Memorandum by Philips Consumer Electronics
(PCE)
GENERAL REMARKS
The evidence given here refers to electrical
and electronic products. For other product categories the evidence
is not necessarily identical.
In the considerations below, there is focus
on waste. Issues are however discussed against the background
of the total life cycle of products which includes the production,
transport and use phase as well. In the "life cycle hierarchy"
waste often has a subordinate position.
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?
Design for materials reduction and materials
substitution (for materials with a lower environmental impact)
are important Ecodesign strategies. These strategies result mostly
in waste reduction as well. Best knowledge and know-how in this
field are with producers, however most of this is proprietary.
What factors influence the use of materials? In
what way do considerations of sustainability feature in the selection
of most commonly used materials?
Application of materials is in the first instance
determined by maximising value creation. Value includes functionality
value, economic value but also immaterial value (convenience,
health and safety, etc) and emotional value (quality feel, "green",
feel good etc). Sustainability aspects of materials play an important
role in last named two categories of value, but do not dominate
in the total package of design decisions to be made.
To what extent do product designers and engineers
take into account the availability and the end of life impacts
of raw materials?
For companies seriously involved in Ecodesign
(like Philips) availability and end-of-life impacts of raw materials
play an important role in design decisions. These are balanced
however with other life cycle aspects of electronic products like
energy consumption of products in the production or the use phase.
This means that in some cases one aspect (one "impact category")
has to be sacrificed for others.
What impact does the development of new materials
have on design? How much interaction is there between material
scientists and designers?
The availability of new materials and new components
has a big impact on the life cycle impact of products including
waste aspects. Examples are for instance LED lighting, LCD TVs
and monitors etc.
Can better designed products offset the increase
in consumption?
In principle yes (materials reduction), in practice
often no. The weight reduction of portable phones has been more
than offset by the increase by the numbers sold. For LCD TV which
has a lower weight than the traditional CRT TV, the effect has
been largely offset by the fact that bigger screen sizes are being
bought.
Are there any other gaps in knowledge and how
are they being addressed?
Knowledge in the field is chiefly based on empirics,
although can be consolidated into some general principles and
design rules. Real fundamental research in this field is lacking,
because the field is new and for new research projects, universities
have to rely on external sponsors (which are mostly interested
in applied rather than in fundamental research).
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?
The current policy, regulatory and legal framework
only partly supports the development of more sustainable products
and processes. European Directives (from which Member States'
legislation is derived) focus on special fields (like just waste)
lack, therefore, life-cycle focus. Moreover emphasis is strongly
on environment and proper balancing between value creation and
environmental load is lacking. This lack of the right perspective
has made communication to business cumbersome. Moreover there
are justified doubts whether the implementation of the Directives
lead to maximum environmental gain at the minimum cost. There
is much to be improved in this field both in terms of content
and of communication.
How central is sustainable design to business
thinking? What initiatives are in place to encourage this and
are they meeting business needs?
In proactive companies sustainable design has
got an appropriate position in functionality value creation processes.
There are however no public initiatives to encourage industry-wide
real sustainability thinking in design processes. An European
Directive aiming to do so (EuP) is being felt by industry as partly
counter-productive. A scientific analysis (by the EcoDesign Department
at Delft University of Technology) of EuP confirms this idea.
What other measures can promote a focus on waste
reduction among businesses?
Waste reduction in production processes has
a natural driver: waste costs. Waste reduction of products sold
to the market and subsequently discarded by users is much more
complicated. In the reasons to discard products, a lot of issues
ranging from changes in personal life, increased functionality
ambitions and just wanting to have something new, play a much
bigger role than specific "design for waste reduction"
by producers. As already said this design for waste reduction
is subject to the overarching goal to optimising functionality
value.
What lessons can business learn from international
experience?
After a backlog in the last century, the UK
has caught up well in Ecodesign. At least in Europe it is now
up to par. The best country where valuable lessons can be learned
is Japan—it is to be realised that also there is a lot of
the Applied Ecodesign know-how and knowledge inside companies
(proprietary aspects).
GOVERNMENT POLICY
What is and should be the role of Government in
addressing the issue of waste reduction?
Governments in the European Union (including
the UK) are addressing the electronic waste issue through transpositions
of the WEEE and EuP Directives. However from the Directives it
has been recognised by the European Union that at least the WEEE
Directive contains serious flaws. This is because this Directive
is based on principles and ideas of 1995. The implementation started
10 years later due to the fact that approval procedures took so
long. In the meanwhile knowledge and insight have increased substantially.
The Directive has therefore been put up for Review. Through a
project with the United Nations University, guidance has been
provided how WEEE could be more effective and more simple to implement
so that the environmental gain/cost ratio will be substantially
higher. The Report has been submitted to the Commission but is
not yet public.
Future policies of Member States should be based
on the Review decisions of the Commission and on more information
in general provided by the report.
What lessons can be learnt from other countries—within
the EU and globally?
Positive elements as regards electronic waste
can be learned from Japan (as regards overall strategy, however
expensive), China (as regards selected issues), Switzerland (has
the best take back and recycling system for electronic waste from
an environmental perspective, expensive as well), the Netherlands
(has the most ecoefficient system, however environmentally not
the top) and Belgium (has the best collection system via strong
contacts with municipalities) and Germany (has the most competitive
recycling industry).
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
How can better product design be used to effect
a change in consumption patterns and behaviour?
Consumers go for value. In Western Europe "value"
means:
—
roughly one third of prospective buyers choose items
for nice design, "green", and quality;
—
for one third innovative, new, original and having
a lot of features is the top priority;
In this order the impact of product design and
green design decreases.
What role do marketing strategies play in influencing
more sustainable design?
Marketing strategies play a crucial role in
promoting more sustainable product. When sustainability is well
positioned in the value proposition to the consumers it can strongly
enhance the business. However there should be a fit with the the
segment of the market which the company is addressing. If for
instance price buyers are the chief target group, marketing on
basis of a sustainability platform can be very counter-productive.
Are there any gaps in knowledge in this area?
There are a lot of gaps in the knowledge of
how to involve consumers better in sustainability. The traditional
idea that green or sustainability is always positive is based
on superficial inquiries in which most consumers give "politically
correct" answers. When digging deeper, or as current buying
behaviour shows, it turns out that consumers are much more selfish
and not as green as supposed to be.
SKILLS
How is sustainable design integrated into the
design syllabus?
Sustainable design is a crossfunctional activity.
Universities and schools have therefore substantial difficulties
in integrating sustainability into their teaching curricula, this
is also reflected in books and syllabi about design in more general.
Books which are specifically geared towards sustainable design
are scarce and show generally more attention to the conceptual
and the support tool side than to practical examples how this
can be done.
To what extent are considerations of sustainable
waste reduction part of broader industrial training courses?
For industrial training courses the same holds—mutatis
mutandis—as for universities, see above.
November 2007
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