How products can improve the planet, people, and design a better world
Since the Industrial Revolution, our manufacturing has been on a mass scale. Economic growth has been based on our ability to extract and optimise our finite resources. After years of exploitation, denial, and misinformation, our environment is in crisis. Experts have warned us that our planet is facing an environmental disaster of our own making. Around the world, we are experiencing the effects of poor environmental and product design policies. Resource depletion, biodiversity loss, land and water degradation, and pollution are only a few issues that come to mind. All is changing the fragile balance of our ecosystem.
Increasing awareness of environmental concerns is spurring businesses to act. Measures have been created in an attempt to reduce their impact and that of their customers. This requires a complete rethink of the end-to-end design process.
It starts with product design
Contrary to conventional practice, respect for existing resources is critical to protecting our future. More progressive businesses have started their transition to building sustainable products. According to Cambridge dictionary, sustainability is defined as the quality of being able to continue over a period of time and the quality of causing little or no damage to the environment and therefore able to continue for a long time. Using the principles of sustainability, building better quality products, and improving resource efficiency can only drive progress.
Sustainable product design is the approach to creating products and services that have considered the environmental, social, and economic impacts from the initial phase through to the end of life. The basis of which is a focus on creating a circular economy and considers the entire product life cycle. Sustainable product design includes material inputs used, transportation, usage, and the disposal and recovery of end-of-life products.
This approach allows for the repurposing of materials to be used again in the production process where the selection process of material used includes its recyclability. The benefit of this approach is to minimise waste. Where materials are selected if there is an efficient way to collect and repurpose material in the manufacturing process. This must include recollection after usage as well as damaged products. My most recent experience in dealing with a damaged monitor made me question the company’s product design processes. There was no collection of damaged goods not captured under warranty and therefore no monitoring of product defects. Choosing not to create pathways for collecting and reporting on issues will not hide product flaws. Let the buyer beware.
Build products that last
Design quality shouldn’t be compromised. Creating generous product warranties and repair systems goes some way to building trust in a product. A profit-focused business model doesn’t support longevity in product design but that is what is needed. With the amount of product innovation and extensions being launched, products are often obsolete as they come off the assembly line. What is needed is systems allowing customers to upgrade their old products to the new versions. Or consider upgrading certain aspects of the product. For example have you ever wondered why disposable razor blades are higher priced than the original hand-held razor? Company’s don’t profit from the customer holding onto the hand-held razor. Instead, pricing is their lever in disincentivising the retention of products by making it cheaper to buy a newer version. In return, consumers became conditioned to accept single-use products and our full landfill pits are the end result.
Benefits of Sustainable Product Design in the Production Process
There are many upsides to using sustainable product design principles. In changing the way we think about design, we can build better systems that benefit the environment and create sustainable ecosystems. It challenges all product managers to design new products, processes, and pricing that encourages positive environmental and social behaviours.
By minimising the usage of resources used, we reduce landfill waste. We also prevent land and water contamination caused by landfills. We prevent greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning waste when the landfill option is no longer available.
We support an economy for recycled material. This reduces the cost price of recycled materials and supports cost efficiencies in the collection of recycled materials. Businesses must participate in this process. There must take ownership of the disposal of products they manufacture, during usage, and post usage. It is an opportunity for businesses to improve relationships with their customers through the extension of customer service and warranties. If all businesses adopted a sustainable design approach, we’d be better placed to design a world we want to live in.
