Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mrs. Dhami.

Welcome to your design and technology lesson today.

Now, the big question for today is, how environmentally friendly are the products that we use every day throughout our lives? Are they products that we end up throwing away, or are they products that end up lasting? We're going to explore these together and define them using some new terminology.

So, hard hats on.

Let's get cracking.

Our outcome for today is that we will be able to identify linear and circular economies using product examples.

Our keywords for today are "obsolete," which means a product that is no longer used or useful; "linear economy," which are products that are often used briefly, they then become obsolete, and then become waste; and then finally, "circular economy." This is where products and materials are kept in circulation and do not become waste.

We are going to follow two learning cycles today.

We're gonna start off with linear economy and then move on to circular economy.

So let's get cracking with linear economy.

Have you ever considered how much you throw away each day, each week, or each month? Now, what I'd like you to do is think, how full does your kitchen bin get? Or perhaps the canteen at school, do the bins end up very full at the end of lunchtime? Or perhaps maybe some bins that you walk past on your way to school, are they quite often full? Are they quite often bursting with so much rubbish inside? Have a little think.

Tell me or tell a friend and have a bit of a discussion about how much we tend to throw away.

Hopefully, that has given you a little bit of time to have that think.

Isn't it amazing the amount that we do actually throw away? Now, the majority of the things we throw away end up in landfill sites, where they are buried underground.

And you can see in this image the sheer quantity of rubbish that is filling our Earth.

Let's now relate it to the whole of the UK.

So, the whole of the UK, the United Kingdom, throws away about 600 million kilogrammes of rubbish every day.

Now, let's put this into perspective.

One double-decker bus weighs about 8,000 kilogrammes.

Therefore, the amount that the UK throws away is the equivalent of 75,000 buses of rubbish every day going to landfill.

When we put that into perspective, what a huge amount that we throw away, and what can we do to reduce that? Laura decided to make this easy for her friends and for the students at her school to understand.

So, Laura and her friends emptied the canteen bins after lunch one day, and then they sorted the contents into separate groups that could be recycled.

So, the picture there shows all of the rubbish.

Then, her and her friends split that up, as she said, into piles that could have been recycled.

And look how much that waste has been reduced if you take away those recycled piles.

One of the piles that Laura and her friends formed was of polymer bottles that could definitely have been recycled.

The next was tinfoil, I think a lot of sandwiches had been consumed that day.

The tinfoil could have easily been separated and, again, recycled.

Next one was compostable waste, waste that didn't need to go in the bin, but that could have easily been put in a compost to create beautiful, nutrient-rich compost to help grow new plants.

So, the general waste could have been reduced.

This was a typical day at Laura's school, and you can see the amount that these students could have made a difference to the amount being wasted.

So, Laura found that the waste could have been hugely reduced by recycling or composting.

Compostable waste includes food scraps such as potato peelings, tea bags, and fruit skins.

It can easily be turned into compost that can be used to help plants grow and, consequently, grow more food.

Getting into the habit of that is not only good for our bins but also good for the environment too.

Laura says, "Lots of the waste, or even recycling, could have been prevented by making choices to use products that last." So, for example, with the polymer bottles, all of those ones in that picture, they were used once and thrown straight away.

What do you think they could have used instead? Have a think.

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

Well done if you've got reusable bottles.

We all know they come in many shapes, many sizes, many colours.

Using these instead, and reusing them, stops one-off polymer bottles just being thrown away.

Another one is aluminium foil.

Have a little bit of a think.

Perhaps, Tell the person next to you.

What could the students at Laura's school use instead of aluminium foil? Come back to me when you've got some answers.

Okay, hopefully, some of you might have got reusable boxes, or you might have got fabric wraps or perhaps wax wraps.

There are lots and lots of different ideas out there and products on the market that can prevent us from needing to use things like aluminium foil that tends to only be used once.

"Obsolete" is one of our keywords today.

Now, obsolete products are those that are no longer used or useful.

So, single-use water bottles and aluminium foil are examples of products that become obsolete.

Can you think of any other products that often become obsolete? Have a think, perhaps tell the person next to you.

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

Okay, well done for having a think.

Perhaps some of you might have thought of clingfilm.

Clingfilm is one of those products that you quite often use to cover food or wrap up some sandwiches, but again, you only use it once and then it ends up in the waste.

Time for our first check-in.

Methods to reduce waste include: A, single-use products; B, throwing everything into the bin; C, reusable products; or D, composting.

Have a think.

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

Okay, well done if you've got C and D.

Methods to reduce waste include reusing reusable products, such as reusable water bottles, and then composting some of your food waste.

A product's lifecycle can be defined as cradle-to-grave.

"Cradle," thinking a baby, so the idea is born; "grave," thinking the end of somebody's life, the end of a product's life.

So, let's take a little look at this in a bit more detail.

A product's lifecycle starts off with raw materials.

It then moves on to the design of the product.

The product is then manufactured, and the materials are processed.

The product is then distributed to whoever needs it.

The product is then used by the user, and then the product is disposed of.

The raw materials being the cradle, the disposal being the grave.

This is known as a linear economy.

Notice that that's one of our keywords today.

A linear economy is where the system has a clear starting and ending point.

Products are often used briefly.

They then become obsolete and are then thrown away.

That is linear economy.

Examples of products that follow a linear economy include single-use coffee cups: you order your drink, you drink your drink, and then you put it into the bin.

Disposable nappies: they're used by a baby, once they've been soiled, they then get thrown away.

Non-rechargeable batteries: once they lose their charge, they end up in the bin as waste.

And then, fast fashion.

Fast fashion is fashion that keeps up with trends, that is often only worn when it's in fashion, and then is disposed of.

Quick check-in.

This diagram shares a product's lifecycle.

This can be defined in two ways: either as something or something else.

Have a little think.

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

Okay, well done if you've got linear economy.

This diagram shows a linear economy product lifecycle, but that can also be referred to as "cradle to grave." "Cradle" being the raw materials, "grave" being the disposal, the end of the product's life.

On to task A.

For number one, I would like you to define a linear economy and then fill in the gaps on the diagram of the linear economy.

Then, for part two, I'd like you to identify products around your home or school that follow a linear economy.

Think of the examples that we have used throughout today's lesson, and then think how you can apply the same things to products around your home or school.

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

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.

The missing labels within the linear economy was the blue one with design, the green one with distribution, and finally the yellow one with disposal.

Well done if you got those right.

Part two: I asked you to have a think about products around your home and around your school that follow a linear economy.

So, at home, you could have had things such as food packaging, such as crisp packets, clingfilm, and ready meal trays, as they are all single-use and not recyclable.

At school, you might have thought of single-use pens.

Once they run out of ink, they're usually thrown away rather than being refilled.

And think about how many times you've probably put a pen straight into the bin as soon as it has run out.

Well done with all of your hard work.

On to learning cycle two: the circular economy.

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

And there's our linear, straight-line product lifecycle.

Designers are now moving towards a circular approach, defined as cradle to cradle.

Notice how we've got rid of that word "grave." Cradle to cradle, otherwise known as the circular economy.

Notice how that straight-line diagram turns into a circular diagram, and we're gonna look at that in a bit more detail in a minute.

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

Time for a quick 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 answer.

Well done if you've got A and C.

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

Let's take a look now at the circular economy in a bit more detail and compare it to the linear economy to see the differences.

So both linear and the circular economy start off with raw materials.

They then move to design.

Just ignore "redesign" just for now.

They both move to design, then they move to manufacture and materials processing, then to distribution, then to product in use.

And now is where the circular economy changes in comparison to a linear economy because now we introduce repair and maintenance, and recycling.

And it's due to these two arrows, these two stages, which reduce the environmental impact of a product.

Now take a little look at the yellow arrow.

That is our waste arrow.

If you notice, there is something different about the waste arrow in comparison to a linear economy's waste arrow.

Can you notice what it is? Have a think.

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

Well done if you realised that the waste arrow is a lot smaller, it is not as thick as all of the other arrows, as all of the other stages, and it's certainly not as big as in a linear economy.

This is because of introducing recycling and repair and maintenance.

It means that the whole product is not disposed of, so the whole product does not become obsolete.

So the amount of waste reduces.

Now I also said that, of course, there was one word that I didn't use, and that's redesign.

Because it's a circular economy and moves round, there is then a chance for the parts that have been recycled to be redesigned into something else or a chance for the whole product to be redesigned so that it can be more environmentally friendly.

Products that follow the circular economy are those that consider their impact upon the environment and are not designed for one-off use.

So here are a few examples.

Bags for life, as long as we remember them, we can keep using them, and they are not thrown away.

Next one is, lots of designers are now starting to include labels such as these.

This is the inside of my daughter's coat.

It says, "Name, name, name," and then it says, "Please pass me on when you are done." This is products encouraging people to recycle or to pass on rather than throwing away.

We have rechargeable ports.

So rather than using batteries that can no longer be recharged, this enables products to be recharged and their use to be continued.

And then reusable nappies.

These are nappies that, after they have been used, they can be washed and then dried and then reused, rather than throwing them in the bin like disposable nappies.

Time for a quick check-in.

There are three stages of the circular economy that have been missed out.

Which title fits in the dark green segment? 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 recycling.

The green segment is the recycling stage of the circular economy.

Lots of design decisions can be made within the circular economy to reduce the environmental impact of a product.

And quite often these design decisions can be generated through consideration of the Six Rs.

So let's remind ourselves what the Six Rs are.

We have R for reuse.

We have R for repair.

We have R for refuse, recycle, reduce, and rethink.

So let's take each one of these and look into it in a little bit more detail.

So, for "reuse," design decisions could be designing parts that could be reused or products that grow with the user, think of the bags for life.

We then have "repair." Design decisions could be designing accessible compartments for batteries or for recharging and easy-to-fix or replaceable parts.

"Refuse: that's when we make design decisions to design products that will stand the test of time and fashions so that they don't go out of fashion and then are disposed of, but they last the test of time.

Recycling design decisions could be designing parts to be easily dismantled for recycling so that they can easily be taken away and separated and put in the right recycling place.

"Reduce:" design decisions could be designing products with reduced packaging, such as making products flat-pack.

A lot less packaging there.

If you imagine a wardrobe that isn't flat-pack and then a wardrobe that is flat-pack, the amount of packaging needed would be a lot less.

And that's the same for stackable products.

Lastly, we have "rethink." So design decisions could be to rethink the materials used for a certain product, so designing using environmentally friendly plastics, such as biopol.

So, for example, using PLA.

PLA standing for polylactic acid.

That is a polymer that you may find in your 3D printer at school, and that is, of course, a biodegradable polymer.

True or false? Circular economy only means recycling.

Have a think.

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

Well done if you got false.

And why is that? The circular economy can be defined as products and materials being kept in circulation and not becoming waste.

Design decisions within the circular economy can often be generated through consideration of the Six Rs.

That includes recycling, reusing, rethinking, refusing, repairing, and reducing, lots more than just recycling.

On to task B.

Part one, I'd like you to define the circular economy and then fill in the gaps in the diagram.

Have a go.

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

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

As for the diagram, we had design or redesign, manufacture and materials processing, distribution, repair and maintenance, recycling, and waste.

Hopefully, you got them all in the right spots.

Part two: There are 10 products here.

What I'd like you to do is sort them into two piles.

So one pile for linear economy and one pile for circular economy.

Think back to the slides that we have covered today.

Good luck.

Off you go.

Well done for having a go at that.

Hopefully, for linear economy, you got disposable nappies, bagel packaging, plastic cups, alkaline single-use batteries, and fast fashion.

And then for circular economy, hopefully, you got the compostable bags, the reusable bottles, the rechargeable lights, encouraging clothes for reuse, so the labels within certain clothing items, and then reusable nappies.

Part three, I would like you to compare a disposable nappy and a reusable cloth nappy using the Six Rs.

So reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink, refuse, and repair.

Which one of these two product options do you think is more sustainable, and why? Have a good go.

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

Answers could include: So, for reduce: Reusable nappies help reduce waste because you use fewer of them.

Disposable nappies follow a linear economy and create a lot of rubbish.

Reuse: Cloth nappies can be washed and used again and again, many times.

You throw away disposable ones after one use, so they, therefore, become obsolete.

Recycle: Most disposable nappies cannot be recycled.

Some reusable ones are made from recycled materials.

Rethink and refuse: Reusable nappies provide an environmentally friendly option.

Repair: You can fix small problems in reusable nappies, such as sewing a press stud or a hook-and-loop system back on, whereas you cannot repair disposable ones.

So therefore, in conclusion, reusable nappies are better for the environment because they follow the circular economy and create less waste by being used again and again.

This brings us to the end of our lesson today.

Let's recap what we have learnt.

A linear economy is a system with a clear starting and ending point, otherwise known as a cradle-to-grave lifecycle.

Products are often used briefly, become obsolete, and are then thrown away.

Examples include disposable nappies and single-use plastic bottles.

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

Products include bags for life, rechargeable battery ports, and reusable bottles.

Design decisions within the circular economy can often be generated through consideration of the Six Rs, which are recycle, reuse, rethink, refuse, repair, and reduce.

Well done with all of your hard work today, and I hope to see you in another lesson soon.

Take good care.

Bye, bye, bye.