Using a vivid example, Ruud Balkenende from TU Delft illustrates why the current product design is tantamount to a huge waste of materials, money and time, and why a circular approach is necessary: for the sake of the environment, society and the economy, a product’s viability for recycling needs to be taken into account already at design stage. This is the topic of this module.
Module description
Design for a Circular Economy emphasises the importance of recovery of products and materials, if possible through maintaining the performance and value of a product over multiple use cycles. Preferred recovery operations are reuse, repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing and parts harvesting, as these processes maintain or restore the functionality of products and parts. Further, enabling recycling of materials is an essential step, although also a last resort. In design this brings about the need for strategic thinking and a long time horizon, with increasing attention to business models.
Learning objectives:
- You can describe the main characteristics of a circular economy
- You can compare various circular design strategies to close the loop for a particular product
- You can explain the importance of business approaches in relation to closing of product and material loops