What makes design sustainable

Add CO 2 and the energy used by manufacturers to the equation, and the price being paid by the planet is unsustainable. According to Greenpeace, human consumption of natural resources has doubled over the last 30 years, prompting the United Nations UN to advocate for a new production model that makes optimal use of resources and energy, develops sustainable infrastructure, improves access to basic services, and creates high-quality green job opportunities.

The environmental benefits of sustainable production affect both industry and society. The United Nations advocates this system as a means to improve millions of people's quality of life, mitigate poverty, boost competitiveness, and lower economic, environmental and social costs.

The benefits of eco-design. There's something wrong about a society that uses 7, litres of water — the amount drunk by a person in seven years — to manufacture a pair of jeans. This fact, published by the UN in , is the tip of an iceberg that needs solutions like eco-design. It is a new philosophy that considers product sustainability from start to finish, where extraction, manufacturing, distribution and consumer use must all adhere to green criteria. Eco-design is a linchpin of the circular economy , a strategy the purpose of which is to give products an indefinite life within a closed, waste-free circuit.

Designing with sustainable materials means that the goods in the circular economy reach the end of their useful life in a suitable condition to be put to new uses, unlike the buy-use-throw away or 'linear' economy. Other similar, related terms include green , organic , natural , clean , and ethical.

One key component of sustainable design is standardization. This can mean the same parts across every product in your line or using the same parts other manufacturers are using— even your competitors.

By using standard parts, consumers can find replacement parts more easily and do their own repairs, rather than having to find specialized repair techs or replace their items altogether. Problem is, you have an iPhone and everybody else has another kind of smartphone—among the group, somebody has a Motorola, somebody else has a Samsung, another friend has an LG.

They can all share chargers because these manufacturers built the same USB charging port into their phones. But as part of their proprietary design, Apple gave the iPhone a differently shaped charging port and that means you need an Apple phone charger. Implementing sustainable design principles and strategies in your work comes with a lot of benefits that reach beyond doing right by the planet. Here are a few of the biggest benefits that come with this choice:.

This means using less energy overall—and that extends to working with vendors that use sustainable power and manufacturing sources. But website designers can opt for sustainable design by choosing to work with hosting providers that utilize energy-saving strategies and renewable resources, like Green Geeks or Dream Host. In non-digital scenarios, using less energy often means designing a motor or mechanism that literally uses less power than other designs.

Depending on your audience, advertising it loud and clear can give you a huge head start over your competition… or it might not matter.

Even if your audience is apathetic to sustainability or even critical of it, incorporating sustainable design principles into your work can help you avoid facing fees and fines associated with not complying to environmental regulations.

In many places, governments offer tax incentives, grants and subsidies to companies that design and manufacture their products in sustainable ways. Research whether your state or federal government offers similar incentives and if so, how you can take advantage of them.

You might find that sustainable design pays—literally! You can also claim certain tax deductions by choosing electric vehicles for your company fleet and purchasing renewable energy-producing equipment for your office. Keep in mind that sustainable design can have drawbacks as well. Many designers and businesses find themselves facing higher material costs when they try to implement sustainable design strategies.

Sustainable materials are often recycled or sourced in sustainable ways, which typically means more specialized equipment, sourcing from different regions than non-sustainable versions of the same materials are sourced from, sourcing less of the materials and packing and shipping them differently.

These higher costs are often passed on to the consumer, which then mean they have to be passed on to the next consumer: your client.

You can partner with other designers, businesses or manufacturers to share material costs. You can also look for places to save money elsewhere, like shortening your supply chain with the added bonus of reducing emissions!

Other strategies include investing in other sustainable companies to generate an additional income stream, seeking public and private grants to cover costs and connecting with investors who have the same goals you have.

People care a lot about sustainability, especially as climate change becomes an even hotter topic. British Plastics Federation. Polymer Prices. Member Offers. International Market Data. Sales Leads. Chemical Legislation. Get Funding. Promote Your Company. Health and Safety. Legal Support. BPF Branding. Communication Tools. Influence UK Policy. Our debut collection is the result of two years of intense research about plastic, plastic toys and how to recycle them into furniture. The toy industry is among those using plastic most intensively.

For example, bio-plastics are not always biodegradable in the normal environment. Without an accurate sorting and waste management system, they will mostly end up in waste incineration. Our products are entirely recyclable and can be easily recycled by any professional plastic recycling company. On our school visits we ask pupils to put their old and unused toys in our EcoBirdy container, which we then recycle into furniture.

They want to engage with the soft, friendly shapes. After a visit, some parents tell us their children ask them to recycle more. Our upholstered pieces are covered using only per cent natural fabrics. We work alongside one of the last wool mills in the UK that manufactures sustainable, recyclable fabrics — mainly high-quality wool derived from pasture-fed and ethically reared sheep — and help to support independent farms that showcase the best farming practices. I was drawn to steam-bending as a manufacturing process because it felt like a forgotten art form — there were very few people using the process commercially and I knew that there was a lot of creative scope.

Steam-bending is a low-energy process that relies only on heat and water. Lengths of timber are loaded into a steam chamber, heated at degrees Celsius and then wrapped around custom-made metal or wooden jigs that have been formed to the shape of the products.

The technique produces very little wastage; we even reuse any excess water that has condensed in the steamer the next time wood is heated. We also currently work with two small local companies that recycle any waste wood offcuts to create wooden toys, seed dibbers and small gardening tools. I wanted to flip the industry and create a brand with a visible and transparent purpose. Our philosophy is based on ethical and circular thinking — looking at how you disassemble a product, how you then recycle, collect and process the materials to make new furniture once a piece ends its first life cycle.

In total, the chairs installed at the hotel contain 2. This groundbreaking new initiative not only saves emissions and resources, but also solves a significant waste problem for the brewing company. In Europe, you will only find sustainable forestry, but it can be very differently managed.