Cambridge Consultants Blog
80% of products are discarded after a single use
By Alan Richardson - Last updated: Monday, July 5, 2010This is a desperate statistic and a serious criticism of much innovative product development if the product doesn’t even outlive first use. However much attention is paid to sustainable design in material selection and disposal, there will be much waste of energy and materials in an instantly discarded product.
Eco-design is about more than simply reducing a product’s potential impact on the environment. It can also reduce cost and be an attractor to consumers.
But where to start?
- if the product is powered, focus on energy efficiency
- aim to better the life cycle analysis scores of existing or competitor products
- consider recycle-ability – keep the component and material types to a minimum, design for easy disassembly and clean disposal
- But above all make sure you understand the customer need and that it will meet it for the required life time of the product
Of course, there’s more to it than this. For more on how to integrate eco-design into your product development visit www.CambridgeConsultants.com/eco-design.
