GREEN PRODUCTSDFE – DESIGN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Growing Green (Unruh & Ettenson 2010)

Between 2007-2009 eco-friendly product launches increased by more than 500%

Environmental responsibility can be a platform for both growth and differentiation (remember the generic competitive strategies by Porter?!)

In their HBR article Unruh and Ettenson identify three ”smart” paths to developing sustainable products

One caveat; activists will not hesitate to point out greenwashing

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Green product strategies (Unruh & Ettenson)

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HIGH

GreenableAttributes

LOW

Examples of ”accentuate”

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Examples of ”acquire”

L’Oreal & The Body Shop Unilever & Ben & Jerry’s

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Examples of ”architect”

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Patagonia garment recycling

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The need for cleaner design ( architect and accentuate)

Why look at products?

Von Weizsacker et al. (1997) found that

93% of production materials do not end up in saleable products

80% of products are discarded after a single use

99% of materials used are discarded in the first six weeks

Electrolux studied washing machines and realised that 80% of the environmental impact comes from the use phase and only 20% can be attributed to manufacture and distribution

Metso Paper studied the paper machine and realised even starker contrasts with the use of the product contributing almost all environmental impacts

Cleaner design can address these and improve production efficiency

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Why is design so vital? Designers have the biggest

impact on the product during its life. They will decide raw materials product life span energy efficiency recyclability

Black & Decker found that 80% of the product life cycle costs are determined at the design stage even though the actual costs occur downstream; this is a well realised fact in industry

The above objectives may clash with other demands such as economics and style

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Motives and benefits of sustainable design

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Motives for cleaner design

• Economic drivers Reduced material and

resource consumption Reduced waste generation Reduced costs Improved

competitiveness Increased profits

• Market drivers Supply chain pressures Green consumers Innovation and development

of new markets

• Government policy Achieving sustainable

development Improved protection for the

environment Reduced greenhouse gas

emissions Improved environmental

performance by UK industry

• European policy & legislative pressure

Integrated Product Policy (IPP) EU Eco-labelling scheme Packaging waste regulations Integrated Pollution

Prevention and Control Directive

Climate Change Levy End-of-life vehicles directive Waste electrical and

electronic equipment directive, WEEE

ROHS directive

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Benefits from cleaner design

Potential benefits include:

Lower production costs Improved product function and quality Increased market share Improved environmental performance Improved customer/ supplier relationship Continued relationship with legislators Easier disassembly and increased potential for recycling Longer product design life

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What is cleaner design?

What is a product?

Kotler (1988) defines products through four levels:

The core product

The tangible product

The augmented product

The total product

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Esimerkki tuotteen kerroksista

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A Green Product

The concept of product needs to be extended: The green product is the combination of the

product, its packaging, its place of sale, its communication as well as the image of the corporation. The concept of product also includes what the product becomes as waste.

A green product can not be packed in styrofoam! The relative importance of product attributes has

changed over time

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A green product -an oxymoron?

Perception of “green” influenced by the raw-materials and processes employed in producing the pdt, the purpose/ use of the product, the disposal and after-life of the pdt, risks involved in the use of pdt as well as durability and country of origin.

Product needs to perform well on the following dimensions; raw-materials, energy-efficiency, waste, pollution, packaging, life-span, reusability, recyclability, image associations, socio-economic impact, sustainability.

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Issues in green product strategies

Pollution control; end-of-pipe (EOP) techniques

Cleaner production; integrated techniques

Product stewardship, extended producer responsibility

Design for the Environment (DfE), eco-efficiency

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Product (environmental) life cycle

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Key environmental considerations for cleaner design

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The DfE cycle

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Management resistance

Green product development may not be easy-sell to senior management; typically argued to have negative impact both on sales and image. Also the introduction of green products will

decrease demand and sales of core products there will be inadequate demand to justify

increased costs and people will not pay a premium

unacceptable costs of R&D will be incurred

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What is cleaner design?

Cleaner design is the design of a product to minimise its environmental impacts over its entire lifetime and to meet customer requirements

Clean design is proactive sustainability management

Clean design helps to reduce operating costs, increase market share, improve environmental performance and simulate innovation

Design for the Environment, Design for Value Maximisation, Clean Design, Product Eco-Efficiency; all are synonyms

Clean design needs to be incorporated through addressing

1. People - capacity building

2. Processes - providing checklists

3. Techniques – providing tools

– Need to be sure to optimise the system and not optimise only a subsystem at the expense of sub-optimising the entire system!!

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DfE Examples

Design for the Environment (DfE)

Design for alternative need fulfillment Design for product lifetime extension Design for “best” and minimum materials Design for closure of material cycles Design for energy conservation Design for efficient distribution

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Design for alternative need fulfillment The majority of products are

bought for the use value they provide; naturally the exception of status goods.

Consumers do not really need cars, phones etc; they need to commute, communicate…

Not product per se but utility --> towards a service economy

May work better in larger procurement decisions rather than individual consumer behavior

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Design for alternative need fulfillment

Sharing products: car pooling Leasing

chemicals carpets office machinery washing machines

(Electrolux) Services designed to reduce

need for material products; designing pedestrian access rather than roads

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Design for product lifetime extension

Disposability has long been regarded as an objective/ consumer benefit

Also pricing strategies promote disposability

Rapid technological change makes products quickly obsolete; built-in obsolescence

Tradition of encouraging disposal rather than re-use; “newness” has been a value in itself

Extending lifetime needs to include an attitude shift

Gap between developed and developing nations

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…product lifetime extension Extending useful life

Products often not robust; especially consumer goods. Different parts of appliances deteriorate at different rates.

Designing products so that parts can easily be replaced/ repaired; modular structure

Design for re-manufacture products that can disassembled, refurbished

and re-assembled; upgrading good also when external features become

un-fashionable labor costs of assembly! Can old materials/parts be efficiently

treated?

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EXAMPLE: modularity

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…product lifetime extension

Design for recyclability raw-material costs make up

most of production costs increasing disposal costs large or single material

items easiest; composites sometimes problematic. Example: plastics containing different polymers

mechanical disassembly/ sorting of waste fractions

waste needs to be collected, sorted and re-used

parts identification

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Materials Selection Variety of materials

available Quality specifications Use of recycled materials Use of recyclable materials Advanced materials Biodegradable materials Avoidance of hazardous

ingredients

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Example: choice of materials

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Example: choice of materials

Minimum use of materials

Simplification Miniaturisation Multi-functionalism Dematerialisation

MIPS Factor 4 and

beyond Hydrogen car

As one industry figure declared: "The public doesn't want to drive electric cars; they are boring to drive. They are smooth and efficient, but they are not fun cars; they don't make a nice noise, and they are not exciting. But when there is no alternative, they will buy electric cars."

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Example: minimising materials use

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Example: Minimising materials use

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Eco-Efficiency and MIPS

5 grams versus 2000 kg

The corporate approach

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Use of energy and water

Energy and water use/pollution etc are among the most highly regulated areas of environmental legislation.

Designers can make choices affecting the use and efficiency of energy and water consumption.

Energy efficiency labeling requirements! Simple changes: compartments in

ovens, fans in refrigerators, light-weight materials, use of micro-processors

letting the consumer assemble (IKEA)

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Use of energy and water

Alternative energy sources both during use and during

production as well as other stages of life cycle

cars, solar power calculator, Seiko Kinetic

Water use examining processes to identify

where water really is necessary, for example dry debarking of logs

through mechanical change decrease amount of water used; for example washing machines use more pressure and direct water better so less water is needed

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Design for closure of materials cycles

Closed cycles within a corporation or process collection and re-use of process raw materials,

auxilliary materials, side products etc. Waste transfer

market forces Industrial Ecosystems

extended producer producer alliances (for example packaging and tyres) product specific material specific

industrial symbiosis tight cooperation network, often local or

regional

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Packaging

One of the main issues in green product strategies & image is packaging.

Packaging can “make or break” the green campaign. Different alternatives have been compared; often there

is no scientific consensus and in the absence of such, public opinion fills the vacuum.

Packaging serves important purposes protecting the product easing transportation communicating about the product etc

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…Packaging Packaging is both

consumer packaging and industrial packaging

Packaging can be made reusable refillable returnable recyclable compostable edible!

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Examples of Benefits

Varian medical systems Cost savings of £162 000/year achieved at a cost of £24 620 65% reduction in number of components used 29% reduction in number of fasteners 27% reduction in assembly time

Coca-Cola Enterprises (can design change) Annual savings of £2,3 million/ year, pay-back of less than two years Savings of £40 million/ yearly in reduced metal use for the beverage industry

IBM (shifting partly to recycled plastics) 30% cheaper than alternative Diversion of 680 tonnes of plastic waste from landfill yearly Market advantages (exceeding customer demands)

Xerox (re-use and recycling system) Financial benefits worth several hundred million dollars a year In 1998, 85920 developer rolls were recovered in Europe saving Xerox US$9/roll

and producing saleable material worth nearly US$ 1 million yearly Prevented 65770 tonnes of waste going to landfill Helping to meet future regulatory demands

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Tools for cleaner design

Discussed during earlier lecture! (MFAs, LCA, etc.)