Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mrs. Dhami.

Thank you for joining me for your Design & Technology lesson today.

Now, the big question for today is what is the circular economy and what is life cycle assessment? So we're going to explore both of these concepts together using lots of examples that hopefully you may be familiar with.

So hard hats on, let's get cracking.

Our outcome for today is we will be able to explain circular economy and life cycle assessment using examples.

We have five keywords for our lesson today.

The first two I will address when we meet them throughout our slides.

However, let's quickly recap carbon emissions, which means the volume of carbon produced, contributing to global warming.

Obsolete, which is when a product is no longer used or useful.

And then design decisions, which are a deliberate choice to meet a requirement or solve a problem.

We have two learning cycles for our lesson today, circular economy and then life cycle assessment.

So let's get started with circular economy.

A product's life cycle can be defined as cradle to grave.

Let's take a closer look at that.

So we start with the raw materials, then we move to the design of the product, then the manufacturing and materials processing, distribution, product in use, and then finally, the disposal of the product.

Now notice the size of all these arrows are exactly the same as each other, and that's important for later on in our lesson.

Now this cradle to grave product life cycle is also known as a linear economy where the system has a clear starting and ending point, and you can see that in that clear long line.

Products are often used briefly, become obsolete.

Now, let's recap that word, it's one of our keywords, obsolete meaning when a product is no longer used or useful, and are then thrown away.

So when it's being thrown away, that is the grave of the product's life cycle.

So can you think of any products that might follow a linear economy, that are used briefly, become obsolete, and are then thrown away? Have a little think.

Pause the video, come back to me when you've got one or two examples.

Okay, hopefully you came up with a few examples.

Let's take a look at a few of mine.

So single use coffee cups that get filled up, you have the drink and then you throw it away.

Disposable nappies, again, single use.

Non-rechargeable batteries, again, once they've used, the battery charge the energy inside, they are then thrown away.

And lastly, fast fashion.

Fast fashion being clothes that are worn whilst they're in fashion, and then quite often thrown away after that.

These are all great examples of products that follow a linear economy.

Global sustainable development, defined by the United Nations aims to meet present needs without compromising future generations.

So it's thinking about what we need now without compromising our grandchildren, your grandchildren, their grandchildren, so that future generations can meet their needs and we don't spoil that.

So the 2015 Paris Agreement was the first global sustainable development pact, focusing on reducing greenhouse gases and emissions.

This encouraged designers to move away from a linear economy to a different approach called the circular economy.

So let's find out a bit more about the circular economy.

Designers are attempting to move away from a linear economy defined as cradle to grave.

And designers are moving towards a circular approach defined as cradle to cradle, notice the addition of the extra cradle there, or otherwise known as the circular economy.

And that's very clear to see the difference from linear to circular in both of those diagrams. We'll take a bit of a closer look in a couple of slide's time.

Time for our first check-in.

Finding ways to stop products becoming obsolete can be referred to as: A, circular economy, B, cradle to grave, C, cradle to cradle, or D, linear economy? Have a think, come back to me when you've got an idea.

Well done if you got A and C.

Ways to stop products becoming obsolete can be referred to as circular economy or cradle to cradle.

So let's take a closer look at the circular economy in comparison to a linear economy.

So they both start off with raw materials in the grey box.

It then moves to design, but notice the addition of redesign here because of course this diagram goes in a circle.

So once the product's gone through the product life cycle, it might move back to redesign instead.

So then we move on to manufacture and materials processing, the same as a linear economy.

We then move to distribution, again the same.

We then move to product in use, again the same.

But notice the next two, we have repair and maintenance and recycling.

We also have waste in there, but we'll come back to that in a second.

So the introduction of repair & maintenance and recycling aims to reduce the environmental impact.

And you'll notice those two were not in a linear economy.

Now after recycling, it moves back to the design section that we said just a moment ago where actually the product might be redesigned to go back through a new product life cycle.

It is the aim of keeping products and materials in circulation and reducing the amount of waste.

So that brings us to the yellow waste arrow.

Now notice the size of the arrow here.

This is why earlier on I asked you to look at the size of all the arrows in a linear economy because all of the arrows, if you remember, were the same size as each other.

Whereas now when we move to the circular economy because of repair and maintenance, because of recycling and because of redesign, the waste then becomes smaller.

So this reduces waste by ensuring the whole product is not disposed of or the product does not become obsolete.

Let's take that last little bit, it says the whole product is not disposed of.

That's because certain parts of it in the green section might be recycled.

So just take note, that waste arrow is a lot, lot smaller.

Time for a quick check-in.

Which title fits in the dark green segment of the circular economy? Is it A, product in use, B, waste, C, disposal, or D, recycling? Have a little think, come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you got D.

The missing title in the dark green segment is, of course, recycling.

The circular economy can be defined, and this is one of our keywords, can be defined as an economic system where products and materials are kept in circulation and do not become waste.

And that ties beautifully in with the description that we were looking at on a previous slide where we said that the waste is a lot, lot smaller in size in comparison to all of the other arrows.

It is the part in the system where we are trying to minimise.

Products that follow the circular economy are those that consider their impact upon the environment.

Right, have a little think.

Can you think of a couple of examples here of products that do follow the circular economy? Pause the video, come back to me when you've had a think and hopefully with a couple of examples.

Okay, let's draw back together.

Hopefully that's given you a bit of time to think of some examples.

Here are a few of mine.

Bags for life.

We are encouraged to use those again and again until they wear out, so there's less chance of them becoming waste.

This is my daughter's coat, the inside of it, and there is space for her to write her name.

But if you notice on the next line there's space for the next person to write their name, and after that, the next person.

So it says just underneath that last name, it says please, "Pass me on when you are done." So we are being encouraged rather than fast fashion, we are being encouraged to recycle and pass on clothes so that they do not become waste.

Rechargeable ports.

Now, we said with a linear economy, disposable batteries follow a linear economy.

So products that have rechargeable ports where we do not need to replace them with new batteries but can simply charge them up are great examples of the circular economy system.

And that's a little nightlight that I have in my hallway for my kids so that they can see in the middle of the night.

We looked at disposable nappies being examples of a linear economy on previous slides because they have to be thrown away.

Whereas reusable nappies are nappies that can be washed and then reused, so hence why they follow the circular economy, because it's creating less waste and keeping the product in circulation.

Onto Task A, part one, I'd like you to define what a linear economy is, and then fill in the gaps in the diagram.

Part two, I'd like you to define what the circular economy is, and then fill in the gaps in the diagram again.

Good luck, come back to me when you've got some great answers.

So for part one, a linear economy can be defined as cradle to grave.

The system has a starting point and an ending point with products often becoming obsolete and being thrown away.

And the missing sections was the second one, design, the fourth one, distribution, and lastly, we had disposal.

Part two, this circular economy can be defined as an economic system where products and materials are kept in circulation and do not become waste.

And if you take a little look at the diagram, we start with raw materials, we move to design and redesign, manufacture & materials processing, distribution, product in use, repair & maintenance, and recycling, which then would lead back to design and redesign.

And of course the yellow one, we have the smaller arrow being waste rather than disposal.

Well done if you got those correct.

Part three, I would like you to sort the products below into examples of either a linear economy or this circular economy.

So we have a compostable bag, a bagel packaging, reusable bottles, rechargeable lights, disposable nappies, alkaline batteries, fast fashion, encouraging clothes reuse, plastic cup, and reusable nappy.

Now you will recognise some of these from the slides and some you won't, so try and apply the same principles.

Good luck, come back to me when you've got some answers.

So hopefully for part three, for linear economy, hopefully you identified disposable nappies, bagel packaging, plastic cups, alkaline batteries, which tend to be the disposable batteries, and then fast fashion.

Whereas for the circular economy, hopefully you got the compostable bag, reusable bottles, rechargeable lights, encouraging clothes for reuse, and reusable nappies.

Well done with all of your hard work.

Onto learning cycle two, life cycle assessment.

Life cycle assessment, otherwise known as or abbreviated to LCA, is where the environmental impact is assessed at every single stage of the product's life cycle so that through design decisions, the environmental impacts can be reduced.

Now, please take note of those words that I've put in green saying every single stage, it's a common misconception that the environmental impact can only happen at the end of a product's life when actually it can happen at every single stage, which is why life cycle assessment is so important.

However, design decisions often need to be made at the design or redesign stage because then they impact the environmental impact at consequent stages.

And we're gonna look at that in a bit more detail during this cycle of our lesson.

So how do we carry out life cycle assessment? We can assess the following at every stage of the product's life cycle.

We can assess the sources of energy used, the amount of energy required, and the amount of carbon emissions.

So let's have a quick check-in.

What can be used to make a life cycle assessment judgement ? Is it A, amount of energy required, B, the amount of carbon emissions produced, C, design decisions, or D, sources of energy? Have a think, come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you've got A, B and D.

To make a life cycle judgement , we need to look at the amount of energy required, the amount of carbon emissions produced, and the sources of energy used.

Let's start at the raw material stage.

So at the raw material stage, extraction and processing can use huge amounts of energy and produce a lot of carbon emissions.

So for example, if we process iron ore into steel, that uses huge amounts of energy and produces loads of carbon emissions.

Same with processing crude oil into polymers.

What design decisions could be made to reduce the environmental impact at this stage, the raw material stage of the product's life cycle? So life cycle assessment might identify high temperatures are required to heat, melt and mix the raw material, producing high volumes of carbon emissions.

So a design decision could be that they use recycled materials instead, which might use much lower temperatures to heat and to melt and a lower volume of carbon emissions.

Life cycle assessment may also notice that non-renewable sources of energy are often used, producing high volumes of carbon emissions.

So the design decision could be to use renewable sources of energy instead.

Let's move to the distribution stage of the circular economy.

So transportation during distribution creates huge amounts of carbon emissions, often with products travelling huge distances between manufacture and use.

So to reduce this, locating manufacture close to the location of sales will therefore reduce the distance needing to be travelled, which reduces the amount of carbon emissions produced.

Sticking with the distribution stage, so internet shopping has become a massive thing recently, and lots of us are ordering off the internet and receiving our products delivered to our homes.

My question to you is have you ever opened a parcel to find the smallest of products inside the largest of boxes? Take a little look at this picture.

This is a torch that I ordered for my daughter, and you can see the size of the packaging in comparison to the product.

Now think of the delivery driver.

Think of the amount of boxes that they could fit into their van at that size in comparison to the amount of boxes that they could fit in if that torch was actually packaged tightly around the actual product.

A lot more torches could fit in that delivery van if they were more mindful of the packaging.

Therefore, mindful use of packaging or designing products to be more lightweight or flat pack or stackable can reduce the amount of required transportation because more products can fit onto one bit of transportation and then consequently reduces the amount of carbon emissions.

So what design decisions could be made to reduce the environmental impact at the distribution stage of the circular economy? So life cycle assessment might identify the types of vehicles being used.

So the design decision could be perhaps to use hybrids or electric vehicles.

And we can see a lot of vehicles are swapping to this recently.

Location of manufacturer in comparison to the place of sale might be identified with life cycle assessment.

And the decision, as we saw a couple of slides ago, was to locate manufacturing, to locate manufacturing unit in the country or county of the sale instead so that the product hasn't got to travel long distances.

And lastly, just like the torch, life cycle assessment might identify the volumes of products to be transported and the design decision might be to flat pack products to reduce size and enable more to be transported.

And what I mean by flat pack, if you think of a wardrobe, if you think how many wardrobes could fit into one lorry, let's say that's 10.

Whereas if you flat packed those wardrobes, it would be a lot, lot more compact and probably you could easily double the amount of wardrobes that could fit into a lorry.

So that's what we mean about flat packing products to reduce the size, therefore less transport needed and less carbon emissions produced.

Jun says, "Environmental impact only occurs when products are disposed.

Is Jun's statement true or is it false? Have a think, come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you got false.

And why is that? Environmental impact can occur throughout a product's life cycle, be it linear or circular economy.

Life cycle assessment considers a product's impact on the environment at every stage of a product's life cycle, and we've just seen that in the distribution stage.

Let's move to the product in use stage of the circular economy.

So some products are purposely designed to last a short period of time so that new products are purchased.

This increases the amount of energy required for manufacture and consequently the carbon emissions.

Now a great example of this are products that children outgrow.

So you can see my children here on two different chairs.

The one on the left, which my daughter is sat in, is a tiny chair designed for her age group, but my son is only three years older, yet he can no longer fit in that seat that my daughter can.

So as children grow, they soon outgrow seating made for their age group.

So making products to last a longer time therefore will reduce the environmental impact of not requiring extra products.

Sticking with the product in use stage, this is a child's seat.

Now this child's seat, you can see it's got a play attachment on the top of it.

So the child can sit there, have a little play with the toys while keeping them entertained perhaps while the parents are doing something else.

Now that play attachment can be removed so that then the child can use this a bit like a highchair as a place for them to be able to eat.

But then that tray can be removed, so it can be just a seat.

Perhaps they could have a cuddly toy or something while they're sat in there.

And lastly, that green part there you can see is an insert and that can be removed.

Now the reason that that can be removed is when the child grows, the product will still be able to be used with them even when they get a little bit older, so it's a removable insert.

I've put here, some baby sits are designed to have multiple functions such as play and eating, but with removable inserts to allow products to grow with the user and extend their product life or use.

This is a great consideration for the product in use stage.

How can they make a product to grow with the user? Let's collate those design decisions at the product in use stage of a product's life cycle.

So have a think, what could be identified as the life cycle assessment points and what design decisions could be made? Think back to the previous slides.

Have think, come back to me when you've got an answer.

Okay, so we identified through life cycle assessment that multiple products are sometimes required to be manufactured.

Therefore, a design decision could be to design products with multiple functions, just like the play and eating design decision for that baby's child seat.

Another life cycle assessment identification may that products become obsolete once a user has grown and are likely to be thrown away, just like that seat that you saw that only my daughter fits on now.

So the design decision could be to design products to grow with the user to extend product life or use.

So perhaps a chair that can grow or get slightly bigger, and they have been invented actually, could be used and encouraged for families to use with children so that they don't end up throwing away products that are only designed for small children.

Onto Task B, part one, I would like you to define what life cycle assessment is.

Part two, the diagram shows the stages of the circular economy, which I'm sure you're very familiar with now.

What I'd like you to do is match the following methods of reducing environmental impact to the correct stages of the diagram.

So A, the use of hybrid vehicles, B, the use of recycled materials, C, flat pack products, and D, a product with multiple functions.

Now you may find it matches more than one stage, and that's absolutely fine if that's what you find out.

Good luck, come back to me when you've got some great answers.

Part one, life cycle assessment is where the environmental impact is assessed at every single stage of the product's life cycle.

Part A, well 2A, the use of hybrid vehicles fits beautifully into the distribution stage.

Part B, the use of recycled materials fits beautifully both into the raw materials, but also the design or redesign stage because that's when those decisions would be made for which materials to use.

Part C, flat pack products would appear in the design or redesign stage, but also the distribution because obviously it would affect the amount of vehicles needed, which would lower the carbon emissions, which fits beautifully into distribution.

But those decisions about making it flat pack would be needed to be made in the design or redesign section.

And lastly, a product with multiple functions.

Of course, that would be great in product in use because it gives it extended use with multiple ideas and ways of it being used.

But again, those decisions would need to be made in the design or redesign stage too.

Part three, life cycle assessment is a process of evaluating the impact of a product on the environment throughout its life cycle.

So transporting products uses energy.

Explain two ways that energy can be reduced in the distribution of this product, which is the polypropylene chair.

You might be sat on one at the minute at school.

Have a go, come back to me when you've got an answer.

Let's take a look at model answer.

So the polypropylene chairs could be manufactured close to where they are going to be sold.

This would reduce the required distance of transportation and the subsequent carbon emissions produced through minimised transportation.

They could make the design decision to be stackable so that during distribution they can be packaged in stacks rather than individually.

This would reduce the amount of containers required to hold a given amount, therefore reducing the amount of transportation required and the subsequent carbon emissions produced through minimised transportation.

Hopefully you remembered to include two points, but you also hopefully managed to explain those two.

Well done with all of your efforts.

This brings us to the end of our lesson today.

Let's summarise what we have found out.

A linear economy or cradle to grave is a linear approach to a product's life cycle where the system has a starting and ending point with products often becoming obsolete and being thrown away.

The circular economy or cradle to cradle can be defined as an economic system where products and materials are kept in circulation and do not become waste.

Life cycle assessment is where the environmental impact is assessed at every single stage of the product's life cycle so that through design decisions, the environmental impacts can be reduced.

Well done with all of your hard work today and hopefully see you in another lesson soon.

Take good care.