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 design decisions be made that will influence how a product can easily be repaired and maintained and also recycled at the end of its life? So hard hats on.

Let's get exploring together.

Our outcome for today is we will be able to explore how the repair, maintenance, and recycling of products can be encouraged.

We have five key words today.

We have design decisions, which are a deliberate choice to meet a requirement or solve a problem, we have modular design, which is a design approach where a product is made up of separate interchangeable parts or modules, we have maintenance, which is when we give regular care and small fixes, so to keep a product working properly and lasting longer, we then have obsolete, which is when a product is no longer used and no longer useful, and lastly, we have upcycling.

Upcycling is when you create something new from something obsolete.

We have two learning cycles today.

Firstly, repair and maintenance and then secondly, moving on to recycling.

So let's get started with repair and maintenance.

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

Now the cradle part of it is the start, so that's the raw materials and the design when the product is born.

We then carry on with the product lifecycle, moving to manufacture and materials processing, distribution, product in use and finally ending with disposal, which is the grave part of cradle to grave.

Now this is known as a linear economy where the system has a clear starting point and ending point.

Now with a linear economy, products are often used briefly and then become obsolete and are then thrown away.

Let's just touch on that word obsolete.

It's one of our key words for today.

And if we remind ourselves of the meaning, obsolete is when a product is no longer used or no longer useful.

Therefore, obsolete is the grave part of linear economy.

Let's take a little look at some examples of products that follow a linear economy.

So let's remind ourselves, linear economy are when the products become obsolete at the end because they're no longer used or useful.

So my first example there, bottom left, is the single use coffee cup.

We've all had them.

We've all seen them.

We've all probably used them in the past.

Single use coffee cups, you get your drink, you fill it up, you drink it, and then it ends up in the bin.

Right.

What I'd like you to do is pause the video and have a little think.

Can you think of any other products that follow a linear economy? Come back to me when you've got a few ideas.

Hopefully, you are buzzing with ideas.

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

So we've got, you might have seen some of these before, these single use toys.

Now this is one that one of my kids had out of one of those machines at a supermarket where you put a pound in, then you turn the handle of the machine and out pops a little toy.

You don't really know what you're gonna get.

I absolutely hate them because they always end up in the bin and don't get used very often because they follow the linear economy yet my kids absolutely love them.

So we've got that kind of debate between us.

I then have non-rechargeable batteries.

So once the product has used all of that energy from the battery, no longer can it be recharged, no longer can the product be used, so that battery then ends up in the bin.

It comes to the end of its life.

And lastly, I've included fast fashion.

Now, I'll put that word in purple just to draw your attention a little bit more to it.

Fast fashion is all about clothes that are trendy or fashionable at a certain time, but then they might still be absolutely fine to wear, they might still fit, the quality of the fabric might be good, but you no longer wanna wear them because they're not so cool at the minute because they're outta fashion.

So fast fashion is precisely that, you wear it, you wear it a few times and then you get rid of it when actually you could keep it for longer.

Again, that one fits into the linear economy.

Designers are attempting to move away from the linear approach, which as we know, is defined as cradle to grave.

And instead, designers are moving towards a circular approach defined as cradle, all the way around to cradle, otherwise known as the circular economy.

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

Can you see that disposal arrow has gone.

At the repair and maintenance and recycling stages, you can see I've zoomed into that with that big purple circle, so at the repair and maintenance and recycling stages, design decisions to reduce the environmental impact are usually made during the which stage? Have a think.

Come back to me.

Well done if you got the design or redesign stage.

That's where lots of those decisions are made.

Jacob says, "Why do people tend to throw away products rather than repair, maintain or recycle them?" What do you think the answer might be to this? Chat to the person next to you, or tell me a few ideas it could be.

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

Let's draw us back together.

So sometimes it's cheaper or easier just to buy a new one.

Sometimes we have a lack of time.

We haven't got time to fix things 'cause we are busy working, we're busy being at school.

We haven't got that time.

Lack of spare parts or tools.

Not everybody has a toolbox at home these days.

Limited knowledge or skill.

If you don't know how to repair something, you often shy away from it, especially if it means you've got a troll through a load of information to try and find out the answer.

And sometimes it's because it's just simply a poor design.

So the responsibility for repair, maintenance, and recycling does not lie just with the user.

Design decisions can affect how easy something is to repair, maintain, or recycle.

And we're gonna explore some of those now.

Just before we do that, let's have a quick check-in.

So this diagram represents a, circular economy, b, cradle to grave, c, cradle to cradle, or d, linear economy? Have a think.

Think about what we've just learned.

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

Well done if you've got A and C.

This diagram represents both the circular economy and also the cradle to cradle model because it goes all the way around.

Design decisions to stop products becoming obsolete include using modular design.

Now, modular design is a highlighted word.

It's one of our key words today.

Now modular design is an approach where a product is made up of separate interchangeable parts or modules so that sometimes you can just change one part rather than changing the whole product.

And we'll look at some examples of these later on.

The use of replaceable standard components, support provided such as repair manuals and videos, charging ports or accessible batteries, these design decisions may be through the result of a life cycle assessment, also abbreviated to LCA.

Now, LCA, if you remember, is where the environmental impact is assessed at every single stage of the product's lifecycle so that it has the aim to reduce impact at lots of different points within a product lifecycle.

Question to you.

Have you ever thrown away a product because a very, very small part of it has broken? Speak to the person next to you or tell me.

Think of some products that you might have done that with.

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

I bet you had some interesting ideas there.

Laura says, "The headband on my headphones broke and I had to buy a new pair as I could not fix them." It's quite a large product, isn't it, to throw away if only a small park breaks? Many companies used to design products that could not be fixed, whereas sustainability has risen in popularity and designers are beginning to rethink.

One concept is modular design, a design approach where a product is made up of separate interchangeable parts or modules so that you don't have to throw the entire thing away.

Kibu is a great example of a design company with modular design at their heart.

Kibu design headphones with 3D printed modular parts which can be built, easily disassembled and repaired by children.

And we actually tested this out at Oak with one of our children to see whether they could and they could easily do that.

They're only six years old, yet that was easy for them to do.

So with every part being replaceable, it reduces the need to throw away products, meaning these headphones, if one small part breaks, you can simply get a new 3D printed part and replace that in.

It reduces the amount of products becoming obsolete, therefore it reduces the amount of waste.

It's a win-win.

Take a minute.

What can you see inside all of these boxes and where do you think this might be? Come back to me when you've got an idea.

Well done if you're the same as Andeep and identified that there are all sorts of components in there, including lots of different nuts and bolts.

Now this is a large company that you might recognise.

Not too sure if I can say their name, but it's a large company that designs a flat pack furniture.

So this company and many others provide help yourself stations for small parts or standard components that may have broken so that users can repair and maintain them themselves rather than throwing away the product or having to get a specialist to fix it for them.

What a great idea.

I touched on the word standard component on the last slide, but I didn't actually explain what it was.

So let's take a look at it together now.

Standard components or fixings already made parts like screws, nuts, bolts, knock down, fittings, that's the central image at the top, you might see these inside some of your cupboards of wardrobes, but it also includes things like buttons that are bought and used in products to save manufacturing time rather than having a specialist component.

So standard parts enable designs to be fixed easily without the need for a specialist part.

Therefore, if you can go to the shops and replace that part, you don't need to throw away the whole product.

Therefore, it means fewer products become obsolete.

My next question is, are the majority of people more likely to have a coin or a screwdriver lying around? Let's test this out with your class now.

Put your hand up if you are likely to find a coin very easily around your house.

Little around, how many hands are up? Okay.

Put your hand up if you are very likely to have a screwdriver either lying around or that you could find it very, very quickly.

I know I could, but I know that lots and lots of my friends wouldn't.

or they would have it hidden away in a big box in the garage and it would take them a long time to find.

So Sophia says, "A coin is really easy to find in my house." And I imagine that is the case with lots of you too.

It's quite easy to put your hand on a coin.

So what does that mean for repair and maintenance? Let's have a little look at the next slide.

Some products are designed to use coins rather than specialist tools so that maintaining and repairing is quick and simple because as we've just said, quite often it's very easy to find a coin but not always easy for everybody to find a screwdriver or a specialist tool.

And you can see this is my vacuum cleaner here.

I'm quickly taking the end off by using a coin to release that.

That means I can get to the inside part and I can quickly and easily clean out the inside, take out any hair and carry on using the vacuum.

There are also repair instruction diagrams, labels, or videos just like one with a coin that enable users to easily fix or maintain products to stop them being obsolete.

And I've included a little picture there of a washing or care instructions that you can quite often find inside your clothes.

They normally tell you what degree to wash them and how to wash them be that machine or be that by hand.

Take a little look at a label inside some of your clothing if you can.

Have you ever thrown away a product because you cannot access the batteries and the batteries have run out? Take a minute, have a little think.

Talk to the person next to you or to me.

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

Right.

Let's draw ourselves back together.

Izzy says, "My sister had a pair of flashing shoes that she loved, but when the batteries ran out, we could not change them.

Therefore the shoes could still be used but the flashing lights didn't work anymore".

Sustainable design decisions include making batteries easily accessible or using charging points.

So in this case with the shoe, if you could change the battery or plug it in, those lights would continue to be able to flash and the product would continue to be able to be used in the way it was intended.

Charging ports, replacing removable batteries reduces the need for disposable batteries, minimising both chemical waste and disposal.

And you can see in this gif, this is a little light that I have in our landing upstairs because we don't have a plug socket.

Quite simply, it magnets onto the wall, onto that little magnet sticker.

And when it runs out, it means I could just take it off, nice and quick and plug it in to the charging port so that I don't need to buy batteries, which is great.

Accessible replaceable button batteries also ensure that the product does not become obsolete.

This is the back of a battery off one of my children's books.

Now I've bought this book twice.

The first time there was no accessible batteries and when it finished making the sound, I ended up throwing it away because my kids loved to be able to push that button.

The second time I bought it, they'd obviously made that design decision to be more sustainable so they'd made sure that the batteries were accessible so that we could replace them.

What a great design decision.

Which of the following is a design decision that helps prevent a product from becoming obsolete? a, using specialist parts, b, designing products with sealed non-repairable parts, c, creating modular designs with replaceable parts or d, glueing all components permanently together? Have a think.

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

Well done if you've got c.

Creating modular designs with replaceable parts prevents a product from becoming obsolete.

Onto Task A.

Part 1, define the word obsolete.

Part 2, identify two reasons why some people choose to throw away products rather than repair or maintain them.

And Part 3, explain the connection between modular design and obsolete.

Good luck.

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

Answers could include.

Part 1, obsolete is when a product is no longer used or useful.

Part 2, reasons people choose to throw away products rather than repair or maintain.

You could have had it's sometimes cheaper or easier to buy a new one.

Lack of time, lack of spare parts or tools, limited knowledge or skill, or perhaps a poor design.

Part 3, I asked you to link and find the link between modular design and the word obsolete.

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

This allows a product to be fixed rather than becoming obsolete.

Part 4, I'd like you to match each design decision that supports repair and maintenance in the circular economy to the correct picture.

So here are our design decisions.

We have modular design, use of replaceable standard components, user support or accessible batteries.

And here are our images.

We have a repair video, we have screws, we have button battery casing, and we have interchangeable heels.

Have a think.

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

For modular design, we have interchangeable heels.

For use of replaceable standard components, we have screws.

For user support, we have a repair video.

And lastly, for accessible batteries, we have button battery casing.

Well done with all of your hard work.

Onto learning cycle two, Recycling.

When a product can no longer be maintained or repaired, a decision must be made as to whether it should become waste or be recycled.

And you can see I've highlighted both of those stages on the circular economy diagram.

This choice can be influenced by design decisions during the design or redesign stage, and you'll probably notice exactly the same as with the repair and maintenance stage.

It's those decisions made early on that have a huge influence and huge impact on the sustainability of the other sections of the product lifecycle.

Waste such as polymers can have a detrimental effect on the environment.

Let's take bottles for example.

Bottles are often thrown away or discarded.

If they enter a landfill site, then they will produce methane gases as they start to break down, which happens extremely slowly.

If the bottles enter the ocean, they turn into micro polymers in oceans, which then get swallowed by fish.

But they can also become a danger to wildlife.

And if you zoom into that picture, you'll see that there are some animals being stuck in some plastic packaging, there are bottles in the water and there's animals thinking that some of these plastics are actually food when they're not.

Therefore, waste can be really problematic to our environment, which shows how important recycling is.

Take a little look at the image in the top left, look really, really closely, and you will see it says name, name, and name again.

Sam says, "How do labels like this encourage sustainability?" Have a little think.

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

If you look closely underneath those three names, it says, "Please pass me on when you are done." It encourages the users to give it to someone else, but having name in three spots also gives each user a special place where they can write their own name.

Sustainability has grown in popularity recently and it's led designers to make design decisions that encourage reusing or passing on products rather than just throwing them away.

This has been seen through labels just like this one that Sam is looking at, but it's also been seen in the rise of apps and websites that that are available these days for sharing or buying secondhand items. I'm a big fan of this one app where you can buy old clothes.

Some of them have literally only been worn once or twice yet you get them for a fraction of the price and you know you're doing something good for the environment.

Time for a quick check-in.

Choices made at the something stage of the circular economy often influence how easy it is for a product to be recycled.

Are we referring to the product in new stage, the repair and maintenance stage, the distribution stage, or the design or redesign stage? Have a think.

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

Well done if you got the design or redesign stage.

Choices made at the design and redesign stage of the circular economy often influence how easy it is for a product to be recycled.

Laminated materials are those that are built up in layers and they're often layers which are glued together.

So laminated materials are often difficult to recycle.

Just like this juice carton, you can see it's got a metallic inside and a plastic outside.

So design decisions to use material combinations that can be separated, enable and encourage easy recycling for the user and for the recycling company.

Clear labelling also enables users to make the correct sustainable decisions.

So for example, at my school we collect all polymers that have the number two, which stands for HDPE.

That's high density polyethylene.

Now the reason we collect number two HDPE is that we know we can then reheat it and reform the polymer into new sheets of HDPE that we can use for making projects in DT.

But if someone brings in a polymer that is made from the wrong category of polymer, we cannot reheat that.

So clear labelling ensures us to be able to sort them out and make good sustainable decisions.

Recycling polymers can enable new products to be designed and manufactured.

So if users make the decision to put the polymer in the right bin for recycling, then they will be collected by a recycling company or perhaps a council.

The bottles and polymers are then sorted into the correct categories, just like we talked about on the last slide.

The bottles are then shredded to make them into teeny tiny.

Those teeny tiny pieces of shredded polymers are then washed to make sure they are clean, to make sure that they are ready to be reused into a new material.

Once they are ready, once they are clean, polymer manufacturing processes create new products just like the blow moulding of this new bottle here.

New polymer products can then be manufactured and sold without having to use new crude oil from fossil fuels to make new polymer products.

Isn't recycling amazing? What products have you seen or experienced that are made from recycled materials? Have a little think share with the person next to you.

Pause the video and come back to me when you've got some ideas.

Hopefully you came up with some fab ideas that you have seen around your houses, your schools or your communities.

Jacob says, "My cousins love the play equipment at the park made from recycled polymers." And if we zoom into there, you will see the outside of that play equipment roundabout, not too sure if you call it a roundabout, but that play equipment is made from recycled polymers and it's really rather beautiful with all those colours in it.

Have you ever made something new from something old? I bet a fair few of you have.

Pause the video, have a little discussion and come back to me when you've got some ideas.

I bet the classroom is buzzing with ideas.

Lucas says, "My mom and I made our old beds and cots into a potion station for my little sister.

Take a little look at those three pictures at the top.

That's actually my son that you can see in the pictures.

Now he had outgrown his toddler bed and my daughter had outgrown her cot.

So what we did was we dismantled them and we built a beautiful potion station with all of the parts.

And we sanded it, we screwed them together, we painted it and we made this potion station that my daughter has absolutely loved.

It's now covered in mud.

It's covered with flowers and sticks and bits from the garden, but she has had great, great fun making all sorts of potions in her potion station.

So this is an example of upcycling.

Upcycling is when you create something new from something obsolete.

Let's remind ourselves, obsolete means when a product is no longer used or useful.

The cot, the toddler bed were no longer used.

They were no longer useful because they'd outgrown them.

Therefore, we upcycle them into something that would and still is being used a few years on.

Time for a check-in.

Upcycling and recycling mean the same thing.

Is that statement true or is it false? Have a think.

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

Well done if you got false.

And why is that? Recycling breaks materials down, for example, remelting polymers and reshaping them whilst upcycling repurposes them in their current form just like my daughter's potion station.

In Taiwan, there are many oyster farms. And you might have seen some oysters before.

You might have even tried one.

The main waste from the oyster farms are polystyrene blocks, which are often found on beaches and ports around Taiwan.

And you can see those in that picture there on the right.

They're quite big, aren't they? Huge polystyrene blocks and they become waste.

Bart Van Bueren, a water architect, together with Mizuiro, a local art gallery, a Dutch artist, and Willem Van Doorn came together to consider how to use and upcycle the polystyrene waste.

Their ideas led to the development of the floating gardens, which you can see in this picture.

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

The polystyrene waste was packed in a synthetic cloth to prevent leakage.

Then around the polystyrene waste, a strong structure was created using discarded fishing nets gathered in various harbours.

Notice there not only is it using waste from the polystyrene, but also from the fishing nets.

This structure was inspired by techniques used to make traditional rafts made in Amsterdam.

The structure was then planted to create beautiful floating gardens that could bring beauty to the local community Whilst upcycling, the discarded polystyrene and fishing nets.

The plants have a positive effect on the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen, and therefore improving air quality in such a densely populated country.

What an absolutely fantastic example of upcycling.

Onto Task B.

Part 1, I'd like you to define upcycling.

Part 2, explain two design decisions that can reduce environmental impact at the recycling stage of the circular economy.

Part 3, explain how the floating gardens in Taiwan are an example of upcycling.

And lastly, research ideas for either recycling or upcycling and have a go at creating something new from something obsolete.

I can't wait to see what you find.

Answers could include, Part 1, upcycling is creating something new from something obsolete.

Part 2, I asked you to explain two design decisions that can reduce environmental impact at the recycling stage of the circular economy.

So designers can choose to make a product for one type of material, such as all polymer or all metal.

This makes recycling easier because the product doesn't need to be separated into different parts.

Adding labels or symbols to show what materials are enables users to make the correct decisions about how to recycle each part.

Part 3, I asked you to explain how the floating gardens in Taiwan are an example of upcycling.

So the floating gardens in Taiwan are an example of upcycling as they use discarded, obsolete polystyrene waste from oyster farms that would otherwise enter landfill, so to create floating areas that can be planted to provide beauty and improve air quality in density populated regions.

Part 4, I asked you to get creative with either recycling or upcycling.

So Izzy researched methods to recycle bottle tops.

She decided to melt down the HDPE bottle into sheets of HDPE and you can see the photos of her doing that.

She then used a guillotine to cut the petal shapes.

She then created a former to shape the 2D pedals into 3D using heat, and then she threaded a metal rod to attach them onto.

And you can see her final flower ideas there made from recycled bottle tops.

What a beautiful idea, Izzy.

Well done.

This brings us to the end of our lesson today.

Let's summarise what we have found out.

The responsibility for repair, maintenance and recycling does not just lie with the user.

Design decisions can affect how easy something is to repair, maintain, or recycle.

Design decisions to stop products becoming obsolete include modular design, just like what we saw with the headphones, use of replaceable standard components, support provided such as repair manuals or videos, charging ports or accessible batteries, material choices or combinations or labelling for recycling, just like we know with the number 2 for HDPE, and lastly, upcycling, how you create something new from something otherwise obsolete.

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.