifting preferences. Moving from single-use to reuse not only helps eliminate plastic waste and pollution but also, if done well, offers significant reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other negative externalities 179
Following are the 6 major benefits of reuse
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Cut costs Packaging and transportation costs can be reduced by supplying refills for reusable containers in compact form, such as in concentrates or solids e.g. as tablets Adapt to individual needs Individual needs can be accommodated by reuse models that let users mix and match flavours, personalise packaging or choose desired quantities.
Optimise operations Economies of scale for distribution and logistics can be achieved through sharing reusable packaging across brands, sectors or wider networks.
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Build brand loyalty Brand loyalty and customer retention can be achieved through deposit and reward schemes for reusable packaging.
Improve user experience User experience can be improved by enhancing the look, feel or functionality of reusable packaging (which can be more high-end as its initial production cost is divided over many uses). Gather intelligence Information on user preferences and system performance can be gathered by incorporating digital technologies such as RFID tags, sensors, and GPS tracking into the reusable packaging system.
Following are Business-to-consumer reuse models that differ in terms of packaging ‘ownership’ and the requirement for the user to leave home to refill/return the packaging.
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Refill at home
It can work in both traditional and online retail. The model works particularly well for e-commerce as the online interface enables communication of an integrated solution and at the same time there is no competition for shelf space from products sold in standard packaging. Benefits •Businesses can reduce transportation and packaging costs by supplying products as refills, concentrates, tablets, etc. Users can benefit as refills can be cheaper to buy and easier to carry and/or store, compared to products sold in standard packaging. •CUSTOMISATION Users’ individual needs can be accommodated with refill systems that allow them to mix flavours, add a desired fragrance or personalise the main packaging. •Businesses can improve brand loyalty through refill subscriptions delivered directly to users. Users can benefit from higher convenience with automatic reordering.
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Refill on the go
It requires a physical store or dispensing point, which makes it better suited to traditional retail outlets and urban environments. In low-income markets, the model can accommodate customers’ needs for small quantities at affordable prices without relying on single-use sachets. Current examples of Refill on the go include: • Traditional retail outlets for products like beverages, cooking essentials (e.g. grains, flours, oils), personal care, and home care. • Cities for coffee to go or water fountains
Benefits •Users’ individual needs can be accommodated with dispensing systems that allow them to choose desired quantities and personalise content. •SMART SYSTEMS Businesses can obtain user intelligence through dispensing systems that recognise the user and collect data on preferences. •COMPACT PRODUCTS Businesses can reduce transportation and packaging costs by supplying products as concentrates to be mixed with water on the spot in the dispensing machine. •Users can benefit from improved access to products if dispensing systems are mobile or placed in public spaces.
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Return from home
This is suitable for e-commerce as the pickup of empty packaging can be combined with the delivery of new products. It is particularly well suited for urban areas with reduced travel distances between deliveries.
Current examples of Return from home include: • E-commerce for products such as groceries, meal delivery, personal care, home care, and beauty. Benefits •Users can get a better experience through improved functionality and/or aesthetics of the packaging. DEPOSIT AND REWARD Businesses can improve brand loyalty by incentivising the return of the packaging through deposit and reward schemes. •SHARED DESIGN Businesses can optimise operations through the standardisation of packaging or shared logistics and cleaning facilities across brands, sectors or wider networks, e.g. in combination with a third-party packaging/service provider. •Businesses can improve brand loyalty and obtain user insights through subscription to auto-replenishment services. Users don’t need to worry about keeping track of stock and reordering in a subscription service.
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Return on the go
This is widely applicable as it can substitute most singleuse packaging without changing the fundamental purchase situation. Current examples of Return on the go include: • Traditional retail outlets for beverages where the model has been proven to work at scale in several geographies (e.g. Latin America, Japan, and Europe). • Cities and events for products on-the-go such as takeaway coffee, beverages, and food. Benefits •Businesses can improve brand loyalty by incentivising the return of the packaging through deposit and reward schemes. •SHARED DESIGN Businesses can optimise operations through the standardisation of packaging or shared drop-off points, logistics, and cleaning facilities across brands, sectors or wider networks, e.g. in combination with a third-party packaging/ service provider. Users can benefit from improved convenience as a higher density of drop-off points can be obtained through network collaboration. •SMART SYSTEMS Businesses can gather intelligence via smart packaging and dropoff points that recognise the user and collect data on preferences. •SUPERIOR DESIGN Users can have a better experience through improved functionality and/or aesthetics of the packaging.
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Who is doing it well... Replenish 3.0 is a universal â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;packaging platformâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, a reusable bottle that attaches directly to a concentrate refill pod. The system can be used in most packaged liquid goods, from cleaners to beverages.
Image source : http://www.myreplenish.com/
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Approach 05
Creating feedback loops
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One of the key aspects of circular economy is the feedback system, you have to know whats happening to things, products and services when they reach to the market so designers need to Learn how to design feedback loops – creating a hypothesis of what you hope to learn about your product or service, articulating what evidence you think you need, and planning how you will capture that data. Embedding mechanisms to gather feedback before you release your product or service will allow you to gain insight long after it has left your immediate control, enabling continuous and agile learning.
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Using this worksheet, list out all of your hypotheses for your prototype (the expectations you have for your product, but ultimately still need to test and learn about).
Then add in the evidence you need to validate these learnings. What type of feedback will help you uncover what you set out to learn?
Next, how do you plan to gather this data? How will you ‘instrument’ your design to capture the information you need? Below are some examples of ways to collect data you might consider: •Interviews (you interview your users about their experience) •Surveys (you poll your users based on their experiences) •Forums (you observe what users say about your product on social media or other forums) •Analytics (if your product has a digital component, you track user behaviour on the backend) •Data Exhaust (you leverage technology such as cookies and other data generated as a by-product of people’s online actions) •Sensors (you embed sensors in your product to track usage).
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Lastly, consider how what you capture might evolve over time. As you scale, you may consider increasing the amount of automation in your approach.
Use this process alongside the prototype activity to make sure your prototypes are set up for success and that you are able to capture the data you require to maximise your learnings
Who is doing it well... Rather than fixing equipment when it fails, Caterpillarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s technology monitors and receives feedback from equipment while in use to anticipate repair needs. It connects customers to our worldclass dealer network and gives you accurate, timely and useful information about the location, utilization and condition of your equipment so it can be tracked and actions can be taken
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Approach 06
Aligning organisation
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Organisation consists of leaders, teams decision makers ,labour force and etc ,where also for the success of a company it needs to take his partners and other stake holders into consideration. Using design thinking learn and practice how to apply the principles of design thinking to ensure your organisation can support the change to circularity. Whether you work in a large corporation or are a small start-up, as you iterate your circular business and look to scale, there will be implications for how you, your team, your company, and partners in your system need to operate. Changing established organisations can be hard, but not impossible if you utilise the design thinking processes to help shift the status quo.
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Using the Organisational Design Worksheet, consider each of the areas and answer the questions that you feel will be a priority as you move forward. Successful organisations align themselves with their user proposition and how they contribute to the system they are part of, not just their own internal needs.
Create some organisational hypotheses to test out your ideas. (For example, “How might we develop a flexible, scalable resource to man our response centre?”)
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Create a value proposition by conducting research with employees and internal stakeholders to spot opportunities to change ways of working
Devise some ‘experiments’ or prototypes to test your organisational changes alongside the product or service. Ensure that this test requires minimal effort – focus instead on learning and iterating. (For example, hire in new capabilities on a shortterm basis to test whether these are the right skills you need before committing to full-time team members).
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Continue this process to deliver your value proposition and contribute to the system you are part of. Remember, organisational design will constantly evolve and be as iterative as your product or service design. The Continuous Learning Loops activity can help you make sense of your learnings as you go.
Who is doing it well... Aligning personal and organisational purpose Working for Tesla isn’t about the pay or the ‘sexy’ cars - it’s about meaning. “Accelerate the transition of sustainable transportation” isn’t taken lightly when it comes to the dedicated employees Tesla hires.
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Approach 07
Imagine new partnership
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Imagine new or unexpected partnerships that strengthen your value chain, increase system effectiveness or make a more robust business case. This will also help to achieve alignment and clarity on how to move forward together. Following initial prototyping, new opportunities may appear to broaden your sphere of influence within the wider system in which you’re operating. This may uncover a need to partner with new or unexpected organisations.
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You may have already identified potential partners during the Business Model Canvas, but given what you’ve learned during user-research and prototyping, what type of new organisations could help inspire your product or service?
Ask – what new emerging opportunities have come up while you’ve been developing your concept? Who would you need to talk too to understand how these might be incorporated? (e.g. embedding tech)
Use the brainstorming method to help you think of more unexpected partnerships that could make your value chain more effective/efficient.
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Once you have identified partners, here is some preparation for the conversation with a potential new partner: •Develop a narrative or a point of view that will help the new partner understand the value to them and the system. During the conversation: •What commitments would be needed from either side to make things a reality (minimum viable release) and to mitigate risk? •Develop some ‘ground rules’ on prototyping the new partnership together – e.g. who will gain from new business opportunities it may create? •Set parameters for making collaboration a success – what will you measure to know whether the partnership is worth pursuing.
Who is doing it well... Open source – the ultimate partnership The Open Compute Project believes that openly sharing ideas, specifications, and other intellectual property is the key to maximising innovation and reducing complexity in tech components
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Bibliography https://www.circulardesignguide.com/
https://www.circulardesignguide.com/post/biomimicry https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/case-studies/ growing-alternatives-to-petroleum-based-packaging https://www.circulardesignguide.com/post/insides-out https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/case-studies/ designing-for-a-circular-economy-has-more-than-onesolution https://www.circulardesignguide.com/post/loops https://www.circulardesignguide.com/post/service-flip https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/case-studies/ growing-alternatives-to-petroleum-based-packaging :https://www.circulardesignguide.com/post/define-yourchallenge https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/case-studies/ cradle-to-cradle-design-of-carpets https://blog.meuleman.io/en/9-benefits-of-part-countreduction-in-your-product https://blog.meuleman.io/en/how-can-you-determine-theminimum-number-of-parts-for-a-product https://www.dfma.com/resources/studies.asp https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224155137_A_ tool_to_estimate_materials_and_manufacturing_energy_ for_a_product https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2e7b/ a93e829a3e718e8b91bf7e71e64a9d9d1acb.pdf http://www.globalstewards.org/reduce-carbon-footprint. htm
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https://carbonneutral.com.au/case-studies/t https://www.pre-sustainability.com/sustainability-consulting/ lca-methodology-basics https://www.pre-sustainability.com/download/ SimaPro8IntroductionToLCA.pdf http://www.europarl.europa.eu/EPRS/EPRS-Briefing-564398Understanding-waste-streams-FINAL.pdf https://materiom.org/ https://vigga.us/in-english https://practicegreenhealth.org/topics/waste/solid-waste http://www.europarl.europa.eu/EPRS/EPRS-Briefing-564398Understanding-waste-streams-FINAL.pdf
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