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 life cycle assessment be used effectively to reduce the environmental impact of a product? And we're going to explore this with the really interesting life cycle of a plastic bottle.

So, hard hats on.

Let's get cracking.

Our outcome for today is we will be able to explain how life cycle assessment is used within design.

We have three keywords today.

Life cycle assessment, which is often abbreviated to LCA.

So LCA assesses the environmental impact at every stage of a product's life cycle.

We then have carbon emissions, which is the volume of carbon produced, contributing to global warming.

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

We have two learning cycles today.

First of all, LCA, standing for life cycle assessment, and then moving on to investigate.

Let's get cracking with LCA.

The diagram here shows a product's life cycle represented in a circular economy.

Now, 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 very minimal waste.

And we can see this clearly with the diagram how the yellow waste stage is a lot smaller and narrower than all the other stages.

That's trying to reduce waste in the circular economy.

Life cycle assessment uses the circular economy.

So 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 at any stage.

How do we carry out life cycle assessment? We can assess the following at each stage.

Sources of energy used, amount of energy required, amount of pollution and volume of carbon emissions.

Let's remind ourself what carbon emissions are, 'cause they're one of our keywords today.

Carbon emissions are the volume of carbon produced, contributing to global warming.

Therefore, we want to try and keep that down.

We can also assess the volume of waste.

Design decisions to reduce the environmental impact often need to be made at the design or redesign stage because then that has a knock-on impact on consequence stages.

So that design or redesign stage is incredibly important.

Time for a quick check-in.

What can be used to make a life cycle assessment judgement ? A, the amount of energy required, B, the amount of carbon emissions produced, C, design decisions, or D, source of energy? Have a quick think.

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

Well done if you got A, B, and D, the amount of energy required, the amount of carbon emissions produced, and the source of energy used can all be used to make a life cycle assessment judgement.

Design decisions then come after that judgement.

Life cycle assessment may inspire many design decisions throughout the circular economy.

So let's take a look at a few.

For example, at the raw material stage, there'll be material choices, such as the choice to use something more environmentally friendly, such as the biopolymer.

At the distribution stage, the ability of a product to be flat pack or assembled or stacked means that it takes up less room in a container, on a lorry, or in a ship, which means that more can be transported in one go, which reduces the amount of carbon emissions.

Energy sources chosen for the product in use stage will obviously have an impact on the environment.

So choosing to use rechargeable batteries means that less batteries need to be thrown away, which means less chemical waste.

At the repair and maintenance stage, if standardised parts have been used within a design, then it's quite often easy to be able to go and get that part in case it breaks.

It means that they're readily available, unlike specialist parts.

And the same goes with tools.

As long as standard tools such as Allen keys, standard screwdrivers, are able to be used, then that part will be easy to repair by almost anybody rather than needing specialist tools.

This means that less parts or whole products need to be thrown away, which again reduces the environmental impact.

At the recycling stage of the circular economy, if the products have been designed to be easily dismantled, it means that they can easily be taken apart, separated, and the right parts recycled in the right way.

They may also have been designed to be encouraged to be passed on.

So for example, inside my daughter's coat, there is a little label, and that label says, "First person, second person, third person," and it's space for each person's name to encourage you to pass that coat onto somebody else when you are finished with it.

And there's initiatives like that that are coming into play with lots of products to help us think about that environmental impact of not throwing away, but recycling and reusing.

Let's zoom into the raw material stage of life cycle assessment.

At the raw material stage, extraction and processing can use huge amounts of energy and produce lots and lots of carbon emissions, for example, in the processing of iron ore into steel and the processing of crude oil into polymers.

So let's take a look at how life cycle assessment can reduce this.

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

Therefore, the design decision could be to use recycled materials instead of raw materials.

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

Therefore, the design decision could be to use renewable sources of energy, which are often encouraged by the government through subsidies and grants.

So that might be an encouraging factor too.

Let's zoom into the distribution stage of the circular economy.

Transportation creates huge amounts of carbon emissions, often with products travelling long distances between manufacture and use.

Carbon emissions, if we remind ourselves, refers to the volume of carbon produced, contributing to global warming.

Therefore, locating manufacture close to the location of sales reduces travel and consequently carbon emissions.

Sticking with the distribution stage.

Have you ever opened a parcel to find the smallest of products inside the largest of boxes? I certainly have.

It's so disappointing, isn't it? You get this massive delivery and you think, "Ooh, I wonder what it was that I ordered." And you open it up and there's just something tiny, tiny that you ordered.

There's that little bit of disappointment, isn't there? Like, you were expecting something bigger and better.

Anyway, here's an example here with a torch.

You can see how small that torch is in comparison to the size of a box.

Now, what I'd like you to do is I'd like you to imagine one of those white delivery vans that you often see driving around the streets.

Now, imagine that torch inside that box.

How many of those boxes might fit into that white delivery van? Have a little think.

Okay, I bet there's quite a few different numbers flowing around there.

Now, have a think.

If that torch was packaged so that it was teeny-tiny packaging to match the size of the torch, how many more boxes of torches do you think would be able to be transported in that same white delivery van? Have a little think.

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

Okay, hopefully you figured out that you could get a lot, lot more of those torches in if they were packaged mindfully.

So my next bit says, "Mindful use of packaging, or designing products to be more lightweight, flat pack or stackable, can reduce the amount of required transportation." Because if you think it's the same with these chairs here, those chairs, if you had to package each one separately, you wouldn't be able to fit as many into a delivery lorry as you would if you stacked them and then packaged that stack.

So therefore, it reduces the amount of required transportation and consequently the amount of carbon emissions.

So what design decisions could be made to reduce the environmental impact at the distribution stage of the product's life cycle? Well, life cycle assessment might identify the types of vehicles used, so decisions could be made to perhaps use hybrid or electric vehicles rather than 100% petrol or diesel.

Life cycle assessment may also notice and identify the location of manufacture in comparison to the place of sale.

Therefore, the design decision could be to locate the manufacturing unit in the same country or county of sale so that less transportation is required.

And the volume of products to be transported.

Just think back to that box with that tiny, tiny torch in.

So, design decisions could not only be mindful user packaging, but also designing the products to be flat pack or stackable so that it reduces the size of the packaging needed and enables more of them to be transported in one go, requiring less transportation trips.

Time for a quick check-in.

Jun says, "Environmental impact only occurs when products are disposed of." Have a little 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 the circular economy.

Life cycle assessment considers a product's impact on the environment at every single stage of a product's life cycle.

Let's zoom into the product in use stage.

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 increases the volume of carbon emissions.

Have a little think.

Can you think of any products that are purposely designed to last a short amount of time? Have a little thinK.

Perhaps talk to the person next to you.

Come back to me when you have had that chance.

Hopefully you thought of some fantastic products.

Here is an example in my garden.

We've got the grey seat on the right where we can all fit on and we can all sit on.

Now, my daughter had this red chair.

In fact, my son had it first.

And she loves and loves this chair, but you can see there is no way that my son would fit in it now.

So I've put, "As children grow, they soon outgrow seating made for their age group." And that's the same with lots of products.

It's a shame that that chair doesn't adjust.

It's a shame that that chair can't grow with them like some do so that it can continue to be used rather than coming to the end of its life.

Sticking with the product in use stage.

Here is a chair that I used to have with my little ones, and you can see that green part on top is a play attachment.

So they could sit in that chair and they could play with that toy.

However, I could also take off that play attachment and it would leave that white tray where the child, the little one, could eat and use that as a tray to eat off or as a tray for activities.

But you could also remove that tray to clean it nice and easily.

But also, a child could sit up in there, especially if they can't sit up properly by themselves yet.

Maybe their back isn't strong enough yet.

They could sit there and perhaps hold onto a nice cuddly toy or perhaps grab something from the floor to play with.

But then, you can also remove that green insert so that when they get a bit bigger and their bottom gets a bit bigger and won't fit in, that removable insert means that they can still use it when they are slightly bigger.

Therefore, some baby seats are designed to have multiple functions, such as play and eating.

Now, that means they don't have to buy more than one product.

I've basically got three products in one there.

Then I go on to say, "But with removable inserts to allow the product to grow with the user and extend their product life and use," meaning I don't have to throw that product away when they get a little bit bigger.

That removable insert means it can continue to be used even when they do get a bit bigger, means less products end up going to waste.

What design decisions could be made to reduce the environmental impact at the product in use stage of the circular economy? So, life cycle assessment might consider that multiple products are required to be manufactured.

Therefore, a design decision could be design products with multiple functions.

Just like that chair that we've seen for the small child with that play attachment, you don't need two things, then, you've got one product that fulfils two completely different functions.

Products often become obsolete.

Let's remind ourselves of that word.

Obsolete means when something is no longer used or no longer useful.

So products become obsolete once a user has grown and are likely to be thrown away.

Therefore, a design decision could be to design products to grow with the user to extend its product's life or use.

And there are lots and lots of different chairs out there that can be adjusted so that you can use them at different stages of a child growing up right into adulthood.

Onto task A, part one.

I'd like you to define what life cycle assessment is.

Then part two, the diagram shows the stages of the circular economy.

I'd like you to match the following methods of reducing environmental impact to the correct stage on the diagram.

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

Good luck.

Come back to me when you've got some great answers.

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

Two, A, the use of hybrid vehicles links beautifully into the distribution stage.

B, the use of recycled materials links beautifully into the raw materials, but also the design stage, 'cause they'll need to be designed into the actual concept.

C, flat pack products link beautifully into the distribution stage, as you can fit more in a container to go on a ship or a lorry if they are flat pack instead of fully assembled.

But also, that also links into the design stage because the product will have needed to be designed to be capable of being flat packed.

And then lastly, D, a product with multiple functions.

This links beautifully into the product in use stage as you can use that product in lots of different ways without needing multiple products, but it also links into the design stage as it would need to be designed to be like that to then affect the product in use stage.

Well done if you got those right.

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

So for part three, transporting products has an environmental impact.

Explain two ways that environmental impact can be reduced in the distribution of this product.

And the product is the polypropylene chair.

Have a good go.

Come back to me when you've got some answers.

Answers could include, 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 can make the design decision to be stackable at the design stage 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.

Well done with all of your efforts.

Onto learning cycle two, investigate.

Have you ever bought a drink in a bottle? Put your hand up if you have.

Have a little look round, who's got their hands up? Have you ever made a drink using squash? Have a little look at the hands.

Have you ever used soap from a polymer container? And lastly, have you ever used a sauce from a polymer container? Interesting to see who's got their hands up.

A lot of you.

Polymer bottles are a part of everyday life, often used without noticing.

But have you ever considered the life cycle of a polymer bottle? This is what I'd like you to do.

Have a little think, have a little chat between yourselves.

What do you think are the stages of the life cycle of a polymer bottle? Come back to me ready for the next slide once you've had that discussion.

I imagine you came up with some great ideas for the life cycle of a polymer bottle.

We are now going to investigate the life cycle assessment for the life cycle of a polymer bottle following the circular economy.

And we're gonna start off at the raw materials and manufacture stages, which I've circled in the diagram.

The raw material for the majority of polymer bottles is crude oil.

So first stage, the ground has to be drilled to extract the crude oil from beneath the ground.

Then a process called polymerization happens where basically monomers, you can see those in blue, the blue circles, are joined together to make polymer chains such as polypropylene.

Then that polypropylene, or it could also be HDPE, or it could also be polyethylene, is taken to a manufacturing plant where the bottle goes under the process called blow moulding.

Now, blow moulding, basically, the plastic, the polymer, is injected into a little parison inside the mould of the bottle.

Then air is pumped inside, which forces that polymer to the edges of the mould, which forms the bottle shape, which is hollow inside.

And that's the manufacturing process.

Let's take a close look at what life cycle assessment could identify at these stages.

It could be large amounts of fossil fuels such as crude oil are used, high temperatures are required, lots of carbon emissions are produced, and there might be potential oil leaks and fires.

So my question to you is, what design decisions from this life cycle assessment could be made to reduce the environmental impact at these stages? Have a little think.

Chat to the person next to you.

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

Welcome back.

Hopefully, life cycle assessment design decisions that you identified might have included these two, the potential to use renewable energies, especially when heating up the polymers and for polymerization, but perhaps also thinking about changing the material, so using sustainable raw materials such as biopolymers instead of crude oil.

So both of those two things would reduce the environmental impact.

Let's carry on on the polymer bottle's life cycle.

So once it has been blow moulded, it will then be filled with whichever liquid is required, so probably water in this instance.

It is then transported across the world to many, many multiple locations to be sold.

They'd normally be transported by ship or by lorries.

And then of course, we get to the product in use stage where that drink is drunk.

Doing a life cycle assessment at these two stages will probably identify that transportation creates many carbon emissions and polymer bottles are single use and tend to be thrown away.

So, your turn.

What design decisions could be made to reduce the environmental impact at these stages? Have a little think, have a chat, perhaps tell me.

Come back to me when you've got some ideas.

Welcome back.

So, you may have identified that life cycle assessment design decisions to reduce environmental impact include perhaps using hybrid or electric vehicles for transportation rather than all-petrol or all-diesel vehicles, and perhaps manufacturing close to the location of sales, so that transportation that creates huge carbon emissions is reduced.

It only has to travel a very small amount instead.

Time for a quick check-in.

Which stage shows blow moulding taking place? Is it A, B, or C? Have a think.

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

Well done if you got C.

C shows blow moulding where the bottle takes its shape due to the air being pumped into the parison which forces the polymer to the sides of the mould, but also leaves it hollow.

Don't be confused with B.

That is the filling stage.

Well done if you got that right.

Continuing the polymer bottle life cycle.

So it's just been used, it's just been drank.

Quite often, the bottles are often thrown away, as you can see that one going into the bin, or they are discarded, and you can see those that have not quite made it into the bin.

So what happens then? Well, either the bottles enter landfill sites or, if they are just discarded, they might make their way into the oceans, which often means that they break down into what we call micropolymers, teeny, tiny bits of polymer which are very, very harmful to the animals and creatures in our oceans.

They can also become a danger to wildlife.

Quite often, and if you look really carefully on the right-hand side of this picture, you'll see there's a creature with a piece of polymer around their neck.

Quite often, animals get entangled inside those or they mistake them for food, they eat them, their tummies feel full, but actually they end up dying of starvation because their tummies are not full of actual food, only of plastic.

Completing a life cycle assessment may identify that litter is produced, methane is produced from landfills, endangered animals and habitats, and micropolymers in the water supply.

So my question to you is what design decisions could be made to reduce the environmental impact at this stage? Have a think, have a discussion.

Come back to me when you've got some ideas.

Okay, well done if you identified these two, and maybe quite a few more too.

So, life cycle assessment design decisions to reduce environmental impact include encouraging people to recycle.

You might have noticed that recently, lids on bottles tend to be attached to the actual bottle so that they don't get lost and thrown away separately, so they stay with the bottle, and if the bottle is recycled, then so is the lid.

And then lastly, I've put down here sustainable raw materials, again, such as using biopolymers that will biodegrade rather than become a danger to animals' habitats and will not break down into micropolymers, which are harmful in water supplies to us, but also to creatures.

A polymer bottle may be recycled rather than ending up in a waste bin or as litter.

If it is recycled, it goes on a completely different journey.

So let's take a little look at that closer now.

So, you may pop a polymer bottle into a recycling bin, which will then get collected and take into a recycling plant.

At the recycling plant, they'll then be sorted into the correct polymer category.

Now, you might have noticed on lots of polymer bottles, there are a little triangle with a number inside.

That number determines what polymer category that polymer is, therefore, how it can be recycled.

So once they're sorted into their polymer categories, the bottles are then shredded into teeny, tiny pieces.

The shredded polymers are then washed so that they are suitable and clean for whichever product that they are about to become.

They then undergo a polymer manufacturing process.

So that might be blow moulding, like it was in the first instance, or it might be a completely different polymer manufacturing process, such as extrusion or injection moulded.

And then of course, lots of new polymer products are manufactured and sold using those recycled polymers.

Life cycle assessment may identify at this stage that large amounts of fossil fuels are used for recycling, so to produce the energies that are needed to shred, to wash, and to remelt into new products.

High temperatures are required, often using less fossil fuels, and lots of carbon emissions are produced.

So my question to you is what design decisions could be made at this stage to reduce the environmental impact? Have a think, have a discussion.

Come back to me when you've got a few ideas.

Well done for those ideas.

Perhaps you thought about using renewable energies in the recycling process.

So perhaps for shredding those polymers, cleaning those polymers, and perhaps the high temperatures needed to remelt those polymers for the manufacturing processes.

Perhaps you also thought of clear labelling of polymers to enable easier sorting.

We saw that beautiful picture, didn't we, with all those polymers being sorted into their categories.

That is difficult to do if they are not clearly labelled, especially if users are making those decisions about which bin to put those in.

So that will therefore ease the recycling.

It will mean that less are put into waste and that more go into the recycling process.

We have gone around the majority of the circular economy, looking at lots of different stages, but there is one stage that we missed.

Pause the video.

Have a think.

Which stage did we miss? Come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you identified the repair and maintenance stage.

Now, the repair and maintenance stage is not required in a single use product, hence why we didn't discuss it.

Where could design decisions be made so that repair and maintenance is required for a polymer bottle? Have a little think.

Pause the video.

Discuss or tell me.

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

Well done if you got the redesign stage.

Design decisions could be made at the redesign stage to change it from a single use polymer bottle into a reusable bottle.

Now, that could be a polymer reusable bottle, or they could also make the design decision to change the raw material from polymer into metal.

So the redesigned into reusable bottles will therefore mean that the repair and maintenance stage is then important, because as we all know, reusable bottles are great because we can keep reusing them, but occasionally, a certain part might break, be that the straw, be that the little lock mechanism, and perhaps, say, the little lock mechanism could be rebought rather than rebuying the whole product again.

And that decision will fit beautifully into the repair and maintenance stage.

Time for a quick check-in.

Design decisions at the something stage are not required for a single use product.

We have A, distribution, B, waste, C, product in use, or D, repair and maintenance.

Have a think.

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

Well done if you got D.

Design decisions at the repair and maintenance stage are not required for a single use product.

Onto task B.

Part one, for a single use polymer bottle, choose two stages of the circular economy to complete a life cycle assessment.

And then part two, for the stages chosen, suggest a design decision to reduce the environmental impact.

Come back to me when you've got some great answers.

Answers could include, part one, at the waste stage, litter is produced, methane from landfills, endangered animals and habitats, micropolymers in the water supply.

At the distribution stage, transportation creates many carbon emissions.

So part two, methods to reduce environmental impact.

So at the waste stage, perhaps encouraging recycling and careful labelling of materials so that they can easily be sorted into the right categories.

And at the distribution stage, perhaps using hybrid or electric vehicles, reducing the carbon emissions, or manufacturing close to the location of sales so that the polymer bottles do not have to travel a great distance, therefore minimising the amount of carbon emissions.

This brings our lesson to a close today.

Let's recap and summarise what we have found out.

Life cycle assessment, also known as 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.

Life cycle assessment can measure source of energy, amount of energy required, amount of pollution and volume of carbon emissions, and the volume or amount of waste.

Well done with all of your hard work today, and I look forward to seeing you in another lesson soon.

Take good care.

Bye-bye-bye.