Designing for circularity

The way to go

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Spark has charted its course through these complex issues and adjusts it accordingly. We work with eco-cost databases in order to select better materials for our products. We ‘cost’ the energy consumption of our concepts and base our design choices on the results. We think about product-service combinations that can break the product life cycle of make-buy-use-dispose.

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With every product we try to understand what the determining sustainability factors are and focus on these. For a product that has to travel frequently in a plane a lightweight design is the most important thing. Carbon composite is hard to recycle, but in the long run it’s better. For a telephone with a useful life of 3 years, it’s important that this doesn’t break if you drop it twice. Drop tests and robust design are what’s needed in this case.

Design process

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We’ve identified 4 phases in the design process where we can influence the sustainability of a product and its design.

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1)  At the start of the project. In cooperation with the client we define the goal, and determine the programme requirements.

2)  At the concept development and concept choices stage. We generate and choose sustainable concept directions where possible. We generate balanced sustainable concept directions based on all the requirements and compare their eco-impact to choose the best direction.

3)  At the materialisation phase. Ultimately we choose for the appropriate materials and production methods. At this stage we use the eco-cost database and work closely together with manufacturers.

4)  Impact assessment. Once the product is in use, we can assess the facts and where necessary make adjustments for the next generation.