5:46 PM

Design for Disassembly

Posted by Fiona |


Change is in the air.

We are ready for a new president, and we are ready for a new point of view, but are manufacturers, consumers, designers ready to part with their waste producing ways?

Design for Disassembly is one of many schemes developed to tangibly introduce sustainability to our unsustainable world. It is a plan that considers the entire live cycle of a product, and considers its birth as important as its rebirth. Products should be designed in parts that can be recycled, reused, and refurbished, from the point of conception.

As “World Changing”, and online magazine focused on development and sustainability, puts it, design for disassembly is all about cutting into the waste stream. If products were developed and utilized in this way the waste would become as important as the product.
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002005.html

The concept is that products would be made modularly, or with parts that can easily come apart, parts that are recyclable, and made of a single material.

Design for Disassembly is a step in the right direction, if every product was made this way it would reduce waste drastically. But some say that this solution is only a band-aid, and that what we should really strive to do is create a zero waste economy.

“Basically, as a manufacturer, you "lease" raw materials to consumers in a product form with the understanding that at the end of the product's life, the consumer will give it back. That way, you completely close the waste loop, and allow yourself the chance to re-use plastics, metals, chemicals, and even components in future designs.”
http://www.idfuel.com/index.php?p=335&more=1&c=1

This is ambitious to say the least, and requires a commitment from the consumer. It is hard for us as Americans to truly grasp the affect our waste has around the world. Most of us will never see the piles of goods that leave our shores to pile up in places never meant for people to go. But one day, if we continue producing the way we are we will begin to see these piles, on our own shores, piling up right in front of our highs. If you look hard enough you will see it has already begun.

But change is in the air, and I am hopeful.


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