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 products be redesigned to be more environmentally friendly? So we're going to explore this together using a range of products.

So hard hats on, 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 keywords today.

Circular economy, which is when products and materials are kept in circulation and do not become waste or become very minimal waste.

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

We then have life cycle assessment, often abbreviated to LCA.

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

Next step is redesign.

Redesign is when we make design decisions to improve a product in some way.

And lastly, we have modular design, which is a design approach where a product is made up of separate, interchangeable parts or modules.

And we're gonna have a little look at some beautiful examples of these throughout our lesson.

We have two learning cycles to our lesson today.

We're going to start off looking at design decisions within redesign, and then we're going to move on and investigate how a product has been redesigned.

So let's start off with redesign.

The circular economy is one of our keywords today and it is represented using the diagram on the right-hand side.

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.

At the redesign stage, so we're zooming in, you can see that purple circle around the design/redesign stage.

So at the redesign stage, design decisions to reduce the environmental impact are usually made by carrying out a life cycle assessment, which we often call LCA.

So let's remind ourselves what life cycle assessment is.

Life cycle assessment, 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, how do we carry out LCA? We can assess the following at every single stage of the product life cycle.

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

LCA may inspire many design decisions for redesign, such as for the raw material stage, it might make you think about material choices.

So for example, swapping from a synthetic polymer to, say, a biopolymer.

It might make you make design decisions for the distribution stage, such as the ability for a product to be flat-packed, assembled, or stacked, which therefore would reduce the amount of transportation required, which therefore would reduce the amount of carbon emissions.

It might make you think about the product in use stage and perhaps it might make design decisions where you change the source of energy used such as rechargeable batteries or a charging port where you just plug it in to be recharged rather than needing to take out those batteries and replace them.

It might make you think about design decisions at the repair and maintenance stage.

So for example, making the design decision to make it modular or using standardized parts where you can easily get replacements would mean that you can repair it as a user, maintain it, and it doesn't need to turn into waste, but those decisions have to be made at the design or redesign stage.

And lastly, if we zoom into the recycling stage, design decisions at the redesign stage can enable products to be perhaps easily dismantled for recycling.

Therefore, a user could easily take them apart and choose, right, that part needs to be recycled with polymers, that part needs to be recycled with glass, et cetera.

Or perhaps a design decision might be to encourage products to be passed on, and designers can do that by making all sorts of design decisions, such as inside my daughter's coat, there's a little label that says, please pass me on, and then the space for a few different names.

That design decision was made on purpose at the redesign stage to encourage users to be more environmentally friendly and pass them on rather than turning to waste.

Redesign may happen for a combination of reasons, such as LCA, as we've just discussed, but there are other reasons to.

So there may be new developments in materials.

Lots of materials are being discovered and made all of the time, so perhaps some of those materials might be more suitable for a redesign.

Advancement of technology.

As we know in your lifetime, things have changed massively with gaming and with phones, and that is because of the advancement of technology.

So redesign takes into account that too.

We also have feedback from primary users and stakeholders.

Designers love to get this feedback to find out what we think as users and stakeholders and how we might like a product to be redesigned.

We then have fashions and trends.

I know lots of us are guilty of wanting a particular product or a particular style of clothing because we like the current trend, and so redesigns often happen to keep up with those trends.

And lastly, we have adhering to new or updated regulations.

So as we find out more about certain products, different regulations are put out there often to keep us, as users, safe.

So designers have to take this into account when redesigning or perhaps a product has become unsafe and so it then needs to be designed to keep up with those updated regulations.

Lots of different reasons there.

Time for a quick check-in.

Andeep says, "Redesign for the circular economy only means making it recyclable." Is Andeep true with his statement or is that statement false? Have a little think, come back to me when you've got an answer.

Well done if you said false.

And why is that? Well, redesign for the circular economy goes beyond recyclability, it includes designing for repair and maintenance, using modular or standardized parts, reducing material use or using sustainable materials, and making products more durable.

Lots of different reasons.

This picture shows a polymer straw.

Now, my question to you is, how have polymer straws been redesigned? I would like you to pause the video now, perhaps talk to the person next to you, or tell me, how do you think polymer straws have been redesigned over the past few years? Come back to me when you've got a few ideas.

I imagine you are buzzing with lots of different ideas.

So Laura says, "We use paper straws." I imagine quite a few of you have used a paper straw before.

Sam says, "I have a metal straw in my water bottle." I wonder if you came up with these two as well.

Since October, 2020, single-use polymer straws were banned to cut pollution, because we were finding that so many straws were being used, there was such a massive amount of polymer waste.

So they were redesigned into paper straws, but user feedback, now, we've heard that before, haven't we? User feedback, what the users thought.

So user feedback led to another redesign into reusable metal straws.

Now, I'd like you to have a think, what was the user feedback from the paper straws that made the redesign into metal straws? Pause the video, have a little think.

Talk to the person next to you.

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

Okay, let's draw us all back together.

Hopefully you might have come up with a few ideas like paper straws still produce waste because you tend to only use them once and then throw them away, whereas metal straws can be reused over and over again.

Put your hands up if you said paper straws end up going soggy.

Yep, if you've ever used a paper straw, quite often you find they go soggy and they start peeling away.

So they're not very durable, hence why you tend to only use them once, whereas metal straws is a lovely reusable alternative.

Users and designers are moving away from the old throwaway society where products were made for single use and valuing that redesign into fashionable, reusable products.

And a lovely example is obviously the throwaway coffee mug.

They have been redesigned into reusable mugs that you can wash and reuse and refill.

Same goes with nappies.

Disposable nappies were and still are quite popular, however, there's starting to be a change.

People are acknowledging that a lot of waste is produced from disposable nappies, so bins are getting a lot, lot fuller, so lots of people are moving into reusable nappies where you can wash them, soak them, and they reuse that nappy without throwing bits into the bin.

A great of redesign for the environment.

Redesigns often consider raw materials and how recycled materials can be used.

Take a little look at this roundabout.

In fact, I'm not too sure if it's even called roundabout, it's like a spinning top thing, a bit of an alternative to a roundabout.

Well, anyway, me and my children found this wonderful piece of play equipment and the edge was all made out of recycled polymers.

So there they were happily playing and there was me trying to take pictures for you guys to show you the use of recycled polymers.

It's very beautiful and very colorful too.

Now, you may have seen some of the tough brush alternatives to polymers too.

There's quite a few now being made out of timbers, such as bamboo.

And this is an example here of a tough brush avoiding the use of polymers, a lovely redesign.

Modular design is one of our keywords today and it's all about designing a product with interchangeable parts that you can change out if they need repairing or need replacing rather than replacing the whole entire product.

So modular redesign encourages users to repair or replace parts or modules instead of buying new products, which extends the whole entire product life.

Great examples include phones, clothing, headphones, games, and refillables.

So let's take a little look.

We have some phones, which are modular, which have replaceable parts.

Not all of them yet, but some of them.

So you could replace some of these elements rather than buying a whole new phone.

And the way that these modular phones are great is because it's easy to replace the screen.

You don't have to go somewhere specialist, you can just order the part and replace it yourself.

Definitely worth a little browse on the internet at that.

We also have modular games where you can replace certain parts rather than replacing the whole game itself.

And this is a lovely one that you might be familiar with where you can take off the plain controls, the red one, the blue one, take those off and replace those.

You can buy different colors, but you can also just buy them if you need to replace them if they're broken rather than the whole entire thing.

I think modular design is a great idea for redesign.

Time for a quick check-in.

Which redesign strategy helps extend the life of a product? Is it 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, reread those options.

Come back to me when you've made your decision.

Well done if you've got C and D, using durable materials that resist wear and tear and using modular design that allows parts to be replaced rather than the whole thing are both great redesign strategies to help extend the life of a product.

Onto task A, part one.

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

So the products we have are metal straws, reusable water bottles, biopolymer fast food packaging, that's packaging that will biodegrade, electric cars, flat-pack parasols, or modular phone.

Now, the reasons are the ones with a little purple box around them.

So the reasons are fashions or trends, advancement of technologies, LCA, repair and maintenance, developments in materials, adhering to new regulations or laws, or LCA, distribution stage.

Have a little think, have a good match, come back to me when you have made your decisions.

Let's take a little look at our answers.

So metal straws, they have been redesigned to adhere to new regulations and laws as polymer straws, if you remember, have been banned in 2020.

Reusable water bottles tend to be redesigned because of fashion and trends.

I know there's a certain water bottle my young lad has wanted for a while to be trendy at his score.

Biopolymer fast food packaging, that is packaging that is biodegradable, and a reason for that redesign is the development in materials that are safe to use with food.

Electric cars, that is the advancement of technology, which is why they have been redesigned.

Flat-pack parasols, the reason for redesign is that for distribution, they can be flat-packed and made really small so you can transport more at a time than if they're up and open.

Modular phone, that is often because of LCA and that is the repair and maintenance stage.

So instead of throwing away the whole product, you can instead order a part and replace that yourself.

Well done with all of your hard work on task A.

Onto learning cycle two, we're about to investigate a very interesting product.

Globally, over 300 million tons of polymers are produced every year, much of which becomes waste.

That waste fills our landfill sites, but it also ends up creating a lot of pollution along the way too.

Recycling schemes are fantastic, but it can be quite alarming how much packaging we get through in a week, even if we recycle it.

Now, my challenge to you is next time you are at home, have a little look at your recycling bin or your recycling box or your recycling bags when they are put out to be collected, because I don't know about you, but ours are absolutely bursting, we get through so much packaging as a family.

Take a little look at this image, these are examples of packaging containers.

My question to you is, what do you think they can contain? Pause the video, have a little chat.

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

Let's draw us all back together again.

Sophia says, "These look like deodorant sprays and roll-ons." Put your hand up if you've got the same answer as Sophia.

Well done, folks.

Polymers dominate deodorant packaging, and it's so great that you could actually recognize that from such a simple black and white drawing.

Less than 20% of deodorant packaging is recycled, this creates a design opportunity.

Now, a design opportunity is basically a chance to solve a problem.

Let's just pause there.

Can anyone think how this design opportunity has been solved? Have a little think, have a little discussion.

Come back to me ready to start the next slide once you've had that chance.

Well done if you talked about refillable deodorants.

So redesigning and rethinking has led design decisions to make some deodorants refillable by a modular design.

Let's take a closer look.

So the refill, that's the green part there, is made with a recyclable card shell so that can easily be recycled, there's no polymers in that.

It then also has a durable case, which could be a polymer or a metal, but that is not going to be thrown away, that part is the part that stays that you constantly refill and reuse.

So, how does this concept work? Some of you might have them or perhaps some of your family or friends might have them.

Take a minute, have a chat amongst yourselves, have a discussion.

How does the refillable deodorant concept work? Come back to me ready for the next slide once you've had that opportunity.

Let's start with the purchasing.

So purchase options include buying the case separately or buying the case with refills or buying just the refills.

Now, this is great 'cause it allows the user to only purchase what they need so they don't end up with excess products, which therefore means excess packaging too, which means excess material use too.

Packaging for the case and refills is usually manufactured in recyclable cardboard that folds together, avoiding the use of glues, which reduces the amount of chemicals needed, which also reduces the amount of chemical waste.

Careful considerations of dimensions ensure that any combination of case or refills can fit through a standard-sized letterbox, which is greater, it means it can go right to a user's door rather than having to get them to travel, perhaps in a vehicle, to somewhere to pick it up, reducing the amount of carbon emissions.

Once you've purchased it, how does it actually work? So step one, the case is removed from the packaging.

The case is opened.

The refill, the green part, is inserted.

And remember that's encased in recyclable card or paper.

The insert clicks into place.

You then twist it to raise the deodorant up and out, you can start using it.

And then the refillable deodorant is ready to go with minimal packaging and it can constantly be refilled.

Isn't it great? Time for a quick check-in? Refillable deodorant products are an example of, A, single-use products, B, design for the circular economy, C, design for the linear economy, or D, modular design.

Have a think, make your decision, and come back to me when you've got some answers.

Well done if you got B and D.

Refillable deodorant products are an example of design for the circular economy and an example of modular refillable design.

Lucas says, "The case is sometimes still made from a polymer, so how is that any better than the others?" Such a great question, Lucas.

And the way we're going to answer that is we're going to use LCA, life cycle assessment.

So LCA can analyze how design decisions for the refillable case reduce environmental impact.

So let's have a go and explore those design decisions.

Let's take a little look at the design decisions made at the raw materials stage.

So material choices for the one-off case include using durable polymers or aluminum.

The modular refill, the design decision there is that it is wrapped in a recyclable card.

So, what impact does this have on the environment? Well, the user only requires one case.

So Lucas said, well, it's still made of a polymer.

Yes, it's absolutely right, but the user only requires one of them.

Therefore, that reduces the amount of polymers, or aluminum because some are made of aluminum too, reduces the amount of those going to landfill.

So it means only one case per user needs to be manufactured, which reduces the amount of manufacture and materials processing.

Yes, the refills do need to be made, perhaps used in continuous manufacture, but remember these are wrapped in recyclable card, so they don't have a polymer impact on the environment.

So I think that answers Lucas's question.

Let's take a little look at design decisions made for the distribution stage.

So it's recyclable cardboard packaging and it's been carefully dimensioned so it fits a standard letterbox.

It's also modular, so modular refills arrive in multiples rather than individually.

You can't normally buy just one refill, you have to buy a few of them to reduce the amount that needs to be delivered.

So, what is the environmental impact? Well, it's recyclable packaging, which is great, decisions, these design decisions impact the recycling stage, but it also makes minimal deliveries, reducing carbon emissions, and that's by producing them in multiples.

Let's take a little look at the design decisions made ready for the product in use stage of the circular economy.

So it's an iconic, statement design.

People quite like to have some of these refillable designs because they are quite bold, they're quite beautiful, it's something that's quite nice to have in a bedroom or bathroom.

They have very simple and clear designed instructions, so they're very easy to use and easy to operate.

The refills are available in a variety of fragrances and quite often they have fragrances depending on the season or time of year.

And then if we zoom into the repair and maintenance stage, when you are using it, you can wipe clean the case during the product in use, but also to keep it maintained nicely.

So, what is the environmental impact of these design decisions? Well, it encourages users to reuse their refillable deodorant and refuse buying single-use deodorants, cutting down on the amount of polymer waste.

It also reduces purchases of aerosols because these are not available in an aerosol form, they are available in the block form instead, the roll-on block.

Therefore, aerosols normally add to the greenhouse gases, so it reduces the amount of aerosols in circulation.

Got to be a great thing for the environment there.

Time for a quick check-in.

Which of the following are sustainability benefits of refillable deodorant products? Is it A, they can be disassembled using specialist tools, B, they reduce the amount of landfill, C, they use non-renewable energy, or D, they have the ability to fit through a letterbox for distribution? Have a think.

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

Well done if you got B and D.

The following are sustainability benefits of refillable deodorant products.

They reduce the amount of landfill and they have the ability to fit through a letterbox for distribution.

The redesigned, modular, and refillable deodorant reduces resource use, waste, and carbon footprint by keeping the case in circulation longer, which is exactly what the circular economy aims to do.

It's inspired other products as well.

Now, you might have seen these zero waste shops.

So I've put modular and refillable redesign is becoming more popular with zero waste shops, which basically encourage users to bring along their own containers to fill up, say, with cereals or beans or lentils or porridge oats or sugar or flour, you name it, the list goes on, rather than going to the shop and buying it in packaging.

Therefore, it will reduce the amount of packaging that ends up, especially polymers, that ends up in our recycling bins or our recycling boxes, therefore, having a much more positive effect on the environment.

We often get fixed ideas in our heads of how things have to be.

Redesigning enables those fixed ideas to be challenged that may have become the norm in our thinking, therefore creating design opportunities and inspiring design decisions for small iterations or a complete redesign.

A redesign doesn't have to be the whole product, remember, it could just be small elements.

When these design decisions consider the circular economy and life cycle assessment, they have the potential to reduce environmental impact.

So never ever underestimate the power of the design decisions that you make.

Onto task B, part one.

What are the environmental benefits of refillable deodorant? Part two, list five products that you throw away regularly that could be refilled instead of throwing away.

And lastly, rethink one of these products and redesign it so that it does not need to be thrown away or reduces the amount of waste produced at the end.

Have a think.

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

Part one, I asked you to tell me what are the benefits of refillable deodorant.

So you might have said refillable deodorant is better because you keep the same case and just put in a new refill.

That way less polymers and metals are wasted and it's better for the planet.

It's like recycling and reusing stuff instead of throwing it away.

Part two, I asked you to think of five products that could be refilled.

So you could have had toothpaste tubes, shampoo bottles, writing pens, detergent bottles, perfume or aftershave bottles, or there's probably a load more and I'd be very interested to hear what you got too.

Part three, I asked you to redesign one of those products that you identified could be made refillable.

So Izzy chose the shampoo bottle and she sketched a redesign for a refillable shampoo bottle.

She decided that it would have a refill and that that refill would be flat, so it fitted easily into a box to be delivered through a letterbox, a little bit like the refillable deodorant.

She also decided that the packaging for that refill would be made from recyclable cardboard that could then go on and be recycled again.

Great idea, Izzy.

Izzy went on to explain how this refill would work with the product.

So she said that the pump itself would be replaceable 'cause quite often pumps break, don't they? So if the user needed to replace the pump, they could, they wouldn't need to replace the whole product.

She then said there would be a reusable case that you could open.

You could then pop that refill in, remove the cap so that it didn't leak in the post.

Then you could replace the lid of the reusable case, click, in it goes, pop in the pump, and it's ready to use.

And she also went as far as thinking, right, how would we order more refills? So she decided that they would design an app where you could easily buy a few clicks, click and order your refill, that, again, could be sent to your home using recyclable cardboard.

A great idea of redesigning for the circular economy.

Well done, Izzy.

And I imagine your designs are fabulous too.

Make sure you share them amongst your class so you can share those amazing ideas.

Well done, folks.

This 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, which we often abbreviate to LCA.

Redesign, sorry, may happen for a combination of reasons such as developments in materials or advancements of technology, feedback from primary users or stakeholders, fashions and trends, adhering to new regulations, and of course, LCA.

Redesigning products to be modular, such as refillable deodorants, has a positive impact on the environment by reducing resources and waste and lowering carbon footprint.

Well done with all of your hard work today.

I hope you have enjoyed the lesson as much as myself.

And I hope to see you in another lesson soon.

Take good care.

Bye, bye, bye.