2019 | Sustainable Design
Category: Sustainable Design
Industry: Sustainability
Location: International
Related to: Sustainability, Future of Design, Product Design, Future of Sustainability, Sustainable Design
Researcher: Austin Cañas / Parsons School of Design
About:
Abstract
In his article for the Journal of Sustainable Development, Olaf Diegel stated that “designers have a moral and ethical obligation to be responsible for their designs and the impacts of their work.” Today, we see a world plagued with vast landfills filled with billions of tons of trash, destruction of wildlife on a massive scale, air and water pollution at unprecedented levels, and the ever-present threat of global warming. In this modern world of globalization, industrialization, and consumerism, product designers are seeking to develop products that will be more environmentally conscious, across all ranges of products.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines consumer society as “a society in which people often buy new goods, especially goods that they do not need, and in which a high value is placed on owning many things.” The Worldwatch Institute’s 2004 edition of State of the World cited that there are more than 1.7 billion people worldwide living in this “consumer society”. Two major aspects of this consumerist culture are the ideas of “throw-away society” and “planned obsolescence”. These ideas were first pioneered in an article published in the August 1, 1955 edition of LIFE Magazine entitled “Throwaway Living”. Planned obsolescence is the business tactic of producing goods which are only intended to function for a certain amount of time, and after which time can be discarded and replaced. This has led to the creation of the modern culture of throw-away society, where we now see massive landfills on a global scale, and pollution constantly on the rise. According to the EPA, in 2013, Americans generated about 254 million tons of trash. In 2012, the Atlantic claimed that the world would produce 2.6 trillion tons of garbage in that year. In this throwaway society, it is a product designer’s job to create products that are environmentally conscious and beneficial to society.
Research
In The Philosophy of Sustainable Design, Jason F. McLennan said designers should “eliminate negative environmental impact completely through skillful, sensitive design,” and the materials product designers choose to use play a big role in the environmental impact of the product. Plastics are one of the most commonly used materials in design, and appear in a vast number of everyday objects, including children’s toys, food packaging, and tech products. Most plastics used by companies are made from an inorganic petroleum-based material called polyethylene terephthalate. Unlike organic materials, polyethylene terephthalate does not undergo biodegradation. According to an article published by The Balance Small Business, plastic items can take up to 1,000 years to decompose in landfills. Nike’s product design team has taken a great step in creating a sustainable design for their company. Last year, in partnership with Taiwanese architect, engineer, and CEO of Miniwiz, Arthur Huang, Nike has redesigned the packaging for their signature line of Air Max sneakers. The shoebox is made entirely of recycled plastics, primarily from drink containers and lids. It is lightweight and its design draws inspiration from the shoes themselves, taking the element of the iconic air bubble, and designing the box itself into an air bubble. It also serves a double function as a backpack or carries bag, allowing for consumers to continue to make use of the shoebox to after purchase, rather than simply discarding it. Huang stated that his work is all about “turning pollution into a solution for the future.” Nike’s redesign of their shoeboxes marks a major step in the direction of sustainable product design. This is especially groundbreaking coming from a company as large and influential as Nike, a company in the Dow Jones 30, signaling that even the largest corporations are moving in the direction of better sustainable product development.
While some companies like Nike are looking to reuse plastics to keep them out of landfills, other designers are looking to eliminate them entirely. One team of product designers based out of Egypt’s Nile University is looking into alternative materials to substitute polyethylene terephthalate. They are utilizing chitosan, which is a material found in the shells of many crustaceans- primarily shrimp- and turning it into thin films of biodegradable plastic-like material. Professor Irene Samy, head of the Nile University research team stated, “If commercialized, this could really help us decrease our waste…and it could help us improve our food exports because the plastic has antimicrobial and antibacterial properties.”The use of this chitosan-based bioplastic would not only reduce plastic waste but would also reduce food waste, as the source of the chitosan- the shells of shrimp- are otherwise discarded. According to an article by Design Indaba, Egypt imports some 3,500,000 kilograms of shrimp and is left with 1,000,000 kilograms of shrimp shell waste. This innovation in bioplastics by these designers at Nile University could do a great deal for reducing both plastic and food waste.
Pain-Point
Many major companies are beginning to make great strides towards more environmentally conscious product design and becoming more sustainable as a whole. Nike seems to be one of the frontrunners in this transformation. According to an article by Technology and Operations Management at Harvard Business School, “To minimize waste in 2015, Nike used 54 million pounds of factory scrap and transformed it into premium material. Additionally, the company reduced water use per unit in footwear by 43%. These initiatives introduced Nike’s Closed Loop Ecosystem, a new method for designing, finishing, and processing materials.”Nike’s development of their reusable Air Max shoeboxes is just the latest in their many strides towards sustainable design. Bioplastics are shaping up to be the sustainable material of the future, but while the Nile University team succeeded in developing prototype chitosan products, they hadn’t managed to map out a plan for mass production to make the material feasible for large companies to use. Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have taken up that aspect of the bioplastics industry, developing a method to carry out large-scale manufacturing of everyday objects using the chitosan bioplastic. However, a major issue challenging the future of chitosan bioplastics is the affordability of petroleum-based plastic. According to an article by HowStuff- Works, bioplastic tend to cost 10 to 20 percent more than petroleum-based plastics, making the latter seem to be the financially sensible choice for businesses and corporations. The article also states that “The industrial processes for making petrochemical plastic have been in place for decades, so the production chain is very efficient.” This suggests that the final step for this sustainable designers is to map out a plan for more efficient mass production of these bioplastics and to come up with solutions that will make it more affordable, thus encouraging manufacturers to substitute their petroleum-based plastics for chitosan bioplastics.
Conclusion
Product designers play an integral role in developing sustainable, environmentally conscious consumer goods. Our world as it stands today is faced with global warming melting ice- caps in the Arctic, air pollution blocking out the sun in China and literal seas of garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean. Being environmentally friendly is no longer just an option for any corporation or even any of us as mere civilians. The urgency for companies to make major changes in the name of sustainability grows with every passing day, and their product designers stand at the forefront of this movement for change.
Works Cited
Advanced Science News. “Large-scale Manufacturing of Chitosan Bioplastics.” Advanced Science News. March 07, 2014. Accessed December 12, 2018. https://www.advancedsciencenews.-com/large-scale-manufacturing-of-chitosan-bioplastics/.
Awadalla, Nadine. “Egyptian Researchers Turn Shrimp Shells into Biodegradable Plastic.” Reuters. March 02, 2017. Accessed December 13, 2018. https://www.reuters.com/article/us- egypt-environment-plastic-idUSKBN169179.
Diegel, Olaf, Sarat Singamneni, Stephen Reay, and Andrew Withell. “Tools for Sustainable Product Design: Additive Manufacturing.” Journal of Sustainable Development 3, no. 3 (2010). doi:10.5539/jsd.v3n3p68.
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Hoeven, Diederik Van Der. “Chitosan, a Sleeping Giant Waiting to Be Woken.” Bio-Based Press. January 14, 2018. Accessed December 12, 2018. https://www.biobasedpress.eu/2017/08/chi- tosan-a-sleeping-giant-waiting-to-be-woken/.
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long-does-it-take-garbage-to-decompose-2878033.
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McLennan, Jason F. The Philosophy of Sustainable Design. Kansas City, MO: EcoTone, 2006.
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Image Sources
Mushroom-based modelling kit allows users to grow their own designs
https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/waste-management-has-not-kept-kathmandus-fast-growth
http://time.com/3879873/throwaway-living-when-tossing-it-all-was-all-the-rage/
