Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mrs. Dhami.

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

Now, the big question for today is how can we redesign products to be more sustainable and to lessen their impact on the environment?

I've got an absolutely wonderful product to show you today, so let's get cracking.

Our outcome for today is we will be able to explain how products can be redesigned within the circular economy.

We have five key words today.

Circular economy is where products and materials are kept in circulation and do not become waste or become minimal waste.

Redesign.

Redesign is making design decisions to improve a product in some way.

Life cycle assessment, otherwise known as LCA, assesses the environmental impact at every stage of a product's life cycle.

Design decisions.

Design decisions are a deliberate choice to meet a requirement or solve a problem.

And lastly, iteration.

Iteration is refining or improving ideas.

We have two learning cycles today.

Firstly, redesign, and secondly, investigate where we're going to investigate that amazing product.

Let's start off with redesign.

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

And you can see that in the circular diagram there on the bottom right.

Now, if we zoom in to the blue section, which says, "Design or redesign," we have seen this section before for design, but today, we're visiting it for the redesign purpose.

So at the redesign stage, design decisions to reduce the environmental impact are usually made by carrying out life cycle assessment.

So let's remind ourselves what LCA is all about.

Life cycle assessment, often 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.

So let's remind ourselves how do we carry out LCA.

We can assess the following at every single stage.

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

LCA may inspire many design decisions for redesign.

And let's take a little closer look at some of these throughout the circular economy.

So starting with raw materials.

It might impact the material choices, so perhaps a redesign might happen by changing materials to be more environmentally friendly, such as using biopolymers.

If we zoom into the distribution stage, perhaps redesigning the product so that it's able to be flat-packed, assembled, or stacked.

That means more would be able to fit onto a container or a lorry, therefore, requiring less transportation and less carbon emissions.

Let's zoom into product-in-use stage.

Perhaps a redesign could include a different energy source, such as rechargeable batteries or renewable energy sources.

Zooming into repair and maintenance.

Perhaps a redesign could see a product using modular or standardized parts so that it's easy to fix part of it with standard tools that you might find around your house, or perhaps using a coin to open certain compartments, rather than needing to throw that product away.

And lastly, let's zoom into recycling.

Perhaps a design decision for redesign could be enabling products to be dismantled for recycling, or encouraging products to be passed on by changing that mindset with consumers and users.

Redesign may happen for a combination of reasons.

As we've already looked at, one reason might be LCA, decisions through LCA.

It might also be developments in materials.

New materials are being discovered and manufactured all of the time, therefore, they might be more suitable and more environmentally friendly.

Advancement of technology, same again, they're constantly being updated.

It might be from feedback from primary users or stakeholders about how they want the product to change, perhaps to change to their lifestyle.

Fashions or trends are obviously always changing, and then adhering to new or updated regulations that may not have been in place before.

Time for a quick check-in.

Andeep says, "Redesign for the circular economy only means making it recyclable.

" Is that statement true, or is that statement false?

Have a think.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you've got false.

And why is that?

Redesign for the circular economy goes beyond recyclability, including designing for repair and maintenance, using modular or standardized parts, reducing material use, or using sustainable materials, and making products durable.

Since October 2020, single-use polymer straws have been banned as part of the government's efforts to reduce polymer pollution and protect the environment.

Can you think what the redesign was?

Have a think.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you got paper straws or perhaps metal straws.

So this ban from the government created a redesign into paper straws.

However, I don't know if you've ever used a paper straw.

They tend to go a little bit soggy, don't they?

So negative user feedback triggered another redesign into reusable metal straws.

Users and designers place greater value on sustainability and reusing with a real big shift away from the previous thinking of a throwaway society.

Now, the throwaway society means where many products were designed for one-off use.

And this throwaway coffee mug is a perfect example of this.

It is designed to be used once and then thrown into the bin.

The same with disposable nappies.

Opportunities for redesign include things such as reusable mugs, reusable boxes for lunchboxes, reusable nappies made out of material, and then zero-waste shops have started to crop up more recently, where they sell products where users refill their own packaging.

So you don't buy it in any packaging, it just comes in a big tube or a big box, and you go and fill up as much as you need, and as much as you require without using any extra packaging.

What a great concept.

Take a little look at this play equipment, not too sure what you call it.

Roundabout spinning top, something like that.

Well, anyway, these are my two kids, and they were having a great time playing on this piece of play equipment, and I noticed that it was made out of recycled polymers.

And if you can see in that zoom in, you'll be able to see it a little bit more clearly.

I thought what a great idea.

Using recycled products in everyday products that lots of people use are fantastic.

So, redesigns often consider raw materials and how recycled materials can be used, such as play equipment like above, toilet rolls, clothing, and shoes made from recycled materials such as PET bottles, paper, fishing nets, and old tires.

Now, a very well-known sports brand you may know of, they actually use recycled plastics that have been gathered from the sea in some of their soles, which I think is also a lovely idea.

Modular design, or modular redesign, is a great way to make a more sustainable product.

So let's recap and remind ourselves what the term modular design means.

So, modular design is a design approach where a product is made up of separate, interchangeable parts or modules, right?

Let's relate this to a mobile phone.

If you happen to own a mobile phone, just take a minute.

Have you ever broken your screen?

I have.

Have you ever broken your camera?

I have.

Has the charging port ever been broken?

Has the battery ever stopped charging to full capacity, or the charge only lasting a very small amount of time?

I imagine we've had a lot of hands up there.

Some phone companies, these days, are producing phones that are modular, so that means rather than having to throw away the phone if part of it, such as the screen or the camera or the battery breaks, instead, they're designing them to be modular so that you can just replace that part instead of replacing the whole thing.

It's great because it empowers us as users to repair and maintain our products and reduce the amount of waste going into the environment.

As I put here, this has become fashionable, whilst sustainable, by extending the product's life.

Examples aren't just phones, but can be clothing, accessories, and also headphones.

What a great idea.

Quick check-in.

Which redesign strategy helps extend the life of a product?

A, designing it to go out of fashion quickly.

B, requiring specialist tools to repair.

C, using durable materials that resist wear and tear.

Or D, modular design that allows parts to be replaced.

Have a think.

Come back to me when you've got a good idea.

Well done if you've got C and D, using drawable materials that resist wear and tear, and modular design that allows parts to be replaced, extends the life of a product.

Onto task A, Part 1.

I'd like you to match the main reason for redesign to the product.

Now I say the main reason, and I'll put that in a purple color, because quite often, there's more than one reason.

But I want you to think about the main reason for redesign.

So, the products we have are metal straws, reusable water bottles, biopolymer fast-food packaging, electric cars, flat-pack parasols, and modular phones.

Reasons for redesign.

And remember, I want you to pick the main one.

We have fashion or trends, advancement of technologies, LCA, focusing on repair and maintenance, developments in materials, adhering to new regulations, and LCA, focusing on distribution.

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

Let's take a look at our answers.

And remember, we are looking for the main reason for the redesign of the product.

So if we start with metal straws, the reason for redesign may be to adhere to new regulations such as the government ban.

Reusable water bottles.

Now, one of the reasons for redesign is for fashion or trends.

And I can think of the one that my son is absolutely desperate to have just because all of his friends in his class have that particular bottle.

I wonder which one you guys would probably like.

Biopolymer fast-food packaging.

Now that's quite recent.

That is a development in materials.

Electric cars could be an advancement of technologies.

Flat-pack parasols could be LCA life cycle assessment because if you make them flat pack, you can fit more into a lorry, therefore, focuses on the distribution stage.

And lastly, the modular phone that could, the main reason for that could be repair and maintenance from LCA, because rather than replacing the whole phone, you could replace a part, such as the charging port.

Well done with your hard work on that.

Onto learning cycle 2, Investigate.

This is my favorite one.

Let's get cracking.

Put your hand up if you own one of these.

Sam says, "Yes, we have one.

I put on a load of washing each night for my family in between my homework.

" Sam, I am looking forward to my children being able to do that when they get to your age.

Jacob says, "I pop to the laundrette once a week to use one with my dad.

" So my question to you is, how could you wash your clothes without electricity, without laundrettes, and without access to a machine?

I'd like you to pause the video, have a little bit of a think, perhaps talk to the person next to you.

When you've had that chance, come back to me, and we'll move on to the following slide.

Take a little look at some of the pictures I took on my travels.

These are the ghats in Mumbai in India.

Basically, clothes from the local hotels are bought here to be scrubbed and washed by hand.

Not a machine in sight.

Look at the sheer volume of washing being bought in on that picture on the left.

Then you can see the man there scrubbing at those clothes.

Each of those little sections contain water.

And you can see that man on the right there having a wash himself in that heat.

And I put down here, it's labor-intensive in the intense heat.

I couldn't even stand in that heat.

I had to stand in the shade.

Yet, these people were scrubbing in that intense heat.

Therefore, this creates a design opportunity.

Let's remind ourself.

A design opportunity is a chance for a problem to be solved through design.

Another slide, another country.

This is Kathmandu in Nepal.

Again, not a washing machine in sight.

These women are washing their family's clothes by hand, and if you look closely, they are scrubbing them on the rocks of the temple.

I took these pictures because I just thought, "Wow, it is such hard work to wash clothes.

" Something that, quite often, we take for granted by being able to have access to electricity and access to a washing machine.

Therefore, this creates a design opportunity.

We stick in Nepal for this slide.

This is a river in Nepal.

What I'd like you to do is pause the video, and have a little look what can you see within this picture?

Come a bit closer.

Look carefully, what exactly can you see?

Come back to me when you've got an idea.

Did you notice just there where I put a circle around, these are some bodies being cremated.

Now, once the bodies were cremated, the remains were then put into the river.

Then, did you manage to notice these clothes drying on that big rock on the bottom middle?

Those clothes had actually been washed in that river because access to clean water is often very limited in developing countries.

So they have to use whatever is in front of them.

Therefore, this creates a design opportunity.

Time for a check-in.

In developing countries, washing clothes without electricity is often labor something, and something to clean water can be a major challenge.

This provides many design opportunities.

Pause the video, have a think.

Come back to me when you've got an idea for both of those spaces.

Well done if you've got the word intensive and access.

So, in developing countries, washing clothes without electricity is often labor-intensive, and access to clean water can be a major challenge.

This provides many design opportunities.

And we are gonna take a look at those design opportunities now.

This is Navjot Sawhney.

Now, Navjot Sawhney identified similar design opportunities when he was on a sabbatical in India.

Living within the community, he also identified that many women and girls, such as his neighbor Divya, spend up to 20 hours a week washing clothes, often developed back pain whilst washing the clothes, and often developed skin irritation whilst also washing the clothes.

This is Sawhney's neighbor, Divya, spending hours and hours and hours washing clothes.

Sawhney promised his neighbor Divya that one day, he would make her a washing machine, and he didn't break that promise.

Navjot Sawhney is an engineer, and he responded to the design opportunity by designing the first manual washing machine.

And he named it after his neighbor, Divya.

What a great name for the washing machine.

Sawhney decided that his mission as The Washing Machine Project was to alleviate the burden of hand-washing clothes for billions across the world.

Jacob says, "How did The Washing Machine Project come up with the idea for the Divya washing machine?

" Great question, Jacob.

Sawhney identified the three essential elements needed for washing.

They are agitation, detergent, and time.

And he realized that a simple household item, the salad spinner, could provide all of them.

So to test the idea, he used it to wash his socks.

I thought I'd try the same.

So here is my mom using our salad spinner to wash my son's very, very dirty sock.

And Sawhney is exactly right.

The water came out dirty, and the sock came out clean.

Therefore, it worked.

So the iterations on the Divya began.

Let's remind ourselves.

Iterations means refinements and improvements.

So the refinements and improvements, the iterations began on the Divya washing machine.

So the first working manual washing machine that Sawhney created, he named the Divya 1.

Now, it was made outta repurposed chemical drums.

And you can see that's a bright blue part in the picture with a wood surround.

Now, 50 of these repurposed chemical drums were hand-built, and they were sent to Iraq, and they were successful.

They washed lots and lots of clothes.

However, there were design problems.

It was rugged, and it was too heavy to transport.

So, back to the redesign stage.

Then was born the Divya 1.

5.

And you can see this huge changes between the two.

No longer was the repurposed chemical drum used.

Instead, the main part was manufactured out of polymer purposely for the washing machine.

It got a wooden stand, and they added a gearbox for a spin cycle.

However, there was lots of feedback, and they noticed lots of design problems.

If it broke, it was really difficult to repair, and it was also extremely heavy to transport.

So, although it worked, there were problems.

And again, they went back to the redesign stage.

The latest redesign is called the Divya 1.

65.

Now, the sustainable redesign of the flat pack Divya took three years.

It didn't just happen overnight.

The Divya 1.

65 is full of iterations.

Remember that word, refinements and improvements.

So it's full of iterations, testing, and engineering refinement.

More than 3,000 families in Uganda, Kenya, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Cameroon, Jamaica, Nepal, India, and the Philippines were interviewed to gain feedback into their washing routines.

Wow, isn't that impressive?

Let's take a look now at how that feedback from those 3,000 people have influenced the design iterations of the Divya 1.

65.

So they decided The Washing Machine Project decided to build in a scrubber into the lid.

Now, if you take a little look at the picture on the left-hand side, you'll see it's got raised, almost squares inside the lid.

This creates a textured lid that helps to remove tough stains.

So, rather than using rough surfaces such as the rocks, like we saw in my traveling pictures in Nepal that were dirty at the time, instead, those people can scrub the washing against the textured lid instead.

Therefore, the process of scrubbing and washing is integrated into the washing machine.

They also included a faster-draining system.

Basically, they included a replaceable universal design of a tap, which reduces the drainage time by 50%, which allows more people to be able to use Divya within a day in communal settings.

'Cause often, the machine is shared between communities.

Also, including that universal design of the tap, means that if it breaks, it can easily be replaced, not with a specialist part, but with a universal design, that hopefully, people can get from lots of different places.

The redesign of the Divya 1.

65 also includes stronger, more durable rubber wheels, which makes it easier to move across any terrain.

Terrain that might be bumpy, might have rocks, might not be even.

This is important because many communities tend to share, so they move Divya from house to house.

Great redesign point.

My favorite feature about the Divya 1.

65 is that it can be flat-packed.

If you look back to the designs before the 1 and the 1.

5, they were both made with large, large polymer drums, which took up a awful lot of space for transportation.

Whereas the 1.

65 can be flat-packed, put into a nice, easy-to-manage and easy-to-move box.

More boxes can therefore fit onto a lorry or to a container.

Therefore, it makes transportation a lot, lot easier because you can fit more on, which lowers the carbon emissions, making it a more sustainable design.

What a fantastic redesign.

The sustainable life cycle assessment redesign of the Divya 1.

65 has impacted many stages of the circular economy.

Let's take a closer look.

We'll start with the manufacture and materials processing stage.

Then, this has been reduced incredibly by making it self-assembly.

So there are foldable metal tabs that enable self-assembly, and then thin metal sheets that can be rolled by hand into shape.

So they haven't got to make those huge polymer drums anymore.

It is self-assembly.

Let's zoom into the distribution stage.

We've talked about this on the last slide with the ability to now be flat-packed, reducing carbon emissions with transportation.

Let's zoom into the product in use stage.

This is all about minimizing water use.

So the Divya 1.

65 uses very minimal water, which is important in developing countries because access to water is not always easy, as we saw in Nepal, with that river water being used for so many different purposes.

They have also placed the door above the waterline on the washing machine, on the Divya, to avoid any leaks, to avoid not saving that very precious water.

Let's zoom into the repair and maintenance stage.

It has been intentionally under-engineered.

This is to reduce potential failures and increase durability.

Now let's put this into context.

The 1.

5 Divya had a gearbox, but they found loads and loads of problems with that, and it was difficult to repair.

Therefore, moving on to the Divya 1.

65, they took out that gearbox, so they purposely under-engineered it to reduce those failures.

And lastly, the recycling stage.

The Divya 1.

65 can be disassembled, using standard tools.

So tools that you would expect to find around it, doesn't need a specialist tool.

So it can be disassembled using standard tools into recyclable and reusable metal parts.

What a fantastic, sustainable redesign.

Time for a quick check-in.

Which of the following are sustainability benefits of The Washing Machine Projects Divya 1.

65?

A, can be disassembled using specialist tools.

B, reduces the amount of water required.

C, uses non-renewable energy, or D, ability to be flat-packed for distribution.

Have a think, come back to me when you've got some great ideas.

Well done if you got B and D, reduces the amount of water required and the ability to be flat-packed for distribution are both sustainability benefits of Divya 1.

65.

I absolutely love this image of the iterative design journey of the Divya washing machine.

Every single one on there from left to right, all work.

They all wash clothes, they just achieve it in a different way.

And this is the iterative journey where they have refined and made improvements along the way to make an even better product.

And I think this is so important because redesign does not mean that the product does not work or is not very good, it simply means that through iterations, a better way of doing something has been found.

And please remember that when you are designing something, you might not get it perfectly right.

There might be iterations that you need to make, but making iterations is part of the design journey into making a really successful product just like the Divya 1.

65.

And what an amazing design it is.

Let's take a look at The Washing Machine Project's impact.

So far, 14 countries have been reached, and I'm sure that will rise.

That includes refugee camps.

So, Divyas are being sent to refugee camps wherever these appear, and wherever there is a need.

Over 46,000 lives have been impacted.

What an incredible number.

Then, during washing, 75% of time has been saved, and 50% reduction in the amount of water that is required.

So the main washers in developing countries are women and girls, reducing rushing time by 75% has enabled women to earn a livelihood, and young girls to go to school.

What an incredible impact that The Washing Machine Project has had and will continue to have.

The Washing Machine Project is a fantastic example of not only sustainable design, but sustainable redesign, too.

Onto Task B.

Part 1, I'd like you to explain the design opportunities that Navjot Sawhney identified.

Part 2, I'd like you to explain two ways in which The Washing Machine Project Divya 1.

65 was redesigned to be more sustainable.

I'm sure you can find lots to write about there.

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

Part 1, I asked you to explain the design opportunities that Navjot Sawhney identified.

So, answers could include^ Navjot Sawhney saw that many people, especially women and girls, had to wash clothes by hand due to the lack of electricity.

This process was time-consuming, meaning women could not earn an income and girls could not go to school.

It was also physically demanding and often caused health problems such as back pain.

Part 2, I asked you how was the Divya 1.

65 redesigned to be more sustainable?

So answers could include, it's been made to be more durable and repairable.

So the Divya 1.

65 is built using simple, strong materials, and has few moving parts.

This makes it easy to repair and maintain with standard tools and fixings, which extends the product's life and reduces waste.

It's also been designed to be flat pack.

The Divya 1.

65 can be flat-pack for distribution, which means more units can be shipped at once.

This reduces carbon emissions from transportation and makes distribution more efficient and sustainable.

Part 3, I'd like you to choose a product that has been designed to improve lives in developing countries, and then redesign it to improve its use.

So you could use the Divya that we've talked about today, or you could choose another project that you are familiar with, such as the Energee-Saw that creates electricity to power lighting in school through play.

You could choose Style Her Empowered, which manufactures school uniform that can grow with the user by six hole sizes, meaning that you have to replace the uniform not very often.

Or you could choose the Hippo Roller that enables 90 liters of water to be rolled easily to communities without access to running water.

Or you could choose another product that you are familiar with.

I'm sure you'll come up with some amazing ideas.

Sophia chose to redesign the lid of the Hippo roller, so that a filter could attach into the lid when required, allowing the water to be filtered as it is rolled, because as we know, clean water improves health and hygiene within communities.

Let's take a little look at what she did.

Here is the filter attached to the lid.

If we zoom in, you can see the filter attaches and detaches if needs be, or perhaps it might need to be changed into a little slot of the lid.

A lovely, lovely idea, Sophia, well done.

Hopefully, you have produced some amazing ideas, and hopefully, you've had the chance to share them as well.

That brings us to the end of our lesson today.

Let's summarize what we have found out.

At the redesign stage, design decisions to reduce the environmental impact are usually made by carrying out a life cycle assessment.

Redesign may happen for a combination of reasons such as developments and materials, advancement of technology, feedback from primary users or stakeholders, fashions or trends, adhering to new regulations, or LCA, Life Cycle Assessment.

Navjot Sawhney set up The Washing Machine Project, designing the first flat-pack Divya washing machine, reducing the burden of washing clothes throughout the world.

An incredible design it is.

Well done with all of your hard work.

Take good care.

Bye-bye, bye.