Sustainability Models

Sustainability models:

Design for the environment (DfE): DfE strategies aim to reduce the impact of sourcing materials, use less hazardous materials and packaging, and reduce waste and pollution.

Life cycle assessment (LCA): An LCA is the examination of a product from the sourcing and processing of the raw material, through manufacture, distribution, use and disposal. It is a scientific approach, not one based on guesswork and opinions.

‘Cradle to cradle’ concept: This concept involves a recycling process for the end of life of a product, so that the materials continue to be reused in some way.

Design for disassembly (DfD): DfD takes the entire product – including its parts and components and how they are joined – into consideration in the design stage. It aims for easy repair, minimal different types of material in a product and easy identification of materials, so that recycling is easy.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) / Product stewardship: EPR, or product stewardship, is an approach, which recognises that manufacturers, importers, governments and consumers have a shared responsibility for the environmental impacts of a product throughout its full life cycle.

Obsolescence:

A product becomes obsolete when it is:

• No longer useful or useable
• Out of date
• Cannot be used with current technology
• Replaced by another product that is more efficient

Planned obsolescence is when manufacturers design a product to be obsolete within a few months of few years.

Some benefits and problems of planned obsolescence

Benefits:

Problems:

Functional obsolescence is when manufacturers choose lower-quality materials and processes, knowing that the product will be less durable.

Technical obsolescence is when products become obsolete when a new technology or design feature/function is developed.

Style obsolescence can be explained as adapting to a changing of trends and fashions. An example of this could be relation to 80’s and 90’s fashion trends compared to the trends in the present day.

Scale and types of manufacturing:

One-off manufacturing involves the customer or designer that requires a unique article or a large product made to a specific design.

Low-volume production involves designing and producing a very low number of products as they are made for a specific situation and not massed produced.

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