good  design  and  the  circular  economy          @frank_oconnor  Director  @ecodesigncentre      

!

to  believe  in  something,  and  not  to  live  it,    is  dishonest.  

 Mahatma  Gandhi  

Image www.castlereagh.gov.uk

 we  live  in  a  throwaway  society  

   …………  but  there  is  no  away    

every design choice has a consequence

image  source:    Chris  Jordan  

bad design is a crime

 source: ads-ngo.com

   98%  of  products  are        thrown  away  within        6  months  

source:    Edwin  Datschefski  &  United  NaKons  University  

80% of environmental impacts

can be locked-in at the design stage

designers interact between industry, users and other actors

industry

consumers

design

designers can influence how people consume, use, behave … industry

consumers

design

!

our mission is to make good design happen

image  source:  Fuse  /  GeNy  

the  single  biggest  problem  in  communicaKon  is  the  illusion  that  it  has  taken  place      George  Bernard  Shaw        

source:  Nathan  Halle6  

image  source:  jubbling.com  

source: ZIPcars

source:  Apple    

 neodymium  

source: Harman & wiki

 car  speaker  

 source: hybridcars.com

 polluKon  

 true  cost  

 source: dailymail.co.uk

 toxicity,  health  

 true  cost  

 recovery  

 true  cost  

source: retrench.co.uk

source: mywindpowersystem.com

low  carbon  /  high  on    criKcal  materials  

NO MAGIC MATERIALS

way  forward?  

Cradle to Cradle

10

“remake the way wemake things” thinking about the materials we use, howour products are designed and assembled, and their cyclesof use with our customers.

No matter how good your products are, there comes a timewhen their first useful life comes to an end. In considering product life cycles Cradle to Cradle asks us to re-think thecommonplace approach of “take, make & waste” and thisprompted us to act.

During the early stages of the design of Ara we established arelationship with one of Cradle to Cradle’s authors, renowned industrial chemist Micheal Braungart. Throughout the development we have been working with EPEA, Micheal’s C2C organisation based in Hamburg.

We’ve always very carefully considered the materials that we usein our products but our aim in working with EPEA is to ensurethat what we’re using is truly safe, for humans and the environment alike, and successful in technical cycles of reuse.This means looking in much more detail at every chemical ingredient in the materials we use; to determine which inhibitthis aim and need to be substituted or remove as a result.

Cradle to Cradle is an approach to design which looks to makeus truly environmentally effective, by developing products forclosed loop systems in which all the materials used are safe andbeneficial - either to biodegrade naturally or to be fully recycledinto high quality materials for subsequent product generations,again and again. In order for us to maximise the value of the materials used in your chair we’d like to get them back onceyou’ve finished with them. It’s pretty simple, all you need to dois visit our website at www.orangebox.com/endoflife.htm

Returning your ARA at ‘End of Life’

Desig

n En

gin

eering

4

Arm

support that’s there only when you need it.

Our goal w

as to design a new arm

pad that was m

ore comfortable

than ever, using materials that could be segregated easily and recycled

more effectively. The traditional PU

is replaced by a flexible polymer

with a separate insert m

ade from recycled foam

. The result is an arm

rest that’s robust, easy to use and probably the most com

fortablew

e’ve ever made.

Do som

ething really simple; m

ake the chair base 100%

r ecyclable.N

ot the most com

plicated part on a task chair, granted, but we asked

ourselves the question - some look m

uch better than others but allplastic chair bases are pretty m

uch the same, aren’t they? W

ell in onesense they are, and w

ith very few exceptions they all have a m

etal collar m

oulded into the plastic to stop the gas lift creeping throughthe base. G

reat for not dragging your chair across the carpet butnot so great w

hen you come to recycle it, as the collar can be very

difficult to remove.

Smart design and careful m

aterial selection has enabled us to createa base w

ithout a collar insert. A sim

ple point but unlike almost all

other plastic bases ours is 100% recyclable. A

nd rest assured we’ve

tested it like mad.

The Mechanism

Ara’s

synchronous m

echanism

delivers a

smooth,

balanced m

ovement

from

impressively

refined engineering.

Why

synchronous? Quite sim

ply, we’ve alw

ays felt that the action ofseat and back m

oving together in this way provides a natural,

intuitive ride. Proven ergonomic research also tells us that regular

changes in posture improves our w

ell being when sitting at w

ork.W

e know that people com

e in all shapes and sizes. That’s why

smart engineering inside the m

echanism m

eans the ride can betuned and balanced to your precise needs, using adjustm

ent controls that are easy to operate and labelled clearly.

disassembly end of life cradle to cradle

1  

30% part reduction 30% faster assembly 37% weight dematerialisation

2  

eol local dematerialise

15kg 20kg

mindset  changes    think  ‘resource’  instead  of  ‘waste’    think  ‘need’,  ‘use’  instead  of  ‘consume’    transform  ‘stuff’,  don’t  destroy  it    think  people,  think  ‘share’    ensure  you  are  contribuCng,  relevant    

!1  

circular  economy  consideraKons    consideraCon  of  full  life  cycles  /  system    consideraCon  of  all  ‘sustainability’  issues  /  focus  on  greatest  impact    no  shiF  of  pressure  between  stages  of  life  cycle  /  true  cost    creaCon  of  goods  and  services  with  higher  overall  quality  and  value  /  transformaCve  use  cycles    embrace  new  models  of  business  &  ownership  

!2  

good  design  criteria    long-­‐life    non-­‐toxic      localise    renewable  energy  

!3  

designed,  made,  remade.  zero  waste.  

only  resource  

!

passport  source:  Habufa  

a  world  where  good  design  is  the  norm  

!

thanks.  good  luck.        ecodesigncentre.org  edcshare.org  @ecodesigncentre    @frank_oconnor