Circular economy framework for sustainable product design strategies

Vesna Alivojvodic,Marina Stamenovic,Jelena Drobac,Predrag Maksić,G Mansour,P Kyratsis,D Tzetzis

doi:10.1051/matecconf/202031801023

Abstract

Limited global resources, climate changes, growing population, combined with demand for sustainable products, indicate the need for change of existing production and consumption practices. In order of achieving more regenerative, restorative, and circular economy, design has been recognized as a catalyst for moving away from the traditional linear economy model (take-make-dispose). As shifting focus from quantity to quality, and finding new ways of working in cooperation with the nature, slowly becoming paradigm, it is important for designers committed to sustainability to have in mind environmental, social and economic performance of product design. This paper aims to address position of different product design strategies correlated with circular economy concept, as well as the opportunities for designers’ to shift their mindset from the position of creators to solution providers.

Highlights

Creativity in reusing objects for different purposes, marked human history in many ways, but inherent creativity towards innovative reuse of resources has been lost because of cheap products that have become part of our everyday lives
This paper aims to address position of different product design strategies correlated with circular economy concept, as well as the opportunities for designers' to shift their mindset from the position of creators to solution providers
In other words, to help in shaping our world, and to determining our impact on it, position of design within circular economy concept need to be considered within all its complicity, where design of sustainable products is only small but important part of the mosaic

Summary

Introduction

Creativity in reusing objects for different purposes, marked human history in many ways, but inherent creativity towards innovative reuse of resources has been lost because of cheap products that have become part of our everyday lives. On the other hand, growing awareness of need to shift toward more sustainable way of consumption of goods resulted in several different schools of thoughts in last half of century, as an attempt to somehow “design out” waste. This deep rooted idea started formally to develop in 1970s, with the concept of Regenerative Design, and later through the Performance Economy, and Cradle to Cradle concept, through Industrial Ecology, and Biomimicry, up to the concept of Circular Economy of nowadays. In other words, to help in shaping our world, and to determining our impact on it, position of design within circular economy concept need to be considered within all its complicity, where design of sustainable products is only small but important part of the mosaic

Circular economy and design principles

Objectives

Product design strategies

Findings

Conclusion