Design and the Environment - Cradle to Grave

1. VDIS10030 DESIGN
AND THE
ENVIRONMENTSangeeta Jain

2. Design and the Environment
• In recent years, we hear about global warming often. We have passed the stage
where we consider it as a possibility and are right now feeling the “heat” of it. Global
temperatures are rising. The polar ice caps are melting. Weather is becoming more
extreme. The sea levels are rising. The impact of these changes are devastating. It is
believed that in the years to come rising sea levels may destroy coastal communities,
there could be shortage of food, some species may become extinct etc. Thus the
threats that climate change poses are pushing environmental concerns to the
forefront. While much emphasis is currently placed on climate change, there are other
environmental concerns too. These include the availability of potable fresh water,
increased deforestation, reduced biodiversity and the destruction of ecosystems.
Reversing these patterns requires dramatic changes in consumption and production at
the process, product, service and system levels. There is a growing demand to research
and implement innovative processes and develop better products and services.

3. “Designers actually have more potential to slow environmental degradation
than economists, politicians and environmentalist. Their power is catalytic.”
Alastair Faud-Luke
Source: The Eco-Design Handbook

4. What can designers do?
• It is increasingly apparent that current patterns of consumption and production are
unsustainable, as evidenced in the ever increasing rate of adverse environmental and
social impacts. To keep pace with the rapidly changing setting, many environmental
movements have expanded their scope to include social and economic concerns. This
combination of environmental, social, and economic priorities is referred to as
‘sustainability.’
• Designers are considered to be problem solvers. Thus we certainly have a major role to
play in finding unique sustainable design solution(s)to the problem of global warming
and climate change. We can make a difference especially today when people have
started to notice the value of a good design. However in order to relieve the negative
environmental, social and economic impacts and to develop eco-friendly products
and create sustainable design, we first need to understand the cause of it by
understanding the life cycle of the product, service or process.

5. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
• A life cycle assessment or LCA, identifies opportunities for improvement by quantifying
the impacts that a product has on the environment throughout its full life cycle - from
production and manufacturing to the disposal phase.
• A full LCA is also known as a "Cradle to Grave" sustainability assessment.
• Cradle to Grave is a biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems that
models human industry on nature's processes viewing materials as nutrients circulating
in healthy, safe metabolisms. It can be used to assess the environmental impacts of a
product's life and provide a sound basis for informed decisions.
• It sounds analytical and complex but with some basic theory graphic designers can
certainly apply some practical LCA to their graphic design projects.

6. This graphic shows the main
stages of a cradle-to-grave
full life-cycle and the
resources that go into the
system and waste that comes
out (this can happen at every
stage, not just at the end).
http://sustainable-graphic-
design.blogspot.in/2011/07/materials-
life-cycle-assessment-in.html

9. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
• As the term “Cradle to Grave” suggests, it is an analysis of a product/service right from
creation to disposal; throughout the life cycle. Cradle to Grave analysis includes
physical goods as well as services and technological processes. It is a technique to
assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from raw
material extraction through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair
and maintenance, and disposal or recycling.
• Designers use this process to help critique their products. The main stages of the life
cycle usually follows the cradle-to-grave model (full life-cycle). Occasionally the
cradle-to-gate model (partial life-cycle until it reaches the consumer).

10. Life Cycle
Analysis
“Cradle to
Grave Model”

11. Life Cycle Analysis
“Cradle to Gate Model”
http://buddhajeans.com/encyclopedia/cradle-to-gate/

12. Cradle to Grave Analysis
The main stages for analysis include:
• Raw material extraction
• Material processing
• Design
• Manufacture
• Distribution
• Use
• Repair/maintenance
• Disposal
With regard to the following factors:
• Raw Material use
• Water use
• Energy use
• Waste production
• Waste disposal (air, land, water)
• Transportation steps

13. Cradle to Grave Analysis
• Here's a simple graphic of the direct mail life-cycle. It's highly simplified - and really only
shows the journey of the paper, not the ink or other consumables and it only ends in the
bin rather than a landfill or incinerator. Even so, notice that it's not really a "cycle" but a
linear flow. The thing that makes this linear flow possible is cheap energy to transport
and process the trees into printed material.
http://sustainable-graphic-design.blogspot.in/2011/07/sustainability-graphic-designers.html

14. Cradle to Grave Analysis
There are typically 4 steps in conducting a cradle to grave analysis:
• Step 1: Define the objective of the analysis
• Why am I conducting the analysis?
• Step 2: Define the scope of the analysis
• who, what, when, where, and how.
• Who is going to conduct the analysis?
• What will be included? When and where will it take place?
• And, how will the analysis be conducted?
• Step 3: Collect background data
• Step 4: Interpret the data and devise an action plan

15. Cradle to Grave Analysis
• Consumer behaviour is an important consideration for the cradle-to-grave analysis. For
example a design of packaging needs a complementary system that makes it as easy
as possible for the consumer to recycle or compost the package. Therefore some
questions to consider related consumer behaviour include:
• What economic or other incentives might encourage consumers to recycle packaging?
• How easy is it for consumers to disassemble and store packaging?
• How far will consumers travel to recycle or compost packaging?
• Additionally, a designer needs to have a general understanding about the origin and
their environmental impacts, within the context of the current life cycle. This provides a
basis for assessing the impact of design modifications in a cradle-to-grave system.

16. Cradle to Cradle is a design framework for going beyond sustainability and designing for
abundance in a Circular Economy.

17. Cradle to Cradle (C2C)
• In 2002, German chemist Michael Braungart and American architect William McDonough
heralded it with their book ‘Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things’. This
framework seeks to create production techniques that are not just efficient but are
essentially waste free.
• Its central premise is that products should be conceived from the very start with intelligent
design and the intention that they would eventually be recycled, as either ‘technical’ or
‘biological’ nutrients. Time Magazine has called it “a unified philosophy that - in
demonstrable and practical ways - is changing the design of the world.”
• In a cradle-to-grave model, products that have reached the end of their useful lives are
considered worthless. Whereas the Cradle to Cradle methodology looks at how, at the end
of that product’s useful life, they can be taken apart and recycled – or “up-cycled” into
products that may have a value and sophistication beyond that of their original use.
Simply, it’s a philosophy of birth-to-rebirth.

18. Simplified cradle-to-cradle
packaging life cycle using
biological nutrients.
http://web.stanford.edu/class/me221/readings/C2
C_Design_Guidelines_PKG.pdf

19. Cradle to Cradle (C2C)
Cradle to cradle assumes that a product or its components are not disposed of but are
used in other products and/or processes. It factors in the options for reuse, recycling,
recovery and remanufacturing.
• Reuse – using a product without change or remodelling, whether for the original or a
different application
• Recovery – capturing or extracting elements of a product or process, for example,
chemicals from computer parts or heat from a production process
• Recycle – processing a product or components into a changed form, usually for a
different application
• Remanufacture –rebuilding a product to its original (or better) specifications; this goes
beyond reconditioning or repairing to an acceptable working state.

20. http://buddhajeans.com/encyclopedia/cradle-to-cradle-design/

21. Resources:
• http://www.d4s-sbs.org/d4s_sbs_manual_site.pdf
• http://www.hpcorporategroup.com/the-life-cycle-assessment-cradle-to-grave-
sustainability.html
• http://sustainable-graphic-design.blogspot.in/2011/07/materials-life-cycle-assessment-
in.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle-to-cradle_design
• http://sustainable-graphic-design.blogspot.in/2011/07/sustainability-graphic-
designers.html