1. Do you think that you could incorporate the following idea from the book into your design process: “To eliminate the concept of waste means to design things – products, packaging, and systems – from the very beginning on the understanding that waste does not exist”? How?
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February 14, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Wow thats a hard one! It seems that we have been raised with waste being such a normal thing that we don’t think twice about it. Even to begin a design process, you make paper waste with sketches and mock ups. I do often use scrap paper for this which is a good start, but then I must remember to recycle the paper after I am finished. Packaging is another difficult thing and it always makes me sad when I buy a product that has so much waste from the package alone. Often times we just use the materials that are available to us when designing packaging ourselves and often times it seems we choose designs that are more visually pleasing rather than those that are more eco-friendly. Also even if you were to design a package with completely recycled and recyclable materials the buyer might just put it in the trash instead of sending it to be recycled. I think the key to all this however is education and knowledge of what materials are better to use and which ones can be reused and recycled. This knowledge should also be spread through packaging so that the customer will know as well and will realize the consequences of creating so much waste.
February 15, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I think education is key here. Educating more people about waste and how waste really shouldn’t and wouldn’t exist if we used the proper materials would be an eye opener. I think, we, as designers could help this concept a lot. If we started using synthetic paper, the ink could be removed so it could be used for something else. Or if we just create things (like in our current project) that could last longer than people reading it and tossing it out.
February 15, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I think the key to the statement is the third thing listed that we need to redesign: systems. While there are many things that designers can do to reduce the waste from products and packaging, there needs to be an infrastructure designed to support it before we could achieve zero waste. The project we are currently working on is a good exercise in designing things that will not create waste, but most of them depend on the consumer to take some sort of action instead of simply throwing them away. What we would need is a system that used only recyclable materials and where everything was recycled or reused.
February 15, 2009 at 8:19 pm
I think, if you begin working with the concept of waste not existing, then I feel that you will not have a problem producing a design that is not harmful to the environment. Beginning a design process now, I haven’t really had to think about how the products I used harmed the environment, but with the knowledge I am gaining about how these products affect the environment, I will try to do everything I can to help. If designers can get it into their heads to produce products that are environmentally safe, then as I stated in an earlier week’s post, many more might follow the new “green” wave so to speak.
February 15, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Here are the other two questions for the week 4 Discussion (the post is still pending)
2. As humans can we come to start producing products and services that can be recycled and reused and not harm the environment but help it. What will it take for the human race to start producing products like this?
3. In the book, the authors suggest that if “our systems contaminate Earth’s biological mass and (we) continue to throw away technical materials or render them useless, we will indeed live in a world of limts.” (103) Do you believe this to be true? Do you have any suggestions or ideas to help creatively reuse commonly thrown away items such as cell phones and other electronical devices.
February 15, 2009 at 11:07 pm
1. This is an awkward one to tackle. I would assume that this would be hard to assume waste doesn’t exist because I see waste around me everyday and I see many people loitering and littering in front of me. So I would guess as a “consumer” it is easier to litter your waste but as a designer you want to think a very innovative way at all times. As a designer that sees the waste and its only motivating to create more disposable “green” packaging that disintegrate over time even if disposed inappropriately without hurting the natural surroundings.
2. I honestly feel for our world to become more aware particularly in the U.S., is if a large catastrophe occurred based off of our blindness to what not recycling and preserving can do to our water, land and atmosphere. Sadly, going through something where we aren’t in control is the biggest lesson we can learn to straighten up what has gone astray.
3. I feel that keeping physical technical materials are very useful because things are then tangible and no telling how when you look at something in physical form how it may inspire you or make that ideal bright bulb hover above your head. For example I am sure looking at those big “new jack city” phones from the 90’s that that inspired a designer to create beauties like the razr and other bar phones.
February 16, 2009 at 2:43 am
To eliminate waste from your design would be a difficult yet rewarding task. My thought right now in our society, I feel we will have waste no matter what, yet in new design I feel it should be pushed and pushed so that one day we wont produce waste. As a designer I feel that it would be my duty to the environment to design more effective and less wasteful designs. I also feel that we will always have waste in some shape or form and in order to not have waste, our society would have to go through A LOT of change.
February 16, 2009 at 3:58 am
1.As designers, we re-work on a project to create better design. We can do the same thing to try to eliminate waste. Re-working a design that will be more environmental friendly. Research and experimentation is the main key to do this. It is a process that will developed over-time.
2.Large catastrophe have occurred since Earth has been created. In History, people said catastrophes were cause by the gods or human sin. Now, we are blaming global warming for it. I think maybe is mother nature taking it course. Lately, there has been a lot more hurricanes and you read about the melting of the glaciers. Our industry lifestyle can maybe cause of this. We need to waste less, but is not going to prevent catastrophes.
3. People throw away stuff because they don’t have no room for it and is annoying to keep these objects around. What is the solution to this problem? Designers can use them as design reference. It quite interesting to look at the evolution of design. He or she can fix an old computer or re-used the monitor. The best solution is to give to companies that recycled old cellphones. and computers.
February 16, 2009 at 4:11 am
I get so annoyed when I open a product and find that the actual packaging takes up more space than the product. So many things are individually wrapped and it seems so pointless! I’m sure a lot of people get so annoyed with the situation they don’t take the time to separate out the recyclables, they just throw the whole heap of trash into the garbage. I think to start with companies need to use less packaging overall. Then with time, like Ron said somehow come up with packaging that with disintegrate over time safely into the environment. Maybe that packaging can even include ample nutrients for the earth to thrive off of.
February 16, 2009 at 4:18 am
To eliminate the concept of waste means to design things, I think we should start from the designers. Designers should design the products with environmental friendly materials. We waste too much paper with the sketches nowadays. We should use the recycle papers to draw the sketches instead. And we should use recycle materials instead of plastic for the packaging. But in society, we keep wasting and wasting, it is because of the people are learning from the updated fashions and designers.
February 16, 2009 at 4:36 am
The books talk about the Earth being a huge cycle and recycle system, if manufacturers started to think of packaging that way then there would be soo much waste and so many landfills to make up for that mistake. To stop making waste, we need to think as designers how we, like the earth, can make a cycle to recycle system. Does that mean decomposable bottles or putting our “waste” back into the earth? Or maybe it means coming up with new ways to use plastics after they have been used. The book talks about systems and I agree with Joseph in that we need to start with changing our systems, the whole we way view our environment and the industry.
As for what it will take for people to start producing non wasteful products, well maybe when the world is stripped of nutrients and there are no more crops or land or food left, then maybe people will start to understand that we can’t take everything away from the ground below us. That’s kind of harsh, but the world as a whole won’t understand until something drastic happens.
And for us as designers, we could actually have a very important job in the future in coming up with new ideas about how to reuse or rethink about different products such as was stated, cell phones or other electronic devices. I am sure there are many ways to reuse a bottle of water that we can not think of off the top of our heads, or how about a plastic bag? I do not have ideas as of right now, but if a few people put their heads together, I am sure a bright idea will come out of it.
February 16, 2009 at 4:39 am
I feel that under the current system things are marketed under it would be hard to market products without using packaging or materials. As a designer, I feel that being in a competitive field it can be hard sometimes to be concerned with the amount of materials wasted during the design process. I do believe that there are many steps a designer can and should take in creating packaging that is more sustainable. However, ideally the system we have been born into desperately needs to be completely revamped. So… it looks like it could be up to our generation to find new solutions to how the world makes things in the future.
February 16, 2009 at 5:20 am
The comment Jeannie made about the AMOUNT of packaging that comes with most products makes me angry as well. Sometimes I feel like I have to literally battle the packaging of some things before I can even get to the actual product. Not only should be start thinking about recyclable packaging and reusable design materials, but we should think about simplifying the packaging materials that are being used– simply by using less of it!
I agree with Christian in that we, as a society, have become so accustomed to the way we have always wastefully produced items we cannot imagine doing it any other way. In order to start producing completely sustainable methods of designing and packaging products, we are going to have to start from the beginning and look at it from an entirely different perspective. If more people would become interested in truly making a change, I think that our generation could be responsible for a whole new approach. The problem is, everyone must get involved, and I’m beginning to believe this is virtually impossible. It won’t be until something drastic occurs (for example, there is a serious threat to the existence of the human race) that we will truly begin to take action.
February 16, 2009 at 5:25 am
I feel this is a very tricky question. With the way we were all raised, we are just used to seeing packaging that comes along with loads of things to throw away. Plastic packaging, styrofoam, clear wrap, paper, cardboard all of which are not good for the environment. I think it could be very possible to create packaging that would not be as harmful to the environment, but it is something that most companies don’t do because its less expensive, and it’s what they are used to and what is easiest. The concept could be achieved, many people are just scared to break outside of what is considered normal and typical and easiest. Being a designer, and a consumer, I know that i am always attracted to fancy or eye catching packaging, and i think the lack of that could deter many people from buying a product with lackluster packaging.
February 17, 2009 at 4:10 am
I think it is impossible to have a product with no waste at all. In the end the product it’s self will probably end up as waste. However I do feel it is both important and possible to cut back on packaging. I have always thought that most products have way to much packaging. If you go to BJ’s, Sam’s Club or Costco and but items in buck such as ziplock bags or tissues, often times there will be four boxes if tissue in a larger box that is covered in plastic. There must be better alternatives to these wasteful ways. I feel that the solution lies in the object being marketed. If it is a cheese grater you could simply put a sticker on it with all the necessary information. However I do not have a good solution for the tissue boxes.