Designers develop products, services and systems that satisfy basic needs and improve quality of life. To meet sustainable consumption requirements, they must also minimize the use of natural resources, toxic materials and waste, and reduce emissions of pollutants at all stages of the life cycle.
It is not only the role of designers to create markets for sustainable products. Consumers need to change their habits and express a want and need for these products.
Sustainable Consumption
Term: The consumption of goods and services that have minimal environmental impact, promote social equity and economically viable, whilst meeting basic human needs worldwide.
- Sustainable consumption is not about consuming less but consuming differently.
- Designers need to recognize the importance of consumerism in developed countries and as an ambition in many developing countries.
- Societies, particularly in developed countries, are [tend to be] a throwaway society.
- Consumers need to be encouraged to repair and reuse products rather than throw them away.
- Sustainable design and sustainable production contribute to sustainable consumption.
- This can be achieved in a number of ways, for example, not buying more food than needed and reducing waste; changing attitudes to water and energy use, for example, turning taps off when brushing teeth, aerated water in showers, less water per flush of the toilet, grey water.
Consumer Attitudes
Consumer attitudes and behaviours towards sustainability can be classified into 4 groups.
Eco-warriors:
Term: Individuals or groups that actively demonstrate on environmental issues.
- It is an individual who cares about our environment & the diversity of life forms so much that they want to take action.
- An eco-warrior can be someone such as non-confrontational as a tree sitter or someone who engages in direct action, ranging anywhere from planting tree spikes into trees on public lands, to keep the lumber industry from cutting them down, to sit-ins which occupy a corporate office.
Eco-champions:
Term: Individuals or groups that champion environmental issues within organizations.
- Champion environmental issues within organizations.
- Attempt to introduce or create change in a product, process, or method that takes into account green or environmental issues
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- Is a person who fights or argues for a cause.
Eco-fans:
Term: Individuals or groups that enthusiastically adopt environmentally friendly practices as consumers.
- It is usually someone who accepts all green design products on the current market or its related objectives.
- An eco-fan will usually buy anything that is environmentally friendly and will never buy a harmful product.
Eco-phobes:
Term: Individuals or groups that actively resent talk of environmental protection.
- Eco-phobes are people who are against helping the environment and purposely go against the ecological movements.
- They believe that the environmental problems are irrelevant to their lives or are blown out of proportion.
- Wikipedia reference to environmental denial
- An example of an eco-phobe is a head of a country refusing to sign the Kyoto agreement which is based on controlling the c02 output in a country and limit it in order to decrease global warming.
Eco-Labelling and Energy Labelling Schemes
- For the designer such labels can help guide their designing in order to meet country regulations or the manufacturers design specifications.
- When designers design products they need to take into consideration the criteria that make up the different eco and energy labels for different labelling schemes.
- For the consumer they can make the appropriate purchase if they are environmentally concerned. Different countries ahed different contexts.
- International standardisation has resulted in many eco- and energy labelling schemes being similar thus easy for the consigner to understand.
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Eco-labelling:
Term: The labelling of products to demonstrate that they are better for the environment than other products.
- Provides reliable information about how the product impacts the environment, considering all stages of the product’s life cycle: manufacture, distribution, use and disposal. An example of this is Swan eco-label.
- Aids in the improvement of the workers have a role in the production’s social and economic conditions, like the Fair Trade Labelling.
- Informs customers about how the energy is produced, and whether it meets certain requirements, like those of The FANC energy eco-labelling scheme.
- Allows consumers to make informed choices.
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| The European eco-label believes in sustainable development. They are based on the vision of greening non-food products all over Europe. The eco-label ‘norms’ are decided by the European Union Eco-labeling (EUEB). | In Australia, Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA)is committed to credible product information for sustainable development. It is the only environmental labeling program in Australia which indicates the environmental performance of a product during its complete life cycle. | In the United States there is an eco label named Energy stars, which is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that promotes energy efficient products and practices. The Nutriclean label means that products are tested |
Energy-labelling:
Term: The labelling of products to show how energy efficient they are. The label displays information in four categories: the product’s details; Energy classification that shows the product’s electrical consumption; Measurements relating to consumption, efficiency and capacity etc.; Noise emitted from the product when in use.
- The label provides/displays four pieces of information:
- The product’s details;
- Energy classification that shows the product’s electrical consumption;
- Measurements relating to consumption, efficiency and capacity etc.;
- Noise emitted from the product when in use.
- It shows the user how much energy is required/used by a product, as well as how efficient it is (how much heat-loss for example)
- By using such labels, consumers can make their choices in products, by taking into account how much energy (toll on the environment) is used by the product.
- By comparing theses two labels. and with consumer help, more environmentally friendly products could be sold therefore making companies use greener design.
- As with Eco-labelling this label is given by a third party company
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Market for Sustainable Products
Corporate strategies have an impact on the design brief or specifications, such as, market development, where we take an existing product and develop a new segment.
Creating a market for sustainable products:
- pricing considerations: ensuring the products proved value-for-money to the customer.
- such as an eBikes that use cheaper lead-acid batteries vs lithium ion batteries.
- long term costs
- For example incandescent bulbs are very cheap and long life bulbs tend to more expensive. The Incandescent bulbs need regular changing
- stimulating demand for green products
- consumers must be convinced that the green product is of similar or better quality
- is competitively priced
- promote their green products
- production of green products
- taking into consideration triple bottom line sustainability
- JIT manufacturing
- end-of-pipe or better still radical change to manufacturing
- 13 Sustainable products for 2013
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Pressure Groups
Collections of individuals who hold a similar viewpoint on a particular topic, for example the environment, who take action to promote positive change to meet their goals.
“Non-profit and usually voluntary organization whose members have a common cause for which they seek to influence political or corporate decision makers to achieve a declared objective. Whereas interest groups try to defend a cause (maintain the status quo), the pressure groups try to promote it (change the status quo).” (Business dictionary)
- Pressure groups are not a market segment but they can influence the market and product cycle.
- Some large organizations have evolved to inform consumers about environmental issues and ethical issues relating to the activities of certain multinational corporations.
- These pressure groups are able to exert considerable influence to press for changes on these issues and to support or undermine development of specific technologies, for example, GM food production.
- Consumer and environmental pressure groups can attract widespread support using the media (including social media).
- Consumers have become increasingly aware of information provided by these organizations and, as markets have globalized, so has consumer power.
Advantages and disadvantages of consumer and environmental pressure groups for the user, manufacturer and designer
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Other Advantages
- raise public awareness of environmental issues
- can have large numbers of members that can exert pressure on political parties (small smaller in numbers)
- can have expertise related tot he issues
Other Disadvantages
- they may be biased towards their cause – not looking at both sides
- sometimes not objective
- make use extreme tactics or break the law
- opinions on issues may not be representative of the wider community
Lifestyle and Ethical Consumerism
Ethical Consumerism: The practice of consciously purchasing products and services produced in a way that minimises social and environmental damage, while avoiding those that have a negative impact on society and the environment.
Lifestyle Consumerism: A social and economic order and ideology that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever greater amounts.
- Consider strategies for managing western consumption while raising the standard of living of the developing world without increasing resource use and environmental impact.
- Some companies incorporate ethics into their corporate strategy and designers need to work within such constraints.
- They aim to curb and manage Western consumption while raising the standard of living of the developing world without increasing its resource use and environmental impact.
Implications of Take-Back Legislation for Designers, Manufacturers and Consumers
Take back legislation is the legislation that holds manufacturers responsible for the environmentally safe recycling or disposal of their end-of-life products. They are expected to provide a financial and/or physical plan to ensure that such products are collected and processed.
- Apple, in 2016, introduced a take back program where you can get a discounted price on a new phone.
- In Maine in the U.S.A., Car manufacturers have take-back legislation in the sense that they have to pay the collection and recycling of mercury switches from old cars.
- In March 2003 the UK government issued a legislation requiring that all car manufacturer’s and vehicle importers of new cars into the United Kingdom take back vehicles from their previous owner and guarantee that they are treated environmentally friendly.
- In Sweden, Producers and importers must take back for free a piece of old equipment (all electrical household appliance) when the customer buys a new product.
- In Japan, the end users are obliged to pay fees for collection, take-back and recycling at the time of disposal. The government sets the fees to cover industry’s actual costs for take-back, transportation, and recycling. They are (in U.S. dollars): washing machine, $24; air conditioner, $35; refrigerator, $46; and television, $27.
- LG Policy of recycling and take-back.
The implications for the design cycle and product cycle depend on the nature of appropriate legislation.
- Impact for the designer … when designing
- Consider candle to the grave or cradle to cradle to cradle
- Consider recyclability or re-use of materials
- Consider design for disassembly
- Work within the cost constraints if manufacturer – make the process efficient
- Impact for the manufacturer …
- Added costs due to paying for it to be returned and recycled
- Interested in design for disassembly and recyclability since they are most likely the ones pulling it apart and recycling or reusing
- consider manufacturing techniques
- consider material selection and reduction in products
- collection systems need to be developed
- manage the waste themselves or have a third party do it
- Impact for the consumer …
- The extra costs may be passed onto he consumer
- Must return the product
- can rest assured that the environment is considered
International Mindedness
There are many different eco-labelling and energy-labelling schemes across the world that could be standardized
Theory of Knowledge
Eco-warriors sometimes break laws to express their views. Does the rightness or wrongness of an action depend on the situation?