Memorandum by Forum for the Future
BETTER DESIGN
AND THE
USE OF
MATERIALS
What role can better design and materials play
in minimising the creation of waste? Are there any barriers to
how knowledge in this area can best be translated and applied?
It can play a role, but one should be aware
of panaceas and general rules of thumb. The often quoted one here
is that 80 per cent of the environmental impact is dictated (and
can be designed out) at the design stage. Actual experiences suggest
that this may be distracting, that all waste reduction problems
are not design problems and that there are a serious amount of
things to do even before you go upstream. Electronic recycling
is one example of that (where it is not design, but the recycling
technologies and policy landscape that affect the efficiencies
and rates). Paint tin recycling is another similar case where
design changes are negligible in comparison to improving the efficiencies
of collection and recycling facilities. Recommendation—starting
from the specific context, material and waste stream is everything.
What factors influence the use of materials? In
what way do considerations of sustainability feature in the selection
of most commonly used materials?
A general question this—but sustainability
most frequently links to material choice through cost and efficiency
issues ie using less, costs less. Two trends building on this
are that retailers are starting to consider and drive change in
material selection of their purchased services (M&S, B&Q)
and leadership work is beginning to transfer material and resource
issues into carbon savings or footprints. In general though, material
selection and resource efficiency are forgotten pieces of the
sustainability jigsaw with all the emphasis on carbon and climate
change.
To what extent do product designers and engineers
take into account the availability and the end of life impacts
of raw materials?
It is not clear whether availability of resource
is a major driver (unless linked to real resource scarcity or
some other emotive issue ie palm oil). End of life is an issue,
but massively driven by the policy framework, such as recycling
schemes, take back, etc.
What impact does the development of new materials
have on design? How much interaction is there between material
scientists and designers?
It does not drive it too much, but these are
new issues that material scientists can and are using to justify
their work as well as new applications.
Can better designed products offset the increase
in consumption?
Only marginally. It can help to reduce individual
resource intensity per unit of consumption (product), but for
big and real changes we need new consumption systems, ways to
deliver service, well-being and utility to people. Probably a
new way to organise production and consumption. There is also
no substitute for policy change driving changes to consumption.
We are kidding ourselves if we think people will "buy their
way out of trouble|"
Are there any other gaps in knowledge and how
are they being addressed?
We may be misinterpreting the term "design"
in all this. We need to interpret it in its broad, rather than
narrow sense. We tend to think that any early stage, strategic
design that will design out the unsustainability in the first
place will be done by designers. This is not the case or will
be. This form of influential "design" is done from many
and varied places within companies (the CEO, marketing, R&D,
strategy, etc). A knowledge gap would be to help people identify
where these influential sustainable design places actually are.
We need to have meaningful discussions about
the end versus front-of-pipe argument in terms of waste reduction.
BUSINESS FRAMEWORK
Does the current policy, regulatory and legal
framework support and incentivise the development of better, more
sustainable products and processes? How is the framework communicated
to businesses and what is the level of awareness and understanding
among businesses?
In general it is a bit compliance-focused, driving
minimum standard. It would be great to have more policy development
that drives real transformation rather than incrementalism. Two
ways to think of this are WRAP (which is good, but at best incremental)
versus DTI Innovation funding (which is at least seed funding
some interesting industrial experiments on waste reduction and
sustainable design). Much more of the latter is preferable.
How central is sustainable design to business
thinking? What initiatives are in place to encourage this and
are they meeting business needs?
Sustainable design thinking and awareness is
really, really low. Work on sustainable design/innovation is only
just starting to take off. It's a fantastic time, but Forum for
the Future are really at the cutting edge of this leadership work.
Most other sustainable design is of the type promoted and supported
by WRAP or Envirowise. It is OK, but not very ambitious, visionary
or inspiring and driven by compliance. In terms of delivering
a sustainable future we have little hope.
What other measures can promote a focus on waste
reduction among businesses?
Carbon/climate change seems the current flavour
of the month. How about linking waste reduction more to that?
What lessons can business learn from international
experience?
Japan is much more aggressive in its waste reduction
policy and industry practice, and lots can be learned from them.
Not least in their ambitious policies.
GOVERNMENT POLICY
What is and should be the role of Government in
addressing the issue of waste reduction?
More inspiring examples, pilot projects and
cases of how we could get radical and be visionary around waste
reduction. Let us look at some ways to radically rethink production
and consumption systems driven by dramatic waste reduction targets.
How does Government policy link up with European
strategies and action plans?
What lessons can be learnt from other countries—within
the EU and globally?
Cultural issues from other countries. The importance
of political leadership and brave policies which might initially
be unpopular and controversial.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
How can better product design be used to effect
a change in consumption patterns and behaviour?
It can influence, but there are all sorts of
and perhaps better ways to change consumption and behaviour. We
are currently overemphasising information and choice to consumers.
Will carbon labels or health warnings on airline tickets really
stop people flying? It is doubtful; there are other and better
ways to do this. Let us choose our battles carefully in terms
of product design and consumption.
What role do marketing strategies play in influencing
more sustainable design?
Potentially huge; practically, not so much other
than the few leadership cases such as UK retailers at the moment.
Are there any gaps in knowledge in this area?
A sensible discussion and identification of
where product design can really help here. A blanket policy on
sustainable product design promoting consumption changes is not
favourable, but there are areas where it can help. Let us start
there first.
SKILLS
How is sustainable design integrated into the
design syllabus?
In several and various ways. Please note that
in certain cases this is driven significantly by the personal
interests of the students, not the vision or commitment of the
staff or institutes. There are three models:
1.
The stand-alone sustainable design course (this is
the old model, but seems to be dying off in the UK now).
2.
The module or project integrated into the existing
design course (a growing number of courses are doing this now).
3.
The sustainable module or project integrated into
a non-design course (a couple of MBAs are playing with this idea.
It helps if design is recognised in the first instance).
It would be helpful to refer to the Design Council's
recent review and recommendations on Design Skills[22]—which
Forum for the Future worked on and input into. Our feeling is
that sustainable design is not quite as explicit as it should
be.
To what extent are considerations of sustainable
waste reduction part of broader industrial training courses?
Very little as far as we are aware.
Forum for the Future are also involved in the
following relevant projects and activities:
1.
Design and delivery of Zero Emissions paint systems[23]—with
ICI paints and Carillion (DTI funded) looking at innovative ways
to radically rethink and reduce waste and emissions from all parts
of the paint supply chain. Estimated yearly results from this
are:
— Landfill reduction—5000 tonnes;
— GHG reduction—11000 tonnes;
— Water savings—29000 tonnes.
3.
Waste Opportunity—The report, Wasted Opportunities,
was written for Tetra Pak—a major producer of liquid food
packaging, and a Forum business partner. It looked at why there
are such low levels of recycling of packaging in the UK.
4.
Individual sustainable design projects—of which
waste will be a factor—with several partners, such as Unilever,
SC Johnson, Calor, Philips.
22 http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/Design-Council/3/Publications/High-level-Skills-for-Higher-Value/ Back
23
http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/business/businesscasestudies_page88.aspx Back
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