Products that could be designed more sustainably

Shorty69664

In the last while I've taken more of an interest in the environment and the impact we are having on it.
I think it's probably as I've gotten older and had kids that I worry more about the absolute mess we are leaving behind for future generations.
The amount of waste we are creating that leads to littering or huge landfill mountains is terrible.

With that in mind I've often wondered what products could be designed differently to make them more sustainable.

Bottle tops on water bottle and soft drinks are a particular bug bear of mine. You see them thrown all over the place.
A 2017 Report shows the impact of this on beaches in Europe, although Ireland does rather well here. https://www.noordzee.nl/project/userfiles/SDN_Doppenrapport_EN_2017_DEF_small.pdf .

Other things like the amount of phone chargers I have thrown in drawers at home that are useless because of all the different types of chargers. Maybe a converter could be developed that allows old chargers to work with all types of phones.

So lets have it, what other products could / should be designed with more sustainability in mind.
We need to reduce what is going to landfill!!

Markcheese

Well, your chargers and wires can all go to weee recycling, basically my local recycling centre takes them for free...

Tell me how

Even though products can be recycled, it is usually way more beneficial for the environment that they are made to last. (One counterpoint to this is when advances in technology make replacements more efficient which was the case with televisions and so on).

I think there are very few items which need to be as short life cycle as we currently experience. Medical devices such as syringes and so on possibly but everything else should be designed for maximising use as much as possible.

I firmly believe that only legislation will impact behaviours which is difficult because so many will be resistant in this space. So much of industry relies on frequent purchases being made to drive revenue and so businesses need to see a value in being more environmentally friendly. Many mention it in their annual statements as a focus but that is paying lip service so they can claim they are socially conscious in a lot of cases.

Obviously the big ones are the single use plastics and thankfully the EU is leading the way in trying to bring about change in this way.

I don't know why people are so dismissive of the impact which they could have. I know many people who refuse to use keep cups simply because they think they are awkward.

In the technology space I think there is massive potential for items to be designed for sustainable use. Domestic appliances should be designed for replace of components easily to increase their effective life cycle (subject to still being efficient when in use).

I think legislation in this space could start by ensuring the availability of spare parts and repair manuals so that simple fixes could be carried out efficiently. The idea of buying a new washing machine because you can get one for €199 while a call out charge and new seal for the door is €120 means that many products are being discarded while being close to perfectly functional.

Once they enter the WEEE stream in local collection sites their potential drops by the hour due to exposure to the elements and being handled poorly.

Day Lewin

Clothing. Look around any group of people - at least 70% of what everyone is wearing is made of synthetic fibres - basically, plastic.
Modern clothes are just plastic wrapping for people.
Think this through. (It's not simple, I realise that)
But it's important.

Markcheese

Tell me how wrote: »

Even though products can be recycled, it is usually way more beneficial for the environment that they are made to last. (One counterpoint to this is when advances in technology make replacements more efficient which was the case with televisions and so on).

I think there are very few items which need to be as short life cycle as we currently experience. Medical devices such as syringes and so on possibly but everything else should be designed for maximising use as much as possible.

I firmly believe that only legislation will impact behaviours which is difficult because so many will be resistant in this space. So much of industry relies on frequent purchases being made to drive revenue and so businesses need to see a value in being more environmentally friendly. Many mention it in their annual statements as a focus but that is paying lip service so they can claim they are socially conscious in a lot of cases.

Obviously the big ones are the single use plastics and thankfully the EU is leading the way in trying to bring about change in this way.

I don't know why people are so dismissive of the impact which they could have. I know many people who refuse to use keep cups simply because they think they are awkward.

In the technology space I think there is massive potential for items to be designed for sustainable use. Domestic appliances should be designed for replace of components easily to increase their effective life cycle (subject to still being efficient when in use).

I think legislation in this space could start by ensuring the availability of spare parts and repair manuals so that simple fixes could be carried out efficiently. The idea of buying a new washing machine because you can get one for €199 while a call out charge and new seal for the door is €120 means that many products are being discarded while being close to perfectly functional.

Once they enter the WEEE stream in local collection sites their potential drops by the hour due to exposure to the elements and being handled poorly.

I'm pretty sure once they enter the weee system, everything gets broken down,and ripped apart..

Tell me how

Markcheese wrote: »

I'm pretty sure once they enter the weee system, everything gets broken down,and ripped apart..

Some companies do assess equipment for potential for salvage but they would not take items which have been dropped in a local collection facility for this purpose. They might agree to take them direct from a seller who would have collected old units at houses when dropping off new items.

All items in a WEEE are eventually processed in some manner but this is still much less efficient for the environment than if they were kept in use for longer as the recovery rates can be quite low, the contamination from critical raw materials still exists and the energy required in the disassembly process has to be factored in as well.