®

Road to 2030: Sustainability, Business

Models, Innovation and Design
22nd International Conference
04–05 March 2019

Business School for the Creative Industries (BSCI),

University for the Creative Arts (UCA), Epsom, Surrey, KT18 5BE, UK

Venue partner Karlijn Arts Annik Magerholm Fet

University for the Creative Arts Policy & Sustainability Manager, SkyNRG Vice-Rector, Norwegian University of Science
& Living Light and Technology (NTNU)
Camille Baker Bashir Makhoul
Reader, Interface and Interaction, School of Vice Chancellor, UCA
Communication Design, UCA Jin Min
Michele Bonanno School of Environment and Natural Resources,
Founder + Editor in Chief, Impakter Renmin University of China
Strategic partners Laurent Bontoux Lisbeth Ottosen
Business School for Senior Foresight Specialist, EU Policy Lab, Joint Department of Civil Engineering, Technical
the Creative Industries Research Centre (DG JRC), European Commission University of Denmark (DTU)
Katherine Boxall Augusta Maria Paci
Impakter
Deputy Director, BSCI, UCA Technology Director, Consiglio Nazionale delle
newdesign Ricerche
Kat Braybrooke
World Green Design Researcher, Sussex Humanities Lab, University of Bernice Pan
Organization Sussex Founder & Creative Director, DEPLOY
Martin Charter Charlotte Rutter
Director, The Centre for Sustainable Design®, Course Leader, BA Fashion Marketing Management
BSCI, UCA BSCI, UCA
Ichin Cheng Adrian Smith
Director, Sustainable Innovation Lab Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex
Matt Crane Mathy Stanislaus
CEO, Monty’s Bakehouse Fellow & Senior Advisor, World Resources Institute
Phil Cumming & World Economic Forum
Senior Sustainability Manager, Marks and Spencer Fred Steward
Trevor Davis Innovation and Sustainability, Policy Studies
Futurist & Former IBM Distinguish Engineer Institute, University of Westminster

Ian Falconer Ewa Szcotka

CEO, Fishy Filaments Subject Lead & Senior Lecturer, Fashion Business
& Marketing, BSCI, UCA
Rhiannon Hunt
Researcher & Consultant James Talman
CEO, National Federation of Roofing Contractors
Tolga Kashif
(NFRC)
Composer & CEO & Creative Director, Evolution
#SusIn2019 Media Music Gary Waterworth-Owen
CEO, ResponseAbility Alliance
Mattias Lindahl
Department of Management and Engineering, David Wheeler
Linköping University Co-Founder, Academy for Sustainable Innovation

Matt Loose Nigel Willson

Senior Director, SustainAbility European CTO, Professional Services, Microsoft
James Woudhuysen
Futurist, London South Bank University
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Papers

Data Centres in 2030: Comparative Case Studies that

Ilustrate the Potential of Design for the Enabler of
Sustainability - Deborah Andrews, Beth Whitehead .......... 7

New Micro Housing: An Approach to Enhancing Wellbeing

and Sustainability - Tim Antoniuk .................................. 13

2030: Black Textiles Become Illegal: Active Steps for

Climate Impact from the Garment Industry - Elizabeth
Bigger .......................................................................... 20

Circular Collaborative Customization within Microfactories:

A Business Model for Fashion 2030 - Elizabeth Bigger ... 27

Eliminating Avoidable Plastic Waste by 2042: a Use-Based

Approach to Decision and Policy Making - Emma Burlow 34

Reducing Textile Waste in the Apparel industry: Examining

EPR as an Option - Kelly Burton .................................... 40

2030: Sustainability, Design and Innovation - Martin Charter

.................................................................................... 48

Packaging Innovation to Support the Emerging Circular

Economy in the Food and Drink Industry - Designing for a
Sustainable Future - Richard Coles ................................ 51

A More Sustainable and Circular Economy in 2030? - Phil

Cumming ...................................................................... 58

Technology & Society: How Consumerism May Save Us All

-Trevor Davis ................................................................ 59

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Virtual Reality As A Tool For Participatory Architectural

Design - Emre Dedekargınoğlu, Meltem Yılmaz ............... 62

The Use of Crowd Design for Sustainability: A Case Study

on a Large Organisation - Isadora Burmeister Dickie,
Aguinaldo dos Santos ................................................... 70

Moving Towards a Green Economy: Brazilian Streetwear

Company First Steps - Gabriela Duarte, Aguinaldo dos
Santos .......................................................................... 78

Sandbox Zero: Rethinking Sustainability-As-Usual - Raz

Godelnik ....................................................................... 92

Can Personal Sustainability Practices (PSPs) Help Change

Our Mindset? - Raz Godelnik ....................................... 100

"World Complexity, Human Values and Developing Critical

Thinking - Daniel Michel Judkiewicz ............................ 106

Creative Mind 2030: Transformative Power and Magic of

Music - Tolga Kashif .................................................... 111

Gateways to Revalorisation in Future Circular Cities: A

Vision for Closed-Loop Resource Flows - Anouk Zeeuw van
der Laan, Marco Aurisicchio ........................................ 113

Never Make Predictions, Especially About The Future:

What TRIZ Tells Us About Sustainability In 2030 - Darrell
Mann .......................................................................... 120

Building a Sustainable and Inclusive Value Chain Network

in the Andean Camelid Textile Sector - Adriana Marina,
Nicolas Maffey, Paul Middelkoop ................................. 129

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Sustainable Fashion: Designers’ Perspective in the Mass

Apparel Retailing Sector - Prabod Munasinghe, D.G.K.
Dissanayake, Angela Druckman .................................. 143

Circular Economy and Implementation of Paris Agreement

Objectives. Case Study - Recovering, Recycling of Plastic
Waste and Production of SynGas - Informal and Formal
Sector In Mexico - Lurena Munoz ................................. 148

Systemic Design Approach; Bring Holistic Governance into

Europe's 2030 Economic Paradigms - Carolina Giraldo
Nohra, Silvia Barbero .................................................. 163

G-ROAD.COM_How to Implement a Green Platform for

Sustainable Innovation Along the Silk Road - Peter Ruge
.................................................................................. 169

SEEbalance® - a Newly Developed Approach for the

Evaluation of Social Impacts Along Value Chains - Peter
Saling, Ana Alba Pérez, Thomas Grünenwald, Peter Kölsch
.................................................................................. 173

The Life Cycle of Smart Devices in 2030: The Effect of

Technology Trends and Circular Economy Drivers on
Future Products - Karsten Schischke, Nils Nissen, Klaus-
Dieter Lang ................................................................. 179

A Design-Theoretic Review of Sustainable Product

Development Literature - Josef-Peter Schöggl, Ciarán J.
O'Reilly, Peter Göransson ........................................... 188

Wardrobe Detox with a Purpose - Anagha Vaidya Soocheta,

Khandini Rajmun ........................................................ 197

Insects for Protein: A Disruptive Business Model and

Approach to Waste Management - James Suckling, Angela
Druckman ................................................................... 203
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The Road to a Low Carbon 2030 - Fred Steward ........... 210

#SORRY - Ewa Szczotka .............................................. 211

Future-Proof Sustainability - Joanna Watson ............... 221

2030 Sustainability, Innovation, Products & Technology:

Challenging Incrementalism- David Wheeler ................ 227

The World in 2030 - Nigel Willson................................. 229

An Approach Proposal In Sustainable Design: Design From

Waste Materials In Context Of Re-Use Method - Meltem
Yılmaz, Dilara Tüfekçioğlu ........................................... 230

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Papers

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Data Centres in 2030: Comparative Case Studies that Ilustrate the

Potential of Design for the Enabler of Sustainability - Deborah
Andrews, Beth Whitehead
Deborah Andrews

Associate Professor of Design

London South Bank University

London

United Kingdom

Beth Whitehead

Associate Sustainability Engineer

Operational Intelligence Ltd

London

United Kingdom

Introduction
During the 1980s the British engineer and computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee developed a digital
information and communication language and network, which subsequently evolved to become the
World Wide Web in 1989. Since then the user group has expanded from ‘geeks’, researchers and
academics and over 4.2 billion people and 55% of the global population are now ‘connected’.
While ‘devices’ (desk and laptop computers and mobile phones) serve as human-digital data
interfaces, the hidden but critical enabler of connectivity is data centres (DCs). These facilities may be
cupboard-sized or, like the largest in the world, equivalent in area to 93 football pitches, but all house
digital data processing, networking and storage (ICT) equipment. Such is the popularity of the internet
that since its launch the number of DCs around the world has grown to 8.6 million (Infiniti Research,
2015) with a total floor space of 180 million m2; 10 million m2 of which is in Europe with 70%
concentrated in North West Europe (NWE). The main concern of the DC industry is 100%
uninterrupted operation for customers and consequently, focus within the sector has been technical
and product development, manufacture and operation with limited consideration of treatment at end-
of-life. This paper considers two potential scenarios and their impacts for the data centre industry
(DCI) in 2030; the scenarios are speculative and are based on past and present trends in and
experience working with this unique sector.

Current and future growth in Connectivity and the Data Centre Industry
Such is the popularity and success of the internet that in Europe and the USA 85% and 95% of the
population are connected respectively and more and more businesses, education and other service
providers are becoming increasingly reliant on connectivity; in Africa and Asia even though the
percentage of connected individuals is lower (36% and 49% respectively) population groups are much
larger and consequently many more people are connected due to cheaper mobile devices (Miniwatts
Marketing Group, 2018). Patterns of internet use vary according to user age, location and affordability:
in developed countries such as the UK typically adults spend 4.75 hours per day online (IPA, 2018). In
addition, data consumption has increased exponentially and concurrently with the number of work and
leisure services on offer: for example, in 2016 the demand for data centre storage capacity increased
by 1 Petabyte every day (Brewer et al, 2016). Growth will continue in order to process the increasing

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volume of data that will be generated by expansion of services via the Internet of Things (IoT), and
commerce, healthcare, education, leisure services alongside population and economic growth in
countries such as China and India.
It is apparent that there are differences in connectivity according to geographical location but there are
even more extreme examples: in Iceland 98% of people are connected while in Somalia and Eritrea
connectivity is limited to 2% and 1% respectively. There is also a disparity among demographic groups
and women, the rural poor and residents of remote islands ‘are substantially excluded from education,
business, and other opportunities that the internet can provide’. Sadly, since 2007 growth in many
developing countries has slowed due to a number of factors including: limited and/or no 3G, 4G and
wi-fi infrastructure, and the cost of network access, smart phones and computers (A4AI, 2018). As a
result, the connectivity gap between different social and national groups is growing.
Reliance on and demand for data centres will increase as more people, smart products and services
are connected. In NWE alone capacity will increase 15%+ per year (300%) by 2025 and a global
increase of 500% is predicted by 2030. DC operational energy consumption will rise concurrently to
facilitate this growth and even though DCs are becoming more energy efficient it is predicted that by
2025, 20% of global energy will be consumed by the sector (Andrae, 2017).

Environmental and social impacts

At present the largest environmental impact from DCs derives from operational energy; this is being
addressed by improved operational efficiency and the use of renewables. However, in view of the
above growth the embodied impact of DCs must not be ignored. During overall DC building life (60
years) 15% of embodied environmental impact derives from the building and facilities while 85%
derives from IT equipment (Whitehead etc al, 2015). Impact is high because equipment is regularly
refreshed (servers every 1-5 years, batteries every 10 years and M&E equipment every 20 years).
Although specific sectoral data has not been published, the DCI is a significant contributor to the
global total of 11.8 Mt/year of Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE), which is one of the
fastest growing waste streams across Europe and the world.
DC equipment is typically composed of ‘common’ metals (steel, copper, aluminium, brass and zinc),
polymers (ABS, HDPE, PUR, PVC, GPPS, PBT, EVA) and 10 critical raw materials (CRM) - Sb, Be,
Cr, Co, Li, Mg, Pd, Si, Dy, Nd, Pr, Tb. They are vital for economic growth but risk to supply is high and
is affected by: their abundance/scarcity in the earth’s crust; their geological and geographical location
(which influences technical ease of extraction and political circumstances); current recycling rates; and
potential substitution by more readily available materials. DC equipment is comprised of 99%+
‘common’ metals and polymers and 0.2% CRMs; however, their importance cannot be underestimated
because electronics cannot work without them. Gold, tin, tantalum and tungsten are similarly essential
to electronic products; they are identified as Conflict Minerals because they are produced in central
Africa and specifically the Democratic Republic of Congo where their (unethical) mining and sale funds
armed conflict and political instability. The extraction processes of many of these and other materials
also involves hazardous substances (e.g. arsenic, mercury, sulphides) and because a lot of their
mining is unregulated and/or illegal the associated negative environmental and social impacts are
high.

Post-use infrastructure
Both the speed and volume of current and predicted growth in digital communication technologies and
their impact on all aspects of personal and public life among all populations is unprecedented. Current
developments in computing such as faster processing speed and increasingly complex operating
systems mean that, although server life is typically 1-5 years, it can be as short as 9 months (e.g. in
Google and Facebook’s Scandinavian 100,000 m 2 hyper centres). However, these developments in
performance and manufacture have not been matched by development of a supporting infrastructure
to deal with redundant DC equipment and/or waste.
In Europe there are currently about 20 million servers (data centre products); weight varies according
to product type but assuming that the average weight of enterprise servers is 27kg this accounts for
0.56 million tonnes of materials (Peiró & Ardente, 2015). At present, however, WEEE recycling in
Europe is limited to 32% and much of the rest is exported and reprocessed overseas and/or sent to

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landfill and consequently, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of valuable resources are wasted and/or
made inaccessible by export every year from this sector.
Typically, ‘common’ metals are recycled because their properties are stable, quality is consistent,
there is a well-established and economically viable infrastructure, and a market for these recycled
metals. Disassembly and separation of products and components depends on the type of product and
fixing - the disassembly of those with standard screws is relatively straightforward. However, many
products are not designed for separation and those that are glued or riveted can at best be difficult
and at worst impossible to separate without damaging one or all parts. Recycling polymers presents
additional technical and economic challenges; for example, two-shot mouldings (where different
product parts are fused together as part of the simultaneous moulding process) are often comprised of
different polymers which prohibits separation and therefore recycling. The market for and application
of recycled polymers is also limited because their properties change when recycled and they are not
necessarily suited to closed loop recycling (i.e. to make the same product again); the problems of
recycling are compounded because it can be more economical for manufacturers to buy virgin as
opposed to recycled polymers.
Electronics recycling is particularly challenging due to (sub) component composition from mixed
materials that are not designed for separation. Many are also relatively small and their individual value
is relatively low as a result of which, like polymers, it can be more economical to buy virgin rather than
recycled materials and components. Electronics recycling in the data centre industry is magnified by
particular challenges associated with data security, which means that even though data can be
destroyed by ‘wiping’ memory, sometimes the process fails and the equipment must be shredded or
owners want their equipment to be shredded anyway; related recycling and reclamation processes for
higher value materials are being developed but at present they are predominantly small scale and/or
experimental and a significant percentage of the shreds is not yet recycled.
It is apparent that the data centre industry provides an essential service to billions of people and that
the global economy and more diverse sectors are becoming increasingly reliant on connectivity. It also
appears that the DCI will continue to expand to meet growing market demand and volume of data
traffic. However, the current sectoral economic model is linear, which raises questions about the long-
term impact on resources, supply chain and the affordability of connectivity. In view of these factors,
and based on current literature and trends, we now consider: two possible scenarios in 2030 for the
data centre industry, the role of design as a contributor to and the wider implications of each scenario.

The Data Centre Industry in 2030

Since 2018 the data centre industry has grown five-fold to cater for the massive increase in data traffic
and centres have proliferated in Europe, USA, cooler parts of Asia and the southern hemisphere.
Although connectivity in some socio-economic groups and nations remains low, the number of
connected individuals in countries that have experienced economic and population growth since then
(particularly China and India), has also led to construction of data centres in cooler parts of these
countries. The majority of data centres are still located in northern Europe and the USA because of
proximity to ‘Silicon Valley’ and financial centres and because the lower temperatures and climate
keep cooling costs to a minimum. Between 2010 and 2030 many large internet-orientated companies
(such as Google, Facebook and Amazon) invested in land near to or in the Arctic Circle for this reason
and because the area is politically stable; they have constructed and operate uber-hyper-centres that
cover many millions of square metres but employ relatively few people because most operations are
automated. Product refresh and therefore life is now around six months as developments in data
processing and storage technology are ever more rapid. In addition to the uber-hyper-centres there
are still a considerable number of smaller data centre owners and operators, many of which offer
bespoke services to specialist sectors such as finance and healthcare; in these centres product
refresh and life is longer at 1-2 years but still shorter than at the beginning of 2018. Consequently, the
volume of waste and associated environmental impact is rising.

Future Scenario One: No Change

In 2030 the data centre industry as a whole remains linear and recycling and/or product reuse is still
very limited as is information about the destination of equipment at end-of-life. The number and size of
available landfill sites in Europe is increasingly restricted and consequently large volumes of waste are
shipped overseas. Destination depends on materials’ type because China has refused to import many
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types of polymer from Europe since mid-2018, although the Chinese and other Asian governments
encourage the import of data centre equipment because it includes ‘common’ metals (that are easy to
recycle) and electronics, (which are rich sources of CRMs, gold and other Conflict Minerals). A number
of rich and powerful companies have bought mineral reserves and mines in countries other than their
own (particularly in Africa) and, in conjunction with the growing stockpiles of redundant electronic
products they are gradually gaining control over material supply chains for the data centre industry.
Rising populations, GDP and disposable income has fuelled demand for and supply of electrical and
electronics products in general, which, combined with the fact that many products cannot be easily
disassembled, repaired or recycled, means that demand on resources has escalated. This in
conjunction with ring-fencing and stockpiling of materials is beginning to have an impact on cost of
resources, particularly CRM and Conflict Minerals which are essential to the data centre industry.
While Asian countries accept higher value electronic waste, poorer countries are becoming dumping
grounds for waste and materials that are difficult to separate and then recycle other than by hand.
Many companies remain ignorant of illegal and hazardous recycling and reclamation processes or
claim that they cannot afford to recycle other than by using these low-cost services and consequently
the health and life expectancy of many workers if adversely affected.
The rising cost of materials and thus data centre equipment is being passed on to end-users, and
although the impact of these increases for many customers in the developed and developing world is
negligible, they have an adverse effect on many less affluent end-users; the gap between the
connected and unconnected has become even greater as access to education, healthcare and other
vital services is ever more internet-based. This compounds many of the problems that arose between
2000 and 2020, for example: in the developed world, ‘poorer’ people are disadvantaged as personal
smart devices and network access become less affordable which affects social mobility, resulting in
increased poor health and social unrest. In the developing world, political instability, corruption (e.g.
the sale of mining rights) and conflict thrives in parallel with growing demand for particular virgin
materials, while the number of dispossessed, political and economic migrants grows.

Future Scenario Two – Change towards the Circular Economy

Since 2018 the data centre industry has grown five-fold but in 2030 the industry is benefitting from the
gradual growth of a Circular Economy which was facilitated by several key changes. First, a sector-
specific infrastructure for recycling and reclamation of materials (with emphasis on CRMs and Conflict
Minerals) was developed (initially) for the European industry. This closed-loop infrastructure reduced
export and the environmental impact of ocean transport (which was higher than that of road transport).
Although it initially localised pollution from road vehicles, this is now changing with the use of more
ultra-low and zero-emission vehicles in Europe. Investment in recycling processes and infrastructure
positively accelerated their development, which is now proving economically beneficial as throughput
is increasing and plants are expanding. Although a rise in demand for materials may increase landfill
mining, increased recycling is currently limiting this activity which is beneficial because recycling newer
‘clean’ waste is more economical and makes identification and tracking of components and materials
simpler as many are now clearly labelled. These factors have all enhanced quality monitoring and
control of recyclates, as a result of which the market is growing and in many instances recyclates are
becoming cheaper than virgin materials. In addition to recycling at end-of-life, Circular Economy waste
reduction strategies include product life extension through reuse and remanufacture. Initially this
proved challenging because equipment owners were very concerned about data security and many
expected all redundant products to be shredded. However, a number of demonstration and training
events and publicity campaigns have gradually enhanced trust in other data destruction processes,
which have indirectly facilitated product life extension through reuse, component upgrades and
remanufacture. In addition, data-wiping technology has improved and is more successful.
Initially the expansion of Euro-centric reuse and recycling facilities reduced waste flow to Africa, which
had a negative impact on local employment and income generation; however, the European industry
has expanded to the point where it can now form legitimate partnerships and set up sites there, which
is proving advantageous because of the readily available workforce and its being closer to Europe
than Asia. The partnerships will benefit from a combination of local (low tech) and imported (high tech)
know-how and will create ethical, properly-paid jobs that enable locals to work in safe, non-hazardous
environmentally-friendly conditions. Increased income will increase connectivity (and thus access to
education and health services) as smart devices and networks become affordable. Increasing
availability of quality controlled recycled materials is also reducing demand for virgin Conflict Minerals.

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These factors have all contributed to economic stability in the market for data centre equipment and
services, which has the potential to reduce inequality between differing socio-economic groups.

The Role and Importance of Design in Future Scenarios 1 and 2

The data centre industry is unique in that its speed of growth and the impact of the service it provides
are unprecedented. To date the sector has focused on technical development, meeting demand and
uninterrupted supply, which will create problems as the volume of sectoral waste and demand for
resources increases. These problems can be mitigated through development of a Circular Economy
within the sector but this will be absolutely dependent on design, and therefore it’s importance cannot
be under-estimated. The following design strategy reflects and enables a reversal of the current waste
hierarchy: i.e. it enhances dematerialisation and reduces the volume of materials for disposal.
Reduce: dematerialisation/use less material per product – for example most data centre equipment
sits in racks and therefore individual casings can be either reduced in size and mass and/or
completely eliminated.
Reuse: ensure that data can be completely destroyed without shredding; there are opportunities to
design new economical products to do this.
Remanufacture: develop and apply Design for Disassembly methods to facilitate component upgrade
and refurbishment in order to extend product life several times.
Recycle: Design for Disassembly to enable easy separation of parts e.g. by eliminating adhesives and
use of standard mechanical and/or smart fixings; find alternatives to composite materials and limit
material mixing, e.g. two-shot polymer mouldings.
Energy from Waste: Design for Disassembly poses a significant challenge for electronic components
but there is potential to work with specialists from other disciplines to develop tools and processes that
facilitate separation of reusable and recyclable components; this and the above processes will reduce
waste but any residual materials that cannot be reused or recycled must be incinerated with energy
recovery in dedicated plants.
Disposal: reduce use of hazardous substances so that the environmental impact of any materials that
end up in landfill is minimal.
Finally, designers need to identify new meaningful applications for recycled polymers and/or substitute
with other materials.

Conclusion
The data centre industry is critical to 21st century life and its importance will increase concurrently with
growth in and reliance on digital communication services. Two plausible scenarios for the industry in
2030 have been described; the first is based on current practice and does not involve change. It is
evident that this scenario could create diverse, wide-ranging negative social, economic and
environmental impacts in the immediate and long term.
The second scenario includes a sector specific Circular Economy, the impacts of which are also
diverse and wide ranging, but in this case, they will be socially, economically and environmentally
positive in the short and long term. This scenario can only be realised through significant changes in
the design of data centre equipment. Such is the power of Design in this context that it can be seen as
a direct and indirect enabler of sustainability. A significant question is whether these changes will be
led by designers and innovators or driven by policy.

References
A4AI (Alliance for the Affordable Internet) 2018 Affordability Report. Available:
https://a4ai.org/affordability-report/ [1 December 2018]
Andrae, A.S.G., Total Consumer Power Consumption Forecast, Nordic Digital Business Summit
Conference, Helsinki, Finland, 5 October 2017

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Brewer, E., Ying, l., Greenfield, L., Cypher, R., and Ts'o T., Google, Inc. Disks for Data Centers, FAST
2016, 14th USENIX conference on File and Storage Technologies, Santa Clara February 22-25 2016
Infiniti Research Ltd., August 2015, High Power Consumption is Driving the Need for Greener Data
Centres. Available http://www.technavio.com/blog/high-power-consumpton-is-driving-the-need-for-
greener-data-centers. [14 August 2018]

IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) 15 September 2017. Adults spend almost 8 hours each
day consuming media. Available: https://ipaco.uk/news/adults-spend-almost-8-hours-each-day-
consuming-media. [14 August 2018]

Miniwatts Marketing Group World 25 September 2018, Internet Users and Population Stats. Available:
https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.ht [1 December 2018]
Peiró L.T and Ardente F., 2015, “Environmental Footprint and Material Efficiency Support for product
policy –Analysis of material efficiency requirements of enterprise servers”. Available:
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC96944/lb-na-27467-en-n%20.pdf
[4 December 2018]
Whitehead B., Andrews D., Shah A The life cycle assessment of a UK data centre. The International
Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, March 2015, Volume 20, Issue 3, pp 332-349

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New Micro Housing: An Approach to Enhancing Wellbeing and

Sustainability - Tim Antoniuk

Tim Antoniuk

Associate Professor

Industrial Design Program

Department of Art & Design

University of Alberta

Alberta

Canada

Introduction: New Micro Housing in a Circular Economy

There are a host of highly complex environmental issues that are occuring in many of the world’s
major cities. From an social, architectural and urban design perspective one of greatest challenges
has to do with improving the social and environmental commons while supplying affordable housing.
Driven by a global urban migration trend1, increasing land values and a limited supply urban land, one
of the most promising strategies for addressing this affordability issue has been to build increasing
volumes micro apartments. Allowing building developers to make more money per square foot and to
create needed shelter for people, the downside of this building trend has been viariable interest in
“living small”, and from a social and environmental perspective, little attention has been given to
improving peoples’ health or the environment. Although the development of different multi-housing
typologies may seem to have fuzzy if not tenuous links with the commons, emerging healthcare data is
showing how peoples’ personal and social living spaces can have measurable impacts on peoples’
mental health2, in putting financial strains onthe healthcare system 3, and as is argued in this paper, on
peoples’ environmental footprint.
How, then, do designers bridge the various chasms between creating desirable and affordable
housing products that are socially and environmentlaly healthy, and to do so in an economically viable
manner? To achieve this goal it is proposed that the architectural, design and building strategies need
to shift from: Creating more affordable micro housing units that can support a circular economy; to
developing places and spaces that create a deep sense of “home” and wellbeing.
Though seemingly a semantic twist of words, it is argued that it is the later goal of creating a deep
sense of home that will allow the former objectives to be achieved; not the other way around. This is to
say, that if the functional and emotional-pleasure based aspects of a living in a space is high, then the
challenge of improving the social/health and environmental aspects becomes primarily material,
energy efficiency and cost-based issues – Items that are managable from a technical and cost
perspective.
_______________________
1 Today, 54 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 66 per cent by
2050. Projections show that urbanization combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add another 2.5
Billion people to urban populations by 2050
(http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-urbanization-prospects- 2014.html)
2 Loneliness and social isolation may represent a greater public health hazard than obesity, and their impact has been growing
and will continue to grow, according to research presented at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological
Association (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/08/170805165319.htm)
3 Published in the American Journal of Public Health in 2002, Krieger (MD) abd Guggubs (PhD) note that, “The quality and
accessibility of housing is, however, a particularly appropriate area for public health involvement. An evolving body of scientific
evidence demonstrates solid relations between housing and health.
.” (https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.92.5.758)

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Quantifying a Lack of Affordable Housing

Within Canada and in many countries around the world the marker for affordable housing is when 30%
or less of one’s income is spent on shelfter. In 2016, 29% of Canadian’s income was spent on shelfter
and nearly a quarter of Canadians spent over 30% on housing (Statistics Canada, 2016).
Exhaserbating this issue and a low national vacancy rate of only 2.4% in 2017 (CMHC, 2018),
Andrew Sakamotot, Executive Director of The Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre of British
Columbia noted, “… that evictions caused by renovations or redevelopment are some of the most
common problems tenants report.” (CTV, 2018) Highlighting the disparity between the building
development industry’s objective to increase asset wealth and how ill-considered developments can
undermine affordability and community and personal wellbeing, the challenge becomes one of
balancing economic growth with social and environmental wellbeing. Aware of this growing crisis, over
the last year the Canadian federal government created a new National Housing Strategy that will
commit $40 billion over 10 years to creating new low-income residential units. Targeting both aging
properties and providing loans that are intended to encourage develpers to create new housing
geared towards modest- to middle-income families, there are three central questions that remains
about this the effectiveness of this economic strategy: Firstly, whether this type of massive generalized
funding will help eliminate a housing crisis; secondly, if people will want to live in these architecturally
undefined developments in unspecified areas; thirdly, and complimentary to this, is whether these new
affordable housing units will improve the communities health, happiness, and overall prosperity.
From a methodological perspective it appears that the Canadian affordable housing strategy (as it is
with many other countries) is: To create affordable shelter for a low- to mid-income demographic and
to hope that developers built units that will reduce this housing demands. Though reasonable on the
surface because the strategy seems to address the primary goal of providing affordable housing; this
lack of attention to the impacts that object, spatial design and location can have on people’s mental
and physical wellbeing is problematic. This insular approach suggests that the complex and deeply
interrelated issues of housing are restricted to shelter and that different housing typologies and their
supporting systems do not affect a person’s or communities wellbeing or environmental footprint. As is
all too often the case, it seems that we are treating the symptom, not the problem itself.

Affordable Micro Apartments and the Creative Communities

To those not involved in this type of research or life situation, the goal of providing affordable
shelter for people may seem obvious – That this demand-supply issue can be addressed by
building more low-construction-cost housing in lower land value areas of a city. The central issues
with following a strictly economically-biased solution like this and with providing broad generalized
government fuding is that neither approach requires developers to address the social or
environmental commons. For example, if there are no guidelines or suggestions on how to enhance
community, human connectivity or general wellbeing within a development, will people prosper and
aim to improve their challenging living situation? If there are no protocols, research or strategies on
how to reduce the environmental footprint in these new developments, will people become even
more passive about the environment or their carbon footprint? These types of complex and deeply
interrelated questions are at the root of what this paper and new micro unit building development
strategy is exploring – If it possible to create a more economically competitive multi-unit residential
development strategy that is deeply rooted in designing different types of social and environmental
affordances into a building.
Believing that it is shortsighted if not disrespectful to think that people who live in affordable mulit-
unit housing developments do not have things to contribute to their community and to their city’s
commons, it is argued that one of the biggest mistakes that developers and some city planners
make is allowing people to be marginalized and disbursed away from important urban and creative
cores – Places and spaces that encourage people to build vibrant, diverse and creative outcomes
for a city’s and nation’s economy, society and environment. This idea, which is consistent with a
host of authors such as Howkins, Gladwell, Friedman and others that have done rigorous research
into the Creative Economy, not only highlights the importance and financial strength of this distinct
economy, it also highlights the important and diverse skills that this population have (Image 1).

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Image 1 – Creative Good Exports; UNCTAD

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell notes that, “The Law of the Few says that there are
exceptional people out there who are capable of starting epidemics. All you have to do is find
them.” (Gladwell 2000) Not only does Gladwell highlight the fact that certain groups of people, such
as creatives, are critical contributors to what is adopted and eventually made mainstream, it
reinforces the fact that certain demographics contribute to billions of dollars of global economy, as
is highlighted in Image 1 (see “Design”). Cumulatively, the impact of what is offered to and what
the creative community creates and distributes makes them deeply important social shapers of
peoples’ habits and actions and eludes to the positive impact that they can have on the types of
buildings, spaces and objects that are impactful.
This type of design and architectural thinking is at the heart of what is currently being prototyped
and tested in the Micro Habitation Lab (mHabLab) and what is being built into a number of new
micro apartment devleopments by the author in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Following an
approach that flips the typical building development methodology, our approach puts people and
the beginning of the building design process, not at the end. Through focusing on enhancing
wellbeing and in understanding unmet desires and aspirations of tenants we attempt to understand
the services and experiences that people want so we can understand what to physically design.
Knowing that man-made objects, spaces and the design of services and experiences create
affordances, our commitement to designing for people, as opposed to designing things to create
economy, is allowing us to see higher tenancy and lower turn-over rates.
Given the well-documented fact that trend setters, social influencers and early adopters (many that
are key members of the creative community) can influence the early and late majority of the
population, it becomes important to more fully understand the formal architectural and product
architypes that could influence positive changes in people’s habits and actions. Is it possible, for
example, that a building development group could attract key members of the creative community
to live in a new micro apartment, not only because of its affordability and its central location, but
because the emotional and functional appeal of being able to physically customize and adapt one’s
living space? If so, is it possible that designers and architects could move beyond the creation of
aestheic novelty and interior decoration to create spaces that can literally change in size, function
and in intended use (Image 2)?

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Image 2 – Image from the Micro Habitation Lab (Moving Wall Unit with Expanding Table) – More
than a moving wardrobe that can expand a room’s size and intended use, this system has
integrated objects such as a 72” expanding desk/dining table and other items such as 3-seater
benches. This intentional blurring of the boundaries between interior architecture, product and
spatial deisgn categories is allowing people to live large in a small space.

Through the thoughful and economical integration of physical and digital items such as moving wall
systems4, motors, sensors, touch and voice-activated technologies, not only is it aparent that these
types of 23m2 (250 square feet) micro suites are able to function at two to three times their actual
foot print size5, they allow people to form different kinds of emotional bonds with their living space.
Although slightly different from heirlooms of the past, where items were cherished because of their
heritage and ability to emotionally connect generations together, we are exploring a newer yet
complimentary concept that relates to mobility, interactivity, digital connectivity and the mass-
customization of a space. Aiming to create emotional connectivity through being able to significantly
customize one’s space and the services and experiences that are possible, we are allowing people
to develop a stronger sense of “home”, ownership, responsibility and pride in one’s living space
through continual object engagement. This approach to creating reactive micro living spaces is
taking on a new and more meaningful role with today’s ultra connected society – Something that is
missing is virtually all low- to mid-income housing developments.
Perhaps the greatest obsticle that we have encountered in convincing major building development
groups to construct these types of places and spaces is dealing with the knowledge and
motivational gaps between the architectural, product, interior, urban design and iOT practices.
Secondary to managing the costs and complexity of this type of transdisciplinary project 6, it is the
overlapping areas of research and practice and the willingness to try new techniques that create
risk concerns for participating members and investors. For example, if inner walls in a space are
being eliminated and replaced with a functional moving wall storage unit, all too often the cost
savings are not considered to be savings because they come from a different construction budget.
As such, the challenge for the project design lead becomes understanding the entire development
budget, the technical construction, installation and durability risks and being able to clearly express
them in the total budget. Equally, if cost projections or expenses grow it becomes important to show
latent consumer demand for these types of spaces and to demonstrate how the creation of a
connected community can heighten demand, lower tenancy turn-over rates, and encourage longer-
term stays – Items that will improve profitability.

Changing a Building and a Broader Community

Acknowledging that the presence of a group of motivated creatives that are living sustainably in a
smaller interactive footprint may not be enough to create a circular economy or behavioral changes
_______________________
4 Not only do these functional moving storage systems replace unncessary drywalled walls, we are able to eliminate that
construction cost and put the savings into the embedded technologies and moving systems in the moving wall.
5 This ability to transform a small space into a different use and functioning room allows people to reduce their
environmental footprint yet live in a space that would otherwise be significantly larger.
6 Key team members come from: The computing sciences, robotics, product design, architectural and from a variety
manufacturing trades (millwork, electrical, etc).

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

in others within a building, understanding more fully how their experiences and perspectives are
expressed and accepted by others becomes deeply important. A significant part of initiating this
type of change has to do with the creation deeply integrated public-social-common areas within and
around a building development that people can connect through. Not only do vibrant social/common
spaces allow people to live in a physical extension of their micro home, the existance of these
spaces create an affordance for people to connect and share ideas with fellow community
members. Complimentary to the generational trend which shows that people today tend to have
fewer tight social connections, but have far more loose social connections than in the past, these
previously private building spaces also have the ability to welcome people that do not live the
building (Image 3).
This physical and psychological expansion of the home, which has evolved in places and spaces
like Starbucks7, is a necessary and important compliment to living in a micro spaces. Allowing
people to walk around, visit and meet with others, or to seek a private yet vibrant space to work in,
one of the noted opportunities is that these building common spaces can generate money from
retail vendors (CRUs). As is expressed throughout this paper and in all of the projects that Tim
Antoniuk is working on, tremendous focus is placed on understanding and addressing the needs,
wants, desires and aspirations of its tenants and of the broaders community; and only once this is
understood will the team begin to design products, services and experiences that suit them. This
form of social, space and building planning creates new affordances for inducing behavioral change
through connectivity, ownership and pride in where one lives and who one lives beside. From a
formal material and spatial perspective, it is believed that the physical outcomes and conscientious
design of social spaces allow ideas and perspectives to flow more fluidly between people - as
opposed to disbursing people in unintentional and irrational manners across a city and to its
periferies; places where voices are often not heard.

Image 3 – Common space area designs (Lowry’s Hanger (UL); The Forks (UR); Hawker’s Market
(LR); Grand Market Hall (LL)
________________________________
7 This retail environment has become a physical extension of peopl’s office and home.

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Economic Feasibility
What are the real costs, opportunities and risks with this type of development - A question that
every developer asks within minutes of considering this type of development. Reflected in Images
4-5, not only it is apartent that income per square foot is significantly higher than for larger
apartments, but also that there is high demand for smaller suites – a statistic that is deeply relevant
for developers that feel that there is little profit in dealing with affordable to mid-income suites.

Image 4 (“The Macro View on Micro Units; The Urban Land Institute (ULI); 2013)

Image 5 (“The Macro View on Micro Units; The Urban Land Institute (ULI); 2013)

Conclusion
It is well-documented that at least 6-15% of a greenhouse gas emissions in northern countries like
Canada comes from our living environments. Depending on the size of one’s living space, on how
new and energy efficient it is, and whether a person works at home or in a commercial building, this
number will vary. This said, one of the most consistent things related to this this number is the fact
that a great deal of education about people’s and industry’s impacts on the environment still needs
to occur. The challenge of creating awareness and acceptance, especially in tough economic times
or in regions of the world that are still deeply dependant on traditional production of electical
energy, transportation and from its manufacturing industries, is that change towards sustainable
lifestyles can seem like an unreasonable sacrifice. From an adoption perspective things can looks
bleak at times - this is why the focus of this paper and the practice support it is to design objects,
spaces, services and experiences that appeal to people’s emotions, perceptions, desires and
aspirations. It is to show what is feasible if people work collaborative and in a healthy trans- and
multi-disciplinary manner.
Though challenging at times, I would argue that this is the true role of the contemporary architect
and industrial designers. We are trained to deal with soft human issues that requires empathy; we
are forced to deal with nasty problems that require diverse expertise and team work; and we also
need to be able to come up with technical and non-technical solutions to hard economic and
environmental issues. Looking at some of the research findings from ULI about what is most
important to micro-unit renters (Image 7), it is evident that if designers and architects continue to
take a strictly technical, engineering-based or economically-biased approach to creating buildings,
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few of the social, physical and creative solutions that are addressed in this paper would not be
made.

Image 6 (“The Macro View on Micro Units; The Urban Land Institute (ULI); 2013)

References
Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 2018, [Online]. Available: https://www.cmhc-
schl.gc.ca/en/media-newsroom/news-releases/2018/national-vacancy-rate-down-for-second-year
CTV, 2018, [Online]. Available: https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/renters-struggle-to-find-homes-as-
prices-climb-availability-declines-1.3878687
Gladwell, Malcolm. (ed) 2000, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, New
York: Little Brown and Company, 2000, New York.
Statistics Canada, 2016, [Online].
Available: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/171213/dq171213b-eng.htm

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

2030: Black Textiles Become Illegal: Active Steps for Climate

Impact from the Garment Industry - Elizabeth Bigger
Elizabeth E Bigger

Co-Founder/Researcher

Datable Studio SL

Barcelona

Spain

The provocation of black garments and textiles becoming illegal considers active measures for
environmental impact through effluent and aquatic hypoxia prevention. Previous bans on toxic dye
chemicals used in the garment industry have had challenges in enforcement. Intelligent consumer
behavior, environmental responsibility and identity are considerable factors in banning the colour black
from garments parallel to its strong cultural importance. Traditional mechanisms of further research
and policy changes for synthetic dyes and effluents have reduced effects, therefore non-traditional
approaches may provide rapid climate impact.

Premise: Black textiles become illegal in 2030

A global ban on black textile dyes and black textiles is a provocation to consider active measures for
the reduction of water effluent toxicity directly impacting climate change from textile and garment
manufacturing and consumption. Black in garment use is deeply ingrained in human history and
society, cutting illusions across bodies, creating mystery and modesty, and becoming a fashion
essential. For centuries, societies have used black garments for grief, religious dress, uniform, and
socializing, making it the most common colour preference for clothing (Bakker et al. 2013). Modern
controversy and popularity surrounding black has been fueled by the discovery of, ‘the blackest black’
pigment, “Vantablack,” being exclusively licensed to artist Anish Kapoor (Rogers 2017). Natural and
chemical mixtures for black dyes have been historically complex, and continue to be protected as
textile dye trade secrets.
Historical beginnings of black dye, note it is one of the most difficult colours to create and reproduce in
the textile dyeing process (Berthollet and Berthollet 1841). The compositions involved may lead to
black contributing to a larger environmental impact among textile dye colors. Generation Y and
generation Z consumers desire more transparency and less environmental impact in the
manufacturing of garments (McKinsey & Company, 2016). Global policy changes or consumer
grassroots campaigns banning black could lead to a reduction in the chemicals and effluents that
create the demanded vibrant black garments and clean up hypoxic waterways.
Positive consequences from a ban on black garments include a second hand black garment market,
shifts in colour trends to lighter natural palettes, and furthering intelligent consumer knowledge of
textile effluents. Coco Chanel proclaimed after her design of the universal and influential little black
dress (LBD) in 1926, "I imposed black; it's still going strong today, for black wipes out everything else
around," (Picardie. 2010).

Historical Issues with Black Dyes

Black dye and black textiles are difficult to produce, however becoming the most popular colour for
garments (Bakker et al. 2013). Modern quality and vibrance of black textiles has been achieved by
continual composition iterations and dyeing methods over thousands of years. The history with human
adornment and the colour black can be traced to tribal cultures using khol pigments to create black
body tattoos, dating back to 5000 B.C. (Harvey 2013). Wearing black to communicate a state of
mourning dates back as early as the Roman empire, ‘toga pulla,’ or dark toga, and continues to be a
cultural practice (Flower 1996). Black garments evolved beyond mourning apparel by the early 15th
century in Spain, as black textiles had become the most expensive of all colours, and thus were

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reserved for nobility, communicating power and wealth (Rodriguez 2017). The full suits of Hasidic
Jewish men, the Islamic hijab and abaya, and cassocks of christian clergy members, create a common
thread of black garments in multiple religions to express belief, modesty and devotion. Black dyes
historically have been controversial, as England banned the import of logwood (a key ingredient in
natural black pigment) from Mexico in 1581 via Spain to economically protect local production
methods. England lifted the ban 80 years later after recognizing the superior quality of the resulting
black colour from pigments created from logwood (Evans 2017).
The quality of black dyes continued to be challenging with French chemists Claude-Louis Berthollet
and A.B. Berthollet concluding in 1841 that very few substances could produce a solid black
(Berthollet and Berthollet 1841). The addition of mordants and combinations of iron, tannins,
chromates and other coloured dyes contributed to different variations of black until the mid 19th
century creation of synthetic dyes. Development of synthetic dyes has continued to increased fuelled
by the demand to create repeatable, truly rich black colours. In the late 19th century azo acid black
was developed and is a mixture of different dyestuffs: a blackish-blue, a green, a violet-blue, and an
orange (Richardson & Richardson 2016). Compositions using multiple dyestuffs to create black
continued with the tri-azo dye Direct Deep Black in 1898, which included three different azo dyes.
Sulphur Black dye, with its deep shade of black on cotton and cellulose fibers, became popular by
1950 after its initial creation in 1893 (Richardson & Richardson 2016). Dispersed dyes were created in
1923 after being found to work well for cellulose acetate fibers and remain the most common type of
dyes for synthetic fibers. In 1994, after a century of synthetic dyes, the German Consumer Goods
Ordinance placed a ban on 112 azo dyes found to be carcinogenic. The European Union followed in
with a ban on 22 of the azo dyestuffs in 2003.

Environmental Impact of Black Dyes

Textile dyeing is the most climate impactful phase of the textile and garment manufacturing process
(Quantis 2018). The process of dyeing black textiles and the subsequent garment use-phase each
allow effluents1 to be released into water systems (Standardcon 2012). The most common method of
textile dyeing is the batch method (simplified into six processes) it uses five to ten times the textile
volume in water (Moore and Ausley 2004). It is estimated 200,000 tons per year of textile dye is lost
due to the inefficiency of the dying process.
Effluents have the ability to impede sun light penetrating through water, generating aquatic hypoxia, or
oxygen deficiency in waterways. The amount of effluents from darker textiles could cause lower
chemical oxygen availability which generally leads to hypoxia, causing reduced cell function,
disruptions of circulatory fluid balance in aquatic species, and even causing death of individual
organisms (Carmen et al. 2014). High concentrations of heavy metals in textile waste water have a
negative impact on the environment and water quality itself as well as on the biota living in the water
bodies (Ahmed et al 2015, Ohe et al 2004). Above water, effluents are responsible for human organ
damage, respiratory tract disorders, heart dysfunction, disorders in the nervous system, skin diseases,
and abnormalities in fertility and pregnancy. Toxicity from textile dyes in 2018 was estimated to cause
the loss of 727,000 years of healthy life for humans or disability-adjusted life years (Quantis 2018,
WHO 2018).
Chemical compositions and complexities of dyes also lead to increased toxic effluent impact. Black
Commercial Dye Product (BCDP), which is widely used to dye synthetic fibers, is made up of 3 dyes:
C.I. Disperse Blue 373, C.I. Disperse Violet, and C.I. Disperse Orange (Ventura-Camargo and Marin-
Morales 2013). Exact compositions of most dyes are unknown due to an entity's legal right to protect
trade secrets. Synthetic fibers made up 60% of the global fiber consumption in 2018, meaning BCDP
and other synthetic dyestuffs could be used more often than reactive dyes or other cotton and
cellulose friendly dyestuffs (Textile Exchange 2018). Each synthetic black textile dyeing, wear, and
launder processes could hypothetically increase the amount of dye effluents threefold compared to
single dye compositions. Researchers in a 2009 study of the textile industry showed that when BCDP
________________________
1 Effluents are liquid waste that is sent out from factories, usually flowing into rivers, lakes, or the sea and are byproducts of the
dye process.

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passed through biodegradation treatment its toxic potential increases. Therefore the biodegradation
of BCDP produces metabolites potentially more toxic than that of the orignal dye (Ventura 2009).
Beyond increased effluent toxicity, components of BCDP were also found in effluents of a river,
showing that BCDP ingredients stubbornly remain in waterways even after treatment processes
(Oliveira et al 2007).
The use phase of garments contributes to over 60% of the environmental indicators for human toxicity,
freshwater and marine ecotoxicity, metal depletion, ionizing radiation, as well as water depletion
(Laitala, Klepp & Henry 2018). Colour fastness is described as the dyed textiles resistance to the
colour fading during each wear/wash event. A 2016 study showed that black dyed knit textiles have a
lower color fastness in all categories tested in comparison to lighter dye colors; sun light, washing,
rubbingsingle dye compositions. Researchers in a 2009 study of the textile industry showed that when
BCDP passed through biodegradation treatment its toxic potential increases. Therefore the
biodegradation of BCDP produces metabolites potentially more toxic than that of the orignal dye
(Ventura 2009). Beyond increased effluent toxicity, components of BCDP were also found in effluents
of a river, showing that BCDP ingredients stubbornly remain in waterways even after treatment
processes (Oliveira et al 2007).and perspiration are all possible contributors to effluent creation
(Faridul Hasan et al. 2016). An environmental impact reduction study found that 7% of clothing
disposal was due to the worn out look of the garment, colour change or fading, and discoloration,
including bleeding from other garments, which all correlate to the continued loss of effluents
throughout the lifespan of the garment (Laitala, Boks, & Klepp 2015). Black dyed garments plagued
with low colorfastness has led to the strengthening of dye compositions increasing the dyes ability to
resist biodegradation and correlates to the difficulty in removing mutagenic properties and colour from
the environment (Chequer et al. 2013).
A solution to stop effluents, the waterless supercritical carbon dioxide fluid dyeing method was first
introduced as an alternative to traditional water batch dyeing process by E.Schollmeyer et al., in 1988
(Bach et al., 2002). The first machine of semi-industrial scale was built in 1991 in Germany, and the
resulting in several critical issues. Three companies continue to develop the waterless dyeing
technology globally, thirty years after its initial development. The process is currently being used at
small scale for clothing research and development on synthetic fibers (Hepburn 2015). The pace of
implementation and cost of the new industrial machines and equipment means that it is very likely that
the industry will not see environmental impact results within the timeframes needed for climate impact
goals. The rapid action solution of banning black is necessary to reduce environmental impact of black
effluents as other options and policy changes within the industry have continuously proved stagnant.

Consumer Behaviour: Fashion Identity and Environmental Responsibility

The average garment consumer is removed from the textile dyeing process and black effluents as the
demand for black garments continues to rise. A recent analysis of more than 183,000 dresses retailing
online in the United States, retail technology firm Edited found that about 38.5% were some shade of
black. From the third quarter of 2014 to the same time in 2017, Edited found that black clothing for
women grew substantially at a number of fast-fashion brands: 269% at Boohoo, 145% at Zara, 114%
at H&M, and 89% at Forever 21 (Bain 2018). Black as a growing trend seeps into all sectors of the
garment industry, even the centuries old western traditional of a white wedding dress is now
fashionable in black (Edwards, 2017). Dye compositions have continued to be developed and fine
tuned to meet the demands of consumers desiring durability and colorfastness in the fibers of
garments (Firmino et al. 2010). The consumer demand for black garments aligns with the study that
45% of people attributed intelligence with the colour black while it is also associated with elegance,
secrecy, mystery and power (Roberts et al. 2010). The challenges of the ban rely on more than
environmental considerations, as a consumer's identity, social status, and socialising influences are
important factors when it comes to choosing clothing (Kaiser et al 2001). The most desired garment
colour could be the most toxic, therefore reaching intelligent consumers could be a priority.
A study found, the belief that individuals can play an important role in combating environmental
destruction is likely the driving force behind ecologically conscious consumer behavior (ECCB). It is
more important that consumers believe in the efficacy of individuals to combat environmental
destruction than it is to show concern for the environment (Straughan & Roberts 1999). Consumers
individually banning black apparel for environmental impact is a strong visual statement towards
increasing ECCB and effluent knowledge and prevention. The simple universal identifier of no longer
wearing or producing black garments acts as a unifier for society and fashion brands, from all sectors
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and price points. Religious texts typically refer to a dark colours and not necessarily black (as black
textile dye was not created during the writing of many sacred texts) therefore literal interpretations may
be accepting of dark colors and not black being worn.
A report of Generation Y found 42% wants to know what goes into product creation and manufacturing
before purchasing is something (McKinsey & Company Aug 2016). While manufacturing transparency
leads to understanding of process, chemical makeup of dyestuffs will remain opaque as trade secrets.
Intelligent consumers understanding the use-phase launder process leading to local effluents could
aid in consumers consideration of banning black as well. Consumer purchasing power and
environmental responsibility is growing, however to have global impact making black illegal via policy
change or grassroots efforts needs to be considered.

Potential Industry Effects of Banning Black

The premise of adapting the textile dye process to aid in environmental and health concerns is not a
new consideration. Historically infamous dyes and pigments have been made illegal due to poisoning
including: lead white, radium green, arsenic green, and uranium orange. The 22 azo dyes which
release aromatic amines (AA) were found to be carcinogenic, mutagenic and/ or toxic for reproduction
(CMRs) were banned in Europe in 2003. A textile dye database of 896 azo dyes, 46% are possible
parent compounds of one or more of the banned 22 azo dyes containing AAs, while the other 52% are
non regulated AAs within the clothing and textile industry (Brüschweiler et al. 2014). Further
investigation has resulted in greater concerns of azo textile dyes still in use:
“Not only exposure to single AAs but also combined exposure to different mutagenic AAs in
textiles should be taken into account in the overall exposure and risk assessment in the future,
as mutagenic properties of AAs depict a much higher concern than previously expected. It
might be of concern not only for consumers wearing these coloured clothing textiles, but to
greater extent also for workers in chemicals industry during dye production and workers in
textile dying in countries with low occupational safety standards” (Bruschweiler & Merlot
2017).
To verify industry compliance with the European Union ban on the 22 azo textile dyes, the European
Commission conducted a survey of garments five years after the ban was introduced. Out of the 116
tested textiles, 13 contained one or more carcinogenic AAs, and three of them exceeded
concentration limits of 30 mg/kg. These CMR garments were mostly black and were comprised of
cotton or cotton/polyester blend, all labeled as “easy care” (Piccinini, Sendaldi, & Buriova 2008). Over
200,000 apparel items across 37 product lines were recalled in Australia in 2014-2015, after the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission discovered carcinogenic dyes in imported clothing
during random screenings (QIMA 2018). Both the prevalence of CMRs found in the studies and
majority of the garments being black in colour, raises the issues of banning being effective and
enforceable within the garment industry. However the ban on the specific colour relieves the need of
the chemical testing to enforce the use of toxic CMRs chemicals in the industry. The ban is also a
catalyst for consumer knowledge building around the manufacturing and dyeing processes of
garments, use phase care. A global wide ban could prove more impactful as a colour is more
overarching than previous trends of banning fur or synthetics.
Reducing new black garments could lower consumer expectations of the deep rich black shades
reliant on chemicals. A potential rise in popularity of biodegradable dyestuffs not offering true black
shades and trends of lighter colour palettes with less potential to produce hypoxia in our waterways
could be a consequence. Alternatively a black garment ban could lead to similar trends in faded denim
jeans, as the rise of a second hand black garment markets would be filled with faded and worn black
garments. Second hand markets for black garments could struggle between impure as the garments
release black effluents or reducing manufacturing by elongating garment life, both continuing the
garment industry impact conversation.

Conclusion: Black dyed textiles become illegal in 2030

No longer seeing black garments worn by society visually leads to a common understanding of the
societal adjustments needed to impact climate change. Black dyed textiles and garments could create
a disproportionate amount of toxic effluents and effects due to consumer demand, fashion trends,
lifecycle, and utilizing multiple dyestuffs for the formulation of rich black dyes. A century of synthetic
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dyes, many CMRs, have been disposed of in waterways spreading around the globe with toxic and
hypoxic effects on land and living organisms. The garment industry has been found to continue using
illegal toxic dyes years after synthetic dye bans have been put into place. Three legal synthetic
dispersed dyes that create certain black dyes conceivably account for three times the amount of
effluents, at which stage the chemical compounds toxicity actually gain strength. Traditional
mechanisms of further research and policy changes for synthetic dyes and effluents have reduced
effects, therefore non-traditional approaches may provide rapid climate impact. Black garments
becoming illegal in 2030 leads to immediate impact, promoting conclusive sustainable shifts within
consumers, industry and climate.

References:
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of Bangladeshi Textile Effluents.”, Advances in Microbiology, vol.5, pp.317-324.
Bach, E., Cleve, E., Schollmeyer, E. 2002, “Past, present and future of supercritical fluid dyeing
technology – an overview.”, Review of Progress in Coloration and Related Topics, vol. 32, pp. 88-102.
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topics in connection to personal characteristics.”, Color Res Appl. vol.40, pp.62–71.
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Evans, G. 2017, The Story of Colour: An Exploration of the Hidden Messages of the Spectrum,
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Faridul Hasan, K.M., Sultana, M.Z., Taher, M.A., Deb, H., Rahman, M. M. 2016, “Coloration Process &
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101, no. 20, pp. 7773-7779.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Flower, H.F. 1996, Ancestor Masks and Aristocratic Power in Roman Culture, Oxford University Press,
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Appendix:
The author would like to acknowledge their own preference towards wearing black garments and to
acknowledge Luis E. Fraguada, for encouragement and feedback.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Circular Collaborative Customization within Microfactories: A

Business Model for Fashion 2030 - Elizabeth Bigger
Elizabeth E Bigger

Co-Founder/Researcher

Datable Studio SL

Barcelona

Spain

The circular collaborative customization business model combines user-centric design, advanced
garment technologies and circularity within a microfactory typology to solve prevailing issues with the
environmental and socioeconomic impact of the mass production model by the garment industry.
Solution models that rely on mass production will quickly become antiqued as circularity and
customization continues to gain awareness. The multi-method approach allows for economic and
climate goals to be addressed in parallel with consumer demands for the future of fashion.

Premise: Circular Collaborative Customization within Microfactories

The multi-method circular collaborative customization1 (CCC) business model combines user-centric
design2, advanced garment technologies and circularity3 within a microfactory typology to solve
prevailing issues with the environmental and socioeconomic impact of the mass production model by
the garment industry. Transitioning the garment industry towards CCC by 2030 enables problem
solving capabilities and new market opportunities by addressing both intelligent consumer demand
and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)4. Consumer and industry tendencies in shifting
retail models, digital innovations, brand trust and transparency issues continue to grow while
maintaining reliance on the mass production business model. Garment mass production has created
consequential byproducts and lasting climate impact. Long term habitable planet goals require an 80%
reduction in GHG emissions by 2050 with the understanding that different improvement measures
must be applied in parallel (Rockstrom et al. 2009). It is important to understand that the
implementation of single measures (e.g. circular economy) will not make the apparel sector
sustainable in the long term (Quantis 2018). The CCC multi-method approach aligned with the SDG
targets for 2030 provides value impact and rapid industry transition into industry 4.0.

Approach: Multi-Method of CCC Model

The multi-method approach of the CCC model addresses impacts in parallel for greater value growth
and reductions. CCC implements user-centric design (UCD) methodology establishes solutions from
the beginning of the production process. Focusing on the direct needs of the individual consumer
through UCD provides solutions for current industry issues: ultra personalized garment design and fit,
durability, alterability preferences, personal care and repair methods, and end life garment
regeneration. The UCD process also gives entities an opportunity to engage consumers and
__________________________
1 Collaborative customization is one of the four types of mass customization. Entities discuss and collaboratively design a
product with the consumer, to meet the consumers specific needs (Pine II 1992).
2 The evidence-based methods and processes of engineering combined with the creative, intuitive methods and processes of
art and fashion. Because all functional clothing is worn by humans, the human user is at the very center of all functional
clothing design activities (Watkins & Dunne 2015).
3 An alternative to a traditional linear economy (make, use, dispose) in which we keep resources in use for as long as possible,
extract the maximum value from them while in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each
service life (WEF 2018).
4 The UN published 17 SDGs in 2016 to guide policy and funding in over 170 countries and territories until the year 2030 (UNDP
2016).

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

stakeholders alike in a co-design5 process. The process allows for rapid pre-production iteration, and
promotes intelligent consumer behavior and knowledge growth throughout the garment customization
process. Advanced garment tools (AGTs)6 using computer aided design enable a co-design process
for three dimensional (3D) garment design directly onto the consumer 3D digitized body with
corresponding garment manufacturing and lifespan data outputs. AGTs are comprised of digital tools
and databases, and personalized data, supporting the design, production, personalization, and
transparency through the whole garment lifecycle (GenCloth 2018). This combination of UCD
methodology and AGTs supports stakeholder participation throughout circular manufacturing.
Agile microfactories that use AGTs minimise the resources used in the manufacturing process
including lowering energy consumption, shortening production times, smaller overall factory size, and
reduced waste outputs, thus solving the main form of emissions from the garment industry
(Quantis.2018). Microfactories can coexist with advanced biological farming of genome edited fibre
crops for onsite advanced natural fiber production (WEF 2018). Configurable garment microfactories
can contain multiple industry sectors: laboratories for bioengineering natural dyestuffs, advanced
organic wastewater treatment facilities, advanced dyeing and finishing processes, networked weaving
and construction and textile recycling and fiber processing. The advanced technologies and processes
within CCC microfactories create opportunities for diversified advanced labor forces. Experimentation
with mass customization7 methods and ultra personalization service systems have been tested within
several entities (Hendriksz 2017, Moorhouse & Moorhouse, 2017, & Adidas 2017). CCC utilizing UCD
and AGTs within circular manufacturing microfactories solves many of the current mass production
garment industry problems impacting SDGs and decentralizing new technologies for mass industry
transition.

Society and Industry Value Growth via SDG Frameworks

Economic growth within garment industry entities will stagnate and decline if current business
practices do not transition. By 2030 fashion brands will see a decline in earnings of more than three
percentage points if they continue business as usual, a loss of ~45 billion euros (Global Fashion
Agenda 2017). If the industry successfully addresses environmental and social issues, the overall
world economy benefit would be approximately 160 billion euros in 2030 (Global Fashion Agenda
2017). The garment industry contributes 3,290 million metric tons of CO 2 emissions (excluding
garment use and end of life phases) per year which is 6.7% of the combined global climate impact
(Quantis 2018). If current industry methods do not change, it is projected that in the year 2030 we will
see a 49% increase in climate change impacts, severe resource depletion, and 47% increase in
negative human health indicators (Quantis 2018). The SDGs provide a framework for the CCC model
to aid in reducing the impact of the garment industry and providing value growth at consumer and
industry levels. The CCC model within microfactories addresses 10 of the SDGs: no poverty, quality
education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, decent work and economic growth, industry,
innovation and infrastructure, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and
production, life below water, and life on land (UNDP 2016).
Intelligent consumers can actively participate in helping achieve the SDGs through collaborative
design processes. The CCC model encourages this societal transition via the user-centric design
methodology. Knowledge sharing between consumers and stakeholders, builds transparency about
material, design, lifecycle, manufacturing, and garment value. Choosing circular materials and
sustainable garment colour and dye processes promotes biodegradability and reduction of effluents.
Consumers choosing their own garment alterability preferences and co-designing for elongated
garment lifespan and use phase reduces manufacturing energy consumption. A t-shirt used once and
then discarded to a landfill has 100 times greater production-burden environmental impact than a t-
shirt used 100 times before being discarded.(Henry et al. 2018). The consideration of the use phase
and potential garment repair within the UCD process can promote a reduction in microfiber and
effluent release locally. An average laundry load of 6 kg, releases over 700,000 microfibres per wash
________________________
5 Co-design: participatory design process involving all stakeholders.
6 Advanced digital tools that process textile simulation, 3D body scans, 3D to 2D garment creation and nesting, user garment
and design data, manufacturing transparency data and are typically used with computer aided design.
7 Producing goods and services to meet individual customer's needs with near mass production efficiency (Tseng & Jiao 2001).

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

(Napper et al. 2015). User care contributes to over 60% of the indicators for human toxicity, freshwater
and marine ecotoxicity, metal depletion, ionizing radiation and water depletion (Beton et al. 2014). The
CCC model facilitates the production of garments with added value and promotes sustainable
consumer behaviour, both actions having a direct impact towards achieving the SDGs. CCC
implemented within microfactories also creates value for the garment industry and positively impacts
the achievement of the SDGs.
Diverse advanced labour forces needed for CCC create new opportunities for the 68% of the 300
million garment workforce that are women (Global Fashion Agenda 2018). Empowering the majority
female labour force can have a “multiplier effect, and helps drive up economic growth and
development across the board,”(UNDP, 2016). This empowerment of women is depicted as a
prerequisite to the eradication of poverty and sustainable growth,” (Global Fashion Agenda 2018).
AGT training for women will capacitate them to use new communication and information technologies,
enabling women to become primary stakeholders within the garment industry.
The CCC model and microfactory integration also aids in reducing the industry's impact on the climate.
The most effective way the apparel industry can achieve an ambitious industry-wide emission
reduction is to focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency across their supply chains, with
particular emphasis on the highest impacting life cycle stages, to propel the value chain into a low-
carbon future (Quantis 2018). CCC methodology prevents the creation of obsolete stock which is a
contributor to the 45 million megatons of clothing are disposed of annually, 75% of which is landfilled
or incinerated (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017). The reduction of garment waste impacts
responsible production, however the reduction effect of land use, fibers, water, effluents, labor, energy
consumption, specifically used in manufacturing obsolete stocks are expected to be of greater impact.
The coexistence of CCC microfactories with farms of genome edited fibre crops can dramatically
reduce synthetic fibres in the use of garments with the creation of advanced natural fiber production.
70% of fibres utilized for garments are synthetic and typically are more difficult to dispose of, with
microfibres seeping into the environment via human waste, washing, and landfills (Parker 2018). The
annual amount of microplastics released from textiles is estimated at 190,000 megatons per year
(Eunomia 2016). New biomaterials from seaweed kelp, spider silk and mycelium can be implemented
rapidly on small scale similar to the orange fiber fabric integration within the Ferragamo capsule
collection in 2017 (Textile Exchange 2018, Orange Fiber. 2017). Biobased dyeing reduces water
impact with specific garment dyeing in small batch processes and releasing biodegradable effluents
into an advanced organic water treatment systems and into the fiber farmland.
CCC model within microfactories optimizes energy, water and waste consumption throughout each
manufacturing stage continuing through circular processing of wastes, effluents and textile recycling.
The value growth and impact of the CCC model in microfactories of both industry and consumer are
evidence of a necessary industry transition to reverse economic decline and aid in achieving the SDG
targets.

Tendencies & Challenges in the Transitioning to CCC

Tendencies toward the end of ownership, digital innovations, and consumer trust deficits within the
global fashion industry lead the shift towards the CCC model in 2030. Challenges of the transition rely
on economic stability across all stakeholders balancing investment amounts for implementation of
CCC model within microfactories.
Rental, refurbished or pre-owned garment business models and traditional mass production model
throughout 2020 will continue to push consumer demands for customization, quality and transparency.
Jennifer Hyman of Rent the Runway states, “the consumer does appreciate that designer clothing and
luxury is of much higher quality they figure out: ‘where and when do I want to invest in quality and
when am I comfortable with the low quality substitutions?” (McKinsey & Company, 2018). Retail rental,
refurbished and pre-owned value chains partly rely on a mass production and therefore can be seen
as transitory business models. Patagonia pioneered an inhouse repair and resale model by buying
back their own products and selling those used items at a discount price. Patagonia asserts, “The
single best thing we can do for the planet is keep our gear in use longer and cut down on
consumption.” This provides an use case for circular mass customized microfactories, not only to
manufacture garments, but to continue within use phase of mainences and lifespan extension via
repair methods, a model that does not rely on mass production as a backbone (Patagonia 2018,
McKinsey & Company, 2018).
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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Digital innovations, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI) tools are trends of the garment industry.
Mobile and AI tools concentrating on achieving higher conversion rates from consumer inspiration to
purchase feed the consumer's need for instant gratification (McKinsey & Company, 2018). Digital
stakeholders need to ensure agility in AI garment predictors, virtual fitting rooms other digital
innovations relying on mass production models. Zozo, a japanese company, produces custom fit
garments on mass scale using utilizing a body suit to obtain biometric data to create custom fit
garments for the consumer (Nakamura, 2018). Mobile, AI, and AGT tendencies will continue to grow
consumer demand for garment industry transparency and customization capabilities. Advances in
AGT and digital innovations provide equal technology footing between small and medium entities
(SMEs) and the ‘super winners’8 creating equal opportunities for industry wide transition (McKinsey &
Company, 2018).
Transparency demands are growing, with 42% of millennials say they want to know what goes into
products and how they are made, before they buy (McKinsey & Company. Aug. 2016). Mass
production factories are getting closer to consumers in journalism and social media. One mass market
example is H&M’s brand Arket, which lists where products are made, showing pictures from the
manufacturing floor (Bain, 2017). Transparency tendencies via blockchain or radio frequency
identification (RFID) tags into 2020 will provide garment manufacturers names and locations
throughout the garment value chain and continue transparency discussions. Connected garments tags
may provide a feeling of garment process transparency while at the same time leaving the consumer
to investigate possibly thousands of entities along the value chain without a guarantee that the stages
are sustainable or ethical. Consumers want to support brands that are doing good in the world, with
66% willing to pay more for sustainable goods (McKinsey & Company 2018). Segways of mass
customization via small batch production and even microfactories are low risk, low cost options in the
upfront economic balance of the transition. The rise of small agile brands are increasing, generating
growth of 53% in the USA, 33% growth in Europe and 59% in Australia (McKinsey & Company, 2018).
Transitions within the mass production model depend on development of large energy hungry
machinery with lengthy time to markets and the remaining sectors of the process stagnant. The
supercritical carbon dioxide fluid9 dyeing processes is an example, created in 1988 (Bach et al., 2002).
The waterless technology of dyeing would drastically impact industry effluents to zero. Textile and
garment supplier, the Yeh Group, has spent EUR 3.7 million per machine and EUR 8.78 million for
further equipement, research and development currently for small scale clothing development on
synthetic fibers (Hepburn 2015). Traditional textile dyeing machines are approximately 2% of the cost
of the CO2 machine making the financial transition extremely steep considering garment profit
margins. Both traditional and CO2 technologies are reliant upon synthetic dyestuffs and the
continuation of mass production processes. After 30 years the CO2 dyeing machines are far from
transitioning the dyeing sector of the garment industry, however in 12 years global goals need to
realize impact results.
Tendencies of new business models that utilize mass production will continue, as will the growth of
digital innovations and further transparency with the intelligent consumer. The growth in these areas
will continue towards collaborative and customized garments manufactured with the climate in mind.
Challenges between economic stability for all stakeholders, including garment workers, throughout the
transition to CCC in microfactories will be the most delicate balance.

Conclusion: CCC a viable business model in 2030

Generation Z will account for 40% of global consumers by 2020 with nine in ten Generation Z
consumers believing companies have a responsibility to address environmental and social issues. The
consumer demand for customization, reflecting their own identities and unique styles, rivals social and
environmental impacts, and therefore both must be addressed in tandem (Cone, 2017, & McKinsey &
Company, 2018). The CCC model integrated into microfactories applies multiple measures in parallel
for rapid SDG impact. The 2020 tendencies create further opportunities to continue the transition to
CCC through to 2030. Solution models that rely on mass production will quickly become antiqued as
_________________________
8 Super winners: The top 20 group of companies that account for 97% of the economic garment profit, 12 of the 20 companies
have been in the ‘super winners’ for a decade (McKinsey & Company 2018).
9 Supercritical carbon dioxide fluid or CO2 dyeing method.

30
 Sustainable Innovation 2019

circularity and customization continues to gain awareness. Without transitioning to CCC the industry
will face economic decline and be unable to meet economic or climate impact needs within the current
global goals timeframes. Therefore the continued exposure of the greater need for rapid transition of
each stage of the mass production garment industry leads the low risk, high value impact of CCC as
the only viable business model in 2030.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Eliminating Avoidable Plastic Waste by 2042: a Use-Based

Approach to Decision and Policy Making - Emma Burlow

Emma Burlow

Head of Circular Economy

Resource Futures

Bristol

United Kingdom

Ed Cook

Senior Consultant

Resource Futures

Bristol

United Kingdom

Sam Reeve

CEO

Resource Futures

Bristol

United Kingdom

Edward Kosior

Managing Director

Nextek

London

United Kingdom

Growth in the amount of plastics produced has outpaced society’s ability to manage them effectively at
their end-of-life. The issue of discarded plastics and marine pollution is top of the political agenda and
there is increasing pressure for business and Government to work together to ‘solve’ the problem.

This innovative method of categorisation by the use phase provides a new approach to framing the
discussion around resource efficiency for plastics by focussing attention on the dominant lifecycle
phase and associated impacts.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

This approach recognises the benefits that plastics provide and addresses some of the potential
drawbacks of using alternative materials. It takes a proportionate and evidence-based approach to
decision making around plastic and promotes two overarching and interlinked themes:

 Sustainable design & production choices; and

 Supporting & generating demand for secondary plastics.

A selection of priority interventions offering a direction of travel across the value chain, are proposed.

A use phase approach

In the UK, around 45% of plastic packaging, which accounts for more than half of packaging waste, is
recycled and non-packaging is thought to be recycled at a much lower rate.

Blue Planet II coverage of plastic ocean ~0.2 MT recycled

~3.7 MT ~1.5 MT
pollution started a reaction. The issue of
waste non-packaging
discarded plastics and marine pollution generated
is top of the political agenda and there is
increasing pressure for business and
Government to work together to ‘solve’
the problem.
2.45 MT missed
~2.2 MT opportunity
The UK Government’s recently packaging
published 25-year Environment Plan
states its ambition to eliminate avoidable
plastic waste by the end of 2042 and the
supply chain has responded rapidly to ~0.65 MT Export
~1.05 MT
the challenges posed by waste plastic recycled
with over 80% of supermarkets signing
up to the UK Plastics Pact. This first of a ~0.4 MT UK
kind, voluntary agreement seeks to
eliminate unnecessary single-use
packaging by 2025; make all plastic Figure ES 1: Estimated UK plastic waste generation
packaging recyclable, reusable or
compostable; ensure that 70% of plastic
packaging is reused, recycled or composted; and 30% recycled content across all packaging.

In addition, an increasing number of measures are being promoted by campaign groups, businesses
and through regulation to begin to approach the plastics issue from a range of interventions. However,
these actions are not always evidence based, the topic is highly complex, and decisions are heavily
dependent on other stages in the lifecycle as well as regulation, global supply chains and consumer
understanding.

The Resourcing the Future (RTF) partnership commissioned Resource Futures and Nextek to
research and develop a framework to assist stakeholders across the plastics value chain and recycling
sectors to move forward in a common direction for improving plastics resource efficiency.

The research is a rapid evolution of several An innovative method of categorisation by the

weeks of research and collaborative thinking, use phase provides a new approach to framing
involving feedback from more than 20 external the discussion around resource efficiency for
stakeholders. plastics by focussing attention on the dominant
lifecycle impacts of different materials.
This research recognises the tremendous
benefits that plastics provide and addresses some of the potential drawbacks of using alternative
materials. However, some plastics are undoubtedly causing widespread marine pollution, and this has
been the focus of the most attention from civil society in recent years. Ultimately, there will be a trade-
off between the impacts on marine and terrestrial ecosystems; global warming; and economic and
social pressures; and it is therefore important to take a proportionate and evidence-based approach to
create a more resource efficient economy.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

The UK secondary plastics sector has a critical role to play. Currently it is heavily dependent on global
export markets, but recent market shocks, such as the ban on imports of post-consumer plastic waste
by China has highlighted an opportunity to de-risk through increasing UK capacity.

Figure ES 2: Plastic scrap exports from the exports from the UK 1

If the aspirations of the UK Plastics Pact to achieve 70% recycling of plastic packaging by 2025 are to
be achieved, then around 500,000 tonnes of additional reprocessing capacity will need to be identified
either in the UK or abroad. Given the timescales involved, capital funding will be urgently required to
invest in plastics reprocessing infrastructure. However, this investment will be an empty gesture unless
the market, and fundamentally the value of secondary plastics, can be both increased and decoupled
from the price of virgin material.

A new approach – use phase categorisation

Recognising that plastics are not alike is the first step, and this research has done this by developing a
new system of categorisation based on the length of time plastics are used. The five ‘use phase
categories’ used in this research (see Table ES 1) provide a new approach to framing the discussion
into resource efficiency by focussing attention on the dominant lifecycle impacts of different materials.
_________________________________
1
Based on analysis of HMRC export data (2018), https://bit.ly/1eP80tm. Note that at the time of writing, 2018 data have only
been reported for the first quarter; these were multiplied by four to predict the amount of material that will be exported to each
country in 2018. Note that ‘dispatches’ to the EU are reported here as ‘exports’ for simplicity and may be further re-exported
outside the EU.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Table ES 1: Summary of use-phase categories used in this research

Cat. Description Examples Dominant lifecycle impact / Action required
End-of-life. Terrestrial litter and marine debris is
increasingly recognised as being harmful but difficult to
Cotton buds, coffee
quantify and compare to other environmental factors such as
stirrers, straws,
Very short global warming
confectionery
use phase (<1
1 wrappers, medical, Action:
day) small
sanitary products,
format Eliminate or substitute use of plastics
wet wipes, clothing
tags, coffee pods Research potential for biodegradable alternatives
Education on ‘non-flushable’ products
Production / end-of-life. Production dominates the lifecycle
from a carbon perspective as the use phase provides few
functional benefits. As with cat. 1 contribute to terrestrial litter
Disposable plastic
and marine debris.
Very short cups, plates,
use phase (<1 takeaway Action:
2
day) medium containers, plastic
Replace specific single use items with reuse alternatives
format bags, plastic
cutlery More research into compostable alternatives and how to
manage within the existing system
Eco design standards
Use. The use phase is usually most dominant as plastics
are often used to protect goods which have far greater
burdens from spoiling
Food and drink
Short use containers, Action:
3 phase (>1 day cosmetics, Eco design standards including recycled content
<2 years) agricultural film,
bags for life Increased sorting and separation technology
Deposit return schemes
Education to increase life of product being protected
Use. The functional benefits provided during use usually
outweigh the impacts of production and end-of-life
Car parts, plastics Action:
Medium use in electronics,
4 phase (>2 <12 reusable Design for improved durability, compatibility & modularity
years) distribution crates, Improved data on current recycling rates
toys, fishing
Extended producer responsibility schemes
Increased sorting and separation technology
Use. The functional benefits provided by plastics usually
outweigh the impacts of production and end-of-life with a few
exceptions such as water piping in construction which is
dominated by production
Window frames,
electrical, Action:
Long use
plumbing,
5 phase (>12 Data on reuse and recycling rates required
insulating board,
years)
wall panels, roof Improved on site separation operations
tiles, carpet, soffits
Sorting and separation technology capacity
Design for improved durability, compatibility & modularity
Improved product information systems

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

The use phase categories analysis was used to identify priority interventions with the potential for
maximum impact.

Figure 3
The research shows that with the right interventions, there are significant opportunities to address the
issues arising from the widespread use and disposal of plastics. The current level of sophistication of
the existing collection infrastructure and the available sorting and recycling technologies could create
quick wins but there is a big question mark over its ability to meet higher ambitions without further
intervention and support. Importantly, demand for recycled plastics needs to be strengthened with
‘pull’ factors that work alongside market forces to reduce the plastic recycling sector’s vulnerability to
market shocks related to oil prices or other global market price fluctuations.

With a focus on the two overarching themes of: Sustainable design & production choices; and
supporting & generating demand for secondary plastics; this research proposes a selection of priority
interventions which it is hoped will provide an improved sense of direction for stakeholders across the
value chain.

If all packaging in UK
Priority interventions (approx. 2.2 million
Generating demand for secondary plastic content tonnes/year) used 30%
recycled content, then this
Increasing demand for recycled content guarantees a market for would be equivalent to the
secondary production and effectively decouples the industry from the ~660,000 tonnes exported
virgin production sector. annually

For example, the UK Plastics Pact has already begun this process by
securing commitments form stakeholders that control 80% of the packaging in the supermarket sector.
If successful in achieving 30% recycled content, then the Pact’s signatories will require in the order of
600,000 tonnes per annum of feedstock.

Extended producer responsibility

A well designed EPR scheme corrects the market failure of not considering the end-of-life treatment
option and potentially have a role across the range of use phase categories. Recently adopted
changes to the EU Waste Framework Directive provide an opportunity for the UK government to

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

shape an ambitious and forward-thinking agenda supporting the development and growth of a resilient
secondary plastics sector.

For some category 1, 2 and 3 items there are increasing calls for producers to pay for terrestrial and
marine litter clean-up costs. Our research suggests that interventions linked to number of products
rather than weight could be effective in recognising and correcting the impact costs.

Sorting and separation infrastructure

Increasing resource efficiency requires an increase of plastic being recycled and this will require
infrastructure capacity to process. The interventions need to address the differing needs across the
use phase categories incorporating packaging and non-packaging products. This requires
technological innovation as well as an increase in capacity. The Government will need to work with
industry to devise a range of financial instruments and mechanisms that support these dual technical
requirements.

Clarification and agreement on the role of bioplastics

The UK Government’s 25-year plan and the UK Plastics Pact have both included compostability as an
aspirational characteristic for plastics alongside recyclability. However, the implications for the
resources sector of expanding their use needs urgent strategic clarification and guidance. It is
important that any future role is agreed taking into account the existing collection and treatment
system and other parts of the plastics recycling sector. This research has provided clarification on
some of the important issues and highlights the consequences of an unplanned influx of these novel
materials into the UK’s waste stream. Therefore, it is recommended that urgent research is carried out
to assess the operational, economic and environmental impact of these materials and how they best
support a drive for improved resource efficiency.

References
Cook, E, Burlow, E, Reeve, S & Kosier, E. 2018, Eliminating avoidable plastic waste by 2042: a use-
based approach to decision and policy making.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Reducing Textile Waste in the Apparel industry: Examining EPR as

an Option - Kelly Burton
Kelly Burton

Adjunct Professor

Fashion Institute of Technology

New York

United States

Incredible amounts of raw materials and environmental inputs are being used in an industry that has
grown 60 per cent in the past fifteen years. The global clothing and apparel industry has streamlined
supply chains and is working on sustainable initiatives to limit resource scarcity, but what is missing in
the system is resource recovery for post-consumer textile waste. Although almost all textiles are
reusable or recyclable, the vast majority (85 per cent) end up in landfill. By not being circular, the
fashion industry is losing half a trillion dollars in underutilization and resource value annually. With
consumers in large developing countries like Brazil, China, India, Mexico and Russia adopting current
consumption rates, the system and its waste are expected to increase. The apparel industry needs to
become circular and to adopt policies to reduce textile waste.

Introduction
Equivalent to the seventh largest economy, the global clothing and apparel industry sits between
France and India in terms of GDP. Worth $2.4 trillion, it has grown 5.5 per cent annually over the past
decade (Ahmed et al, 2016). Rising consumer spending, coupled with reduced costs, has led to
unprecedented growth as the industry takes advantage of streamlined operations, compressed
production schedules and a consumer addicted to up-to-the-minute designs at rock-bottom prices
(McKinsey, 2016). Currently, the industry produces over 150 billion garments per year – enough for
fourteen garments per person – 20 billion of which are consumed in the United States (MIT n.d.; Cline,
2013). Whether the garments are sourced from natural fibres like cotton, hemp or silk, or synthetic
fibres like polyester, acrylic or nylon; textile and apparel production requires vast amounts of water and
energy, and produces harmful emissions, all contributing to an immense ecological footprint (see
Figure 1).

It is against this backdrop of consumption and environmental impact that it must be noted that
consumers are keeping garments about half as long as they did fifteen years ago, and although most
fashion textiles are 100% recyclable, the vast majority (85%) of all textiles in the United States end up
in landfills (McKinsey, 2016; Council for Textile Recycling, 2014). In 2013, data from the EPA reported
that about 13 million tons or 9% of total municipal solid waste (MSW) in the United States was textile
waste (as cited in Lewis et al, 2016). This industry is expected to continue its strong growth, and in
order to ensure that the product of its growth is neither undervalued nor lost, textile waste must be
mitigated.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Figure 1: Global environmental footprint caused by household purchases of clothing and

footwear, EU-27, 1996–2009. Source: EEA (2014)
Although the industry does produce textile waste itself, maybe up to 25 per cent, industrial systems
are in place to capture that lost value (Reverse Resources, 2017). Rather, the industry needs policies
in place to curb post-consumer textile waste (PCTW): waste that occurs after the customer has
completed the use phase of the garment.

The impact of textile production

The primary inputs for the apparel industry come from both renewable and non-renewable resources.
Renewable, field-based flows include fibres sourced from cotton, linen, hemp as well as animal fibres
like wool, alpaca and cashmere. Renewable, forest-based flows include viscose and lyocell fibres
made from beech and eucalyptus trees. Non-renewable materials are man-made synthetics like
petroleum-based polyester, acrylic and nylon (Black, 2015). In 2010, natural fibres were used in 33 per
cent of apparel production, while synthetic fibres made up another 60 per cent (EEA, 2014). The
production of textiles, whether from renewable or non-renewable feedstock, requires significant
resource inputs. McKinsey estimates that creating 1kg of fabric generates an average of 23kg of
greenhouse gases (McKinsey, 2016).

When exploring textile source (renewable versus non-renewable), there are often other factors that
impact sustainability (Black, 2015). Cotton, for example, is valued for both its comfort and versatility,
and because of its role in sustainable development as a cash crop. Cotton production accounts for
almost 7 per cent of all employment in some low-income countries (McArthur, 2017). Unfortunately,
cotton agriculture also requires large amounts of water, pesticides and fertilizer (McKinsey, 2016).
Producing 1kg of cotton takes between 7000 and 29,000 litres of water and between 0.3 and 1kg of
oil, and can have devastating, long-term effects on the environment, as in the case of the Aral Sea
desiccation, thought to be a direct result of cotton irrigation (Fletcher, 2014; Hoskins, 2014).

Other examples of the impact of textile sourcing include the desertification caused by the cashmere
industry. For centuries, low footprint nomadic herders from Mongolia dominated this fibre market.
However, fast fashion demand led to volatile prices leading herders to increase their stock. From 1990
to 2009, the Mongolian goat population grew from 5 million to 20 million. This led to over-grazing,
which is suspected to be directly responsible for the desertification of the Gobi desert (Black, 2015;
Siegle, 2014).

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Non-renewable resources are also problematic. The textile and apparel industry uses an estimated
342 millions barrels of oil annually to make polyester, nylon and other fibres (McArthur, 2017). The use
of this non-renewable feedstock is often justified by the recyclable properties of synthetic materials,
particularly polyester. Patagonia was one of the first brands to highlight this benefit by making new
clothes from old as part of their Common Threads programme. They predicted the fibre-to-fibre
recycling saved 76 per cent of the energy and 71 per cent of the carbon dioxide emission instead of
using virgin polyester (Fletcher, 2014).

Both natural and synthetic fibres require significant amounts of chemicals throughout the entire supply
chain. In addition to the 200,000 tons of pesticides and six million tons of fertilizer used for cotton
cultivation, another 43 million tons of chemicals are used in textile production. The global apparel and
textile industry, on the whole, requires more than 1900 chemicals, used in everything from the
spinning and weaving to the dyeing and finishing, and the EU estimates 165 are classified as
hazardous to health or the environment (McArthur 2017; EEA, 2014).

Then, there are the emissions; the industry accounted for about 5 per cent of global GHG emissions,
about 1.2 billion tons in 2015 – comparable to global air travel (McArthur, 2017). This is all to say that
the environmental impacts of the global apparel and textile industry are significant. Which make
mitigating waste essential. Especially textile waste, as textiles are 100 per cent reusable or recyclable;
there is no excuse for 85 per cent of textiles to end up in landfill (McKinsey 2016; Council for Textile
Recycling, 2014). Secondly, these impact figures and numbers are based on the current system, but
with rising consumer spending power in large developing countries like Brazil, China, India, Mexico
and Russia, these inputs are expected to increase significantly in the next ten years (McKinsey, 2016).

Figure 2: Environmental impacts of increasing consumption. Source: McKinsey & Company

(2016)
Figure 2 shows the estimated environmental impact on natural systems, including water and land use
and increase in emissions, if 80 per cent of developing countries achieve our (Western) consumption
levels within the next ten years (McKinsey, 2016). The Ellen McArthur Foundation report goes further
to predict that, unmitigated, the global apparel and textile industry could account for more than 26 per
cent of the carbon budget associated with a 2°C pathway by 2050 (McArthur, 2017).

Textile waste today

Americans buy, on average, 64 garments per year, a little more than one piece per week (Cline,
2013). American rates of clothing utilization (in the use cycle) are about a quarter of the global average
and the same pattern is developing in China, where clothing utilization has dropped by 70 per cent
compared to fifteen years ago (McArthur, 2017). How long consumers keep, and more importantly,
use their garments becomes important when they are not being recycled. The goal is to capture all
garments for recycling, which is going to require multinational strategies because, according to
McKinsey:

Nearly three-fifths of all clothing produced ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of
being made. Germany outperforms most countries by collecting almost three-quarters of all

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

used clothing, reusing half and recycling one-quarter. Elsewhere, collection rates are far
lower: 15 percent in the United States, 12 percent in Japan, and 10 percent in China. 1
Despite the fact that most garments are 100 per cent reusable or recyclable, rates of PCTW in the
United States keep increasing: it has grown from 8.3 million tons in 1999 to 11.3 million tons in 2009,
an increase of over 40 per cent. And is expected to increase to 16.1 million tons by 2019 (Weber et al,.
2017). It is not that consumers have lost their connection to recycling or have lost a sense of what it
means, they just do not apply the concept to PCTW. Figure 3 shows the type of solid waste found in
municipal landfills, and that over the decade from 2003 to 2013 textile waste increased the most.

Figure 3: Change in tons of waste generated, 2003–13. Source: USEPA as cited in Adler and
Johnson (2017)
Conversely, the concept of recycling for glass and paper has taken hold. Policies that mirror glass and
paper recycling mandates and campaigns should be explored.

According to Weber et al. (2017), consumers decide what to do with unwanted garments based on
three criteria: their psychological character (i.e. personality, attitude, etc.), factors of the product (i.e.
condition, style, etc.) or situational factors (convenience, finances, etc.) While this may be true, it also
seems clear that customers are not aware of the continued value of textiles after the primary use
phase.

When consumers want to dispose of clothing, they have a multitude of choices: they can resell the
garments through thrift, consignment or on digital platforms like eBay; they can pass the garment
down to a family member or friend; or they can donate to a charity like Goodwill or the Salvation Army:
either directly to the charity itself or through a drop box. So, the question becomes: why is the
municipal landfill becoming the preferred choice? Research points to issues of convenience: value: the
low-cost pricing structure that motivates consumers to over consume in the first place seems to also
inhibit their belief that a garment is worth recycling (Weber et al, 2017; Joung & Park- Poaps, 2011).
Herein lies the problem; cheap clothes are not valued as commodities by the consumer, so the
resources that went into textile and garment production are ending up in municipal landfill because the
customer equates low price with low value. Policies to mitigate PCTW need to also address consumer
perceptions and behaviours around textile/garment disposal.

Consumers need to be re-educated on resale, donation, reuse and recycling possibilities for all
garments: old and new, and expensive and cheap. In addition, consumers need to be aware of the
industrial systems that are in place for textile diversion work only if textiles are placed within the
system (i.e. through drop boxes or charity drop-off) (Joung & Park-Poaps, 2011). This would support
both financial principles of the industry: to reduce costs and facilitate growth, as the energy required
for collection and reuse would be below what is required to produce new items (Bartl, 2014). More
than $500 billion (USD) of value is lost every year due to clothing underutilization and the lack of
recycling (McArthur, 2017).

_______________________________________
1
Excerpted from “Style that’s sustainable: A new fast-fashion formula”, October 2016, McKinsey Quarterly, www.mckinsey.com.
Copyright (c) 2017 McKinsey & Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Policy intervention, exploring EPR

Waste prevention means creating less in the European Union framework (Bartl 2014). But since the
industry shows no sign of slowing down – demand for clothing is expected to reach 160 million tons in
2050 – more than three times today’s amount (McArthur, 2017), waste prevention policies should
focus on preventing textiles from ending up in landfill. An immediate policy to implement would be to
adopt extended producer responsibility (EPR) to include apparel and textile products. First defined by
Thomas Lindhquisvt in 1990, EPR is ‘an environmental policy approach in which a producer’s
responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle’ (OECD as
quoted in Deloitte 2014: 28). Like other products such as batteries and electronics, textiles have
become a problem of waste at precisely the post-consumer stage of the product’s life cycle, and EPR
creates the framework to engage the producer in internalizing costs. EPR allows governments and
municipalities (on behalf of their taxpayers) to put the responsibility for disposal of products destined to
become waste on the producer. Also known as PPP (polluter-pays-principle), the polluter is
recognized as the economic agent who ‘plays a decisive role’ in creating the pollution (Deloitte, 2014:
28), in this case the apparel brands.

Enacting an EPR policy creates several ripples of change through the industry: firstly, it sets the
imperative on waste reduction that can start with product design; it also engages brands in textile
waste diversion strategies; and finally, it creates an impetus to enhance recycling technologies.

When brands become responsible for apparel and textile products through the use phase, they might
become more interested in creating more durable rather than fashionable goods. This might include
better craftsmanship, more durable textile choice or creating pieces that are modular – jackets with
removable sleeves that can also be worn as vests, for example. Modular clothing can offer multiple
functions during the use phase and typically last longer. Another example would be to create a
dialogue with consumers about consumption. Patagonia does this every year on Black Friday. In 2011,
the brand took out a full-page ad asking consumers to refrain from buying unnecessarily over the
holiday period – the headline on the ad said ‘Don’t Buy This Coat’ over a picture of a Patagonia jacket.
It has repeated the campaign each year, and although the campaign has led to increasing its sales,
consumers do associate the brand with durable products (Hope, 2015). It helps that even in the
absence of EPR, Patagonia has been taking back and recycling their own polyester fleece products
since 1993 (Black, 2015).

Responsibility for collection is one of the greatest advantages of EPR. In France, the only country to
enact EPR legislation for textiles, producers are responsible to collect 50% of the volume they put into
the marketplace. In addition, brands must find solutions for the waste they are diverting: more than
20% of the collected materials have to be recycled and more than 95 per cent would need to be
diverted through recycling or energy recovery, such as incineration, leaving less than 5% for landfill
(Ernst and Young, 2016). This would be a significant improvement over self-regulating as evidenced
by the recycling programme launched in 2016 by global fast fashion retailer H&M. Considered one of
the largest producers of apparel and textiles, the programme, now in its second year, collects less
than 1% of the volume produced by the brand (Beeler, 2017). Enacting EPR would put pressure on
global brands to engage more actively in PCTW diversion in order to reach the 50% volume mandated
by France.

There is no guarantee that EPR will be a panacea for all PCTW everywhere. Figure 4 shows
comparable EPR mandated recycling rates for paper, and recycling rates by country vary greatly: from
43 per cent (France) to 94 per cent (Sweden). This gap can be explained by the higher market value
of collected waste paper in Scandinavian countries (Deloitte, 2014). A global PCTW EPR might work
similarly: the costs of the scheme could be covered by the value of waste textiles collected and sold as
secondary raw material, and that return would vary by both the country populace’s awareness of
recycling programmes and the in-country ability to recycle, using the market value of the collected
PCTW to offset the cost of the programme. However, that scheme will only work if supported by the
innovations in textile recycling.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Figure 4: Cost-effectiveness of EPR schemes for graphic paper in 2011. Source: Deloitte (2014)
Currently, less than 1 per cent of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
(McArthur, 2017). Although the industrial system for garments and apparel is set-up for recycling into
second-use or to supplementary businesses like ragging and insulation, when PCTW diversion
happens, as a result of EPR, the industrial system will need additional support for effective recycling.
Being able to quickly assess the material ingredients will help determine whether a garment can be
redirected to regeneration, chemical breakdown, etc. Consulting firm Oakdene Hollins has created a
sample of a 2D barcode that would facilitate textile sorting and increase recycling potential (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Two-dimensional barcodes for tagging of textiles through to end of life. source:
Oakdene Hollins (2015)
The industry is devoid of a definitive label to assist with PCTW diversion. In the Oakdene Hollins
mock-up (Figure 5), a comprehensive tag could communicate to the consumer the care instructions,
and ways to prolong use, but also where and how to divert from landfill. Brands could list their
instructions for take-back, offer coupons or some incentive or even a printable shipping label. The
brand partner/re-processor would know exactly how to process the garment based on the material: is it
meant for polyester recycling; cotton recycling; should it be sent to ragging because it is a blend that
cannot be recycled, etc. This technology enhanced by RFID tracking and block chain, is essential if
EPR is going to be able to adapt to the expected growth of the industry.

Summary
If the industry continues as it is, with the growth from developing countries expected, by 2050 the
global apparel and textile industry could use more than 26 per cent of the carbon budget associated
with a 2°C pathway (McArthur, 2017). An immediate intervention to that outcome would be stem
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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

PCTW. Consumers understand what recycling is, as evidenced by their diversion of glass and paper,
so communicating to them that textiles are a similar commodity should not be difficult. Like other
waste-producing industries, the producer (brand) needs to be involved in this diversion and internalize
the costs. Extending EPR to include textile waste, as France has already done, is required, but so too
is developing a garment tagging system to facilitate textile recycling. This way existing materials can
be regenerated into new garments rather than continuing to create product using virgin resources and
contributing to resource scarcity.

References
Adler, M. & Johnson, Anne. 2017, Let’s Talk Textile Waste. RRS. Retrieved from:
https://recycle.com/textile-recycling/. [May 1, 2018].
Ahmed, I., Berg, A., Brantberg, L. & Hedrick, S. 2016, The State of Fashion, Boston, MA: McKinsey,
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/the-state-of-fashion. [May 1, 2018].
Bartl, A. 2014, “Moving from recycling to waste prevention: A review of barriers and enables”, Waste
Management & Research, 32:9, pp. 3–18.
Beeler, C. 2017, “How good is H&M’s clothing recycling program?”, PRI, 8 December,
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1, 2018].
Black, K. 2015, Magnifeco: Your Head-to-Toe Guide to Ethical Fashion and Non-Toxic Beauty,
Gabriola Island: New Society.
Cline, E. 2013, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, New York: Portfolio,
Penguin.Council for Textile Recycling. 2014, http://www.weardonaterecycle.org/about/issue.html.
Deloitte. 2014, Development of Guidance on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Created for
European Commission – DG Environment,
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/pdf/target_review/Guidance%20on%20EPR%20%20Final%20
Report.pdf. [May 1, 2018].
Domina, T. and Koch, K. 1997, “The textile waste lifecycle”, Clothing and Textiles Research
Journal, 15:2, pp. 96–102.
Ellen McArthur Foundation. 2017, A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future,
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/A-New-Textiles-
Economy_Full-Report.pdf. [May 1, 2018].
Ernst & Young. 2016, Can extended producer responsibility support the transition to a circular
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extended-producer-responsibility. [May 1, 2018].
European Environmental Agency (EEA). 2014, Environmental Indicator Report 2014 – Environmental
Impacts of Production-Consumption Systems in Europe.
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Fletcher, K. 2014, Sustainable Fashion and Textiles Design Journeys, London: Earthscan from
Routledge.
Hickle, G. 2015, “Extending the boundaries: An assessment of the integration of extended producer
responsibility within corporate social responsibility”, Business Strategy and the Environment, 26:1, pp.
112–24.
Hope, K. 2015, “The clothing firms designing clothes that last forever”, BBC News, 17 December,
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34984836. [12 November 2017].
Hoskins, T. 2014, “How your clothes are poisoning our oceans and food supply”, The Guardian, 1
October, ung, https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-fashion-
blog/2014/oct/01/cotton-production-linked-to-images-of-the-dried-up-aral-sea-basin. [12 November
2017].
Joung H. & Park-Poaps, H. 2011, “Factors motivating and influencing clothing disposal behaviours”,
International Journal of Consumer Studies, 37:1, pp. 105–11.

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Lewis, T., Park, H., Netravali, A. & Trejo, H. 2016, “Closing the loop: A scalable zero-waste model for
apparel reuse and recycling”, International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education,
10:3, pp. 353–62.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). (n.d.), Sustainable Apparel Materials, Boston, MA: MIT
Materials Systems, http://msl.mit.edu/publications/SustainableApparelMaterials.pdf. [12 November
2017].
McDonough, W. & Braungart, M. 2009, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things,
London: Vintage.
McKinsey & Company. 2016, Style That’s Sustainable: A New Fast-Fashion Formula, Boston, MA:
McKinsey Quarterly.https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/sustainability-and-resource-
productivity/our-insights/style-thats-sustainable-a-new-fast-fashion-formula.pdf. [11 November, 2017].
Oakdene Hollins Ltd. (n.d.) http://www.oakdenehollins.com. Reprinted by permission
Reverse Resources. 2017, Creating a Digitally Enhanced Circular Economy, Estonia: Reverse
Resources. Accessed 11 November 2017.
Siegle, L. 2014, “Should I worry about cheap cashmere”, The Guardian, 1 December,
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/07/should-i-worry-about-cheap-cashmere-lucy-
siegle. [11 November, 2017].
Weber, S., Lynes, J. & Young, S,. 2017, “Fashion interest as a driver for consumer textile waste
management: Reuse, recycle or disposal”, International Journal of Consumer Studies, 41:2, pp. 207–
15.

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

2030: Sustainability, Design and Innovation - Martin Charter

Professor Martin Charter

The Centre of Sustainable Design ®

Business School for the Creative Industries

University for the Creative Arts

Surrey

United Kingdom

Past and Present I

Sustainable development was born out of the Brundtland Commission in 1987. Five years on at The
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Agenda 21 was launched as a blueprint for implementation of
sustainable development. However, back in 1992 the role of climate change, circular economy (CE),
products, design and innovation was not a significant part of the discussion.

Growing concern emerged over climate change in the 2000s and after several pitfalls, the UN Paris
Climate Change agreement was signed in November 2015. The aim of the agreement is to strengthen
the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century
well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature
increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The agreement uniquely brought together countries and
states to develop an action plan on climate change. As at February 2019, 197 United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) have signed the agreement and 185 have
become party to it (United Nations, 2019). However, there is growing concern by the youth about the
lack action being taken to curb climate change. Surveys have indicated growing worries about climate
change amongst Millennials (Global Shapers Community, 2019). This now appears to being translated
into action by Generation Z as evidenced by recent protests by school children – who will become the
new consumers in the 2020s – that were sparked by the provocative speeches from Greta Thunberg,
the sixteen year old Swedish student (Bray, 2019).

In parallel to the Paris agreement, the launch of the seventeen United Nation Sustainable
Development Goals (UN SDGs) in December 2015 has re-invigorated discussions over the broader
components of sustainability amongst policy makers, business and civil society (United Nations,
2015). The links to products and markets are now embedded in the SDGs through the goals covering
innovation (and infrastructure) and responsible consumption and production. Research amongst 500
experienced sustainability professionals indicated that their organisations were responding to the
SDGs by developing products or services linked to the SDGs; and they saw increased discussion over
the SDGs as providing opportunities to align core business activities or innovation efforts with broader
societal needs (GlobeScan/SustainAbility, 2017). In addition, open innovation approaches are
emerging to seek solutions to the challenges to the SDGs (UNLEASH, 2017).

In December 2015, another significant development was the publication of European Commission’s
(EC) Circular Economy (CE) Action Plan. Through this the EC put a ‘marker in the sand’ over its policy
intentions to start to transition away from the linear (take-make-waste) economy to one that is more
circular (European Commission, 2015). As a result of this and other initiatives, there will be increased
discussion over strategies to enable product circularity - that focus on retaining value in economic and
social systems for as long as possible - enabled through design for repairability, remanufacturability,
upgradability, etc (Charter, 2018).

By 2030, leading-edge companies will be reporting on their performance on UN SDGs – including

responses to climate change and CE - and this will be impacting on existing and new business
models, product/service/systems (PSS), design and development (D&D) and innovation more broadly.

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Past and Present II

Over the past 25 years, interest of sustainability-oriented product or industrial designers (designers)
has shifted from thinking about design tools to PSS to innovation to new green business models
(Bisgaard et al, 2012). However, many designers still don’t consider sustainability unless it is in “the
brief”; and although personally motivated are often constrained by a lack of external and/or internal
drivers. As climate change and CE moves further up the agenda, designers will increasingly need to
move from a limited understanding of sustainability issues to being able to ask critical questions
amongst internal and external stakeholders on, for example, materials, energy, toxicity, etc.

However, there is change in some quarters. Some designers and innovators in leading-edge
companies have started to experiment with new, open innovation approaches to sustainability-driven
innovation, through the use of, for example, crowd-sourcing competitions, hackathons, jams and open-
sourcing intellectual property e.g. IBM Eco-efficiency Jam1 and Nike-led GreenXchange (Ghafele and
O’Brien, 2012). In addition, ‘open’ approaches are emerging outside of companies e.g. Global
Sustainability Jam 2017 2, POC 21 20153 and Open Source Circular Economy Days4.This illustrates
the start of a broadening of thinking over the sustainable innovation process - amongst some pioneers
- compared to previous approaches to D&D. Design entrepreneurs are also emerging that have
sustainability hard-wired into the DNA of their businesses. For example, Bureo produce skateboards
from recycled polymers from waste fishing nets work closely with fishing communities in Chile –
addressing environmental, social and economic issues directly (Bureo, 2019).

Moving forwards to 2030

By 2030, the world will be a different place, reacting and responding to mega trends. In 2016, Thomas
L. Friedman described in his excellent book 'Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to thriving
in the Age of Accelerations” that the planet's three largest forces - Moore's law (technology), the
market (globalization) and Mother Nature (climate change and biodiversity loss) - are now accelerating
all at the same time (Friedman, 2016). Reinforcing this, PWC identified five broader mega trends that
will be changing the world in 2030 (PWC, 2017): urbanisation, climate change and resource scarcity,
shifts in global economic power, demographic and social change, and technological breakthroughs.

Both analyses reinforce growing environmental concerns as a mega trend and this will have
implications for the types of products/services/systems that will be designed, developed,
commercialised, bought and used into the future. By 2030, tackling sustainability (particularly climate
change, circular economy (CE) and water use) will be increasingly important considerations in the
D&D of PSS across all sectors. In parallel, the implementation of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies
will be disrupting markets (Boston Consulting Group, 2019). Consequently, the next generation of
designers will need to be more aware of sustainability issues as well as being more technology
literate. On the flipside, these mega trends with open-up major new opportunities for design
entrepreneurs and innovators to create, develop and commercialise eco-innovative PSS, technologies
and new business models if they are awake to the change.

A foresight study completed by the EC's Joint Research Council Foresight Unit in 2015 developed
long-term visions for eco-industries in Europe to 2035 (Bontoux and Bengtsson, 2015). A classification
of eco-industries was presented that identified shifts that previous classifications had missed, notably
‘industries greening’:
 Green industries – environmental industries
 Industries greening – other industries adopting eco-innovations
 Eco-innovative solution providers – a sector involving R&D, new business models,
organisational/social innovation, integrators.

Moving towards to 2030, PSS and technology opportunities will emerge in each of these three groups
above. These will include, for example: new policy initiatives that will take forward CE (e.g. repair,
refurbishment, remanufacturing, etc) that will lead to innovation and opportunities for, for example,
____________________________
1https://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/gb/en/gbe03296usen/mc_asset_756016__gbe03296usen-0_GBE03296USEN.pdf
2www.planet.globalsustainabilityjam.org
3 www.poc21.cc and
4 www.oscedays.org

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smarter materials that enable disassembly ("green industries"); implementation of climate change and
air pollution policies will drive the development of a) new battery technologies to store electricity from
renewable energy, b) new monitoring and control technologies related to air pollution and c) electric
vehicles ("green industries"); the re-utilisation of waste materials into new products will increase e.g.
Bureo re-using waste net polymers from fishing nets into skateboards, sun glasses and other products
("industries greening"); and more radical innovation may move from R&D and demonstrations into
reality; for example, the Hyperloop One transportation system being developed by Virgin building on
pioneering work by Elon Musk (Virgin, 2019).

References
Bisgaard T, Henriksen K and Bjerre M (2012) Green Business Model Innovation Conceptualisation,
Next Practice and Policy. Nordic Innovation Publication 2012:12 [Online]
http://www.nordicinnovation.org/Global/_Publications/Reports/2012/2012_12%20Green%20Business
%20Model%20Innovation_Conceptualisation%20next%20practice%20and%20policy_web.pdf
[Accessed: 18th February 2019]
Bontoux L and Bengtsson D (2015). 2035: Paths towards a sustainable EU economy - Sustainable
transitions and the potential of eco-innovation for jobs and economic development in the EU eco-
industries 2035. Brussels: European Commission. [Online]
http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC96826/kjna27376enn.pdf [Accessed: 18th
February 2018]
Boston Consulting Group (2019). Embracing Industry 4.0 and Rediscovering Growth. [Online]
https://www.bcg.com/en-gb/capabilities/operations/embracing-industry-4.0-rediscovering-growth.aspx
[Accessed: 21th February 2018]
Bureo (2019). [Online] https://bureo.co/pages/bureo-collection2 [Accessed: 18th February 2018]
Charter, M (2018). Ed., Designing for the Circular Economy. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-
08101-7
European Commission (2015). Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the circular economy. COM
(2015) 614 final. [Online] http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0614
[Accessed: 18th February 2018]
Friedman T.L. (2016). Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to thriving in the Age of
Accelerations. New York. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Ghafele R and O’Brien R (2012). Open Innovation for Sustainability: Lessons from the GreenXchange
Experience. Policy Brief 13. International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development [Online]
https://www.ictsd.org/downloads/2012/06/open-innovation-for-sustainability-lessons-from-the-
greenxchange-experience.pdf [Accessed: 26th January 2019]
Global Shapers Community (2019). The Global Shapers Survey. [Online]
http://www.shaperssurvey2017.org/ [Accessed: 21st February 2019].
GlobeScan/SustainAbility (2017). Evaluating Progress Towards the Sustainable Development Goals
[Online]. Available at: https://globescan.com/evaluating-progress-towards-the-sustainable-
development-goals/ [Accessed: 18th February 2019].
PWC (2017). Megatrends. [Online] http://www.pwc.co.uk/issues/megatrends.html [Accessed: 18th
February 2019]
Bray D-M (2019). #GENERATION C. Sublime. [Online] https://sublimemagazine.com/generation-
climate [Accessed: 18th February 2019]
United Nations (2015). Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Sustainable Development
Knowledge Platform. [Online] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300 [Accessed: 3rd
February 2018]
United Nations (2019). Paris Agreement, United Nations Treaty Collection, 8th July 2016 [Online]
http://unfccc.int/paris_agreement/items/9485.php [Accessed: 3rd February 2018]
UNLEASH (2017) [Online] https://unleash.org/innovation-lab-2017/ [Accessed: 18th February 2019]
Virgin (2019). Hyperloop [Online] https://hyperloop-one.com/ [Accessed: 18th February 2019]

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Packaging Innovation to Support the Emerging Circular Economy in

the Food and Drink Industry - Designing for a Sustainable Future - Richard Coles

Richard Coles

Director

Emagine Packaging Ltd.

United Kingdom

Introduction
This paper first contextualizes recent social, environmental, regulatory/legislative and industry
developments that are shaping the future of packaging to 2030 and beyond; scopes key influences on
packaging innovation and design – focusing on consumers and sustainability - and briefly explores a
number of “design for circular economy” packaging strategies illustrated with examples.

The Context

Eco-conscious Millennial Consumers

A key target market group for retailers and brands is the Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996)
whose spending power is increasing with a rising number of them starting families. In 2018, there were
1.8 billion Millennials far outnumbering the 1.1 billion Baby Boomers (Financial Times 2018). By 2020,
Millennials will represent half the world’s working population, so packaging that works for this
demographic is increasingly relevant. Recent Nielsen Global Surveys (www.nielsen.com/uk/en.html)
conducted over the past few years have revealed that Millennials are concerned about brand values,
brand authenticity and ethical/ sustainability issues. Millennials are cost-conscious but will pay for
quality and prioritise spending on health and wellbeing. The increase in these consumers’ awareness
of environmental issues and the rapid rise in anti-plastic sentiment is spurring many companies to
increasingly shift to ‘non-plastic’ or ‘less plastic’ packaging where possible. However, many of the
packaging changes made under the banner of sustainability are often more based on perception
rather than fact which is science-based. This presents an important challenge for government, industry
and educators wanting to ensure that optimal sustainable technological solutions are adopted, and
decisions are based more on fact.

Marine Plastics Pollution

2018 was a seminal year in the packaging world with the plastics packaging industry never before
attracting such widespread public and media scrutiny. There was a quantum leap in public awareness
and concern on the ecological impact of plastics marine pollution which was highlighted by the BBC’s
“Blue Planet II” documentary (BBC, 2017) that drew global media and political attention. Despite
plastics’ impressive commercial success in the packaging world and the cost effective functional as
well as environmental benefits that plastics can offer, plastics has been poorly portrayed in the media
for the damage that it is causing to wildlife and marine creatures. Pollution by single-use plastics
packaging, such as plastic bags, and lack of recycling have been particularly highlighted by the media
and focused on by governments.

Recycling of Plastics Packaging

In addition to the plastic marine pollution issue, plastics have a poor global recycling record. 6.9 billion
tons of plastics waste – including packaging – have been produced since the 1950s of which an
estimated nine percent was recycled (National Geographic, 2018a). Virtually half the plastic ever
manufactured has been made in the last 15 years. An estimated total 448 million tons of plastic was
produced in 2015 of which around 161 million tons was produced for packaging (National Geographic
2018a). Global production of plastics is expected to double again over the next 20 years.

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Despite plastics packaging’s potential drawbacks at end-of-life as outlined above, it should be

remembered that plastics can deliver important sustainability benefits: for example, in terms of saving
food waste by extending product shelf life; enabling more resource efficient (and low carbon footprint)
distribution relative to heavier pack media; improving product functionality; enhancing product
affordability due to relatively low cost plastics packaging-distribution systems; and providing a wide
range of convenience benefits for consumers. In fact, a recent US and Canadian life cycle analysis
(LCA) study, conducted by the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC), identified
plastics as the most “environmentally-responsible” material relative to certain other packaging
materials in terms of energy use, water consumption, solid waste, greenhouse gas emissions, ozone
depletion, eutrophication and acidification (ACC, 2018).

The Design for Sustainability (DfS) Challenge

A key challenge for society is to adopt Design for Sustainability (DfS) strategies which ensure
packaging is responsibly designed so that the used packaging resource can be efficiently and
effectively recovered. This also requires the development of appropriate resource recovery
infrastructure and technologies whether for collection, sorting, recycling, reuse, composting, anaerobic
digestion or other post-first use purpose. Life cycle studies of main packaging media (e.g. by the
Waste Resources Action Plan, www.WRAP.org) have indicated that, as well as conserving non-
renewable resource, recycling and reuse can save embodied energy thereby reducing carbon footprint
as well as other environmental impacts.

Packaging that significantly extends shelf life of food and helps avoid food disposal to landfill or
incineration prevents the production of vast quantities of carbon emissions, saves water and
conserves other resource. It also often derives significant economic benefit. To quote a famous Tetra
Pak moto: “Good packaging saves more than it costs” (both economically and environmentally).

Strategic Responses by Government and Industry

The “New Plastics Economy Global Commitment”

In late 2018, The “New Plastics Economy Global Commitment” led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation,
in collaboration with UN Environment, was signed by many of the world’s largest packaging producers,
brands, retailers and recyclers, as well as governments and NGOs. The “Global Commitment”
represents a ground-breaking vision to move from a linear to a “circular economy for plastic in which it
never becoming waste” (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2018).

China’s “National Sword Policy”

In 2018, plastics recycling was made even more challenging for advanced economies, such as the
UK, on account of China’s implementation of its “National Sword” policy banning the importation of
certain waste and setting restrictions on recyclate quality (acceptable contamination limit is 0.5%).
The EU’s weight-based regime has encouraged the UK’s local authorities to prioritise quantity over
quality. However, the impact of China’s National Sword policy should create a spur for greater
investment in collection infrastructure, innovative technologies to sort and recycle, compost etc., as
well as stimulate market demand for plastics recycled content product (including packaging)
manufacture in consumption countries. In order to achieve this, it will be important to future-proof
recycling systems by prioritizing recyclate quality instead of weight (Davies, 2018).

EU Plan, Strategy & Proposed Directive for a Circular Economy

An EU Circular Economy Action Plan EC (2015) and a European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular
Economy have been devised, together with a proposed EU directive on single-use plastics, which will
contribute to achieving a number of the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(UN, 2015) As part of the EU’s Action Plan for a Circular Economy (EC, 2015), The European Strategy
for Plastics in a Circular Economy (EC, 2018) promotes the establishment of a circular economy for
plastics which is to be reinforced by a proposed “EU Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain
plastic products on the environment” (EC, 2019). The latter also advocates life-cycle assessments and
design for circularity.

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Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

An increasing number of companies are reporting in their annual Sustainability Reports progress
made on targets set with regard to their “sustainable packaging” initiatives, These reports record
impacts on environmental, social and economic issues. For example, Coca Cola and other other
global multinationals, including PepsiCo, Amcor, and Unilever, have pledged to convert to “100 per
cent reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging” by 2025. Nestlé aims at 100 per cent reusable
or recyclable packaging by 2025. In 2018, Costa Coffee committed to recycle the same volume of
cups it puts to market. Mondelēz International announced a new commitment to make all packaging
recyclable and provide recycling information by 2025.

Life Cycle Thinking, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Eco-design

A lifecycle approach is needed that involves adopting a systems or holistic thinking perspective
together with forethought on the design of products, services and systems. Future success in
addressing environmental issues is contingent on integrating the life cycle approach into our decision-
making and acting on the results i.e. implementation of eco-design that leads to lower environmental
impacts. An oft quoted estimate is that “up to 80% of all environmental impacts are determined during
the design phase of products.” How accurate this figure is in relation to packaging is somewhat of an
open question though this order of magnitude does not seem unreasonable when one considers
packaging’s role in protecting and preserving food products which have far greater environmental
impact if wasted and disposed of to landfill or incineration.

The British Plastics Federation (BPF, www.bpf.co.uk/) has presented a useful framework for
considering packaging eco-deign in terms of 5 techniques with checklists of associated points (BPF
2018):

 Design for embedded carbon

 Design or recyclability
 Design for recycled content
 Design for biodegradability or composability
 Design for transport efficiency

It is anticipated that life cycle thinking coupled to the emerging circular economy industry paradigm will
become much more of a focus for packaging innovators and designers when considering options.

Packaging Innovation for the Circular Economy

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a core driver of business and brand value. A key goal is
enabling the development of a circular economy to retain material value, enhance resource efficiency
and address growing resource scarcity concerns. There are many strategies and policies needed to
evolve a circular economy which is truly sustainable. A number of packaging strategies are being
adopted by brands and several representing key trends to 2030 are highlighted in this paper together
with illustrative case examples. These include:

 Designed-in Recyclability
 Reusable Packaging
 Paper-in, Plastics-out,
 Bio-based Bioplastics and Fibre-based Biodegradable/Compostable Biomaterials
 Edible/biodegradable Films & Coatings
 Connective Packaging
 E-commerce & Home Delivery Packaging

Designed-in Recyclability
Designed-in Recyclability for plastics is seen as a major sustainability trend to 2030 and beyond. The
legislative developments outlined in section 3 of this paper, in particular with regard to circular
economy, will serve to help drive innovation for simplified, easier to recycle materials and packs with
recycled content. In the UK, high rates of recycling and recycled content have been a feature of glass,
metal and paper for many years with well established infrastructure to collect these materials. Deposit

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Return Schemes (DRS) for single-use plastics are expected to be rapidly expanded across the UK
over the next decade though, according to research by Recoup (www.recoup.org), “convenience” is
the key feature for the consumer (Recoup 2018). Over ten years ago, “Ribena” was the first UK drinks
brand to introduce 100% recycled content (rPET) bottles. It is reported to have so far prevented
40,000 tons of additional plastic from being produced.

Reusable Packaging
Environmental concerns and legislative developments regarding single-use packaging are
encouraging adoption of innovative reusable packaging solutions across the food industry and
particularly for the beverage sector. There is much potential and developments underway for reusable
packaging solutions which can offer both environmental and, potentially, economic benefits - not least
those linked to increased market appeal for those brands striving to enhance their sustainability
credentials.

A radically innovative reusable solution to the coffee cup issue is “CupClub” (cupclub.com/) which
coffee drinkers can join when purchasing their coffee in reusable takeaway mugs. The mugs can be
deposited at several locations where they are collected for washing and the clean cups then
redistributed. The cups are RFID tagged and registered to customer accounts – “CupClub” texts
members if they’ve forgotten to return cups and charges them if cups are retained. The company has
issued a sustainability report detailing a life cycle analysis (LCA) to determine the environmental
benefits of “CupClub” in comparison to alternative single use 12oz paper coffee cups, a single use
expanded polystyrene (EPS) cup and a ceramic reusable cup (CupClub 2018).

A ground-breaking reusable packaging deposit return scheme (DRS) for a circular economy project
has recently been launched by Brussels-based “Loop” (reloopplatform.eu/) in partnership with
Terracycle. “Loop” is a new zero-waste platform formed from a coalition of major product companies –
for example, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Mars, Danone and more than a dozen other
companies. The project focuses on reuse as it recognizes that “a root cause of the ocean plastics is
not plastics per se but the use of single-use plastics” (FastCompany.com 2019).

Paper-in, Plastics-out
Paper-based packaging appears well positioned to continue its upward trend in a global market driven
by the sustainability agenda. Increasingly, innovative recyclable paper- and paperboard- based
packaging solutions are being introduced by retailers and brands across Europe to reduce their
dependence on single-use plastics and in response to anti-plastic sentiment by consumers with a
growing demand for designed-in recyclability. More naturally renewable, recyclable and
biodegradable/compostable paper-based formats with reduced carbon footprint appeal to
environmentally conscious consumers and resonate with retailers and brands who have set plastic-
free or plastic-reduction packaging targets.

There exist a wide range of attractively designed hybrid paper-based packs utilizing either recyclable
plastic inner linings or, biodegradable/ compostable bioplastic coatings or inner bags for a variety of
products e.g. cartons of organic breakfast cereals, vegetarian and vegan products such as burgers.
Bio-based carton designs may also feature transparent cellulosic windows. “Teapigs”
(www.teapigs.co.uk/) was the first tea brand in the world to be awarded the “Plastics-free” trust mark
by “A Plastics Planet” (aplasticplanet.com/) for its FSC-certified paperboard window carton of
industrially compostable teabags, contained within an inner bioplastic bag that is home compostable.

Bio-based Bioplastics and Fibre-based Biodegradable/Compostable Biomaterials

The bio-based bioplastics market continues its inexorable exponential rise with significant growth
predicted over the next decade with greater investment coming on-stream, particularly in South East
Asia. In 2017, South East Asia accounted for 56% of the total global production of 2.05 million tons of
all bioplastic (including bio-based) whereas Europe produced 16% (European Bioplastics, 2018).

Though not as prominent as paper-based packaging, bio-based bioplastics are often used in
combination with paper in hybrid format. For example, Tetra Pak’s “Tetra Rex Bio-based” beverage
carton is made from 100% renewable material, using FSC paperboard and sugar cane derived high
density polyethylene (Bio-HDPE) cap and top (Tetra Pak, 2018). Also, there is an increasing range of
biodegradable/ compostable biopolymer lined paper-based foodservice packaging replacing plastics.
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Bio-based bioplastics cover a fast expanding range of materials used in a variety of packaging forms
which may or may not be biodegradable/compostable. For example, fully recyclable (non-
biodegradable) Bio-PE and Bio-PET are being produced on an increasingly large scale and these
materials are chemically identical to their conventional petrochemical-derived plastic counterparts.
Barriers to adoption of bio-based plastics include a number of factors, including economics, used
packaging recovery infrastructures and consumer awareness or perception of bioplastics. Consumers
are still largely unfamiliar with what bioplastics are and they are often confused as to what packaging
is recyclable, particularly in the case of plastics. Bioplastics add yet another layer of complexity
causing confusion. In particular, there may be inadequate provision of recycling and other
infrastructures, such as composting and anaerobic digestion for biodegradable materials.

Biodegradable and compostable packaging solutions will continue to grow in niche applications such
as biscuits, coffee capsules/pods, tea bags, sandwiches, nuts, snacks and confectionary. For
example, “ALPA” in co-operation with “Golden Compound” introduced the world’s first home
compostable aluminium-free capsules derived from fiber of sunflower seed shells. These packaging
solutions that possess good barrier properties are likely to gain more favor with the smaller “challenger
brands”, such as “Two farmers” (twofarmers.co.uk/) compostable pack for potato crisps. However, the
significant on-cost remains a barrier to adoption by many large brands which are heavily invested in
plastics packaging systems and keen to promote recycling as a sustainable option – for example,
there are recycling schemes partnership between TerraCycle (www.terracycle.co.uk/en-GB) and
PepsiCo (UK) “Walkers” crisps and “pladis” biscuits & snacks brands.

The naturalness and potentially lower carbon footprint of biomaterial packaging sourced, for example,
from bamboo, sugar cane, palm fiber, seaweed, coffee waste, mushrooms etc. appeals to eco-aware
consumers who are prepared to pay a premium. However, issues may arise around the material’s
recyclability and other ecological (as well as social) impact considerations. Crucially, one needs to
also consider the levels of protection and/or preservation provided for the products contained
especially since their ecological footprint is at least 10x greater than the packaging itself.

Edible/Biodegradable Films and Coatings

An exciting opportunity, that has future commercial potential offering environmental benefit is edible
and biodegradable packaging, coatings and treatments which are not only natural/nature identical or
bio-based but also functional and cost-effective. These alternative materials can serve to reduce the
environmental impact associated with non-biodegradable plastics, minimize the use of non-renewable
resource and lower carbon footprint. A radical eco-innovation comes from London-based Skipping
Rocks’ (www.oohowater.com/) who created the edible, biodegradable and spherical “Ooho” bottle
which is made entirely from seaweed extract.

Connected Packaging
A transition is occurring from basic connected packs to intelligent, media-enhanced packaging.
“Connected experience design” with smart technology and data analytics used to link the brand
experience across all touchpoints — from social media to packaging. Consumer brand engagement,
authentication, enhanced security/anti-counterfeit, saving food waste, domestic food stock control,
promoting recycling behavior etc. can all link to smart and intelligent packaging solutions using
connective technologies - such as QR codes, augmented reality (AR) and near field communications
(NFC) - which enable consumers to interact with packaging via their smartphones.

E-commerce & Home Delivery Packaging

E-commerce on-line grocery shopping and home delivery streams continue their inexorable rise with
an omni-channel evolving such that consumers can purchase whenever, wherever and however they
wish. Strong growth of recyclable corrugated board packaging, though in more resource efficient form,
and increasing use of reusable shippers. In 2018, for example, “Made2fit” technology was introduced
by DS Smith Packaging (www.dssmith.com/uk/packaging). It is set to be the first ever 3D-adaptable
packaging, minimising size and cutting associated costs by up to 60 per cent. (Packaging Europe,
2018).

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E-commerce will encourage more product to be contained in innovative readily recyclable/recycled-

content rigid plastics and flexible pack formats. For example, RPC M&H Plastics (mhplastics.com/)
created a range of packaging solutions designed to be easily posted through letterboxes to cater to
the growing e-commerce market. RPC M&H Plastics and Garçon Wines (www.garconwines.com/)
recently won multiple innovation and sustainable packaging awards for their “world first” custom
moulded 100% rPET Flat profile wine bottle which was initially designed to fit through a letterbox. The
bottle is also 100% recyclable, contributing to circular economies (RPC M&H Plastics, 2018).
Consumers want to see their products delivered safely and sustainably though recyclability alone is
insufficient for sustainable e-commerce design. As Dan Healey, Director of Sustainability for Sealed
Air’s Product Care division (sealedair.com/company/product-care), pointed out: “By and large, when
you use metrics like carbon footprint, the packaging material itself – what it’s made out of and where
its sourced – often only accounts for 5-10 percent of the carbon footprint of the shipping cycle as a
whole. A huge driver for us to consider is damage, which can make up 50 percent of the carbon
footprint, while transportation of the item can make up 15-20 percent of the impact. So, how that
packaging material behaves, or what it does, has a much bigger overall impact than what the material
is” (PackagingInsights 2019). Consequently, a life cycle thinking approach to e-commerce packaging
design is required.

Conclusion
Consumer pressure, legislative and regulatory requirements, retail and brand-owner demands are
creating a strong market-pull for eco-innovative packaging that will support and enable the
development of the emerging circular economy. A future challenge will be how suppliers will combine
technological advancement and increased sustainability. Plastics reduction and increased diffusion of
circularity will impact on design, innovation, business models, supply chains and other infrastructures.
This will raise challenges for innovators, designers and entrepreneurs on account of the likely
dramatically increased number of opportunities for eco-innovation. Re-skilling and retraining will be
needed to enable the objectives of plastics reduction and a circular (as well as low carbon) future to be
realized. It is important, therefore, that pack designers and innovators gain a sound knowledge of
packaging and supply chain operations, engage with the circular economy and be able to soundly
apply sustainability principles as well as analyse using life cycle assessment tools. With increasing
legislative and regulatory developments, sustainability will be an essential and prominent requirement
of future brand-owners’ design briefs otherwise packaging innovations will likely not succeed.

References
ACC (2018) “Life Cycle Impacts of Plastic Packaging Compared to Substitutes in the United States
and Canada: Theoretical Substitution Analysis” [Online:
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Compared-to-Substitutes.pdf]
BBC (2017) “Blue Planet II”, [Online: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04tjbtx]
BPF (2018) “Design products for sustainability”, [Online:
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CupClub (2018) “Join the reusable revolution – CupClub Sustainability Report”, [Online:
https://cupclub.com/news/sustainability-report]
Davies, S. (2018 “Short-term disruption Long-term success”, in “The real impact of China” CWIM
Journal ed. of March 2018, p.11 [Online: https://ciwm-journal.co.uk/3d/ciwm-march-2018/]
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2018) “Global Commitment A line in the sand: Global Commitment to
eliminate plastic pollution at source”, [Online: https://newplasticseconomy.org/projects/global-
commitment]
EC (2015) “Closing the loop - An EU action plan for the Circular Economy”, European Commission
[Online: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:8a8ef5e8-99a0-11e5-b3b7-
01aa75ed71a1.0012.02/DOC_1&format=PDF]
EC (2018) "A European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy", European Commission [Online:
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EC (2019) “Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of
the impact of certain plastic products on the environment”, European Commission [Online: https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:fc5c74e0-6255-11e8-ab9c
01aa75ed71a1.0002.02/DOC_1&format=PDF]
European Bioplastics (2018) “Market drivers and development”, [Online: https://www.european-
bioplastics.org/market/market-drivers/]
FastCompany.com (2019) “A coalition of giant brands is about to change the way we shop for ever,
with a new zero-waste platform” by Adele Peters, 26th January, [Online:
www.fastcompany.com/90296956/a-coalition-of-giant-brands-is-about-to-change-how-we-shop-
forever-with-a-new-zero-waste-platform]
Financial Times (2018) “The millennial moment in charts”, [Online:
https://www.ft.com/content/f81ac17a-68ae-11e8-b6eb-4acfcfb08c11]
Packaging Europe (2018) “2018 Retrospective” by Libby White, 21st December, [Online:
https://packagingeurope.com/2018-retrospective/]
PackagingInsights (2018) “Plastic is the most environmentally-friendly packaging material, concludes
new US study”, [Online: https://www.packaginginsights.com/news/plastics-the-most-environmentally-
friendly-packaging-material-concludes-new-us-study.html]

PackagingInsights (2019) “Sealed Air sustainability exec: Being recyclable isn’t a silver bullet for e-
commerce design”, by Laxmi Haigh [Online: www.packaginginsights.com/news/sealed-air-sustainability-
exec-being-recyclable-isnt-a-silver-bullet-for-e-commerce-design.html]
Packaging News (2018a) “Ribena steps up sustainability mission” by Tony Corbin, 18th December,
[Online: https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/environment/recycling/ribena-steps-sustainability-
mission-18-12-2018]
Plastics Europe (2017) “Plastics – The Facts”, [Online:
https://www.plasticseurope.org/application/files/5715/1717/4180/Plastics_the_facts_2017_FINAL_for_
website_one_page.pdf]
Recoup (2018) “Deposit Return Schemes – Consumer Insights 2018”, [Online:
file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/recoup-deposit-return-schemes-consumer-insight-research-
1544085848.pdf]
RPC M&H Plastics (2018) “Sustainable Award Wins”, [Online: https://mhplastics.com/sustainable-
award-wins/?archive=1]
Tetra Pak (2018) “Tetra Pak delivers more than half a billion fully renewable packages”, [Online:
http://tetrapak.com/about/newsarchive/tetra-pak-delivers-more-than-half-a-billion-fully-renewable-
packages]
UN (2015) “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, [Online:
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/]
WRAP (2019) “Plastic packaging,” [Online: http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/plastic-packaging]

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A More Sustainable and Circular Economy in 2030? - Phil Cumming

Phil Cumming

Senior Sustainability Manager

Marks and Spencer

United Kingdom

We cannot hope to prosper in a world where we continue to plunder resources and pump CO 2 into the
atmosphere at the rate we are today. The shift from a ‘take, make and dispose’ economic model to a
so-called circular economy (where ‘by design’ the value of products and materials is maintained, waste
is avoided, and resources are kept with the economy at end of life) still appears to be gaining ground.
Indeed, more and more organisations are attempting to use circular principles to rethink aspects of
their value proposition.

However, as we look ahead to 2030 we are currently not on course to ensuring sustainable
consumption and production patterns (SDG 12) in all regions of the world. Although great progress
has been made in raising awareness of our excessive consumption patterns, helped in part by some
issues hitting the public’s consciousness (e.g. plastics, palm oil, food waste), the science indicates that
we all still need to accelerate our efforts to create a more sustainable future. We need to do this, fast.
Earth Overshoot Day gets earlier and earlier each year and insects could vanish within a century at
current rate of decline. Nature is essentially ‘running on empty’. We also need to acknowledge that a
more circular approach is one possible approach for progressing sustainability rather than as an end in
itself. The current plastics debate is a case in point where some argue a complete shift away from the
use of single-use plastics could have unintended consequences.

Having said this, it seems we’re fast approaching a transition point in our society. Whilst consumption
is happening at an unprecedented rate in key regions of the world, other parts of the world have
started to dematerialise. New disruptive technologies such as 3-D printing, digitalised ecosystems and
artificial intelligence could allow standards of living to continue to rise while consumption falls. We are
about to experience a wave of technological disruption that has never before been witnessed. Indeed,
there are a huge number of technologies primed to go exponential in the next decade alone. We’ve
already started to see the automation of labour, the automation of knowledge-based work and
ultimately their convergence to perhaps create a fully automated end-to-end value chain. As Klaus
Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, stated: "We stand on the brink of a technological
revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. In its scale,
scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before."

Could the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution offer us a route to a more sustainable society and
help reverse the rising consumption of natural resources? Or could it lead to more consumption rather
than less as well as other unintended consequences such as impacts to the labour market? Our
progress towards circularity is explored alongside consideration of challenges that need to be
overcome.

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Technology & Society: How Consumerism May Save Us All -Trevor Davis

Trevor Davis

Futurist & Former IBM Distinguish Engineer

United Kingdom

What will the world look like in 2030? To quote a few statistics: there will be 8.5 billion people, China
will have overtaken the USA economy in size (30% larger), emerging economies will account for more
than 50% of world GDP, and Africa will have the largest working age population globally. These
numbers hide more profound changes: the rise of non-governmental entities, the importance of cities,
the growth of Generation Z1 to maturity and socio-economic influence, a broadening of Artificial
Intelligence (AI) capabilities together with related technologies such as blockchain and edge
computing, and the first major climate change impacts on food systems and coastal centres of
population.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has now set out an ambition to restrain the
anthropogenic temperature rise to 1.5°C by the end of the century to mitigate the worst effects of
climate change, and the pathways to achieve this all involve drastic reductions in CO2 emissions (over
40% reduction by 2030 compared to 2010 levels, for example). 2 Circular design and more sustainable
lifestyles are crucial components, and this requires rapid adoption across a number of key industry
sectors if such targets are to be met.

To date there has been intense focus on the sustainability of energy and transportation sectors, but in
2030 Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and apparel (and associated agricultural sourcing) may
account for over 15% of influenceable global CO2 emissions. 3 This will be fuelled by a rapid growth in
global middle classes and their spending patterns, and we are heading towards 21 trillion packaged
goods and garments being sold per annum in 2030. If the most effective practices across business
and technology were adopted by these companies, such as refillable packs and decoupling supply
chains from deforestation, and they were to use their substantial marketing competencies to nudge
consumers in the "right" direction, they can reduce or offset the predicted cumulative 90 giga-tonnes of
CO2 they will be responsible for over the next 12 years 4 (for comparison that is 8x what China
produced from fossil fuels in 2017).

The macro trends outlined above are likely to be associated with societal changes such as
normalisation of plant-based diets and “meat as a treat”, a dramatic reduction in ownership of products
(even the clothes we wear) and a greater dependence on algorithms to help us communicate and
schedule our lives. Automation of office and professional work may make universal income a necessity
to stave off social unrest. Attitudes to data ownership and privacy are certain to be different to those
of the current FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google) era.

AI is already moving past the achievements of machine and deep learning towards a broader model
with greater reasoning power than we see today, and by 2030 is likely to be omnipresent. This offers
enormous potential to shift both the narrative and reality of the circular economy.

To date circular design (and the circular economy) remains aspirational, and in the most polluting
product sectors adoption remains slow-paced. Three reasons stand out: regulations continue to lag
practice and theory, business models do not align to circular principles, and product and process
designers are confronted with long-range, complex, multi-objective trade-offs that human beings
struggle with.
__________________________

1 Definitions vary, but the author considers those born after 1994 as Generation Z
2 IPCC Special Report (Global Warming of 1.5 degrees), 2018
3 Assumes that current global emissions are unchecked
4 Source: Trevor Davis and Associates based on a variety of published sources, 2019

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At the core is a need to achieve a step change in decision-making in diverse stakeholder groups and
across full lifecycles, and this is where AI (beyond machine learning and deep learning), supported by
trustworthy data from many and varied sources secured on blockchains, comes in. The prospect is for
these information and communication technologies to accelerate society forward on many fronts
towards a circular economy, and not just in terms of enabling the technical and biological cycles.

Augmenting human decisions isn't likely to be enough as there is also the need to accommodate multi-
stakeholder benefits and sources of value beyond money. A fourth Sector is needed (i.e. for-benefit),
and B Corporations such as Patagonia and Warby Parker provide an indication of future direction.

Population growth and middle-class lifestyles create financial opportunities for the companies behind
the brands we love (such as Coca-Cola, Mondelez, Nestlé, P&G and Unilever). These are also
companies that recognise that they have relationships with consumers that can be used to shape
demand and hence supply.

Millennial's and Generation Z are substantially more concerned over climate change, and
sustainability more broadly, than Generation X and baby boomers. Surveys show this to be particularly
apparent in parts of the world where population growth will be highest such as Southeast Asia and
Africa. This is most likely because they are already experiencing the negative effects of Western,
industrialised consumerism.

Packaging initiatives such as Nestlé Institute of Packaging Sciences and Coca-Cola's World Without
Waste plan, and business strategies such as the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan are now typical
FMCG responses to sociodemographic change and a recognition that they can be powerful non-
governmental actors in addressing Sustainable Development Goals. Not surprisingly these companies
are also leading in use of AI to listen and engage with consumers, to discover new processes and
materials, and optimise their extended supply chains.

AI, blockchain and the Internet of Things in combination are already enabling new, more circular
business models (for example the work of UK B2B start-up Provenance with brands and retailers), as
well as accelerating the transition to services and experiences (another Millennial and Generation Z
trend) as in the case of Swedish business Nudie Jeans who differentiate on the basis of re-use, repair
and recycling services.

As more shopping moves online and direct to manufacturers, the role of these FMCG brand owners in
sustainability will only increase. Online zero waste shopping sites such as Loop™ give5 an indication
of how brands are starting to reverse the ‘take-make-dispose’ culture they helped create.

There is always a downside to the private sector taking a prominent role in public life, and policies and
regulations are required to avoid these companies distorting democratic processes and abusing data
as an example. This may become more urgent as some FMCG companies are looking at business
models that allow them to control the entire lifecycle of a brand and this involves intense levels of data
collection from smart devices and consumer homes and vehicles, coupled with behavioural
observation. This could completely reinvent the consumer journey - imagine your bot talking to their
bot to decide this week's shopping, and then an autonomous vehicle bringing it to you and, with
permission, entering your home to deposit its cargo.

Also, despite the rhetoric and achievements of some, this industry does not have flawless records
when it comes to sustainability. Deforestation for palm oil is an obvious and widespread example, and
use of marketing copy such as “repeat” on products such as shampoos to encourage consumption is
another. In too many cases today’s for-profit investment models (and investors) are outdated and do
not provide structures and tools that consider social and environmental impacts.

The positive angle is the ability of these companies to minimise or even reverse certain planetary
impacts, but the negative is an ever more intrusive relationship between consumers and brands and
the myriad of ethical and legal challenges this will bring. In the most extreme models, usually based on
________________________
5 Loop™ is a “circular consumer solution” that uses branded re-usable packaging to facilitate a closed loop supply chain
from purchase through delivery, use, collection and reuse

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an assumption that automation and robotics will eliminate many jobs, a brand may actually need to
pay you to consume, on the understanding that you provide open access to all of the data generated
in your home and in daily life.

However, if all of this leads to a more ethical version of consumerism, redefined to protect the interests
of consumers, their data and the planet, then perhaps supporting these companies (and holding them
accountable) will be worth it.

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Virtual Reality As A Tool For Participatory Architectural Design - Emre D ed ekarg ınoğlu , M eltem Yılmaz

Emre Dedekargınoğlu

Research Assistant

Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Beytepe Kampüsü

Hacettepe University

Ankara

Turkey

Meltem Yılmaz

Professor

Güzel Sanatlar Fakültesi

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Beytepe Kampüsü

Hacettepe University

Ankara

Turkey

Introduction
Technological advancements are affecting our daily lives in many different areas. The widespread
internet coverage and developing information and communication technologies brought new
opportunities and practices for both the professionals and end-users. The developments, which have
started with the integration of computer-aided design software into construction-based production, are
now promoting the usage of more advanced technologies like design automation, 3D printing and
interactive computer-generated experience systems like augmented or virtual reality.

Recently, virtual reality systems started to gain more importance in providing visual representations of
digital information. Virtual reality systems offer more realistic representation of the design in which
user is being immersed in a virtual environment via special equipment therefore, it can be said that
“virtual reality opens a vast number of opportunities in the innovation of architectural design with
valuable findings” (Tseng, Giau, & Huang 2017). There is a relationship between architectural design
and virtual reality, in which “architectural design can employ virtual reality techniques for evaluation,
communication and documentation purposes and virtual reality can employ architectural design, as
one of the disciplines, which may contribute to the design of virtual environments” (Bridges & Charitos
1997). While the application of VR in architectural design is still in infant stage, it has a great potential
to render VR as the effective communication tool for individuals with different backgrounds to
understand, see and evaluate the design participatorily before it is constructed (Jamei et al. 2006).

The developments in technology have been continuing since the Industrial Revolution with a steady
pace, while at the same time bringing important changes to our daily lives. This shifting process from
agriculture-based population to an industry-driven society resulted with negative outcomes that affect
immediate environment like air or land pollution, urban sprawl, inadequate infrastructure, traffic
congestion or overcrowding. To be able to maintain the continuity of world’s natural sources and
carrying capacity, the term “sustainable development” has been suggested by World Commission on
Environment and Development in 1987. “In the industrial world, sustainable development refers to
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forms of economic development which stress the importance of environmental quality and the
conversation of nature’s assets and in addition, the parameters of sustainable development include
structural, social and cultural dimensions” (Yılmaz 2008).

“In the construction industry, a huge problem is “waste and inefficiency”, which fundamentally run
counter to sustainable development” (Wong & Fan 2013). A construction project must minimize its
impact on environment and maintain social cohesion in a cost-effective but functional way. At this
point, VR systems can offer a realistic and immersive preview of the design documentation and data
thus both the designers and the stakeholders can review the built environment projects and evaluate
design decisions, experience potential usage scenarios or observe the impact of various design
variables in a participatory setting.

By this means, the proceeding paper aims to evaluate the opportunities which virtual reality systems
can offer for architecture. The paper will first submit a brief of sustainable development and
architecture and participatory design concepts and definitions and basic principles of virtual reality will
be discussed. Then the paper will provide a conceptual framework for the implementation of virtual
reality into architectural design process with a participatory approach.

Sustainable Development and Sustainable Architecture

Adopting the aim of achieving the goals of sustainable development can diminish the problems caused
by rapid growth of industry-based societies and technological advancements (Elkington 2004).
Sustainable development focuses on ecological integrity, social equity and economic efficiency
(Yılmaz 2008). It aims to ensure the production of environmentally sustainable systems which go
parallel with economic conditions and parameters and meet the needs of society in terms of
sociocultural context and quality of life.

Figure 3. Pattern to achieve sustainable development through architecture (Azizibabani & Dehghani)

“Sustainable architecture seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings by

enhancing efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development space” (Sirija
2013). At the same time, sustainable architecture aims to provide solutions for quality of life and
preservation of economic, cultural and social values (Azizibabani & Dehghani 2017). In context of
sustainability, architecture acts as a container of everchanging circumstances in which individuals and
social groups play an important role in the creation of their own habitats; therefore, architecture must
be able to sustain changes and be based upon the needs of the users (Yılmaz 2006).

“In order to achieve sustainable architecture, all dimensions of sustainable development should be
considered in the architectural activities” (Azizibabani & Dehghani 2017). According to the Figure 1,
architectural measures to achieve sustainability can be categorized into two different groups. The first
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category is related to the field of design in which the architect can plan and propose design proposals
with taking variables like culture, society, quality of life, climate, flexibility into account and processing
the raw data via design applications, enhancing the social sustainability aspects. The second category
related to the field of construction and emphasizes more technical aspects of design work and
supports environmental and economic sustainability criteria. During the construction phase, the
decisions of energy production systems, material selection and resource consumption are to be
decided. In the total design process, the participation of users, builders, technicians, engineers and
stakeholders is an important requirement and the architect bears the central role in ensuring the
communication and integration between different disciplines and user groups (Farid, et al. 2017).

Participatory Design

Figure 4. General stakeholders in citizen participatory design (Fukuda, et al., 2009)

“Client and designer communication is an important part of all phases of design and is the principal
concern of architecture” (Tseng, et al. 2017). Participatory design emphasizes the communication
between the client and the designer by involving all the participants actively in the design and
construction process under the mediation of designer (Bullinger, et al. 2010). According to Godschalk,
participatory design is “a process of community which attempts to incorporate the clients' activities and
attitudes into decision making, both in order to educate planners and clients about the situational
potential for planning, and to influence the behaviour of planners and clients toward achieving more
beneficial results for themselves and the community” (referenced by Lawrence 1982).

Definition and Basic Principles of Virtual Reality

Since the early nineties, various definitions of VR have been offered by different researchers.
According to Isdale, "virtual reality is a way for humans to visualize, manipulate and interact with
computers and extremely complex data" (Isdale 1998). Greenbaum implies that VR “is an alternate
world filled with computer-generated images that respond to human movements” which are “usually
visited with the aid of an expensive data suit which features stereophonic video goggles and fiber optic
data-gloves” (referenced by Steuer 1992). Jayaram et al. suggested that VR “is a technology which is
often regarded as a natural extension to 3D computer graphics with advanced input and output
devices” and also “can be defined as a synthetic or virtual environment which gives a person a sense
of reality” (Jayaram et al. 1997).

A contemporary definition which appears on The Oxford English Dictionary defines VR as “the
computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted
with in a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special electronic equipment, such as a
helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors” (OED 2017). In conjunction with the
developments in VR technology, “it has seen a shift from a technology-centred ‘goggles and gloves’
view of VR applications based on hardware and software to a broader and more integrative media
approach centred on user experience” (Whyte & Nikolić 2018).

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Figure 5. Virtual Reality Procession Model (Whyte & Nikolić)

Sherman and Judkins have offered five “i”’s for VR: “intensive, interactive, immersive, illustrative and
intuitive” (referenced by Portman, et al. 2015). These terms roughly cover the procession of
contemporary VR systems. VR introduces a certain level of immersion to the user within a simulated
environment and VR systems offer the user to be able in the virtual environment with a sense of
presence.

The improvements in capabilities of computer hardware and functionality of related software started to
allow the production of real-time visualizations via affordable end-user level VR hardware like HTC
Vive, Samsung Gear VR or Google Cardboard. Popular game engines (such as Unity or Engine) and
3D modelling programs (such as Autodesk 3ds Max or Blender) come pre-loaded with necessary
functions and tools to build VR environments. Moreover, building information modelling applications
such as Autodesk Revit support the creation of VR environments via workaround processes between
programs. These developments enabled the computation of sophisticated and detailed visualization,
consequently bringing “the attention of architects to interactive real-time simulation systems”
(Bullinger, et al. 2010).

A Conceptual Model For VR As A Tool For Participatory Architectural Design

The use of an appropriate visualisation tool during the client design review process allows the clients
to understand the architectural design and confirm that the product meets their requirements“ (Patel,
et al., 2002). An immersive VR system can provide the viewer a full-scale model which is able to
convey all the related design information therefore the viewer can enjoy a better spatial perception of
the designed space (Paes, et al. 2017). In this chapter a conceptual model for how VR can be a tool
for architectural design with a participatory approach will be offered.

VR systems can provide previews of both design phase and construction phase, however due to the
diversity of these applications, it is important to focus on a specific user group and plan the usage
models accordingly. Since non-professional users can benefit more from realistic representations and
walkthroughs, professional users may desire to see more technical details in a virtual environment.
Therefore, it is beneficial to divide user groups as “built environment users” and “built environment
professionals” and in accordance optimize the level of detail and information presented in the virtual
environment (Whyte & Nikolić 2018). Built environment professionals can perform various simulations
and test the effectivity of design decisions, material selections and location orientation via using VR
systems. They can optimise the design process prior to actual construction phase and eliminate the
potential costs and dissatisfaction which can occur after the occupation of the constructed building.

The conceptual model, which will be offered in this paper, focuses on built environment users; hence
its main concern is to meet the needs of end-users in terms of design measures, in connection with
social sustainability. The model aims to “improve users’ understating on the design, help them specify
their activities in the given new building and increase their involvement in the communication with
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designers and conduct an evaluation of the design, mainly in terms of spatial configuration, and collect
their feedback” (Shen, et al. 2012).

Figure 6. Conceptual model diagram for VR implementation

The procession of the conceptual implementation model starts with the clarification of a design
problem. During this phase, designers and experts discuss and decide on preliminary design ideas.
The final decision on design is drafted via 2D CAD or BIM applications, then transferred into 3D
modelling applications to prepare for 3D model. The completed 3D model is imported into a game
engine and material selections, lighting conditions and the interactions between objects are set.
Controlling behaviours and interactions between the user and virtual environment interface are
adjusted and finally VR content is completed as an executable file.

The design review meeting will put emphasis on two factors: 1) VR review and 2) participation of
stakeholders, especially end-users. Since the created VR content will be full-immersive and
experienced via HMDs (head-mount displays), it will provide a complete spatial perception of the
spaces, interior configuration and furniture setting to the end-user. This visualization experience
determines to make the user “live” inside the space before it is constructed and helps the user
understand and evaluate the design.

Figure 7. The architectural qualities (Ching & Binggeli)

To guide the user for evaluating the design appropriately, the architectural qualities, which can be
seen in Figure 5, must be defined as “variables” that would affect the findings/outcomes of the review.
VR model can be refined/streamlined according to the variable that is being evaluated for securing a
proper perception and the qualities can be asked to the users via survey questions or interactive
conversations and the answers can be recorded for later discussion. For example, if the user wants to
experience only the furniture layout in the space, the proposed layout will be highlighted and
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presented to him and his evaluations are recorded. The user’s evaluations will benefit and interpret to
final design decisions and render him as a “participant” of the total design process. As a result,
reviewing via VR can reduce the possibility of dissatisfaction with the final product for the end-users.

Conclusion and Future Predictions

Currently VR technology is open to further developments and studies are being made for improving its
usage in many areas. For architectural purposes, currently it is possible to apply multi-participant
walkthroughs, record VR review sessions and even manipulate the space with software-powered
design tools. Integration of VR into daily life, production of more affordable but capable hardware and
accessible technologies, ease of use for general users and seamless integration between applications
are the expected predictions about VR systems’ future in the short-term.

However, the drawbacks related to today’s means and current state of VR systems create a constant
need for workaround between different applications for eliminating potential incompatibilities and
provide a cumbersome procession. VR is still an expensive technology that requires a high-
performance computer and special hardware. Moreover, it is not easy for a novice or general user to
operate since it has a high learning curve. Experts must always handle the duties for composition and
operation of a VR system at the present, thereby preparation of the VR content is a time-consuming
process.

The model, which is being offered in this paper, is also dependent of workarounds between different
applications and processes since a complete package which can host the composition, preparation,
visualization and evaluation of VR systems is currently not existing. The model is planned to benefit
from Autodesk Revit in BIM department, Autodesk 3ds Max in the modelling department and Unity for
the game engine (and VR content preparation) department with the support from HTC Vive head-
mount display, therefore the model must cope with four different workarounds to achieve a fluidly
functioning result product.

We predict that based upon the proposed model, which presents the contemporary foundations of
architectural VR visualization, many developments can be made in short-term. Our first prediction will
be the composition of a software package which is to offer inclusive solution for architectural
visualization and provide tools for drafting, modelling, data processing and VR content preparation. A
complete software package for architectural design will hinder the incompatibilities of workarounds
between applications and simplify the content creation and visualization. Since both architecture and
interior architecture function as “programming” of user and activity requirements and space analysis,
the software will also be able to process the important data like user characteristics and needs,
orientation and form of the space or the functional requirements. It will also exhibit a base for
transforming VR as a design tool that can be used in preliminary design process.

Since there are basic examples of interactive design implementations in VR currently, we also foresee
a cordial relationship between the VR hardware and the software in terms of data collection which can
help to applicate surveys and evaluations more effectively. The software can convey pre-set survey
questions to the end-users via VR hardware and change the visualization detail/content accordingly
and can also record the answers to the questions and provide important results and findings. This can
transform VR systems as a research tool and expand its usage area in various disciplines.

Another prediction will be the user friendliness and ease of use in VR systems which will render the
usage and execution of VR systems easier and more mainstream. This would remove the need for an
operative expert to control the VR-based content and universalize VR systems, catering its
implementation and integration within architectural domain. A streamlined VR system will offer
familiarity even for a novice user in controlling and manipulating the VR-based content.

Our predictions aspire to render VR widespread in mainstream. VR has a potential to be used even via
our cell phones. VR can be a teaching tool, as well as act as a supportive tool for the design process.
It can provide communicative backgrounds for participation and inclusion in the society. People with
disability can benefit more from a properly-built VR system since it can be transformed as an aid tool
that interacts with various senses of human body and assist the disabled people in mobility,
navigation, educational content and tracking of health issues.

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Understanding the user needs and responding to them appropriately will create a path for more
sustainable environments which are built via optimizations of virtual visualizations and evaluations and
providing a higher degree of user satisfaction. We are sure that, beyond out predictions, future holds
much for virtual reality technology and it excites us to think what potentials and offerings are waiting
for us.

References
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Michael Good, L. T. 1994, VR in Architecture: Today’s Use and Tomorrow’s Promise, Virtual Reality
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Patel, N., Campion, S. & Fernando, T. 2002. Evaluating the use of virtual reality as a tool for briefing
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663 .
Portman, M. E., Natapov, A. & Fisher-Gewirtzman, D. 2015, To go where no man has gone before:
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Sirija, M. 2013, Necessity of sustainability in architectural practices for achieving sustainable, Recent
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Steuer, J. 1992, Defining virtual reality: Dimensions determining telepresence, Journal of
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Tseng, K. C., Giau, D. T. N. & Huang, P.-H. 2017, A Systematic Review of the Potential Application of
Virtual Reality Within a User Pre-occupancy Evaluation, Vancouver, UAHCI 2017, pp. 612-620.
Whyte, J. & Nikolić , D. 2018, Virtual Reality and the Built Environment, New York: Routledge.
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The Use of Crowd Design for Sustainability: A Case Study on a

Large Organisation - Isadora Burmeister Dickie, Aguinaldo dos Santos

Isadora Burmeister Dickie

Design Teacher and Researcher

University of Joinville and Region

Brazil

Aguinaldo dos Santos

Professor

Federal University of Parana (UFPR)

Brazil

Context
The present study was developed within the Sustainability Maker Project (SuM), carried out by the
Design & Sustainability Research Group of the Federal University of Paraná (NDS/UFPR) and led by
the “econcept”1, a German company focused on Sustainable Design. The European Community
funded the SuM Project through the LIFE program (LIFE11 ENV/ DE/000342) while the Dutch
company WEBclusive developed the Crowd-Design platform used on the SuM Project. Both the
authors were members of the Advisory Board of the SuM Project.
The SuM Project was a collaborative initiative that involved a consortium of organizations and
Universities across the globe. Its main objectives were: (1) to facilitate the connection of people that
might have a relevant role as far as the resolution of sustainability-related problems are concerned;
and (2) to create a platform for developing sustainable solutions with the crowd.
The platform is called ‘innonatives’ (www.innonatives.com) and it was designed to manage web-based
innovation challenges and the sharing of ideas, comments and, also, the engagement of stakeholders
through crowd-based processes. This platform was launched as a prototype after testing in 2013. It
intended to connect people and organizations that want to tackle sustainability related problems using
the knowledge and skills available in the crowd. Hence, the present paper has used the
innonatives.com platform throughout the field study which enabled an in-depth understanding on the
use of Crowd-Design towards sustainability.
The SuM Project approach of the Crowd-Design process has ten steps, and initiates with the
‘sustainability problems’ step. This step aims at finding a common problem among the interested
actors. Once a range of possible sustainability problems is identified, the next step is the ‘crowdvoting’,
where the interested actors choose what is relevant to be tackled as a ‘challenge’. Thus, once the
problem has been identified, the open call for solutions starts, that is, the crowd is invited to solve it
through ‘crowdsourcing’ processes.
_____________________
1 econcept” is an agency for Sustainable Design (SD), founded in 1996. “econcept” is specialized in Design for Sustainability
(DfS), Ecodesign, Eco-Innovation, Sustainable Production Consumption Systems and Sustainable Product Service Systems. Its
core activities are design, consulting, research and education as well as networking, publication and communication of results.
Furthermore “econcept” participated in other EU projects such as: MEPSS, SusProNet and SCORE. The agency has a wide
international network, is member of O2, LeNS, DESIS, Eco-Innovation network, LCA network, and active in communicating,
educating, organizing conferences and spreading knowledge about Sustainable and Eco Design and Innovation (SuM, web,
2015).

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A challenge is composed by creative tasks that have to be clearly defined, i.e. the challenge briefing
has to contain the problem context, the kind of solution that is needed, how it can be implemented,
and so on. Thus, the ideas/concepts/solutions presented by the crowd go to an evaluation stage also
carried out through a ‘crowdvoting’ process. In addition to the crowd, members of the Advisory Board
of the Sustainability Maker Project, i.e. experts in Design for Sustainability as well as sponsors, and
the Crowd-Design initiator are included in the choice of the best solution. This is how the chosen
solution is addressed fit to the stakeholders needs and expectations.
Following the SuM Project Crowd-Design process, after the choice of the ‘best solution’, its
‘implementation’ has three possibilities: (a) the solution implementation can be financed through a
crowdfunding campaign; (b) the solution can be negotiated or sold through a marketplace
arrangement; or (c) the solution can be acquired through online auctions. Figure 01 presents the SuM
Crowd-Design process and its relation to the innonatives.com platform.
Figure 01 – Crowd-design process proposed by the SuM project and the innonatives.com platform
areas.

Source: Based on SuM (2014) and innonatives.com (2018).

The innonatives.com platform, as a result of the SuM Project, works as the online environment for the
‘crowdsourcing’ step of the initiatives, i.e. where the challenge is posted in. The innonatives.com
platform areas are:
 Challenges: these are innovation and design projects seeking sustainable solutions that invite
contributions by all (or specific) members of the innonatives.com community. According to the
innonatives.com platform description, challenges can have up to three phases - ideas,
concepts and solutions -, and their time period is defined by the crowd-design initiator. For the
idea phase the crowd will submit general ideas, that will be in-depth outlined to create an
overall concept in the concept phase. In the final solutions phase the crowd will need to post a
final thorough overview of exactly how the solutions work and should be designed and
implemented. During the given time period for each phase the innonatives.com Expert Panel,
the crowd-design initiator and the crowd will vote on all contributions. If contributions are
ranked high enough, they will advance to the next phases of the challenge. When the
solutions phase is over one final round of voting will occur and winners will be selected;
 Solutions: it is a library of completed winning solutions for specific challenges. Solutions that
do not answer to specific challenges may also be posted. Once a solution is posted on
innonatives.com others will be able to comment, vote, add ideas or suggestions, collaborate
and stimulate its development;
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 Crowdfunding: it allows a financial support to sustainability projects by taking donations or

accepting investment in a reward that is offered by the project. Individuals from the crowd can
post a request for others to fund his/her idea. To get the project funded, it needs to be in line
with innonatives’ Sustainability Criteria;
 Implementation: it is an archive of sustainable solutions that have made it past the theoretical
stage and have been implemented. There will be detailed case studies on the implementation
process of specific solutions and their success in the real world;
 (v) Shop: it offers a catalogue of sustainable products, services and solutions, where
individuals from the crowd can browse through and purchase new and innovative sustainable
solutions from around the world or apply to sell his/her products. To do so, the
innonatives.com experts will evaluate the product to make sure it fits the sustainability
guidelines, which are: a sustainable solution must be environmentally friendly, beneficial to
society and support long-term economic development (innonatives.com, 2018).
The ‘sustainability problem’ step of the SuM Project Crowd-Design process can happen at the
innonatives.com platform, being treated as a challenge. The challenge’s functionalities at the
innonatives.com platform allow this option as it can be seen in the ‘Hotels on Small Islands’ 2 challenge
example (innonatives.com, 2018). It is important to highlight that any individual from the crowd or any
organization can start a challenge if it fits the platform’s sustainability guidelines.

Research Method
This study started with a Systematic Literature Review followed by a Case Study with participant
observation on a large-scale company (>500 employees), involving the adoption of particular type of
Crowd-Design process: the closed-challenge approach (or, in other words, an internal crowd-design,
where ‘the crowd’ corresponded to the company’s employees). In this Case Study, one of the authors
took the role of a participant observer during all steps of the process: planning, testing and
implementing of the Crowd-Design initiative.

Systematic Literature Review

The Systematic Literature Review (SLR) protocol followed the model proposed by Conforto et al.
(2011), whose procedure is illustrated in figure 02, next page.
Figure 02 - SLR Procedures.

Source: Adapted from Conforto et al. (2011).

_________________________________
2 The challenge was directed to owners, managers, or workers of hotels from small islands that are facing challenges in areas
such as: Energy, Waste, Water, Wildlife Conservation or Food and Beverage. They were invited to submit challenges (big or
small) in one or more of those areas to the innonatives community participate as partner. Once enough challenges were
gathered, the initiators chose at least one from each category and started the open-innovation development process for realistic,
cost-effective and scalable solutions. (innonatives.com, 2018).

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Three different databases have been used: (i) the CAPES’ Portal of Journals, with the purpose of
finding peer-review papers; (ii) the CAPES’ Bank of Thesis and Dissertations, to find master's and
doctoral degrees thesis; and (iii) the Portal of Research Groups of CNPq, to find the Brazilian research
community involved directly in the topic of this thesis. The searched terms included ‘crowd-design’,
‘crowdsourcing’, ‘crowd-based processes’, ‘open innovation’ and ‘sustainability’. Important to mention
an unsystematic literature review contributed to define the initial keywords.
The main objective of the SLR was defining and characterizing the origins of the processes involved in
the crowd-design process itself. As secondary objectives, it intended: (a) clarifying the crowdsourcing
origins and related terms and concepts; (b) listing the journals that address these subjects more often;
(c) listing the amount of publications per year; (d) highlighting the main contexts and objectives of the
application of crowd-based processes. Alignment to these objectives was the criteria to qualify papers
as relevant or not.

Case Study with Participant Observation

In a Case Study with participant observation the researcher assumes a variety of roles and may
participate in the events being studied (Yin, 2002). It combines the analysis of documents with the
researcher´s direct observation (Denzin, 1989).
The Case Study was about a Crowd-Design initiative held by a large company that had their
headquarters in the city of Joinville, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. For reasons of confidentiality, the
name of the company cannot be disclosed.
On this Case Study one of the authors was involved from the planning to the end of the Crowd-Design
initiative. During such period there was a close communication with the Innovation team of the partner
company, with the researcher has been allocated in the innovation team's office, working as part of the
team at least twice a week. Figure 03 shows the delineation of the Case Study.
Figure 03 - Delineation of the Case Study.

Source: The authors (2019).

From January to March of 2015, the researcher planned, together with the Innovation team, the
implementation of the Crowd-Design initiative. The crowd on this case were the very white collars
workers of the company: around 500 workers from the administrative areas (like Human Resources;
Law; Sales; Marketing; among others). The SuM Project Crowd-Design process has been used as the
blueprint for the planning of the steps of the initiative. From June to August of 2015, the
innovatives.com platform was tested and adjusted to ensure confidentiality of information gathered
and to improve the confidence on the process. The initiative was launched in September of 2015 and
finalized in November of 2015.

Results and Analysis

The Crowd-Design process
The planning of the initiative occurred over four months, where the SuM Project Crowd-Design
process was modified three times, at least. The first and the last versions had differences mainly
regarding the ‘sustainability problems’ and ‘crowdsourcing’ steps and the strategies to motivate the
participation of the employees [here referenced as ‘crowd’].
The first version would have eight steps: (1) align the Crowd-Design process to the company’s
business strategy, (2) internal divulgation of the initiative, (3) problem scouting of the ‘sustainability
problems’, (4) crowdvoting (to define the problem to be solved), (5) challenge test and launch, (6)
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crowdsourcing (sending ideas, concepts and solutions), (7) crowdvoting (to choose the three best
solutions), and (8) crowdfunding. The option in performing the ‘crowdfunding’ step was based on the
idea that the three chosen solutions would compete with each other for implementation. It is important
to emphasize that crowdfunding would had to be fictitious, that is, by investing virtual coins.
Three workshops were scheduled in order to familiarize the participants with the process as they came
from the administrative sector and that this Crowd-Design initiative was the first the company was
holding: the first one in order to present the project objectives to the participants and invite their
participation, the second to help the participants with ideas generation and the third to help them to
develop a crowdfunding campaign.
To motivate participation, and also allow the crowdfunding process, a virtual coin was created. So, at
each action such as commenting or posting an idea, the participants received corresponding virtual
coins. As an important issue to motivate the public, rewards were planned to be received not only to
the winners, but also by all participants.
The initiative planning also included the planning of communication. It was considered necessary not
only to keep the public motivated during the initiative time period but also informed about its steps. To
develop the materials for the communication campaign, the company hired an advertising agency who
developed the visual identity of the initiative only.
In addition to the department of Innovation, the involvement of the departments of Product
Development, Human Resources, Judicial, Communication and Information Technology was also
necessary for the project planning.
Although not foreseen in the SuM Project Crowd-Design process but considered as an important step
[from literature review] the ‘challenge testing’, in this case, helped the Innovation team to better
understand the innonatives.com functionalities and the Crowd-Design process dynamics. Although the
innonatives.com platform is programed to allow closed challenges, it had to suffer some adjustments
in order to improve and facilitate the Crowd-Design initiative applied in this case. The department of
Information Technology was highly involved in this step. From the testing results, the Crowd-Design
process was reconfigured in its very last version, as shown in figure 04, next page.

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Figure 04 – Final version of the crowd-design process.

Source: The authors (2019).

As a standard procedure from the large-scale company, every internal and/or institutional initiative has
to follow a set of rules. In this case, the Judicial department helped on the writing of a document. This
document, the so called “Regulamento”, was available at the challenge home page at the
innonatives.com platform and represented the terms of agreement to participate in the initiative.
The ‘crowd’ participation was carried out in five steps, each of which consisted of on-line procedures
(on the innonatives.com platform), face-to-face workshops and off-line procedures. The first step was
the initiative launch, which occurred as an internal campaign, through the use of internal
communication channels.
The phases of sending idea, concept and solution followed the protocol of the innonatives.com
platform, i.e. during the time period of each step, comments and crowdvoting processes were held.
The sending concept step was included to make the process a little bit easier for the participants,
since there was no specific skills or knowledge requested from the participants. The workshops were
included in all ‘crowdsourcing’ phases, always before these happened.

The incorporated sustainability principles

In this Case Study initiative, the sustainability criteria were introduced from the briefing to the choice of
the best solution. According to the ‘Regulamento’ of the initiative, the goal was the development of
products that permitted the re-use, the recycling and the reduction of water consumption. The
challenge was a way for the company to stimulate the culture of innovation among its employees,
making use their knowledge and creativity. The initiative was named as ‘Water for Life Challenge’
though.

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There was no obligation on the part of the company to internally adopt or launch the winning solution.
Because of that, the economical principles incorporated to the ‘Water for Life Challenge’ initiative refer
to the Crowd-Design process only. The principles ‘promoting local economy’ and ‘valorising material
inputs and local productive structures’ are associated, in this case, to one of the criteria for the choice
of the better solution: to be produced according to the processes and materials already in use by the
company. So, the proposals sent by the participants should consider plastic as the main material to be
used in the product. The principles ‘respect and valuing of local culture’ and ‘promoting networking
organization’ can be associated to the fact that the initiative involved employees of the company,
valorizing and stimulating the internal culture towards innovation. Also, considering the amount of
employees (>500), the initiative promoted the interaction with colleagues who, otherwise, they would
not be acquainted with. The principle of 'Valorizing the reintegration of waste to promote its reduction'
was almost automatically addressed in the solution proposals due to the very theme of the initiative,
water.
The environmental principles of sustainability, in this case, are related to the proposal chosen by the
Leadership team as the best solution (1st place). As it is not possible to show the proposal due to the
confidentiality issues, the analysis was based on the criteria evaluated by the Expert Panel. The
product chosen as first place is a mechanism that, attached to kitchen, lavatories and laundry sinks
makes the reuse of water possible. So, it is a product that minimizes the consumption of the resource.
The optimization of the life span of the product has to do with it being made of a very resistant material
whose technology of production is already in use by the company.
The socio-ethical principles incorporated to the ‘Water for Life Challenge’ initiative are related to the
crowd-design process only. ‘Promoting equity and social cohesion’ and ‘improving fairness and equity
in the relationship between stakeholders’ principles, in this case, can be associated to the adherence
of participation by the crowd, not only by sending ideas, concepts and solutions, but also by posting
comments in the sent proposals and voting to choose the best ideas, concepts and solutions. In other
words, the participation through the innonatives.com platform helped create a network for the
exchange of information between the participants, getting them together in favor of one cause: help
others in the development of proposals and solutions. The principles ‘improvement of the conditions of
employment and work’ and ‘valorization of local resources’ were associated to the promotion of
innovation culture among the employees of the company. That is, through the participation in a
product development process, the employees competences were recognized and stimulated to
develop new ones directed to innovation.

Conclusions
Considering the main objective of the initiative, i.e. promoting the culture of innovation among the
company, it can be said that the Crowd-Design process was an effective tool. According to the
interview held with seven participants the process of Crowd-Design helped them to develop capacities
and skills they did not know they had. They also emphasized they would be glad to participate again in
case the initiative should re-occur, including the possibility of participating in other roles 3.
The crowdvoting process carried out through the innonatives.com platform did not allow the disclosure
of who has voted and which criteria the voter used to make his/her choice. The voting for the best
solution had to be held out of the platform so that the Expert Panel could consider the criteria related
to: the company’s production process, the response to market needs and the functionality of the
product/system.
The interviewed participants also mentioned the English language adopted by the innonatives.com
platform as a barrier to feel confident in accessing the platform. Although the instructions posted on
the challenge page on the platform innonatives.com were in Portuguese, as well as the participants
had been instructed to use this language when posting their proposals and comments, some
participants would prefer that the entire platform interface were in Portuguese. According to them, this
would further facilitate the interaction, making them feel less insecure when accessing the platform.
________________________
3 Of the seven interviewed two did not participate in sending proposals but did so through comments and votes for the choice of
the best proposal.

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In fact, the use of an intermediary platform meant, in this case, the need for the participants to adapt to
the initially proposed process and also intervened in their motivation. In addition to the language issue,
the fact that the platform used did not allow for an evaluation of the proposals in accordance with the
established criteria for the solution development, as well as the fact that it does not have mechanisms
that facilitate the visualization of the interactions of each participant made the process of choosing the
best solution and the grading process difficult.

References
CONFORTO, E. C.; AMARAL, D. C.; SILVA, S. L. da. 2011. Roteiro para revisão bibliográfica
sistemática: aplicação no desenvolvimento de produtos e gerenciamento de projetos. 8º Congresso
Brasileiro de Gestão de Desenvolvimento de Produto. Anais do 8º CBGDP.
DENZIN, N. K. 1994. The art and politics of interpretation. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.),
Handbook of qualitative research. (pp. 500-515). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Innonatives – Open Innovation and Sustainability Platform. Available at: https://www.innonatives.com/.
Acessed on: 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.
SuM/SUSTAINABILITY MAKER PLATFORM. Available at: <http://sustainabilitymaker.org/>. Acessed
on: March 2014.
YIN, R. K. 2002. Case study research: design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

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Moving Towards a Green Economy: Brazilian Streetwear Company

First Steps - Gabriela Duarte, Aguinaldo dos Santos
Gabriela Duarte

PhD Researcher

Federal University of Paraná

Brazil

Aguinaldo dos Santos

Professor

Design Department and Design Postgraduate Program

Federal University of Paraná

Brazil

Why a green economy context?

The economic dimension of sustainability has been approached by the Design research
community, although the studies in this scope are fewer in relation to the social and environmental
dimensions. Concepts such as sharing economy, fair trade, circular economy, collaborative
economy, distributed economy, solidarity economy, and creative economy, among others, are
being applied in the Design field as alternatives to orthodox economy and sometimes addressed as
solutions to sustainability problems. However, these concepts are revealing to be limited and
unable to encompass the whole life cycle or macroeconomic consequences.
This study adopts the green economy concept, supported by UNEP (2018) 1, as it shows a more
complete approach and is allied with the economic dimension of sustainability, since it proposes
the economy as a driver to reduce environmental risks and social inequalities. Allied with the
Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015) and their targets, a green economy can be applied to
medium and long term business planning in order to foster employability, productivity, income
generation and its distribution, as well as to promote environmental education and protection,
among other aspects. This concept is also capable of embracing the aforementioned economic
alternatives. A green economy’s broader spectrum is an advantage as well as a challenge, since it
is not exclusive to any product or service Design itself. Nevertheless, the Design community may
contribute to the green economy context through the creativity and flexibility that this community
allows and promotes.

The objective of the case study

The main objective of this research is to comprehend the means by which Design of systems,
products and/or services may assist in the transition of business models toward a green economy.
To this end, the Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015) and its targets by 2030 are used as a
time-horizon and as support principles. Thereby, the authors seek to highlight the main economic
barriers to projects and companies that attempt to integrate sustainability. This case study report is
expected to contribute to sustainability research and its economic dimension in Design.
________________________
1 A green economy is one that improves “well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and
ecological scarcities” (UNEP, 2018 and Loiseau et al. 2016).

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Research strategy
The studied case is a Brazilian streetwear company named ÖUS, founded in 2008 in Curitiba, located
in South Region of Brazil. The core business is the development of skateboarding sneakers and
wholesale with a broad expression in the national market – the current production is around 60,000
pairs a year and 1.5 million reais in income2. Since its foundation, the company maintains its
manufacturing in Brazil, expecting to add value to the domestic economy and local Design. Other
practices of the company are already in alignment with the sustainability ethos by using recycled and
organic fabrics in some of the skateboarding sneakers.
The research is organized in three phases, better visualized on Appendix 1.
 Orthodox economy context analysis: through desk research the authors could identify the
current business strategy, and with conventional marketing and strategic Design tools such as
Porter’s five forces, SWOT analysis, Canvas, among others, it was possible to identify gaps.
 Green economy context analysis: with the internal data a company collected through a CEO’s
internal interview and a questionnaire applied with its consumers, the authors could point out
their priorities. Through the Sustainable Design Orienting Toolkit (SDO-MEPSS, 2012) –
customised to embrace the green economy 2030 context – these priorities were related to the
green economy goals (UN, 2015; UNEP, 2018) and the current lacks were highlighted.
 Concept creation and selection: after the authors applied the SDO-MEPSS tool and with the
two previous phases orientation, twelve meta-products and meta-services were developed to
demonstrate how Design could assist the company’s transition towards a green economy by
2030. In this phase, the selection of ideas was made with internal company actors through a
workshop and tools described in Table 1. These tools enabled the identification of the barriers
seen by these actors as critical issues for the concepts as well as the alternatives to replace
them.

Current business strategy

The company was able to enhance the quality of the product and reduce their sneakers’ prices by
100,00 reais3 each by adopting a new manufacturing partnership located in the Northest Region of
Brazil. This indicates the financial effort of the firm to balance quality and price as long as
manufacturing is preserved on domestic territory.
The opening of new distribution channels in the United States and Europe, in 2018, points out the
company’s ambition to expand its market by taking advantage of the devaluation of the Brazilian
currency and international range of streetwear niche.
After comprehending the business’ strategy, the authors were able to outline the competitors.
Considering market reach and investment power, the brands Nike SB (USA), Adidas Skateboarding
(GER), Vans Off The Wall (USA) and DC Shoes (USA) were listed.
The income brands, with potential to be future competitors for this case, are: Emerica (USA), Gasp
(BRA) and Insecta (BRA). They were listed due to their know how on shoe making and their core
businesses are related to skatewear and/or sustainability – focusing on reusing materials and local
production.

Orthodox economy context analysis

Once the authors identified the current business strategy, the company’s and competitors’ current
income, the authors could apply the tools highlighted on Appendix 1. With such tools, the authors were
able to achieve an analysis of the competitiveness business performance, as it is being made in the
orthodox economic context.
Through Porter’s Five Forces analysis, the authors could notice two types of technology investments
from the company’s competitors. The first, from Adidas, called Futurecraft 4D, is a 3D printer that is
improving the speed of printing and the flexibility of the outcome material in order to be applied to the
____________________________

2 This amount corresponds to approximately 305,000 pounds, as the exchange rate of December, 2018 (Xe, 2018).
3 This amount corresponds to approximately 20,20 pounds, as the exchange rate of December, 2018 (Ibid).

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sneakers’ sole. Its design is based on digitalized data to allow personalisation and even on-demand
manufacturing. The second, from local brand Gasp, is focused on low technology such as artesanal
manufacturing and fabric waste reusing. This strategy also enables on-demand production and
partnership with other local and small ventures. Since ÖUS is the only company with the whole
manufacturing in its own country, by comparing with the main competitors, this aspect provides a
strategic differential even in the orthodox economy context, since it strengthens its competition on the
differentiating field and the creation of value added.
Despite the Brazilian economic variability, typical of emerging countries (PWC, 2017), the national
Footwear sector allows for a bargaining power due to a wide stakeholders range available nowadays.
There are approximately 7,700 enterprises (Sindical, 2017) distributed on three main Footwear
industrial districts located in the Northeast, Southeast, and South Regions of Brazil. This configuration
allows ÖUS to direct their investments as their objectives change. However, the company’s
dependence on small multi-brand shops is considered a threat, and this is highlighted with the digital
retail growth.
By applying the Blueprint tool, the authors simulated the customer’s journey and noticed the existence
of gaps. A deficiency on customer service, especially on after-sales, was identified as well as a lack of
partnership with other ventures. This deficiency to supporting consumers feedback appears on
relevant touchpoints to the company such as: product launch events and sponsored music concerts.
As street culture is the company’s main value, artistic co-creation is one of the most important
relationships to sustain this approach, as verified with Canvas tool. The content management became
relevant as a key to maintain Brazilianness, also propagated as a value.

Green economy context analysis

Professor Rosa’s research (2012) supported this phase since this author summarised principles and
guidelines for the economic dimension of sustainability (Rosa, 2012, p.54). These principles are based
on other authors, including economists and designers such as: Victor Papanek (1971), Amartya Sen
(2000), Carlo Vezzoli (2010), Montibeller-Filho (2001), Ignacy Sachs (2002, 2009 and 2012),
Aguinaldo dos Santos (2009), Lia Krucken (2009), André Lucca (2011) e Tischner – SDO Mepss
(2012).
To comprehend if the consumers were in line with the current business strategy, the authors sent a
questionnaire to 35 customers4.
In order to verify the business priorities related to the green economy 2030 context, the Sustainability
Design Orientend Toolkit (SDO-MEPSS, 2012) was customised by using the principles and guidelines
summarised by Rosa (2012), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the targets (UN, 2015)
connected with the green economy concept (UNEP, 2018).

Sustainability Design Oriented Toolkit customisation

The Sustainability Design Oriented Toolkit (SDO-MEPSS, 2012) approaches the three sustainability
dimensions: environmental, social, and economic, aiming to verify how projects or cases priorities are
related to the dimensions’ principles. This tool eases such verification through a guideline check-list for
each principle. The SDO-MEPSS (2012) also provides questions linked to its check-list as a reminder
to orientate concept creation focused in systems, products, and services. However, while the
environmental and social dimensions are more complete, the economic one was limited compared to
the principles and guidelines outlined by Rosa (2012), and to the SDG targets (UN, 2015) which
corresponds to the green economy (UNEP, 2018) purpose. Therefore, this tool was customised to
offer an in-depth approach for this study.
To do SDO-MEPSS customisation the authors followed three steps:
 utilization of Rosa’s (2012) conceptualised principles to select the SDG targets (Appendix 2);
 revision of selected targets in order to adapt the principles and guidelines previously used for
the green economy context (Appendix 2);

formulation of questions to orientate concept creation, based on the adapted principles and
guidelines. The next image illustrates these steps:
______________________________
4 Theses individuals were select from the ÖUS e-commerce mailing, following criteria such as age (20 to 45 years old), gender
diversity, and residence regions, regarding the venues where there are more company sales incidence .

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Figure 1: SDO-MEPSS customisation steps representation

Source: the authors, 2018

By the end of this customisation, the guidelines achieved 38 check-list sentences (Appendix 3). The
sentences to orientate concepts reached 97 questions.
Results of the customised SDO-MEPSS application
Once the authors verified the priorities of the studied case through the customised SDO-MEPSS
(Appendix 3), it was possible to raise the following aspects for each principle, as represented on
Figure 2:
Figure 2: Final radar representing the result of SDO-MEPSS application

a) Strengthen and value local material resources

and local productive infrastructure

b) Promote network organisation

c) Valuing the waste re-integration and promoting its

reduction

d) Promote local economy, respecting and valuing

local culture

e) Foster environmental, social, and, economic

education

f) Satisfy basic needs and generate income

Source: the authors, 2018

a) Strengthen and value local material resources and local productive infrastructure: medium
priority. Since the company has its whole manufacturing processes established in domestic
territory, an increased competitiveness of endogenous resources has been carried out.
Currently, 60% of the sneakers are made with supplies from Brazilian stakeholders. However,
the company still has supplies coming from foreign countries, especially raw materials such as
polyurethane which is used to make the insole, and chemical compounds used to make
rubber soles. The application of local primary resources and/or traditional ones is undertaken
with low frequency, around 10 years, only once the design team co-created with artisans from
a small village called Buriti5.
b) Stimulate the network organization. Neither focusing in renewable energy that could be
distributed among stakeholders, nor organising the collaboration among local actors through
valuing their intelligence or giving them the opportunity to practice local trade among each
other. The musical concerts and the skateboarding championships sponsored by ÖUS are still
_____________________________
5
This village is located in Maranhão, a state in the North Region of Brazil, and maintains precarious conditions since its
foundation, in 1843 (IBGE, 2018).

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made through conventional ways, cultivating the distance between consumers and the
company, as maintaining users only as receptors and with no proactiveness.
c) Valuing the waste re-integration and promoting its reduction: medium priority. The company
reuses waste from paper cutting for packing manufacturing and from fabric cutting to make
tags or attachments such as keychains and sneakers trimming. Yet these actions do not have
a systematic assessment over the company life cycle and correspondent planning.
d) Promote local economy, respecting and valuing local culture: high priority. Since the company
maintains its manufacturing in Brazil, local income generation has been improved. By
promoting local street artists, even with conventional contracts based on royalty payments,
ÖUS cooperates by valuing cultural diversity and individual competency. While this principle
was rated with a higher percentage, there are guidelines not achieved. The company does not
promote regional aspects of manufacturing such as traditional ones, neither embracing local
expertise as an expression of quality, nor focusing on preserving local flora and fauna.
e) Foster environmental, social, and, economic education: unredeemed priority. The company
has no transparent communication about their backstage actions. There is neither
sustainability research being promoted through partnership, nor any internal professional
intended for this purpose. The social projects which could assist to disseminate such
education are not constants, and when it occurs, the marketing department does not uses
clear strategy or indicators to inform the public.
f) Satisfy basic needs and generate income: low priority. The company support to local street
culture and features like graffiti and pixo art, rap music, and even skateboarding practice,
foster non-discrimination of marginalized people. While this support values these types of
skills, creating work opportunities for individuals from such culture and hence generating
income and self-esteem, this does not promote direct aid to vulnerable communities or actors
since it is most promoted with already recognised local talents. Despite non-existing forced
labour at the manufacturing at ÖUS, the company does not take effective measures to
eradicate such practice by means such as internal criteria or having a certificate, which opens
the possibility for unethical working conditions. When it comes to offering products or services
to the base of the pyramid (BOP) community, the studied case did not fulfill this guideline.

Concept creation and selection

In this phase, twelve Design concepts were created representing meta-products and/or meta-services
to the company’s green economy scenario by 2030, oriented by the SDO-MEPSS tool. These
concepts were based also on the company’s current strategy in the orthodox context and their
consumers demand.
To conceptualiee meta-products and meta-services, the authors listed requirements following the
SDO-MEPSS principles analysis6:
a) assess local renewable resources to stimulate their use and add value to them;
b) promote distributed networking among stakeholders to decentralise activities and the
economy on domestic territory;
c) systematise waste reduction in the manufacturing process and prevent waste production at
the end of life products whilst adding value to the company and the stakeholders;
d) adopt environmental, social, and economic criteria based on stakeholders’ venues valuing
local expertise;
e) invest on sustainability research to systematise the company’s strategy and report their
sustainable actions to consumers, enhancing the company’s perceived value;
f) promote social projects continuously and systematically to enable social cohesion among
employees and to stimulate income generation at base of the pyramid (BOP) local
communities.

___________________________
6 The letters indicate the principles described above on item 5.2 and also on Appendix 3.

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These requirements were completed with proposals to drive the concepts’ development, as organised
on Appendix 4. Hence, the ideas were developed and represented by the visualisation tool Offering
Diagram (Ceschin, 2012, p.134) to allow internal employees to comprehend the concepts.
The ideas were presented during a workshop undertaken at the company’s office. For this, there were
ten employees from different areas such as product design, marketing, administration, commerce, and
finance. The research was briefly presented and the individuals were invited to select the meta-
products and meta-services which they believed were appropriate to the company7. After the
selection, the group was conducted to explore the concepts using the Steering Tool, Key Issues and
Alternatives Options Map (Ceschin, 2012, p.182), and pointed out the critical issues8. As well as the
alternatives suggested to adapt and overcome them, and actions needed. Whilst the discussion
occurred, the authors asked the group how long they thought the ideas would take to be implemented9
and what type of company’s return they expected with the future applications.

Results of the selection

The five most voted concepts emphasise the following proposals: establish partnerships with local
research institutions such as universities, Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and/or startups;
promote local materials and traditional methods; support local maintenance; concept products or
social projects using local waste; invest in mass customisation; propose systems to gather the
products’ disposal; support co-creation with local stakeholders; conceptualise social projects to
contribute with basic needs of local communities.
This selection, made by the employees, indicates that the principles which were more attractive to
internal actors are: to value the waste re-integration and promote its reduction; promote local
economy, respecting and valuing local culture, and to satisfy basic needs and generate income.
For the workshop group, the critical issues highlighted were mainly directed to technological and
infrastructural aspects. They were related to logistic complexity, especially regarding storage
administration and distribution. But in this regard, they also pointed concerns about skilled labour to
small scale production.
The socio-economic aspects raised as critical issues was also emphasised and disrespect primarily to
product symbolic depreciation by perceived obsolescence 10 through out fashion system. The extra
cost issue was mentioned as well when approaching a social nonprofit project.
Concerns about consumer and outsourced stakeholder behaviour also was highlighted during the
workshop. The employees addressed concerns with new systems of distribution and sales, arguing
that both end users and multi-brand owners will not have good acceptance.
The group believes most ideas would take up to five year to be conceived. Only one concept, aiming
at waste reintegration and reduction through sneakers maintenance and its disposal gathering, would
take about ten years, by their point of view.

Conclusion
As proposed by this case study, the authors comprehend some means by which Design of products,
systems and/or services may assist businesses to move forward towards the green economy context.
The first mean, used with a scientific research method, is to specify a main goal and a time-horizon to
establish a border-line and enable a research strategy. Such a measure is not always usual as it
should be in day-to-day business when thinking about sustainability. As we noticed, the studied
company has in its mission the purpose of valuing the domestic economy and local Design, and that is

______________________________
7 The challenge was open and those who do not think that any idea was appropriate to the company, did not have to select any.
However, among the twelve concepts, each individual could select up to a maximum of five.
8 The critical issues were allocated to six aspects: technological and infrastructural, socio-economic, cultural consumption #
behaviour, political, geographic, and others. For this research, the “others” field was used to workforce behaviour aspects to
better understand the role of the company’s actors in the business.
9 The authors asked the group to point out if the concepts implementation would take from five to ten years or more, by their
experience working at ÖUS.
10 Some authors use the term psychological obsolescence.

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one of the reasons why its CEO accepted opening the business’s data to us. However, this challenge
is being taken by a non-systematic method as the guidelines checklist showed up when pointing to
almost only a quarter of the questions filled (Appendix 3) 11.
The other mean perceived as relevant for Design to assist the business’ transition to a green economy
was the used tools and theoretical background available from the research community, such as UNEP
(2018), UN (2015), Rosa (2012), and Ceschin (2012) previous research. Having open and significant
data and tools is key to undertake an in-depth Design for sustainability strategy with such ambitious
aim and for business’ time.
Some of the barriers raised from the internal workshop seemed to be related with usual business
management concerns such as logistics and work force, which indicates apprehension with company’s
delivery quality, timing of production and distribution, and structural plus operational costs.
The consumers acceptance also emphasised as a critical issue for meta-products and meta-services
for a 2030 green economy appears to be related to the company’s need for after-sales service and
sustainability education strategy, diagnosed both in the orthodox economy analysis and the green
economy.

Acknowledgements
We would like to express our thanks to scientific initiation and technological program of UFPR (2018)
and to the research grant conferred from Nacional Counsel of Technological and Scientific
Development (CNPq) to the Design student João Gabriel Massaro, who provided great support to this
study.

References
Cheng, Adriana 2018, How Adidas Plans To Bring 3D Printing To The Masses [Homepage of Forbes]
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finally-see-its-mass-retail-potential/#45f123944a60 [20 December 2018]
Ceschin, Fabrizio 2012, The introduction and scaling-up of sustainable Product-Service Systems,
PhD research in Design conducted at Politecnico di Milano, Milano-I T
Gasp 2018, [Homepage of Gasp] [Online]. Available: https://oficinadagasp.com/sobre/ [120 December
2018]
IBGE 2018, Buriti Maranhão – MA [Homepage of IBGE] [Online]. Available:
https://cidades.ibge.gov.br/brasil/ma/buriti/historico [ 20 December 2018 ]
ILO 2009, “A Global Jobs Pact 2009” adopted by the International Labour Conference at its Ninety-
eighth Session, Geneva.
LeNS 2018, Sustainability Design Orientend Toolkit – SDO [Homepage of LeNS], [Online]. Available:
http://www.sdo-lens.polimi.it [11 December 2018]
Loiseau, E., Saikku, L., Antikainen, R., Droste, N., Hansjürgens, B., Pitkänen, K., Thomsen, M 2016,
“Green economy and related concepts: An overview”, Journal of Cleaner Production, vol.139, pp. 361–
371.
ÖUS 2018, [Homepage of ÖUS] [Online]. Avilable: http://ous.com.br [27 December 2018].
PWC 2017, “The Long View: How will the global economic order changeby 2050?”, Pricewaterhouse
Coopers LLP.
Rosa, Ivana Marques da 2012, A dimensão econômica do design para a sustentabilidade: princípios e
diretrizes, dissertation from Programa de Pós-Graduação em Design, Universidade Federal do
Paraná, UFPR, Curitiba-BR.
UNITED NATIONS 2015, “Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development”,
Resolution adopted by the General Assembly, 2015.
______________________________

11
From 38 questions, the company’s checklist filled nine, representing 23,68%.

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UNEP 2018, Green Economy - Whats is an “inclusive green economy”? [Homepage of UNEP],
[Online]. Available: https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/green-economy/why-does-green-
economy-matter/what-inclusive-green-economy [27 December 2018]
UNEP 2018, Green Economy – Why does green economy matter? [Homepage of UNEP], [Online].
Available: https://www.unenvironment.org/explore-topics/green-economy/why-does-green-economy-
matter [27 December 2018]
XE 2018, [Homepage of XE] [Online]. Available: https://www.xe.com/ [20 December 2018]

Appendix
Appendix 1: Tools used on Phase 1 with its purpose and results of the orthodox economy analysis.

Tool Purpose Highlight of the results

COMPANY COMPETITORS
 Low international visibility of the ÖUS;

PRODUCT SUBSTITUTES
 The high technology of Adidas Futurecraft
To analyse the bargaining
(GER) and the artesanal process of
power of the company based
manufacturing of shoes of Gasp (br);
on the main players of the
Porter’s Five segment, the current
NEGOTIATIONS WITH SUPPLIERS
Forces legislation and government
AND MANUFACTURERS
incentives of the sector, and
 Of the 7.7 thousand companies present in
innovations of development of
the shoe sector, Brazil allows for a
the product and service.
bargaining power that is relatively good.

NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE CLIENTS

 The lack of final client groups provides
creative liberty.

WEAKNESSES
 The system of resale of brands increases
the distance between the client and the
customer;
To identify the strengths and
weaknesses of a company,
THREATS
S.W.O.T as well as the opportunities
 Rise of digital retail;
and threats of the market and
the competitive environment.
OPPORTUNITIES
 The customisation (artesanal or in mass)
and digital manufacturing.

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NATIONAL BENCHMARKING
 As a reference to autonomous and
humanised virtual services, The start-up
To raise innovations in and bank NU BANK (BRA) is pointed out;
National and business models, products,
International and services as a reference INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKING
Benchmarking for future strategies  As a reference to the customisation of
shoes in mass, it is brought the brand
SHOES OF PREY (AUS);

 Utilising an example of a day of common

To map the day of the client,
Blueprint consumption, gaps in the support of the
the points of contact and to
marketing, the publicity, and the actions
identify gaps in the supply of
post-sale were identified.
services.

 The value chain is guided by key

partnerships with the local artists, the main
clients are male skaters and the resources
Business Model To sketch an actual business
come from product development. The
Canvas model of the company in
relationship occurs through discourse of
order to visualise its chain of
urban Brazil. The channels of distribution
value.
are the multi-brand shops and the key
activity is the content management.
Source: the authors, 2018

Appendix 2: selection of SDG targets (UN, 2015) related to the principles of economic dimension of
sustainability, conceptualised by Rosa (2012).

Principles Targets select from Sustainable Development Goals (UN, 2015)

(adapted from
Rosa, 2012)
a) Strengthen 9.b) Support domestic development, research and innovation in developing
and valorize countries, including by ensuring a conductive policy environment for, inter alla,
local material industrial diversification and value addition to commodities.
resources and
local productive 9.2) Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and, by 2030, significantly
infrastructure; raise industry’s share of employment and gross domestic product, in line with
national circumstances, and double its share in least developed countries.
12.a) Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological
capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and
production.
12.2) By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural
resources.
12.4) By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and
all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international
frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to

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minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.

b) Promote 8.2) Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification,

network technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value-
organization added and labour-intensive sectors.
8.4) Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption
and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental
degradation, in accordance with the 10-year framework of programmes on
sustainable consumption and production, with developed countries taking the lead.
12.a) Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological
capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and
production.
c) Valorize the 8.4) Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption
waste re- and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental
integration and degradation, in accordance with the 10-year framework of programs on sustainable
promote its consumption and production, with developed countries taking the lead.
reduction;
12.2) By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural
resources.
12.4) By 2020, achieve the environmentally sound management of chemicals and
all wastes throughout their life cycle, in accordance with agreed international
frameworks, and significantly reduce their release to air, water and soil in order to
minimize their adverse impacts on human health and the environment.
12.5) By 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention, reduction,
recycling and reuse.

d) Promote local 8.4) Improve progressively, through 2030, global resource efficiency in consumption
economy, and production and endeavour to decouple economic growth from environmental
respecting and degradation, in accordance with the 10-year framework of programs on sustainable
valorizing local consumption and production, with developed countries taking the lead.
culture
8.3) Promote development oriented policies that support productive activities,
decent job creations, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and ecourage the
formalization and growth of micro, small and medium sized enterprises, including
through access to financial services.
8.5) By 2030 achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all
women and men including for young people and person with disabilities, and equal
pay for work with equal value.
9.b) Support domestic development, research and innovation in developing
countries, including by ensuring a conductive policy environment for, inter alia,
industrial diversification and value addition to commodities.
11.4) Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural
heritage.
12.a) Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological
capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and
production.

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e) Foster 8.7) Take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end
environmental modern slavery and human trafficking, and secure the prohibition and elimination of
and social the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and
education; by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.
9.5) Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of industrial
sectors, in all countries, in particular developing countries, including by 2030
encouraging innovation and sustainability increasing the number of research and
development workers per 1million people and public and private research and
development spending.
12.6) Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to
adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their
reporting cycle.
12.8) By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and
awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.
f) Satisfy basic 1.4) By 2030 ensure tha all men and women in particular the poor and the
needs and vulnerable have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic
generate services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance,
income. natural resources, appropriate new technologies and financial services including
microfinance.
8.b) By 2020 develop and operationalize a global strategy for youth employment
and implement the Global Jobs Pact of International Labour Organization.
9.1) Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including
regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and
human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all
12.a) Support developing countries to strengthen their scientific and technological
capacity to move towards more sustainable patterns of consumption and
production.

Source: Rosa (2012) and UN (2015)

Appendix 3: principles and check-list adapted from Rosa (2012) and the application of questions in the
case studied.
Principles and check-list Company
evaluation
a) Strengthen and value local material resources and local productive
infrastructure
NO
- Did you evaluate the availability of local renewable resources (near the factory)?
YES
- Did you raise the competitiveness of the endogenous resources in relation to the
exogenous resources of the region?
NO
- Did you provide support for the natural methods and conditions of production?
NO
- Did you use the primary, traditional, and renewable local resources?
Percentage of affirmative responses 25%

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b) Value the waste reintegration and promote its reduction

NO
- Did you evaluate in a systematic manner the locally generated waste? (near the
factory)?
YES
- Did you use the local waste? (near to the manufacturing unit)?
YES
- Did you promote the sufficient consumption in order to avoid the generation of waste
in the process? (near the end user)?
NO
- Did you reform/improve artifacts not used and discarded? (near the end user)?
NO
- Did you renew/ reintegrate industrial, domestic, and urban emissions (products and
materials) (near the end user)?
NO
- Did you plan short, medium, and long term goals that treat the correct final disposition
of waste generated by the company from its products?
NO
- Did you transform or use the waste in a source of income for the local community
(near the end user)?
Percentage of affirmative responses 28,6%
c) Promote network organization
YES
- Did you promote companies/initiatives to promote and move the local economy?
NO
- Did you promote/support renewable energy distribution networks?
NO
- Did you promote/support network of collaboration between people?
NO
- Did you promote or support the networks of the collaboration of artifacts? (ex:
exchange club, DIY)
NO
- Did you promote the connectivity between local actors (communication capacity
between the actors without interference)?
NO
- Did you promote the cooperation between the actors that develop the same activity
or have the same profile?
NO
- Did you promote cooperation rather than competition/collective intelligence rather
than individualism?
NO
- Did ýou promote the commercialisation of shared products by the local community?
NO
- Did you promote/support structures to the development of relationship between
producers and consumers (fairs, events, etc)?
Percentage of affirmative responses 12.2%

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d) Promote local economy, respecting and valuing local culture?

YES
- Did you favor the development of possibilities that improve the local capacity for
collaborative production?
YES
- Did you generate employment and income locally?
YES
- Did you evaluate the availability of local abilities/competencies?
NO
- Did you avoid the elimination fo biodiversity of the local vegetation?
YES
- Did you encourage individual abilities, identities, and cultural diversity?
NO
- Did you prioritise aspects of the regional production?
NO
- Did you respect the local and traditional models of production?
NO
- Did you promote the quality of products as expression and recognition of particular
abilities and expertise?
Percentage of affirmative responses 50%
e) Foster environmental and social education
NO
- Did you promote environmental, social, and economic research?
NO
- Did you invest regularly in social projects?
NO
- Did you make communication transparent and accessible to all the stakeholders?
NO
- Did you invest in research or in professionals to promote more sustainable practices
valuing knowledge?
NO
- Did you value more sustainable practices between the stakeholders?
Percentage of affirmative responses 0%
f) Satisfy basic needs and generate income
YES
- Did you avoid discrimination of the weak and marginalised?
NO
- Did you offer some type of product or service to BOP communities?
NO
- Did you promote means to better the income generation in the community?
NO
- Did you take effective measures to eradicate labour that is forced and similar to the
slave one?
NO
- Did you maintain work conditions and equal salaries for all involved actors?
Percentage of affirmative responses 20%
Source: adapted from Rosa (2012) by Duarte and Santos, 2018

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Appendix 4: requirements and correspondent proposals to drive the concepts’ development.

requirements following the green economy Proposals
principles on Appendix 3

a) assess local renewable resources to stimulate establish a partnership with local research
their use and add value to them institutions such as universities, NGOs and/or
startups; promote local materials and traditional
methods
b) promote distributed networking among support industrial diversification when selecting
stakeholders to decentralize activities and the stakeholders; optimise flow of resources by
economy on domestic territory regions; promote open-sourced Design; ease
local consumption of local products; support
local maintenance; stimulate peer-to-peer
collaboration; enable peer-to-peer trade

c) systematise waste reduction in the conceptualise products or social projects using

manufacturing process and prevention of waste local waste; invest in mass customisation;
production at the end of life products whilst adding promote local maintenance; stimulate peer-to-
value to company and stakeholders peer trade; propose systems to gather the
products’ disposal

d) adopt environmental, social, and economic promote local materials and traditional methods;
criteria based on stakeholders venues valuing local support co-creation with local stakeholders; ease
expertise local consumption of local products; stimulate
peer-to-peer collaboration; establish a
partnership with local research institutions such
as universities, NGOs and/or startups;
e) invest in sustainability research to systematise establish a partnership with local research
the company’s strategy and report their sustainable institutions such as universities, NGOs and/or
actions to consumers, enhancing the company’s startups; develop internal sustainable policies;
perceived value; systematise actions to overcome impacts on the
generation; promote transparent information
about backstage systems
f) promote social projects continuously and establish a partnership with local research
systematically to enable social cohesion among institutions such as universities, NGOs and
employees and to stimulate the generation of startups; promote local materials and traditional
income at base of the pyramid (BOP) local methods; conceptualise social projects to
communities contribute with basic needs of local communities;
minimise and redirect stakeholders acting as
middlemen

Source: the authors, 2018

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Sandbox Zero: Rethinking Sustainability-As-Usual - Raz Godelnik

Raz Godelnik

Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management

Parsons School of Design – The New School

New York,

United States

At the end of 2018 we find ourselves at a crossroads with frameworks and strategies that don’t seem
adequate to address the sustainability challenges we face effectively and urgently. Widening gap
between the efforts to fight climate change and what is actually needed to get the job done, together
with John Elkington’s recall of his term ‘Triple Bottom Line’, suggest a systemic failure to eliminate
business-as-usual practices. The paper suggests this is due to the limits of the current ‘sandbox’,
which has been generating for decades sustainability-as-usual solutions. We need to develop a new
sandbox, Sandbox Zero, which is grounded in a sense of urgency and is looking to develop solutions
that are both radical and practical to make a difference in time. The paper presents three examples of
Sandbox Zero solutions that demonstrate how this new approach (sustainability-as-unusual) can lead
to more desirable outcomes in 2030 and beyond.

Introduction: Sustainability-As-Usual
2018 was a watershed year for humanity with numerous reports articulating the need for urgent, and
drastic action to limit global warming to 1.5C. Deadly heat waves and other extreme weather events
that took place that year made the case for a much-needed transformative action even stronger. At the
same time, the climate summit (COP24) that convened in Poland in December, ended with limited
results that fall short of the need for drastic expansion of national climate commitments to meet the
1.5C goal.
Two points became clear in 2018. The first is an increased sense of urgency. As United Nations
Secretary-General António Guterres (2018) pointed out at the climate summit in Poland: “Climate
change is running faster than we are and we must catch up sooner rather than later before it is too
late.. It is hard to overstate the urgency of our situation”. This sense of urgency is not only a global
wake-up call, but also suggests we should pay more attention to the timeframe for action, reflecting
the notion that “winning slowly is the same as losing”(McKibben, 2017). Perhaps most importantly it
offers a new context, where sustainability is speed (Steffen, 2018).
The second point is a growing understanding that the current sustainability frameworks developed in
the last couple of decades may not be adequate to enable us to live in an ecologically safe, and
socially just space. Evidence shows that we fail to achieve sustainability goals on national (O’Neill et
al,. 2018), corporate (Davis-Peccoud et al,. 2018) and personal levels. This is more than just a failure
of a specific country, corporation or a person to embed sustainability. It is a systematic failure of a
remedy designed to deal with an unsustainable economy grounded in ‘business-as-usual’ practices.
One key moment echoing this sentiment was John Elkington’s recall in June 2018 of the term ‘Triple
Bottom Line’ (TBL), which he coined in 1994. Elkington made the case that while the concept was
valuable in helping many companies rethink how they do business it did not succeed to serve as a
catalyst for system transformation, as he was hoping for. “To truly shift the needle, however, we need
a new wave of TBL innovation and deployment,” he wrote (Elkington, 2018).
TBL as well as other frameworks such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Shared Value, and
Stakeholder Theory have offered organizations new perspectives on value creation and the business
case for addressing the environmental and social challenges they face. Yet, according to Elkington
(Sarkar 2018) these frameworks led to incremental change for the most part because they often
became diluted by wider priorities.
If anyone thought that lessons have been learned from the failure of these efforts to move us away
from a business-as-usual mindset, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may prove them to be

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wrong. The 17 SDGs goals, which were adopted by the United Nations members in 2015, articulate an
inspiring agenda and priorities for the world with concrete goals for 2030. However, at the same time
they seem to lack what is needed to make them work in a landscape where CEOs worry more about
over-regulation and cyber threats than climate change (PwC, 2018). It is no wonder then that even
though the SDGs reflect a $12 trillion revenue opportunity for the private sector (Vali, 2017) and most
companies are happy to mention them in their sustainability reports, only a few of them engage with
SDGs meaningfully according to a latest PwC report (Scott & McGill, 2018).
With a tightening time frame for an unprecedented transition that is needed - according to the latest
IPCC report global emissions need to be cut almost by half by 2030 to pursue a realistic pathway to
limiting global warming to 1.5C (Tollefson 2018), it becomes clear that we need to do something
differently to get it done. One of people who best articulated it is the 15-year old Swedish activist Greta
Thunberg, who pointed out that “ the climate crisis has already been solved. We already have all the
facts and solutions. All we need to do is to wake up and change” (Reneau, 2018).
Thunberg’s brutally honest remarks suggest that we need to acknowledge the limits of the current
‘sandbox’ we use for designing sustainability solutions and how it puts our future in danger. Following
Drucker’s (1980) warning that “the greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence: it is to
act with yesterday’s logic” (p. 226), it is time to put yesterday’s sustainability-as-usual logic to rest and
start figuring out what tomorrow’s logic is. To do so we need to create a new sandbox with a different
mindset and priorities based on the understanding of what needs to be achieved in the next decade.

Moving to Sandbox Zero

The new sandbox aims to become a ground zero for a new paradigm of sustainability thinking, one
that is grounded in a clear sense of urgency and is focusing on designing human-centered solutions
that are both radical and practical in order to make a difference in time. It is meant to be a space of
exploration, as well as serious play and inquiry, and is called Sandbox Zero 1 to reflect its vision of
becoming a starting point for the journey to secure our future.
From a design perspective Sandbox Zero will embed what Manzini (2015) calls the “design mode”:
“The outcome of combining three human gifts: critical sense (the ability to look at the state of things
and recognize what cannot, or should not be, acceptable), creativity (the ability to imagine something
that does not yet exist), and practical sense (the ability to recognize feasible ways of getting things to
happen)” (p.31).

Sandbox rules
Like every proper sandbox we need some rules or guidelines to ensure we make the best use of this
space. The following rules have not been created with the aim of limiting the activity or the perspective
within the sandbox, but wish to bring clarity and focus to this space, providing anyone who is
interested in joining the sandbox a clear signal about the questions we need to ask and the type of
work we need to do to move away from sustainability-as-usual. The following ten rules are the first
version of Sandbox Zero’s rules and are expected to evolve together with this space.
1. Act with urgency in mind: The work in this space is grounded first and foremost in a clear
sense of urgency. The sustainability-as-usual sandbox was and still is dominated by the
need to articulate, clarify and justify the business case for sustainability (e.g., Winston
2018). In the terms of Simon Sinek’s (2009) golden circle, this is the ‘Why’ element (why
do you do what you do? What’s your purpose?). The ‘When’ element has been absent in
the sustainability-as-usual sandbox and thus the ‘How’ and ‘What’ were influenced very
little by it. The new sandbox on the other hand will be grounded in ‘When’ (see Figure 1),
and therefore the initial question will change from ‘is there a business case for it?’ to ‘can
it make an impact in time?
___________________________
1
See at www.sandboxzero.co

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Figure 1. Sandbox Zero: Start With ‘When’

2. Be radical + practical: Speed and scale are essential for any meaningful change to occur.
Exponential approach (scale) to sustainability requires radical thinking. The need to act
quickly requires us to be practical. One without the other is useless.
3. Explore what’s beneath the tip of the iceberg: No matter what you’re working on, you’re
dealing with systems, which means you need to apply systems thinking. The iceberg
model is a good example of what is required of you, suggesting that you shouldn’t look
only at what’s happening above the surface, which is only a small part of the iceberg, but
also explore what’s beneath it in order to gain a better understating of the whole system
and how to transform it.
4. Think of humans, not users: Don’t confuse user-centered with human-centered and look
for paths reflecting the latter, not the former.
5. Learn from nature and design for it: Embrace a more humble posture when it comes to
nature, remembering that while it may be interesting to consider life on Mars, we still live
on this planet and thus our real challenge is to redesign our relationships with nature.
6. Use technology responsibly: Technology can be a powerful tool, enabling the exact
changes we desperately look for. At the same time, you don’t want to end up creating a
new episode of Black Mirror. If you are not sure what responsible use means in this
context, just check if the technology you are considering and its usage are aligned with
other rules, especially no. 4 and 5.
7. Embrace a cosmopolitan localism mindset: Promote local-based response to global
issues, in which you consider the local environmental and social conditions, as well as the
connectedness and openness of the local communities, which operate as nodes in a
global system.
8. Become a culture warrior: This is not just a joint effort to develop new solutions. This is a
culture war over values with opponents that will fight back. To win this culture war you
need to accept first that this is the context in which you operate and apply it accordingly to
the content you create.
9. Enhance resilience: Your work needs to enhance resilience on at least one of these
levels: Ecological, personal, organizational, social and urban.
10. Tell a persuasive story: No matter how great your proposition is, you won’t be able to
realize it unless you are able to communicate it effectively. You don’t operate in a vacuum,
which means that you need to win over some very persuasive stories told for decades by
business-as-usual and later on by sustainability-as-usual advocates.
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The Road to 2030

Grounded in a clear sense of urgency, Sandbox Zero naturally focuses on the period of time between
now and 2030. With the IPCC report on Global Warming of 1.5C providing further evidence of the vast
importance of the actions that will be taken in the next decade or so (IPCC 2018), it becomes evident
that the pathways that will be created in this period of time can be instrumental in shaping the state of
sustainability in the 21st century.
Looking at this challenge, it is important to note that all the variables we need to deal with are known -
‘when’ (about 12 years), ‘why’ (from a $26 trillion economic opportunity to securing the future of
humanity), ‘how’ (e.g., Rockström et al. 2017; Hawken 2017) and ‘what’ (reducing carbon emissions
almost by half to remain on the path to limiting global warming to 1.5C). What we don’t know is how to
realize the ‘how’, or in other words, how to overcome the obstacles that prevent us from meeting the
goal.
The work conducted in Sandbox Zero therefore aims to pay attention to barriers and consider how to
eliminate them, recognizing that understanding the context is as important as the content
development. It also recognizes the need to explore necessary changes on every level, including nano
(personal), micro (organization), meso (industry), and macro (system) to achieve desirable results
(Thurm 2018). The following are examples of initial propositions that have been created as part of
Sandbox Zero on macro, micro and nano levels.

Climate Change Pivot (Macro Level)

The current global strategy to fight climate change, which is based on voluntary commitments of
countries to implement to the Paris Agreement seems to be failing so far (UNEP 2018). Using startup
terminology, it may be the time to consider a pivot – changing the strategy without making a change in
the overarching vision (Ries 2011). The urgency in which we need to act requires us to make difficult
strategic decisions now, or otherwise the gap between the incremental progress we make and the
exponential change we need to address climate change will keep widening.
With the need to look for a smart way to overcome some of the main barriers to effective climate
action, Sandbox Zero pivot would be based on five principles:
 Firm-focused: Shifting from a country-based to a company-based model.
 Legal compliance framework: Making it mandatory for businesses worldwide to meet the Paris
Agreement goals.
 Rigorous timeframe: Full adaptation of the Paris Agreement goals by all large corporations by
2023, followed by adaptation of the goals by all companies worldwide by 2025.
 Innovation-based: Companies will have the flexibility to decide what measures they want to
take to meet the Paris Agreement goals, as long as they generate the desired results in time.
 Paris ≠ the peak of Mount Everest: Changing the narrative to consider Paris Agreement as the
starting point, not the end of the journey.
While this strategy would probably have its own pitfalls, different indications, including the
implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regulation and the growing
number of companies that adopt the Paris Agreement goals 2 suggest that as difficult as this pivot may
be it is feasible.
The next step at Sandbox Zero is to design a toolbox for companies adopting the Paris Agreement
goals to provide companies with tools to eliminate barriers, especially internal ones to ensure
successful adaptation of the Paris Agreement goals. The toolbox will focus on embedding the change
in the companies’ culture and on creating the necessary alignment between the corporate culture and
the formal corporate institutions, such as incentive structure, hiring and firing processes, etc., to
ensure the success of the necessary changes (Graham et al. 2016).

________________________
2 Up-to-date list of firms that have committed to the Paris Agreement goals is available at
https://sciencebasedtargets.org/companies-taking-action/

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New Design for Sustainability Reporting (Micro Level)

Going through a sustainability report is many times a frustrating job. These usually long reports
provide you with information on the company’s efforts to address its environmental and social impacts,
but it is quite difficult to know if the progress reported by the company is good enough. Add to it
reporting formats that change from company to company and thus make it almost impossible to
compare companies, even when they are grounded in the same reporting standards, and you end up
with reports that very few read and even fewer can make sense of (York et al. 2017).
Currently sustainability reporting is one of the clearest representations of a sustainability-as-usual
approach, making a tool that could have been used to compare companies, create greater
accountability, and enable better stakeholder engagement into an ineffective technical tool that
generates very little value.
Looking to create more value from these reports, we decided to take a different approach, reflecting
the Sandbox Zero’s vision and start from the user’s point of view, asking: How might sustainability
reports provide clarity on how companies address their social and environmental impacts, and at the
same time can be read in 30 seconds and understood by everyone?
Then we ask: What is it that we want from companies? We assume that in general we want
companies to seriously respond to climate change and treat stakeholders responsibly. The next step is
figuring out adequate benchmarks that companies’ performance can be compared against, and the
measurement tools that should be used for these evaluations. When it comes to taking climate change
seriously, we choose the Paris Agreement goals as the benchmark and the use of the Science Based
Targets initiative (SBTi)3 as a way to measure how well companies do vis-à-vis this benchmark. To
assess how companies treat their stakeholders we choose to use the B Corp certification as the
benchmark and the B Impact Assessment4 as the measurement tool, making the minimum required of
every company interested in the certification (A  score of over 80 points on the B Impact Assessment)
into the minimum level every company should meet.
The final step is to consider how to communicate this information in a way that is engaging and user-
friendly. With the initial focus on the reader in mind we looked for inspiration in tools that allow simple
and intuitive understanding such as fuel gauge. Thus, we suggest companies will report on their
progress using a dashboard with two gauges, one for their climate change response and the other for
their stakeholder relationships (see Figure 2). While this is just a very preliminary proposal and the
different levels on each gauge can be reconsidered, this dashboard can provide clarity that is nowhere
to be found in today’s sustainability reports.
Figure 2. Sustainability Reporting Dashboard

_____________________________________

3 See at https://sciencebasedtargets.org/
4 See at https://bimpactassessment.net/
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Personal Carbon Management Tool (Nano Level)

Most people have hard time estimating their carbon footprint (Grinstein et al. 2018), and it is probably
not too far-fetched to assume that most people do not know the per-capita emissions required to meet
the 1.5C goal. However, while carbon numeracy is important it is not sufficient to incentivize people to
significantly reduce their carbon emissions. To do so we need to have tools that can provide people
with the ability to easily monitor, manage and reduce their carbon footprint.
Unfortunately, at the moment there are no such tools available, at least not ones that can be
comparable with the growing number of apps and tools helping people track everything from calorie
intake to monthly spending. The growing popularity of these apps and tools suggest that even when
people have a good understanding of their desired weight or how much money they want to spend
every month they need assistance reaching these goals. The same would probably be true for
managing personal carbon footprint. Asking people to significantly reduce their carbon footprint
without providing them the means to do so is quite pointless, yet it is exactly what we do now.
This is why one of Sandbox Zero’s first proposals is a personal carbon management tool. Inspired by
Mint5, the free, personal financial management service, which is used by millions of users and is
considered the gold standard for budgeting apps, we consider how might we provide an easy way for
people to set up personal carbon budget and targets and track their progress in real time. The idea is
that Mint for Carbon (temporary name) can be, just like Mint connected to all of your accounts and
automatically update and categorize your transactions in real time. However, instead of presenting
each transaction in US Dollars, Euro or any other local currency, it will present the carbon emissions
associated with each transaction and category (see Figure 3). Additionally, the tool will work
innovatively to incentivize people to meet carbon targets that are aligned with the 1.5C goal. One idea
is to create a carbon score that can work like a credit score, offering significant value for people
meeting their carbon targets. Finally, this tool will strive to make people more excited about carbon
reduction by developing a community around it to celebrate substantial climate action.
Figure 3. Personal Carbon Management Tool

Sustainability in 2030 will be very much determined by the path we choose to take now. The three
examples above provide an idea of what this path may look like if we decide to move away from the
current sustainability-as-usual mindset and jump into a new sandbox that offers vision and thinking
that may be able to move the needle and secure a more desirable future.
_______________________
5 See at https://www.mint.com/

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Graham, J.R. et al., 2016. Corporate Culture: Evidence from the Field. SSRN Electronic Journal.
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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Can Personal Sustainability Practices (PSPs) Help Change Our

Mindset? - Raz Godelnik
Raz Godelnik

Assistant Professor of Strategic Design and Management

Parsons School of Design – The New School

New York

United States

Inspired by a work conducted more than a decade ago with Walmart employees, this paper presents
initial results of a study conducted with students at Parsons School of Design who were asked to
commit to a personal sustainability practice (PSP) for one semester. The students’ experiences shed a
light on both the opportunities and the challenges of personal mindset change, which can be key to
applying an adaptive approach and achieving a system change (O’Brien, 2018). This paper presents
some of the initial learnings of this PSP study and how they can be translated into new ideas we
should explore between now and 2030.

Introduction to Personal Sustainability Practices (PSPs)

In a project with Walmart employees more than a decade ago, Adam Werbach attempted to make
sustainability personal by asking employees to choose a part of their life that seems to be
unsustainable and develop a personal sustainable practice (PSP) to fix it (Sacks 2007). Werbach was
addressing sustainability as an adaptive challenge, defined by Heifetz et al. (2009) as a problem that
“can only be addressed through changes in people’s priorities, beliefs, habits, and loyalties” (p. 7).
This approach, however, has not been widely adopted. For the most part, sustainability (climate
change in particular) is addressed as a technical problem, where the problem definition and the
solution are clear and all we need is to apply established expertise to fix the problem (Rowson, 2011).
Worldwide we can see growing signs, especially with regards to climate change that the predominately
technical approach is not very effective. Failures to enact textbook solutions like carbon tax or tax on
diesel, as well as growing political difficulties to generate meaningful progress around climate change,
suggest a disconnect between policymakers and citizens worldwide. While the former favor top-down
technical solutions (Rowson, 2011), assuming everyone shares their point of view, the latter generally
perceive climate change as a distant threat, or what Michael Lewis calls a ‘fifth risk’: “The existential
threat that you never really even imagine as a risk” (Klein, 2018).
Given the urgent need to address sustainability effectively, Werbach’s work on PSPs at Walmart
seems as a good starting point to consider how to approach sustainability as an adaptive challenge.
Developing it into a university course assignment, I asked 52 Parsons students from three courses I
taught in the Fall 2018 semester to choose and commit for the whole semester to one of the 19
sustainability challenges (PSPs) I shared with them at the beginning of the semester (see Appendix 1
for list of all 19 PSPs). The PSPs relate to different sustainability pain points in our everyday life, from
single-use bags to food waste, and are aimed at generating positive impact, either on the
environment, students’ community or their personal health and wellbeing. Students were also asked to
integrate a behavioral science-based framework developed by Service and Gallagher (2017) to help
them meet their goal, and report back every five weeks in writing on their progress.
The goal of this assignment went beyond just checking whether the students could meet their goals 1 to
exploring the prospects of changes in their mindset and worldview. It was about identifying both the
opportunities and the challenges of personal mindset change, which can be key to applying an
adaptive approach and achieving a system change (O’Brien, 2018).
______________________________
1 Students were informed that their grade will not be influenced by their ability to meet their PSP goal.

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This paper focuses on some of the initial learnings of this PSP study and how they can be translated
into a design of a different path to 2030 and beyond.

PSP lessons
Students reported at the end of the semester on getting many benefits out of their PSP, in terms of
their financials (one student reported on saving $300 as a result of stopping buying bottled drinks),
health (losing weight by eating less take-away food or climbing the stairs), skills (learning to cook), etc.
In some cases, the benefits were more intangible – for example, one student wrote: “Overall, this
challenge benefitted me a lot, as it made me more mindful of what/who I was bringing into my life.”
Another student reported that observing eco-Sabbath (PSP no. 6, see Appendix 1) gave him a sense
of freedom as he felt he was able to free himself from being a slave to technology.
However, the students’ reports provided insights not only on the benefits that can be realized by
pursuing sustainable practices, but also on some of the challenges and opportunities around
sustainable lifestyle changes in general. This paragraph includes three key lessons based on the
students’ reports. The next paragraph will offer a couple of examples of how might we translate these
lessons into action items for the next 11 years (from now to 2030).
Fighting the tyranny of convenience - one of the key barriers students tried to overcome was the
convenience of unsustainable practices, from using single-use bags and bottled water to ordering
take-out food. As one student indicated: “At the beginning of the semester I struggled with sticking to
my PSP because having to carry the reusable mug around all day was not convenient. Whereas using
a disposable coffee cup is easy, once you are done you just throw it away.”
Convenience, as Wu (2018) points out, is a powerful force in shaping our everyday life decisions and
preferences. With a tech industry that is obsessed with creating frictionless experiences (Roose 2018),
but not with sustainability and has a growing impact on the design of our everyday experiences, it is no
wonder that convenience has become synonymous with unsustainable lifestyle. Thus, moving away
from unsustainable lifestyle requires challenging our growing addiction to convenience, or at least the
notion of it.
Three strategies were utilized in particular by the students to do so: Reframing sustainable choices as
a new type of convenience (e.g., taking the stairs saves you the wait time for the elevator), focusing on
easy ways to reduce failure (e.g., writing reminders on the apartment door to remind themselves to
take reusable bags when they go shopping), and recognizing that the value created by sustainable
alternatives can be actually more significant, for example, in the case of learning new skills such as
cooking or making home cleaning products.
While it became clear from the students’ reports that the tyranny of convenience can be won over, it is
as clear that we need to acknowledge the friction embedded in many sustainability solutions. We need
to consider how to make sustainability frictionless (including the infrastructure needed to make it
seamless like water filling stations around the city), or how to create value propositions that sufficiently
compensate for friction when it cannot be easily eliminated.
The power of making sustainability personal – students’ reports provided further evidence that
Werbach’s (2009) hypothesis that “you must make sustainability relevant on basic, personal level
rather than on the plane of national parks and planetary impact” (p.135) was correct. Students indeed
seemed to appreciate their PSP mostly when they could gain clear personal health, financial, or social
benefits out of it. Additionally, in many cases the students considered an issue first and foremost via
personal lens – for example, evaluating reduction in meat consumption through the impact it had on
the student’s health (losing weight, decrease in energy levels) and convenience (changing shopping
and cooking habits).
The value of personalizing sustainability became evident when students had to address obstacles
along the way, like in the case of one student who reported: “[the] only moment that I would think of
buying a plastic bottled water was when I was really thirsty and couldn’t find any drinking fountain.
However, I did overcame all of those obstacles, I kept telling me that what I am doing is not just
helping the earth but also saving my money.”
As millennials take a growing role in shaping social and economic trends worldwide (Godelnik 2017), it
is worth noting that while making sustainability personal may be beneficial for everyone, it may be a
good fit in particular for millennials, who are often described as individualistic and self-absorbed (e.g.
(Raphelson, 2014; Stein, 2013; Twenge, 2006).
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Structured approach to change - Service and Gallagher’s (2017) framework, which includes 7 steps
(set, plan, commit, reward, share, feedback, and stick) has proved to be an effective tool, providing
students with a clear roadmap on how to meet their PSP goal. As one student commented: “I would
like to say that without the 7-step framework, accomplishing this task would had been harder as it
provided me with guidance to persevere my goal.” The framework seemed to be the most beneficial
with students who had hard time or a setback in their work on the PSP – it was almost as they were
going back to the whiteboard to rethink their strategy, retrace their steps and figure out what went
wrong.
There seemed to be an understanding among the students that commitments on their own, as sincere
as they may be are not enough to enact change, and that thoughtful planning and implementation are
required to successfully fulfill these commitments. The steps in the framework requiring the students to
engage with their environment (commit, share, and feedback) were important in particular, providing
students with indispensable support and assistance. As one student, who did the two weekly meat-
free days PSP wrote for example: “I also shared my goal with many of my friends. This was largely
beneficial because most of them encouraged me by saying that this is a great thing to do and also by
sharing new recipes with me”.
The overall positive response to the 7-step framework suggests that any attempt of doing things
differently can benefit from having in place one type or another of what Service and Gallagher (2017)
describe as behavioral scaffolding that is grounded in behavioral science research. It is important to
note though that this framework is based on a non-classic type of nudge, one that is called by the
authors self-nudge and is less focused on making changes in the environment where your decisions
take place and more on changes you can do in your own personal life (Service and Gallagher, 2017).
While this approach is far from perfect, it may be able to succeed where the classic nudge approach
fails according to critics, who suggest it may help change behavior, but do not go deeper to change
attitudes and values (Rowson, 2011).
One suggestion to further improve the 7-step framework came from a student who integrated it with
McDonough’s ‘values to value’ approach (Makower, 2015). The student, who took on herself to reduce
her total number of things you own to less than 50 (PSP no. 12) reported that combining the two
frameworks allowed her to adopt this new mindset of living simple. “I not only ended up with less
objects than what I expected but I also literally feel more freedom”, she wrote.

Road to 2030
Sustainability in 2030 will be very much determined by the approach adopted in the next decade or so
to tackle sustainability challenges. Even those who believe in addressing climate change (and
sustainability in general) as an adaptive challenge find it difficult at the moment to translate the
understanding that we need more human agency and transformational thinking into a clear call for
action. What we have are either academic texts with little to no guidance or generic “50 ways to save
the planet” guides that are pretty useless.
The lessons from the PSP work conducted by the students suggest that there can be another way to
consider how to meaningfully transform people’s worldview on sustainability. Here are three examples
of what this path may look like:
PSP Clubs – behavioral economist Dan Ariely makes the case that climate change is “built for us not
to care”, as it has all the elements driving human apathy, including the fact that anything we’ll do to
fight it is a drop in the bucket (Gardner, 2015). One remedy he offers is reward substitution, where we
connect an appealing reward to a desired behavior. The PSPs reflect this idea by reframing
sustainability as a personal lifestyle challenge that can provide clear personal benefits and offering
participants a sense of empowerment and purpose.
To increase the chances that a PSP can play a role in leading to a mindset change we should
probably consider another recommendation of Ariely (2018), who suggests not to take actions alone,
but to collaborate with some other people on them. Creating communities around PSP actions can
therefore provide necessary support and incentive to take them seriously and also help people
overcome the feeling that no one around them is taking these issues seriously. This also corresponds
with a 2018 report on climate action emphasizing the value of creating communities, where people can
celebrate and inspire each other by sharing climate-friendly actions (IKEA/GlobeScan, 2018).

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PSP clubs can be established in workplaces, organizations, communities, and families, using digital
tools to share, learn, compete and measure impact. Overall, this can be a compelling way to introduce
people to the ways sustainability can benefit them and help shift their perception of sustainability from
a sacrifice to an opportunity.
Normalizing sustainability – one student mentioned in her report a conversation she had with her
friends about carrying a reusable coffee mug. One friend, she wrote, “mentioned that it was a public
statement and he felt uncomfortable, not confident about making a statement of carrying his own mug.
The thought of “what people will think” made him conscious.” Social norms, as this statement
suggests, have considerable impact on people’s behavior (Cialdini et al., 1990). This is also the case
when it comes to sustainability, where “the presence of such [unsustainable] norms fosters
unsustainable behavior and hinders sustainable behavior” (Miller 2012, p.28), but norms are also
considered to be an effective tool for promoting sustainable behavior (Poškus, 2016).
There is a clear need to change the social norms and make for example people who use single-use
coffee cups feel awkward, not the ones carrying reusable mugs with them. This task of normalizing
sustainable behavior will not be easy as we need to go beyond marketing efforts to make green
products normal (Johnstone & Tan 2015), and do it faster than the time it took to shift the collective
perception about issues like recreational use of marijuana or gay marriage. At the same time,
normalization can happen rather quickly as we can learn from politics in the Trump era, which provides
many examples of things that once were regarded as outlandish and have been normalized pretty
quickly as they became more common (Bear & Knobe, 2017).
Normalizing sustainability may require no less than a culture war, not between left and right or liberals
and conservatives, but between young people, who are not willing to subject themselves anymore to
unsustainable norms that their parents’ generation have embraced and all the rest. We need young
people who are willing to become agents of change and take on themselves the task of changing
society’s view of what is acceptable and unacceptable social behavior. To make sustainability the new
norm in the next decade or so we need to see far more rebellious action, even if it is just one reusable
coffee mug at a time.
[Designing] better choices– successful change of the unsustainable status quo demands not just the
commitment of a large group of young people who are willing to revolt against the dominant paradigm,
but also making it easier for them in terms of additional availability, better design, and greater access
to sustainable solutions.
Students’ complaints on “how hard it is to find guaranteed ethically and sustainably made products”,
the lack of infrastructure such as compost bins in every building or water filling stations around the city
made it clear that availability of sustainable options is an issue. This can be changed relatively easily
with cities and organizations offering adequate infrastructure and entrepreneurs exploring new
products and services that can increase the visibility and availability of sustainable options both offline
and online. The challenge though will be to find how to align these steps with other priorities (for cities
and organizations) and make them exciting and compelling (for entrepreneurs).
Greater availability should be accompanied with better design of sustainable alternatives as it became
very obvious from the students’ reports that the design of the sustainable alternatives they explored
was key in overcoming unsustainable habits. Unfortunately, even after decades of development and
progress we find that too many sustainable products are just not good enough. While the field of
design for sustainability has shifted its focus from product improvements to system innovations
(Gaziulusoy & Erdogan Oztekin 2018), it may be hubris to ignore the fact that well-designed
sustainable products and services are still the exception rather than the rule. We need thus to consider
a design approach that is based on the concept of disrupt and delight, connecting the dots between
disruption of unsustainable everyday practices and consumer delight (Bemporad & Baranowski, 2012).
There is also a clear need to ensure sustainable options become available for everyone, not just a
small group who can afford them. Partly it is better storytelling around affordable options such DIY or
used products and partly it is disruptive innovation to make products such as meatless burgers or bio-
based materials competitive price-wise with their unsustainable counterparts. Overall, truly sustainable
choices should represent the vision articulated by Bucky Fuller (2008) fifty years ago: “To make the
world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation
without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone” (Page 7).
The above three examples provide an idea of a road we can take to 2030, where the focus is on
designing responses that are more adaptive in their nature to the sustainability challenges we face.

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While it is too early to conclude that the PSP assignment can indeed lead to changes in the mindsets
and worldviews of the study participants, the students’ reflections indicate the potentiality of such
approach. Further research and experiments are needed for a more definitive answer.

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Appendix
Appendix 1: PSP list (number of students who took each PSP in parentheses)
1. Eliminate your use of single use (plastic and 11. School supplies – buy only second-
paper) bags (5) hand school supplies or DIY (1)

2. Have two meat-free days each week (10) 12. Reduce the total number of things you
own to less than 50 (2)

3. Stop buying disposable plastic bottled 13. Calculate your carbon footprint and
water (7) reduce it by 30% (1)

4. Use only eco-friendly cleaning and beauty 14. Stop buying from brands that you
products (you can purchase them or make believe are unethical (1)
them yourself) (0)

5. Mug-to-Go: Use your own reusable coffee 15. Use the stairs instead of taking the
cup whenever you buy coffee/tea (5) elevator. It’s a free gym! (3)

6. Observe an Eco-Sabbath: For one day a 16. Volunteer for

week (or at least half a day), don't buy anything, environmental/social/community group (at
don't use machines, don't switch on anything least an hour a week) (0)
electric, and don’t use your phone. Enjoy! (2)

7. Stop using credit card/s and use cash, 17. Reduce the amount of waste at home
debit cards or prepaid cards instead (1) by at least 50% (1)

8. Decarbonize your transport: Use only 18. Start composting all your food
bicycle/public transport/your feet/electric/hybrid waste instead of throwing it in the trash
cars and fly less (1) (1)

9. Wash clothes only in cold water (0) 19. Hang dry clothes of using a dryer (0)

10. Cook more at home and cut down

significantly (at least by 50%) on takeout food
(11)

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"World Complexity, Human Values and Developing Critical Thinking

- Daniel Michel Judkiewicz

Daniel Michel Judkiewicz

Managing Director

Silver-Brains

Brussels

Belgium

The pace of evolution of our human society is consistently accelerating.

Yet beyond the technological tools that can enhance or jeopardize our every lifeday, a more
fundamental societal phenomenon sets in we are more than ever subject to all kinds of messages
(newspapers, magazines, TV, radio but also social networks), such as many people react to situations
in real time. We are surrounded by a global cacophony.
Technology keeps generating at an accelerated pace, tools, methods, interactions, products, services
that affect our everyday life, but also our behaviours.
Those two issues are pervasive and are not the result of a crisis. We are not in a crisis but well in a
lightning transition to a future world that is unknown.
In such an accelerating context, how and what do we learn continuously over a lifetime, how do we
develop an analytical and critical thinking and the right mindset?

The new normal

“Knowledge is no guarantee of good behaviour, but ignorance is a guarantee of bad behaviour”.1
What might keep us up at night: climate change and its possible consequences, terrorism, economic
wars between USA, Europe, China, European community’s future, populism and other totalitarian
drifts, transhumanism and related ethics, the digital fracture, future resources?
Can we understand those issues, can we positively contribute to any of those? That would require a
lot of knowledge and the capacity to distinguish between fake or manipulated information and reality.
On top of it, we more and more live in a VUCA world (Volatile, Unstructured, Complex and
Ambiguous).
Let us assume that the world we foresee, the new normal, will add to people, profit and planet two
other issues: peace and partnership..2
Considering those five elements, we strongly believe that integrating those parameters has to start at
a young age, embedded in the education system.
As a matter of fact, let us consider those five characteristics that we will use as guidelines throughout
our approach:
 People: the disparity in lifestyles, wealth, cultures, belief, among human beings is
overwhelming. Yet, most of our educational systems privileges a local approach to facts and
figures, with at best a superficial approach of human differences, shared values or not,
invariants (or what is common to some cultures), universal human constants, etc.

______________________________
1 (Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, Martha C. Nussbaum)
2 OECD : The Sustainable Development Goals: An overview of relevant OECD analysis, tools and
approaches:
https://www.oecd.org/dac/The%20Sustainable%20Development%20Goals%20An%20overview%20of%20relevant%20OECD
%20analysis.pdf

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 Profit: here is a world with relative splitting power between the ones who believe that profit is
the key condition to progress and the ones who declare that profit and its continuous search is
the source of all evil.
 Planet: although some climate changes are linked to the earth evolution, it would be difficult to
pretend, nowadays, that human activity is not a key factor in the climate changes and all its
direct and indirect consequences at short, mid and relatively long term. Making future decision
makers aware of the risks and possible anticipation of some issues is quite often missing or
misrepresented in our educational system. Likewise, it is dangerous and unfair to paint
research, innovation and industry in the darkest colour and making them responsible for most
of the problems while at the same time promoting a local somewhat naïve approach like more
bicycles and more little vegetable gardens to solve an issue that concerns more than 7 billion
people worldwide and maybe more than 9 billion by 2050
 Peace: the holy Grail for so many centuries. The famous “der des der” or “very last one” after
the first world war (18,6 million deaths) and the “never more that” after the second world war
(60 million deaths). And since then, Korean war, Vietnam war, Cambodia genocide, Rwanda
genocide, cold war, Algeria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Middle-east, Iraq, Syria
and unfortunately many more. Could there be anything in our educational systems, worldwide,
that could prevent our bellicosity?
 Partnership: last but not least, there are few human enterprises that don’t require multi-
disciplinary teams in all paces of life, nowadays. Hence, team spirit, cooperation, co-creation,
partnerships should be one of the keys to a better future. Any seed of that in our current
education system?

The purpose of this paper is to explore existing or new trends in educational systems that could
promote the true advent of a world where those 5 parameters, the 5 “P” would become the new
normal, since we believe that these are key to create the future we would prefer.

Some historical trends in education

The traditional concept of education has been, for many centuries, to acquire some professional skills.
In an ancient world, most of the work was manual and based on physical strength and working
knowledge. Basically, it was a “know how”, whereas reading, writing and some mathematical as well
as “general knowledge” was the privilege of some learned people (religious, nobility, philosophers).
With time, as it was realized that it was much more convenient to transmit knowledge in written, versus
oral transmission only, one started to learn at least enough to read, write and do some basic
arithmetic. These tools were used, combined with mentorship and practical experience to get some
professional competence, hence a job and a way to make a living, combining some knowledge and
some know how.
In an ever more complex society, the extent of knowledge to acquire, in order to be able to perform
has increased considerably. From primary school, to high school, to college and university. Sometimes
to the detriment of know how. As such, finding a good and available plumber or carpenter may
sometimes be a problem in our modern societies.
On the other hand, parallel to more education and more knowledge, should come the capacity of a
little more critical view of the power games and other relations between people. Coming from a very
pyramidal and hierarchical society, people wanted more and more to understand the situations they
were in, to participate in some decisions, to get some respect and so came in a reinforced need: on
top of some knowledge and some know how (to do), the “know how to be”, to behave, to be treated, to
interact with others).Peace or war, individualism or Partnership or some intermediate balance points
between People?
For decades and until the 70’s, there was a common feeling that regardless of how much waste we
would produce, Mother Nature would metabolize it. Yet, it is definitely not the case anymore
Hence, after know how, knowledge, know how to be(have) comes in the need for “know how to
interact” with our earth ecosystem.

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Some innovative trends in education

On the technical side, more and more do we go towards a blended learning system, i.e. a mix of
physical professor transmission and of MOOC’s (online courses).
The main question may well be: “what is the purpose of learning”?
One proposition is: explore (E) (human curiosity), understand (U), memorize (M) and eventually (T)
transmit to others.

Knowledge transgression
An addendum to that string of actions is “transgression”. The best way to get a 360° view of a given
body of knowledge is, once (E), (U), (M) have happened, to transgress the acquired knowledge, ask
questions like “what if” some parts were not true or right or complete, challenge the knowledge,
multiply information sources, compare and cross check until reaching the state where all possible
facets have been, in good faith, considered and challenged.

Janus teaching (yesterday, today and tomorrow)

It is common practice to teach existing body of knowledge (by definition, past knowledge) today for
use in the world of tomorrow. It is obviously fundamental to capitalize on the accumulated historical
knowledge (our roots), regardless of the taught matter and to get to know about the state of the art (at
present), but we miss quite always to identify possible avenues for the future. One way would be to
have some exposure to strategic foresight tools (scenarios method, wheel of the future, Delphi, etc) as
group activities. That would foster simultaneously some team spirit (partnership) as well as some
critical thinking (peer-to-peer) and a peek into possible futures. The idea is to prepare people for
possible worlds to come: new environment, new competences, new jobs, remembering that short term
thinking (and teaching) is only going to bring people to a choke point.

Balanced teaching
Teach a future scientific person, some creativity techniques, some “out of the box” and serendipity
concepts. The world is not a clockwork only.
Teach a commercial person some sense of fairness and the limits of good business. The world is not
only an accumulation of goods and services where the best salesman or lobbyist is the winner.
More generally, teach the need to dissociate what one can do and the fundamental necessity to stay
human (responsibility ethics of Max Weber) beyond what our skills and interests might drive us to do.
Last but not least, stress the importance of humanities as well as “hard” sciences since we stay, at
least for the short term future, human beings. We need specific skills to find a job, and culture to be
happy. Hard sciences teach us how the world is working and how to find solutions to problems and
soft sciences tend to give some meaning to the world around us.

Multilingual teaching
One definite way to get familiar with a culture is to get some proficiency in its language. Although it is
impossible to learn all of them (more than 7,000), the ability to know just one other language than
one’s mother tongue gives a mind openness and encourages a richer and more diverse look at
concepts, ideas and people. People that took Latin and/or Greek during their high school years have
also developed a coding capacity that helps them in various activities, now and probably in the future.
Mother tongue enable us to be very accurate and delicate in our analysis and expression but
mastering a foreign language is a window on another world.

Critical thinking teaching

For many decades, it was common sense to believe that a sure correlation existed between
knowledge acquisition and moral development. Although having historical references, mastering
different concepts and having an articulated and structured thought process are a plus, it does not
necessarily imply a top moral attitude. Values and knowledge are different issues. One way to proceed
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is to have a specific topic outlined by the teacher/professor/mentor and to have a group discussion
afterwards where one can build on diversity, exchanges and challenges of opinions, typically like in a
Talmudic school. That often makes it possible to confront different points of view, across cultures,
beliefs, life experiences and is conducive to the benefit of collective intelligence as well as the bonus
of diversity.
It is an interesting approach to try to filter out fake and real news, rumours, toxic information, people
manipulation and, on the other hand, real facts and figures. Living in a complex world, it is unlikely to
find many very simple solutions. That should not deter us from searching them seriously and honestly,
versus finding clear cut, usually wrong, unfair and dangerous solutions.

Confidence teaching
As people come from different social origins, different cultural backgrounds, different world models,
trying to include everyone in a common education project, while making feel everyone at ease, is no
small enterprise. Active listening, tolerance to differences and fighting dogmas are ingredients for
success but there is no universal recipe. Education should also be a place where diverse people come
together and exchange, getting more confident with social mix and, reciprocally, more tolerant to other
cultural approaches. The keywords, here, are respect and improving “living together” such has to
transform our differences in an enriching factor instead of a dividing gap.

Trans discipline teaching

Disciplines were invented by man in order to have different bodies of knowledge and try to structure
them. Yet most problems spread across different disciplines. To take just one example: city
development will require expertise in engineering, sociology, medicine, architecture, agronomy,
geography, law, economics and many more. Whereas nobody can be a specialist in more than one of
those matters, being able to work as task forces with multiple expertise is certainly a good way to try to
be comprehensive in solution development.

Emotional (soft skills) teaching

Whatever the field of activity, one will have to manage time, budgets, people, today, as well as looking
to the future. Being a specialist in some area will be key but being able to manage efficiently while
keeping the mid or long term goal in mind and getting along well with people will require many extra
soft skills: active listening, negotiation, creativity, flexibility and capacity to change, to name only the
main ones. Some of those skills are learnt by doing but having a good base to start from is an asset.
Everybody, nowadays, needs to be somewhat a manager, a leader and a coach, according to the
circumstances.

Case study teaching

Although this method has been around, originating in Harvard Law School, for more than a century
ago, it still is an excellent way to apply, in practice, building on acquired theoretical knowledge, as well
as one’s own ingenuity. In this particular field, a newcomer not to be neglected is learning gamification.

Lifelong learning/teaching
Whereas learning happened in schools and colleges for centuries, it is now, and even more so in the
future, happening everywhere: schools, leisure organization, factories, offices, companies, teaching
centres, remote learning, and is a never ending process.
This a significant part of the new normal since, not so long ago, a common belief was that, once out of
school, just a number of minor adjustments over time would guarantee the right level of knowledge.
As an example, medical knowledge doubled every 50 years in 1950, every 7 years in 1980, every 3.5
years in 2010 and is supposed to double every 73 days in 2020.

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Conclusion
Our VUCA world is frightening as we see threats to democracy in many places, threats to our
ecosystem, threats to peace and meaningful partnerships, rise of selfish individualism, myths and
realities of artificial intelligence and its possible consequences, etc.
Yet, the world is much safer nowadays than 50 years ago, as far as food, medical care, safety
measures but there is definite room for improvement.
The best possible way forward, the one maximizing our chances to be in a better world for most earth
inhabitants in 25 years will rely on reason, objectivity, group and multidisciplinary thinking, hard, but
probably fun work and some degree of humour and optimism.
Good and continuous education is going to be key to reach those goals.

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Creative Mind 2030: Transformative Power and Magic of Music - Tolga K ashif

Tolga Kashif

Composer & CEO & Creative Director

Evolution Media Music

United Kingdom

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my
daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” Albert Einstein.

In this age of technological transformation, humanity is facing unprecedented challenges across

multiple areas concerning the way we live, work and play, our relationship to the environment and to
each other. The acceleration and impact of artificial super-intelligence, bio-engineering and quantum
computing is changing the world creating an imperative for innovation in order to secure the
sustainability of the human species and the planet, presenting us with the ‘disruptive stress or
opportunity’ factor.

As a Language, the Art and Science of music has much to offer organisations through metaphor,
system and code. Music, as a multi-dimensional, holistic interplay of elements across the material,
sensory and metaphysical levels and as a powerful conduit of expression - simultaneously vibrational,
harmonic and mathematical - provides a useful blueprint for invention, organisational and innovation
strategies in a time where the only constant is change.

Music has always manifested from the silence as a universal energetic presence. Sound resonates
through time and space in the natural and elemental world and in all sentient and human beings.
Since our birth we have experienced life as Music through each in and out breath we take and each
beat of our hearts. The ‘music of the spheres’ plays in each of the billions of cells affecting the subtlest
of energy centres in our body, mirroring the quantum dance of galaxies.

With the power to express that which lies beyond intellect and understanding, the great gift of Music
opens our hearts to the field of infinite potential, to the source of creativity and to the essence of our
consciousness. It has always had the power to transform, to heal and to unite beyond national
boundaries, creeds and cultures. In a world where our selves and our technology have become one,
where the speed of communications across continents is reduced to milliseconds and where the super-
computers that we all walk around with monitor and provide behavioural and bio data analytical metrics
to centralised data-banks, what unprecedented new potential for Music is there? How will Music evolve
as we strive to create new futures?

There are parallels in the rise of exponential technologies and the evolutionary path of Music, from the
breath that gives tone to a simple flute, to the crafted bits that allow you and I to hear that same
soundtrack in a movie in the exactly the way that the composer and director intended. It unites us
across place and time and stands on foundations built over centuries and millennia with tried and
tested formulae for how elements work together. These include the building blocks, such as principles
of rhythm, harmony, counterpoint and orchestration and extend to multiple and complex compositional
styles that become part of our collective consciousness over time. Music has the almost mystical power
to transport us back in time and place, to heal divisions and to harnesses diversity, it shows how a
collective can collaborate in a secure environment to innovate, it is Intellectual Property, it is structured
as an open source community, it has clear processes that are visible and well understood - key, time,
structure, melody, harmony, lyrics, solos, counter rhythms, syncopation, riff – it uses re-useable re-
cyclable and re-configurable modules and sequences for a combined effect. It is transparent,
established between performers on trust. It can also provoke, challenge and disturb, It is not – by
nature – a product or service but has the goal to create authentic experience and transformation. It
requires tools and inter-operates across varied technologies, resonating in the widest contexts.

The musical world has seen many transformational innovations throughout the centuries. The evolution
of musical composition has been influenced by major world events, by the gradual emergence of

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musical instruments and - in the last 100 years - by the way in which music is produced, distributed and
reproduced through listening devices. At the close of the last century music was fundamentally
disrupted with the invention of ubiquitous file formats, instant methods of distribution, ease of access
through search and the phenomenon of file sharing which threatened the livelihoods of creators and
producers of music – the source of value. The recent acceleration in biotech, quantum computing and
AI together with the rise of multiple distribution, social and consumer platforms has created a new
foundation for the music industry to evolve yet more inventive business models and to innovate the
multi-dimensional art form into astonishing new paradigms, not least in new user- interfaces and
environments in which to hear music: Gamification, V.R., A.R. and new immersive experiences.

Because music is such an integral part of our lives, of who we are, and of the new technology that we
will all benefit from, it is clear that Music has an integral role in the global transformations to come and
in the platforms that now exist to create new positive futures for humanity and the environment. Future
Interdisciplinary collaboration to address the major societal and environmental challenges will further
establish musical thinking as a critical part of designing our futures.

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Gateways to Revalorisation in Future Circular Cities: A Vision for

Closed-Loop Resource Flows - Anouk Zeeu w van d er Laan, Marco Aurisicchio

Anouk Zeeuw van der Laan

PhD Researcher

Dyson School of Design Engineering

Imperial College London

United Kingdom

Marco Aurisicchio

Senior Lecturer in Engineering Design

Imperial College London

United Kingdom

Fast-Moving Consumer Goods and the materials that embody them rarely flow to successive
lifecycles. Gateways are entry points to revalorisation systems which extend the lifetime of resources
i.e. products, components or materials. The investigation of different gateways has provided three
insights and has allowed to reflect on gateways in future urban contexts. First, gateways influence the
purification of resources and consequently their value. Semi-segregated resource flows need
gateways that better educate and facilitate consumers in using them as intended and resource-specific
resource flows will benefit from gateways with aids to manage the specific stock of the various
resources. Second, gateways must be reached by consumers and thus the locations of gateways are
to be chosen to minimise the logistical burden on them. Third, resources must flow away from
gateways which will be increasingly expensive and complex in urban areas. Gateways can be
designed to reverse the flow or optimise the movement of resources.

Introduction
Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) are repeatedly purchased and consumed to temporarily and
conveniently satisfy continuous needs. Once they can no longer be used or are no longer needed,
they become obsolete. FMCGs intense use and disposal cause finite resource depletion and waste
issues globally, while the value of the resources is lost. In a circular economy the objective is to retain
resource value by flowing resources in closed-loops at their highest utility (Ellen MacArthur Foundation
2015). Flows could be established by designing systems such as ‘revalorisation services’, which
include offers aiming at closing the product material cycle by taking products back, reusing parts in
new products and recycling materials if reuse is not feasible (Mont 2002). As such, providers of these
services aim at extending the lifetime of resources (i.e. products, components or materials) by
intercepting them when they are obsolete.
Recycling programmes exist that collect recyclable resources, segregated from non-recyclable
resources. Nevertheless, these resource flows are only semi-segregated as they contain mixes of
materials. Despite the existence of such revalorisation services, recovery rates of obsolete resources
are poor (De Wit et al. 2018). For example, only 2% of global plastic packaging exists in closed-loop
systems after they are collected for recycling (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2016). These meagre
resource flows are partly the result of how consumers recycle of FMCGs, which, often unwillingly,
leaves irreversible contamination. The design of FMCGs does not allow consumers to clean, separate
and identify different materials that embody the product. Resource flows can also be contaminated by
materials that are not compatible with the technologies used to purify them, i.e. to sort, separate and
extract semi-segregated resources into single materials. For example, the technology developed to
identify different plastics is limited by the geometry of components and confined to a selected number
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of polymers. Chemical recycling, a technology to further decontaminate sorted polymers into pure
monomers, is still far away from commercial operation (Hong and Chen 2017; Rahimi and García
2017). The resource flows for recycling are, however, tenuous to begin with. Recovery rates of
FMCGs are low and can only improve if consumers collect and recycle them (Ellen MacArthur
Foundation 2016; European Commission 2018; Hopewell, Dvorak, and Kosior 2009; Maletz 2018;
Rahimi and García 2017). Consumers evidently have a key impact on whether and how resources
flow. Revalorisation services saddle consumers with logistic activities. The opportunity of increased
environmental awareness of consumers proves not to be a guarantee for increased engagement
(Kollmuss and Agyeman 2002; Maletz 2018). In fact, consumer-engagement is all but self-evident as
activities are not always obvious or self-explanatory.
The consumption of FMCGs is likely to increase with the growth of population and of disposable
income per household (Dobbs, Manyika, and Woetzel 2015; Rosling 2018). Economic activity is
typically larger in urban areas than rural areas (Kennedy et al. 2015) and 68% of the world’s
population is projected to be living in urban areas by 2050 (United Nations 2018), (Kennedy et al.
2015). Short-living goods will flow into cities in high quantities, which requires rapid movement of large
volumes of obsolete resources (Kennedy et al. 2015). Little dwelling space per resident (Williams
2009) may be limiting the capacity to store various segregated resources prior to collection, stressing
systems to collect resources. The content of the flows is likely to be more complex. Firstly, because
additional resources will enter this flow as the sector is currently pressured to develop circular
strategies for their products (United Nations 2016) and companies are consequently aiming to produce
recyclable goods (Procter & Gamble 2018; Stewart and Niero 2018). Secondly, because the FMCG
sector will be driven to identify and cultivate premium niches (McKinsey & Company 2018), which
often use advanced materials and design.
To establish a circular resource flow for FMCGs consumed in future urban contexts, it must be
considered how these resources reach revalorisation services. This study investigates how such
resources currently enter systems for revalorisation and reflects on how to improve their success in
future urban areas.

Method
We studied entry points to revalorisation by analysing services available in eleven inner boroughs of
London; and by analysing eighteen closed-loop FMCGs, consisting of a revalorisation service and a
tangible FMCG purchased by a consumer. Closed-loop FMCGs were selected if the revalorisation
services extend the life of products, components or materials. We constructed customer journey maps
based on the data collected from the borough websites and from company websites respectively,
which detailed the activities that consumers are required to undertake to use the service. We then
identified where the obsolete resources moved to, how they were moved there and what activities
required of consumers.

Results

Gateways
A ‘gateway’ in this research is defined as an entry point for obsolete resources into a system in which
they can be revalorised. Resources are tangible matter and consequently gateways involve
geographic locations necessary to access the matter (Zeeuw van der Laan and Aurisicchio,
Submitted). Resources are revalorised in these locations either by giving them new value on the spot
(e.g. a refill station) or by intercepting and putting them through further processing steps that provide
new value (e.g. collecting milk bottles to be refilled in a factory). Only selected resources are intended
to enter gateways, depending on their compatibility with technology for processing, such as the
technology to identify different materials in recycling facilities.

Types of gateways
Although all gateways involve locations, they differ in their nature. Five types of gateways emerged
from a comparison.

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 Timebound assigned spots. Resources can only enter these impermanent gateways during
specific timeslots. For example, consumers can place empty milk bottles on their doorstep
prior to delivery of new milk by Milk&More. Consumers can even be fined if they place
resources for London’s kerbside-collection schemes outside the timebound. Aids may be
provided such as collect-and-return products (e.g. bins or bin liners) in which resources can be
collected and in which they must be offered to inform collectors on the type of resources.

 Open-access drop-off. Some gateways are not exclusive to specific resources nor to
revalorisation but serve as a gateway to a generic infrastructure to move resources. For
example, consumers can place empty Repack envelops into royal mail pillar boxes. All the
studied gateways of this type involved royal mail, which allows entries at any time. Aids had to
be used to pack and address the resources.

 Regular venues. Gateways can be offered in regularly visited places such as in or near
common retailers or schools. For example, Terracycle places drop-off points in elementary
schools to collect segregated resources. Similarly, gateways in the form of communal bins are
situated in locations in residential areas regularly passed by consumers.

 Exclusive venues. A number of gateways were offered in brand-specific stores. Some of these
allowed to revalorise the obsolete resource on the spot, by offering consumables. For
example, Ecover’s bottles can be refilled at selected supermarkets.

 Consumption scene. Some consumables were delivered to consumers’ homes. In this case,
the location of consumption became the gateway and revalorisation happens on the spot. For
example, Splosh delivers packaging free refillables by post.

Activities
Consumers must undertake similar activities to use gateways. However, not all of the activities were
required for each of the gateways. The activities were coded and categorised as presented in the
examples in Table 1.
The activities require consumers to make investments of time and effort which were found to differ per
gateway. For example, transiting Milk&More’s bottles to the doorstep requires less time than taking
Ecover’s bottles to that selected supermarket where it can be refilled; and stocking one Refill envelope
takes less space than stocking the amount of Garnier bottles that is eligible for a reward. In some
cases, consumers faced a greater logistical burden due to gateways that have a timebound or are an
exclusive venue. In others, however, the logistical burden had been reduced by eliminating some of
the activities.
Some gateways were equipped to facilitate the activities and reduce the logistical burden. For
example, some collect-and-return products can also help consumers segregate and stock obsolete
resources.

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Table 1. Types of gateways and examples from the studied FMCGs illustrating similar activities
related to each of the gateways.

Timebound Open-access Exclusive Consumption

Gateway Regular venues
assigned spots drop-off venues scene
Milk&More Repack Terraccyle drop- Splosh home-
Ecover provides
collects reusable envelopes can be off points at delivers
Example refill stations at
bottles from returned in the schools such as packaging free
selected retailers.
doorsteps. mail. for Garnier detergents.
‘remove’ clean bottles remove excess
product
residual consumables
(removed parts are not
revalorised)
‘stock’ obsolete store empty keep repack store empty retain empty retain empty
resources until next bottles until next envelope bottles for reward bottle until store bottle until next
collection, minimum order and until trip to visit delivery
volume or a journey school
‘prepare’ schedule adapt envelope remember to take remember to take place order for
delivery, for return, bottles the bottle refills
by assembling parcels remember to remember to take
with obsolete resources place on
and/or plan and doorstep
remember to move them
‘transit’ move empty bring envelope to take empty take to the store receive refillables
bottles to post box bottles to school
obsolete resources to doorstep
gateways
‘detach’ leave bottles for drop in post box drop in
activities

collection Terracycle box

by depositing or
abandoning resources

Discussion
This study has defined ‘gateways’ as entry points to revalorisation systems for resources. The study
shows that there are different types of gateways that require similar activities to revalorise obsolete
resources. However, the activities put different logistical burdens on consumers. Gateways in future
urban contexts will have to facilitate an increasingly voluminous and complex flow of FMCGs. Flows of
resources have most value if they are uncontaminated and the products, components and materials
remain at their highest utility (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2015). Therefore, how and if resources
enter systems is key to establish circular flows. The results of this study have provided three insights
on the impact of gateways on resource flows. We will reflect on these insights to discuss how
gateways can become successful entry points in future urban contexts.
1. Gateways influence the purification of resources
Resource segregation is essential to purify resources and establish a valuable flow. It is likely that both
semi-segregated and resource-specific flows will exist in future urban contexts, but the gateways used
for either flows require different designs to improve the purification process.

Educate on and facilitate the use of gateways for semi-segregated resource flows
The advantage of gateways for semi-segregated flows is that obsolete resources are kept by
consumers in few separate stocks, minimising the logistical burden. Semi-segregated flows, however,
involve complex purification processes to produce material-specific flows. Although there is some
commercial interest in these flows, they rarely become as pure and valuable as their virgin
counterpart. The necessity to purify materials in semi-segregated flows could cease if instead of the
materials, the components were flowing back to manufacturers. Components in semi-segregated flows
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would then have to be designed to allow identification for sorting through shape-recognition
technology or technology to track and trace resources (Gundupalli, Hait, and Thakur 2017).
Regardless of the output of the flow, to align the content of the intercepted semi-segregated flows with
the technology to purify the flow, agreements must be made between the manufacturers and the
collectors of the resources. If FMCGs non-compatible with current purification technology are banned
from the market, there is less risk for errors caused by consumers. However, aside from what is the
projected final pure flow, consumers need to be educated on the use of gateways for semi-segregated
resource flows. Gateways could be equipped with technology that helps consumers sort and identify
resources.

Equip gateways with aids to generate resource-specific flows

Resource-specific flows have cost-intensive logistic infrastructure, but they also have several
advantages for industry. First, complex and expensive technology to purify the flows is not required as
the resources are already confined. Second, they allow manufacturers to design free from the
restrictions of purification technology, which means that they can differentiate themselves in the
market using unique materials and assemblies aiming to flow components rather than materials.
Finally, if manufacturers intercept obsolete resources they can revalorise by keeping them at the
highest utility. For consumers, sorting a single resource is an easy task with low risk of flow
contamination. However, to control logistic costs owners of resource-specific flows encourage
consumers to keep stock by only rewarding the return of specific volumes. Consumers are faced with
increasing logistical burden to manage all the individual flows, and there is a risk that they are not
willing to engage in activities to stock and transit many specific resources or to allocate space for
every segregated stock. To manage this risk, the use of gateways could be facilitated with aids to
manage the stocks, such as smart bins (Folianto, Low, and Yeow 2015) that inform of the amount of
resources and remind of transit to gateways.

2. Gateways are to be reached by consumers

The current meagre results of revalorisation services are in part due to consumers’ disengagement.
Consumers have a key role in taking resources to gateways for revalorisation. Offering gateways in
convenient locations reduces the logistical burden on consumers and increases the likelihood to
establish a resource flow.

Design gateways that prevent consumers from moving resources

Home-delivery of consumables without facilitating materials turns homes into gateways to revalorise
obsolete resources on the spot and only requires consumers to place an order. This prevents
consumers from having to move obsolete resources. Nevertheless, not all goods can be revalorised by
consumers on the spot, which limits the number of resources that can use the consumption scene as a
gateway. Instead, gateways were identified near consumers’ homes, which significantly shortened the
transit-distance, such as regular venues (e.g. communal bins) or assigned timebound spots. The flow
of resources out of homes using these gateways, however, still depends on consumers (remembering
to) transiting them. Companies are now offering means to ease this process for consumers such as
Bin-Ovation (www.bin-ovation.com), an app that reminds consumers when to put out a bin. A sheer
contrast, however, exists with the increasing ease of resources flowing directly into homes. Smart lock
technology enables services for unattended delivery of resources in designated boxes or in-home. The
technology has already been trialled by companies like Amazon and Waitrose and makes receiving
resources very simple for consumers. Such technologies can be used to design effortless gateways
for both the interception as well as the delivery of resources and reduce the burden on consumers.

Locate gateways to align the movement of resources to the movement of consumers

Gateways that eliminate the movement of resources by consumers might not be readily and
economically available in the near future. Instead, the only way for companies to afford fully
segregated resource flows is to intercept centralised volumes of obsolete resources from a low
number of resources. For example, some of the closed-loop FMCGs involved resource-specific
gateways in locations exclusive to where the purchase of those resources was made, while others had
to be moved to venues visited more regularly. However, combining a journey made to go shopping
with a plan of dropping resources does not go without preparation (Zeeuw van der Laan and
Aurisicchio, Submitted). Instead, gateways can be situated in convenient and accessible locations and
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take into account how and where consumers travel to. For example, megacities will likely promote the
use of public transportation (Zhao 2010) which is an opportunity to locate gateways in transport
stations. The increasing popularity of e-commerce (McKinsey & Company 2018) will diminish the need
for consumers to commute directly to retailers; it instead creates an opportunity to situate gateways
near to pick-up points such as Amazon’s lockers.

Provide generic gateways for multiple resource flows

The studied gateways were found in a variety of locations. People are likely to consume a multitude of
goods and are increasingly required to move segregated resources to various locations. This complex
logistics could be simplified by using just one accessible gateway for multiple flows of segregated
resources. For example, the royal mail pillar box, an open-access drop-off point, is used for several of
the resource flows investigated in this study. Gateways are simply entry points to systems and
therefore they can be independent from the infrastructure to move resources. Companies could decide
to partner on gateways and use the same location as an entry point. Resources would be offered in
collect-and-return products or sorted on the spot. The technology needed to design these future
gateways could be similar to that used in Amazon lockers.

3. Resources must flow away from gateways

The movement of resources is costly, especially in megacities that aim to reduce traffic activity (Zhao
2010). Costs can be optimised if consumers cover part of the distance to centralise volumes.
However, gateways can also be designed to minimise the movement needed for resources to flow.

Design gateways to reverse the movement of resources

If consumables are provided at gateways there is no need to move obsolete resources to other
locations. This is beneficial as it reduces the volume of cycled resources and eliminates the need for
infrastructure and purification technology. On the spot revalorisation will, however, not be feasible for
all goods, for example if consumables cannot be moved consumer-packaging free or due to
contamination risks. Currently, consumables are mostly offered in exclusive venues, which poses a
logistical burden that barely differs from stocking and transiting obsolete resources to gateways for
interception. Instead, such gateways need to become more common and favourably located.

Couple gateways with generic infrastructure

Waste flows have come to exist to improve public health. Managing these flows and their disposal is
expensive as linear disposal does not generate revenue. The collection of semi-segregated resources
allows to off-set some of the infrastructure costs by revalorising the materials. To reduce traffic activity,
it would be favourable to decrease resource-specific infrastructure and instead optimise the traffic from
and to gateways that intercept resources for revalorisation. We can learn from optimised distribution of
resources, although there will be differences between the delivery and interception of resources.
Gateways such as open-access drop-offs use generic infrastructure. Companies that service the
movement of resources such as UPS have developed similar generic infrastructure for larger items.
Drone delivery technology is a generic infrastructure of potential interest.

Conclusions
To establish circular resource flows, resources must enter revalorisation systems. FMCGs’ resources
consistently fail to be intercepted while there are more FMCGs consumed and the resources are more
complex. This work defined ‘gateways’ as entry points to revalorisation systems and reflected on how
to develop and offer gateways in future urban contexts.
This work contributes to the knowledge on resource management in the circular economy. Further, the
insights can be used by industry as well as governments to consider how to design gateways in
systems and services to close resource loops.

References
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De Wit, Marc, Jelmer Hoogzaad, Shyaam Ramkumar, Harald Friedl, and Annerieke Douma. 2018.
The Circularity Gap Report.
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Close Resource Loops: What Is Required of Consumers to Revalorise Fast-Moving Consumer
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Never Make Predictions, Especially About The Future: What TRIZ

Tells Us About Sustainability In 2030 - Darrell Mann
Darrell Mann

University Of Buckingham/Systematic Innovation Ltd

Devon

United Kingdom

An integration of TRIZ and Complex Systems Theory is used to challenge the Four Fallacies of
economists and other professions tasked with predicting the future. The evolved methodology is used
to demonstrate the futility of work on autonomous vehicles, to help transform the dysfunctional global
patent system, suggest environmentalists stay ‘under the radar’ for the next 5-8 years, and help
sustainability researchers ensure they work in areas that have a chance of making genuine impact
rather than fall in to the 98% of innovation activities that deliver no tangible value.

Introduction
How to construct a meaningful linear narrative on a subject that is all about non-linearity, discontinuity
and everything-connected-to-everything-else? That’s the magic trick being attempted in the next 3000
words about TRIZ, Complex Systems Theory and their applicability to the job of seeing the future, and
in particular, the future of sustainability. The journey starts with a crash-course in the modern version
of TRIZ. This is then followed by a critical examination of why those tasked with helping society to see
the future have largely failed in their aims and objectives. This foundation is then used to describe two
means of more reliably seeing the future, the first looking at how society emerges from a small number
of ‘first-principle’ behavioural memes, and the second looking at a what happens when we recognise
that it is not so much the observable societal trends that determine the future as the relationships
between those trends. A final potpourri section examines a number of detail-level applications of the
methods to draw a number of actionable conclusions and recommendations regarding how society is
likely to evolve in the next dozen years and what influencers might be able to do to ‘nudge’ things in a
direction that helps ensure a more sustainable future.

A Crash Course in TRIZ

Like nearly every major scientific discovery (Wolpert, 1992), the history of the Soviet-originated Theory
of Inventive Problem Solving, TRIZ, begins with an accident. What we now know as TRIZ could have
started anywhere on the planet, but it happened to be a group of Soviet engineers that, in 1946, were
sent to the Patent Office with the task of ‘finding good patents.’ The moment that question is posed its
incumbent upon researchers to first establish what ‘good’ means. 97% of patents – even more so
today – will never make any money for the inventors. One definition of ‘good’, therefore becomes, ‘did
the invention deliver positive economic value?’ Inventing is easy, turning the invention into innovation
turns out to be much more difficult. The job of innovating is one of the most complex – nay chaotic –
tasks that humans ever embark upon. There are myriad reasons why an innovation attempt might fail,
only one of which is the ‘good’ness of the intellectual property on which it builds. With this in mind, the
TRIZ researchers – unknowingly at the time – tried to dig deeper to uncover the ‘first principles’ of
technical innovation success. A ‘good’ solution may not make money over the lifespan of the patent,
but it could deliver significant value to mankind beyond the life of the patent. What TRIZ tells us, when
we extract the signal from the noise is that ‘good’ solutions:
 Evolve in a clear direction towards greater ‘ideality’ - they deliver greater benefits at lower
cost and lower ‘harm’.
 They make better use of existing resources, and only add ‘new’ materials, substances or
sources of energy as a last resort.
 Evolve through predictable discontinuous jumps.

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 They uncover and resolve contradictions. ‘Good’ solutions, in other words, don’t make
trade-offs and compromises.

The bulk of the Soviet TRIZ research ended in the early 1980s, by which time the ‘first principles’ of
innovation success had been revealed. At least from a technical perspective. The subject effectively
stagnated until the late 1990s, when, thanks in so small part to the emergence of faster and more
effective computerised analysis methods, it was possible to analyse many more ‘solutions’ at a much
faster rate, including ‘non-technical’ innovation attempts: in business, politics, the Arts, architecture,
Nature, and ultimately every domain of human and natural system activity. At the time of writing, close
to 10 million case studies have been accumulated and added to the TRIZ ‘database’ of first principles
knowledge. All of the original Soviet findings remain intact, but now that so much more data has been
acquired, and understanding of complex systems has grown, the TRIZ world is able to say with a high
degree of verifiability that the true ‘DNA’ of innovation has now been revealed. 98% of innovation
attempts currently end in failure. Only the 21st Century evolution of TRIZ – often called ‘Systematic
Innovation’ – can point users towards a clear understanding of what the 2% did that the 98% failed to
understand or effectively deploy.
For many reasons (Mann, 2002), TRIZ continues to bear the characteristics of a ‘cult’. One of those
reasons is that the original researchers had little connection to the established academic world. If the
job of this academic world is to build a ‘mountain’ of knowledge, the TRIZ researchers in effect built
their own separate mountain. We can observe a telling example of the level of this separation when
we examine the academic world’s attempts to hypothesise a ‘meso-science’ (Song, 2018). The
underpinning idea behind this meso-science is that, if academics bridged the divides between different
disciplines, a number of core ‘common principles’ might be unearthed. Thanks to the accidental TRIZ
start point of looking at patents – which are granted in a purely arbitrary chronological sequence – the
traditional inter-disciplinary divisions never existed. Meso-scientists have spent the last twenty years
speculating how to bridge their inter-domain gaps, without apparently realising that TRIZ has already
done the job for them.

21st Century TRIZ

Figure 1: Is MesoScience The New Word For TRIZ, Or Is TRIZ The New Word For Mesoscience?

Never Make Predictions, Especially About The Future

Often called the ‘dismal science’, it is difficult to imagine a more dysfunctional domain of human
endeavour than Economics. It is the economists that are given the task of helping politicians and
sociologists to see the future. The post facto evidence strongly implicates the profession’s singular
failure to meaningfully predict the future as the root of nearly every crisis the modern world has ever
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experienced. Looked at from a modern-TRIZ first-principles perspective, the underlying reasons for the
economist dysfunction converge on four fundamental Fallacies.
The Rational-Actors Fallacy: the implicit and explicit assumption that humans behave rationally with
regard to the economic decisions they make. This is the Fallacy that the leading edge of economic
research is currently grappling with. There have been a swathe of texts attempting – usually building
from an empirical (i.e. not first-principle) perspective – to build human ‘irrationality’ into the
mathematical models economists are naturally inclined to continue building…
Pareto Top-Down
Fallacy Fallacy

Rational-Actors Trade-Off
Fallacy Fallacy

Figure 2: The Four Fundamental Fallacies Of Modern Economics

The Top-Down Fallacy: perhaps because economists tend to come from a mathematical background,
they have a collective propensity to build mathematical models of the world. Almost exclusively, these
models are built around ‘top-down’ analysis. Economists, for example, look at fluctuations in share
prices for the last three years and assume that it is possible to extrapolate from this data to predict
share prices for the next three. Or they look at unemployment rates. Or life expectancy. Or GDP. All of
the things that are outputs rather than inputs. Attempting to do this job in a complex system is both
invalid and futile. There is no such thing as a mathematical model to describe how the real world of
complex systems behaves. The fundamental problem being that the real world is full of discontinuities.
Discontinuities that look like this (Mann, 2018):

Increasing
Ideality
contradiction emerges

vicious
cycle

virtuous
contradiction resolved
cycle

Figure 3: The Fundamental (First-Principle) Dynamics Of Discontinuous Change

When a system ‘jumps’ from one S-Curve to another it is because one set of (first-principle) properties
shift. One set of rules jumps to another. One set of assumptions is replaced by other, hopefully better,
ones. The old mathematics jumps to new mathematics. The only way to meaningfully model ‘the
future’ is to do it bottom up – understand what the first principles from which everything else emerges
are, and understand how, when someone innovates, these principles get shifted.
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The Pareto Fallacy: Another inherent trait of complex systems and S-Curves is that it is not possible to
ignore ‘second order’ or supposed minor effects. In the words of the complex systems cliché, the
flapping of the butterfly wings in Brussels, can cause a tornado in Epsom. Pareto analysis would have
ignored the butterfly, and thus missed the vital discontinuity-triggering ‘weak signal’. The big challenge
here is that the vast majority of butterfly wing flaps do not cause tornadoes. Most are noise and
contain no ‘signal’. Thus far only TRIZ is able to distinguish between wing-flap noise and signal.
Trade-Off Fallacy: the subtlest, but also the most profound, dysfunction of the economist community
(including renegade mathematician-cum-trader-cum-risk-analyst, Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Taleb,
2007), who seems to ‘get’ the other three Fallacies). The Trade-Off Fallacy is the assumption that
when conflicts emerge the manner in which they are resolved is through trade-off and compromise.
Eliminate innovation from the equation and this assumption is valid, but in the real world – despite the
98% failure rate – innovation happens all the time. Economists, mathematicians, politicians and most
disciplines, however, teach people only how to make trade-offs. Teach people mathematics and
you’ve given them the perfect tool for calculating the ‘optimum’ way to manage conflict and fail to
innovate. Taleb calls the situations where this assumption proves to be invalid, ‘black swan’ events.
The idea of the metaphor being that they are not just unpredictable, but they are also unforeseeable.
From a TRIZ perspective, this belief is completely erroneous. So-called ‘black swan’ events are highly
foreseeable and predictable when looked at through the lens of emerging contradictions and the (first
principle) manner in which the innovators of the world successfully eliminate them. The Figure 3 ‘jump’
from one S-Curve to the next is in fact precisely about the situation where a contradiction is revealed
and resolved.
So much for the future prediction problem, let us now examine how TRIZ and Complex Systems
Theory can help us to do a better job of seeing what will happen in the future:

Emergent Behaviour
One of the biggest attempts to build a model of societal evolution came from the American historians
William Strauss and Neil Howe (Strauss, 1997). Whether they got lucky or not – there is little evidence
either understood complex systems – the generation cycle model they revealed can be seen to be
built on a first-principle-like ‘DNA’: ‘The way that you were raised by your parents will have an impact
on the manner in which you raise your own’. Tracking back through the last 400+ years of ‘American’
history they observed an emergent, repeating pattern of discontinuous S-Curve jumps. The duration of
these jumps turns out to be four generations, such that, every fourth generation, US society goes
through a period of crisis and re-calibration. Now we bring an understanding of complex systems to
the Strauss and Howe findings (Mann, 2009), it is possible to show how a series of recurring societal
patterns emerge. There is nothing to suggest that these emergent patterns are ‘inevitable’ rules, but
what can be observed is that as long as the underpinning first principle behaviours continue to apply,
the same cyclical pattern of repeating behaviours will prevail. Put yet another way, so long as parents
keep trading-off between the two ends of a contradiction, society will continue to behave in the same
oscillatory manner: some generations under-protect their children, others over-protect them. One
behaviour is a reaction to the problems of the other. In case you couldn’t guess, Western society is
currently experiencing a period of significant over-protection of children. Not coincidentally, this over-
protection coincides with the crisis society currently finds itself in.

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Figure 4: Oscillatory Parenting Behaviour & Generation-Cycle-Driven Crisis Periods

If the underpinning ‘DNA’ doesn’t mutate, according to the model, this crisis period will deepen for the
next five to eight years, before reaching a climactic end and jump to a new societal S-Curve. In the
previous cycle, the climax was the Second World War. In the previous cycle it was the Civil War, and
in the cycle before that it was the War of Independence. There’s no ‘rule’ that says the crisis periods
have to end in armed conflict, but if the US is involved, the historical precedent is quite high. Whatever
the impending current cycle climax turns out to be, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the
focus of mankind will not be on sustainability. After the crisis is over, on the other hand, and given the
current perilous state of the planet’s ecology, it is highly likely that sustainability initiatives will be
widely embraced. The message for environmental entrepreneurs, NGOs and Government bodies
wishing to demonstrate a positive environmental impact is to stay under the radar for the next few
years, and then make a big push after the crisis climax comes. After crisis periods, ‘community’ feeling
is at its highest, so it is much easier to get people to come together to do the right thing for the
common good.

Making Sense of Market Trends

One of the apparent paradoxes of the world of consumer, market and societal trend watching industry
is that prospective innovators and change agents who design solutions consistent with the directions
of travel suggested by the trend direction are very likely to fail. The trends might in themselves be
perfectly logical, but the problem is that it is not the trends themselves that determine how society
evolves but rather the relationship between the trends. This turns out to be the key insight
underpinning the still-ongoing, 20-year TrenDNA research programme (Mann, 2009). Particularly
important, then, to the meaningful mapping of the future is identification of situations in which a) pairs
of trends conflict with one another, and b) trends link to one another to form a self-reinforcing cycle.
Figure 5 offers an example of a typical TrenDNA broad spectrum, societal-level trend interaction map:

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Figure 5: Typical TrenDNA Societal Trend Interaction Map

And here are some of the important cycles and conflicts that have relevance to sustainability:

Figure 6: Critical Trend Relationships Pertaining to The Sustainability Agenda

Specific Issues
The evolved TRIZ/Complex-Systems-Theory tools have been used to deliver over $5B of new value
over the course of the last 20 years. Relatively few of the cases have been published due to
commercial confidentiality reasons. The following mini illustrations of the new generation prediction
tools could each have been the subject of a paper in their own right. The hope is that readers will be
able to join the dots between the methodology descriptions in the previous sections and the
predictions emerging from each case. In the event that connection is not made satisfactorily, full
versions of each story will be published in future issues of the TRIZ (Systematic Innovation, 2019).

Autonomous Vehicles
According to Wolmar (Wolmar, 2018), the current investment into research on autonomous vehicles is
approaching $50B per annum. One of the purported benefits of a world of autonomous vehicles is a
reduction in environmental harm. Looked at through a complex systems-oriented contradiction lens,
however, and the likelihood of widespread deployment of autonomous vehicles within the next twenty
years is zero. In nearly every walk of life, people tend to want to stay inside their comfort zones.
Automotive engineers love working on automotive problems. Give them a specification for an
autonomous vehicle that will stay in lane during a snowstorm and they will happily disappear for years

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to go and find a solution. Difficult as they might be, the technical problems associated with creating a
safe self-driving car are easy compared to the related legislative, political and societal contradictions
that need to be solved – Table 1. No-one is as yet working on most of these problems. The reasons
being that – the higher-level contradiction – they require cross-disciplinary cooperation and for people
to get out of their areas of domain expertise.

Table 1: Contradictions To Be Solved In Order To Achieve Different Levels Of Autonomy

Renewable Energy
In economic good times, people buy goods based, first on benefits, second on cost and third on
reduction of harm. In bad economic times, people buy things based first on cost, second on benefits
and third on harm reduction. The good news is that, over the long term, ‘harm’ (i.e. all of the
environmental negatives) goes down. The bad news is that, for the population at large, harm reduction
is always the lowest of their three purchase choice criteria. The only sensible responses to this fact for
anyone wishing to make a genuine sustainability difference is either:
 Understand the dynamics of discontinuous change as shown in the Figure 3 S-Curve graph:
when solutions jump from one paradigm to the next, things get worse before they get better
(think back to when mobile phones first appeared on the market). The way to be successful
when your new offering is ‘worse’ is to find a high value niche for whom the unique benefits of
the new offering outweigh the negatives (think about who bought those first mobile phones).
For a classic solar energy example of ‘getting it right’ observe what is currently happening in
Dubai (Ponce de Leon, 2018).
 Understand that innovation is all about the resolution of contradictions. Presenting a harm-
reducing solution as a compromise to customers doesn’t work. The successful solution needs
to deliver higher benefit and less harm, it needs to be cheaper and less harmful. In light of the

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crisis period ahead of us in the next 5-8 years, cheaper-and-less-harmful would appear to be
the contradiction-solving sweet-spot.

From the specific perspective of renewable energy if mankind captured 0.08% of the sun’s energy that
hits the Earth, we would meet all of our energy needs. When we examine the vicious-cycles
preventing progress, however, we see a locked-in vicious-cycle of industry players with a vested
interest in continuing to do what they’re currently good at…

Break the Patent Stranglehold

…which brings us to the broader issue of the global intellectual property system. Which, today, does
the complete opposite of what it was set up to achieve. The original intention was to protect small
inventors, but today it has become a weapon used by large corporations to deliberately slow
innovation. Again, when we reduce the way the world works down to first principles, we see a shift in
the ethos of an enterprise as it grows from being a small start-up to when it becomes a multi-national.
Small organisation have little to lose and so are much more inclined to take chances. Once an
organisation has become big, however, there is a lot to lose and so the driving ethos becomes to
protect what you have. Innovation in this protection-dominated context suddenly becomes a problem
rather than an opportunity. Lots of ‘R&D’ will take place, but its primary objective is to act as insurance
in case an upstart competitor launches something novel. The Rule of Three (Sheth, 2002) clearly
shows that once an enterprise grows to become the number one or number two player in an industry,
their job is to become efficient and to maximise their economies of scale, and very definitely not to
disrupt those objectives by making innovative changes.
Because TRIZ has successfully distilled the signal from the noise, innovation-wise, it has revealed a
comprehensive suite of Evolution Patterns (Mann, 2007). What these patterns enable is the possibility
to design around every patent on the planet, and to ‘invent’ all of the useful, ideality-increasing
solutions that will come in the future. Breakthepatentstranglehold.com is an ongoing crowd-funding
initiative to use TRIZ to negate the value of the IP of the multinationals that are currently abusing the
patent system.

Conclusions
As far as the sustainability community is concerned, what are main intended take-aways from this
short journey? One: that the ongoing economic, political and societal crises are only going to get
worse for the next 5-8 years. In this scenario, the best strategy is to continue working to ‘do the right
thing’, but to do it ‘under the radar’. Don’t push rivers. Better to wait for them to start flowing in your
direction. Two: if we wish to tell others that we’re doing something about sustainability, any project will
do. If we actually wish to make a tangible environmental difference, the need is to work in high-value
niches or actively solving cost/harm contradictions, and ideally both. Especially if we can transform a
dysfunctional patent system in the process.

References
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journal.com
Mann, D.L., (2007), ‘Hands-On Systematic Innovation’, IFR Press, 2nd Edition.
Mann, D.L., Özözer, Y.,(2009), ‘TrenDNA: Understanding Populations Better Than They Understand
Themselves’, IFR Press.
Mann, D.L., (2018), ‘Business Matrix 3.0: Solving Management, People and Process Contradictions’,
IFR Press.
Ponce de Leon, J., (2018), ‘Dubai pushes solar power cost to world's lowest as largest single-site
solar park set to rise’, Gulf News, March 19.
Sheth, J., Sisodia, R., (2002), ‘The Rule Of Three: Why Only Three Major Competitors Will Survive In
Any Market’, Free Press.

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Song, J., (2018), ‘Mesoscience: Peering In To A Once Neglected World’, Bulletin of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Vol.32, No.2.
Strauss, W., Howe, N., (1997), ‘The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy’, Broadway.
Systematic Innovation E-Zine, (2019), ‘Managing The Unknowns: Autonomous Vehicles’, Issue 203,
February, 2019.
Taleb, N.N., (2007), ‘The Black Swan: The Impact Of The Highly Improbable’, Allen Lane.
Womar, C., (2018), ‘Driverless Cars: On A Road To Nowhere’, London Publishing Partnership.
Wolpert, L., (1992), ‘The Unnatural Nature of Science’, Faber & Faber.

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Building a Sustainable and Inclusive Value Chain Network in the

Andean Camelid Textile Sector - Adriana Marina, Nicolas Maffey, Paul Middelkoop

Adriana Marina

Founder

Hecho Por Nosotros and Animanὰ

France

Nicolas Maffey

Economist/Project Leader

Hecho Por Nosotros and Animanὰ

France

Paul Middelkoop

Independent Consultant

Hecho por Nosotros & Animaná

France and

Collaborator

CABA

Argentina

The global fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world and rife with labour
exploitation. Only the activities involved in the agricultural sector are more water-consuming than
those related to clothes production. The environmental and social unsustainability of the current
fashion industry model motivates many stakeholders to advocate for its change.

Brands are facing the need to introduce responsible decisions throughout the production of garments,
selecting raw-materials and suppliers that are able to ensure decent work and low environmental
impact. As established by the goal 12 of the SDG, a proper quality of life is inherent in the efficient use
of resources. An integrated approach to textile production can offer solutions for both social and
environmental problems, not only in the making of clothes but also by promoting sustainable
consumption.

This paper will examine how an alternative approach to textile production can transform the industry
into a source of aid, encouraging the development of previously disenfranchised rural communities by
integrating SMEs into the global economy in a sustainable way. In a traditional linear supply chain,
local producers, especially those in rural areas, are disconnected from the global market, leaving them
vulnerable to exploitation, commercial disconnect, and underdevelopment. A holistic value chain
network approach would lead to the development of a fair, transparent and technology-driven market
which entails close collaboration and synergy of all stakeholders. This paper demonstrates this
integrated approach of working at every step of the value chain in the case of the Andean camelids
textile sector through Animaná, a B-Corporation, and Hecho por Nosotros, an NGO. As a result,
artisans were upskilled by having access to market prices and the best practices and by
understanding the changing demands in the luxury market. Protecting the ancestral practices of
communities is essential to enhance the quality of life. Traditions are bounded to a wise use of the
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land and resources, but at the same time it is important to facilitate them access to new technologies
and information. In the process, small producers can bring their knowledge to the table and discover
their own findings on new materials and processes that could be introduced. Artisans are mostly
female workers, providing them with the tools to grow their businesses is an effective way to empower
them and diminish the gender gap. One of the targets of goal 5 of the SDG is to formalize home-work
so that the employment of women in the textile product-chain is recognized and paid for its real value.

Academic expertise as well as financial, governmental and institutional support and integrations are
crucial to cultivate a self-reinforcing cycle. Straighten partnerships at a local and international level are
essential to escalate this business model, bringing more actors into this process benefits local
development and promotes a global systemic change. This approach by Hecho por Nosotros and
Animaná can be applied to other textile industries. Furthermore, it formulates recommendations for
policy-makers, businesses and the civil society on how to overcome the challenges of the fashion
industry. Goal 8 (SDG) states that “Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the
conditions that allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the
environment” and textile fibers from Camelids represent a potential way to create opportunities for
developing countries in South America.

Introduction
The environmental and social unsustainability of the current fashion industry motivates many
stakeholders to advocate for its change. This paper will examine how an alternative approach can
transform the industry into a source of development for previously disenfranchised rural communities
by integrating SMEs into the global economy in a sustainable way. We begin by tracing the
development of global value chains (GVCs) in the fashion industry and outlining the potentials and
challenges for development they present through social and economic upgrading. We then switch to
GVCs of SMEs that make garments in rural South America to identify why the current models there
do not produce equitable outcomes. We argue that in a traditional linear supply chain local producer,
especially those in rural areas, are disconnected from the global market, leaving them vulnerable to
exploitation, commercial disconnect, and underdevelopment. This is exacerbated by lack of working
market institutions.

Following this analysis, we propose a holistic global value chain network approach that would lead to
the development of strategies entailing close collaboration and synergy of all the parties involved,
leading to a fair and transparent market. In this paper, we present a case of sustainability in the
Andean camelids textile sector through Animaná, a B-Corporation, and Hecho por Nosotros, an
NGO. Their integrated approach works at every step so that artisans not only have access to market
prices and the best practices, but can also easily adapt to changing demands in the (luxury) market.
Value is added and retained at the local level. We thus argue that academic expertise as well as
financial, governmental, and institutional support and integrations are crucial to cultivate a self-
reinforcing cycle. The experience of HxN and Animaná can be applied to other textile industries and
can help formulate recommendations for policy-makers, businesses and the civil society on how to
overcome the challenges that tag along the sustainable fashion industry.

Global Value Chains and Development: Asian Fast Fashion

For many industrialised and newly industrialized economies the textile industry was an important part
of industrialization. Low entry barriers with low fixed costs and relatively simple technology, combined
with the labour intensity, gave the chance of employing a rapidly growing population, and a growing
share of women in the labour force. Similarly in the past decades, for many Asian countries, as well
as in Latin America to a lesser degree, the industry has proven to be a main driver of economic
development.

Most garments in the fashion industry today are the end-product of a non-integrated buyer-driven
global value chains (Global Value Chains). Buyer-driven chains in fashion are characterized by
“decentralized, globally dispersed production networks and [are] coordinated by lead firms that
control activities that add value to apparel products. They often outsource all or most of the
manufacturing process to a global network of suppliers. The 90s and 2000s saw an explosion of firms
offshoring their production and services to contractors in low-wage countries. The advent of digital

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technology enabled responding to ever faster changing consumer demand and preference 4. This
evolution has had important implications for equity in the global economy.

Seeing the world through the GVC lense

GVC literature has seen a fast rise since the mid-90s to become a dominant perspective on analysing
economic development. As the theory has matured it has consolidated a five-fold typology, of which
all types have different implications for power relations throughout the chain (see the schematic
below). Which in turn has corresponding outcomes on development and sharing of profits.

In a market model coordination is nearly absent, and power relations are equal when supply and
demand match. The costs of switching between buyers and suppliers is very low as products are
simple and can be made without input from the buyer. On the other end of the spectrum, in the
hierarchy model, lead firms perform a strong coordinating function, dictating specifications, prices and
delivery times to their suppliers who are more likely than not subsidiaries. This happens when product
specifications are too complex to codify (i.e. they cannot be sent over to a supplier for them to easily
interpret them) and/or intellectual property is at risk when shared outside of the firm. One step towards
the center, within captive supply chains products are still complex, but specifications can be codified.
However capabilities of suppliers are low. This means that suppliers, who execute relatively simple
tasks, are guided by buyers or lead firms. Traditionally, buyers would even bring all the inputs to the
supplier for them to construct. The cost to switch is high for the supplier as he will lose his ability to
participate in profiting from producing a more complex product. In the absence of choice, suppliers
have little options but to submit. Modular value chains combine the ease of codification of products
with the abundance of suppliers who can make them in the market model. Switching to new suppliers
is very easy, as technical files on designs and specifications are easily shared with new suppliers. In

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the middle ground relation models are found, where close dialogue between more or less equal
partners, due to a mutual dependency on each other’s competencies, characterizes the prevalence of
close coordination.

These different types can coexist across a value chain, within the same sector, or even within the
same node.

The Global Fashion Value Chain: Opportunities and Costs for Development
Global Value Chains, and the fashion industry more specifically, can provide populations with
opportunities for social and economic upgrading (i.e. development). In the literature economic
upgrading can take the form of a). process upgrading: making operations more efficient, e.g. through
reorganisation of the workflow or automatization; b). product upgrading: the introduction of more
advanced products, often requiring more skilled workers; c). functional upgrading: including more
complex tasks in producing the end product. In the garment industry this can be finishing, packaging
and take care of logistics and transports; d). chain upgrading: moving towards more technologically
advanced production chains, i.e. moving into new industries or product markets with different
marketing channels and manufacturing. This has all successfully occured in many Asian countries
that followed the Export Orientalization Industry strategy.

Gereffi, Humphrey and Sturgeon describe the experience of the Asian Tigers (Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Singapore and Korea) as countries moving away from a captive GVC, i.e. assembling imported
inputs in export-processing zones supplied by lead firms, to more complex and independent domestic
production destined for export, characterized by a relation model. This required higher skill levels and
coordination, “to interpret designs, make samples, source inputs, monitor product quality, meet the
buyer’s price and guarantee on-time delivery”. Lead firms only needed to place orders and send
designs, and the supplier take care of the rest. They argue that this teaches business to compete
internationally and generate backward linkages to the domestic economy. And in fact, these countries
have had great success moving from simple products such as clothes, to more advanced technical
products, with China following the same path. And it should be noted that this success in economic
upgrading has not been solely the result of market outcomes, but just as crucially strong institutional
support as well as planning by the state agencies of the Asian Tigers and China.

Social upgrading includes the adoption of higher skill sets, but also higher incomes, better working
conditions, and the protection of labour rights. We might add to that respect to the environment.
Barrientos and Gereffi argue that special care should be paid to ensure that social upgrading occurs,
as economic upgrading does not automatically mean improved lives for people. Again the poor
working conditions in the garment and electronic industries of Asia are a prime example.

As said, the GVC for textile products is typically seen as buyer-driven. The textile value chain can be
divided in five stages; 1) design; 2) raw material supply; 3) yarn and fabric production and finishing;
4) garment production; 5) distribution and sales. Generally, garment production involves low-skilled
task (cutting, sewing and finishing) and is very labour-intensive. Yarn and fabric production is
characterised as more capital and labour-intensive, where higher skills are needed. Design is
typically high-skilled labour.

The schematic below illustrates the complexity of the garment value chain. It is important to note for
our argument of adopting an holistic approach to value chain development, that even for a simple
product such as clothing, many actors, working on many different aspects at different nodes, all
influence each other, and can impede or bolster other actors throughout the chain.

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Figure 2. Apparel Value Chain. Source: Frederick, 2010.

In addition, the distribution of value-added activities throughout the chain is important in determining
the potential for social upgrading. Within the fashion GVC intangible assets such as copyrights, brand
names and designs started to constitute more and more value added, while the costs of materials and
labour fell. As such, the biggest share of profits remains with (Western) lead firms.

The fashion GVC can be characterized as modular due to the ease of sharing product specifications
with suppliers who source their own inputs. Lead firms can easily switch between suppliers as the
work is low-skilled and not too complex. Especially as the advent of information technology means
that coordination functioning ánd monitoring of product quality can be done at arm’s length. However,
this has not meant more equal bargaining opportunities due to an over-abundance of suppliers. Due
to the low complexity, barrier to new entrants are low. As such, any bargaining power that suppliers
have, because lead firms actually can’t make anything themselves anymore, is non-existent. Many
countries have joined the ‘race to the bottom’ and can produce clothes at will, of which east-African
countries are only the latest set of those who have joined the fray. Even though there are many
fashion brands, there are seemingly even more suppliers who are eager to work with them .

An unequal chain
Due to these factors the gains and costs shared by actors throughout the chain is incredibly unequal.
For instance, in 2011 it was calculated that a shirt sold in Canada for $14, earned a factory owner 58
cents, and a worker 12 cents. A retailer made a 60% markup. Nowadays, consumer-facing brands
work with (freelance precarious) designers to jump on the latest trends, demanding rapid delivery
times from the garment manufacturers who they work with. Who themselves have often
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subcontracted their work. Certain new industry-wide initiatives notwithstanding, this has led to an
incredibly rapid pace of production and consumption. Brands have moved from 2 cycles a year to 50.
In 2017 107 billion pieces of clothing were made. This has come at a price.

We will not exhaustively list the costs here, they are easily found in the many reports on the subject
and are well-known. Suffice to say is that 35 to 40% of the workers do not receive a wage that gives
them the bare minimum. 181 million work in vulnerable, unprotected and insecure conditions in a
sector where child labour is prevalent. The industry uses the amount of water that can be used to
quench the thirst of 110 million people for a year. 65% of the fiber used was synthetic. Microfibers
that get into the water amount to between 4 and 7 million plastic bags per day. The industry is
responsible for 3% of carbon emissions worldwide.

Artisanal SMEs and the potential for sustainable development

As we have now traced the dynamics of the fashion GVC, and its risks and opportunities, it is now
time to turn our attention to the dynamics specific to those of SMEs, and more specifically those of
South American artisanal textile industry in the Andes. We shall see that they face their own
challenges, and require a non-traditional approach to develop them and avoid the negative impact
that has occured in developing the Asian fashion industry.

In 2006 it was estimated that over 95% of 17 million businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean
were small, and medium-sized enterprises. Employing more than 50% of the population, they are
very important sources for job creation. The ILO warns that job creation by SMEs does not
automatically entail decent jobs as much work revolves around the household, is informal, and
unprotected. And SMEs are usually not even close to the competitivity and productivity of bigger
companies.

Challenges to development for SMEs

The following challenges to economic upgrading for SMEs are identified in the literature;

 inefficient management;
 use of inadequate technologies;
 high level of informal business limiting access to markets;
 low level of cooperation among other enterprises (limiting collective skill sharing, bargaining,
marketing, etc.);
 weak institutional support;
 a regulatory environment biased against SMEs;
 weak access to finance;
 weak access to electricity;
 competition from informal companies;
 lack of market information and export readiness.
 poor marketing skills and ability to track market trends;
 difficulty identifying potential buyers;
 engaging directly with international buyers

The camelids textile chain in the Andes

The textile camelid chain in the Andes produces garments and accessories made from fibers of
camelids (i.e. alpacas, llamas, vicunas and guanacos), and exclusively exists of SMEs. The fibers
from these animals have a very high quality. Camelid fleece is lighter, warmer and feels softer than
wool. Those of alpaca, vicunas and guanacos can compete with the finest cashmere fibers. And the
fiber of vicuna is seen as the finest in the world. As cashmere has become a favorite in the luxury
fashion segment, the potential for the camelids chain of the Andes is enormous. More so because the
chain is seen as a potential source of sustainable development in several ways:

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 Increased incomes for the artisans and producers directly help reduce poverty levels;
 Decent job creation can help retain younger generations in rural areas, preventing flooding of
overpopulated cities;
 Camelids are the natural species of the Andes. Herding them helps preserve the biodiversity.
They graze in their natural surroundings and are more efficient with nutrients and water than
sheep. As such they have very low carbon footprints;
 Unlike plant-based fibers, they do not need chemicals to mitigate diseases or pests; their
hooves are soft-padded, and therefore do not destroy the environment, unlike cows, sheep
and goats. For example, the herding of Kashmir goats has notoriously boosted desertification
in Mongolia;
 The shearing and herding of the camelids is done through traditional animal-friendly ways;
 The artisanal methods help preserve local culture and identity; Finally, the material is long-
lasting and easily reusable, preventing the need to replace them quickly.

A potential not reached

It is estimated that South America is home to roughly 8.2 million camelids. 48% of which are lama’s,
40% alpaca, 8% guanaco and 4% vicuana. 56% live in Peru, 31% in Bolivia, 11% Argentina and 2%
in Chile. Prices for alpaca and guanaco fibers are typically much lower than cashmere, ranging
around $5 to $13 depending on the source in the literature and the quality. Cashmere prices, the
main competitor, can range from $75 to $170 depending on the quality. Vicuana, a non-domesticated
species, has a much higher price of $500 per kilo, as it is the lightest fiber available, but is much
harder to harvest due to it being a wild animal. Other information puts guanaco at $80 or $228 per
kilo, and lama at $2 per kilo. These different numbers point to the lack of a functional transparent
market.

The potential of the herds are not reached. For example, only 30% of llama’s in Argentina’s north are
sheared. For Guanaco and Vicuna this is only 1.3% and 3% respectively. Like most employment in
the SME-sector, it is insecure and unprotected. In small-scale households and home-based work,
typical for the Andean communities, work is often characterised by paid and unpaid family labour.
Workers commonly own their own means of production. In the Andes, artisans usually also have
other means of income, as their artisan work is insufficient. Most Artisans in the chain live in
impoverished circumstances in rural areas, who live of their work and subsistence farming. Families
depend on less than two dollars a day. In Peru the areas with the highest prevalence of camelids are
also the poorest. There are high rates of child mortality, malnutrition, illiteracy and little access to
clean water, hygiene and electricity. There is a high inequality between men and women. Today, at
least a million people directly depend on the herding of alpacas and llamas in the high planes of the
Andes.

The typical chain can be summarized as follows when inspired by the work of Frederick, 2010. Some
of the main challenges at each point of the chain are listed as well. Note specifically the low rate of
value-adding activities and the poor supporting environment, as well as the inefficient execution of
the raw material phase.

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Figure 3. The Andean Camelids Value Chain. Source: Animaná and Hecho por Nosotros

In addition due to the typical challenges for SMEs listed above and those specific to the Andean
chain listed in figure 3., some more specific challenges for the Andean artisans exist:

 Little knowledge about the qualities of the material on a global level;

 Few linkages between the artisanal and the industrial textile sector;
 Little knowledge on design: typically no modern designs are incorporated in artisanal works to
make them commercially more viable; and there are not connections between international
designers and artisans.
 No communication on the sustainability of the sector;
 A strong need for technical assistance to upgrade fibre collection and processing skills to
ensure the quality of the products matches the needs of clients and satisfies the expectations
of the consumers of apparel abroad.
 With the shift towards responsible sourcing strategies, requiring increasingly the adoption of
more responsible/sustainable production methods throughout their supply chains, lack of
capacity can lead to marginalization of low-skilled producers;
 There is no transparent open market for producers of fibers and products. Few trading
companies buy fibre without any value added through a network of local intermediaries, thus
determining the final price paid to producers. Fibers are mixed and sold under different names
(hence the need to sort them again). Llama and alpaca is sold as cashmere, and guanaco as
vicuana. Fibers from different animals are mixed to increase the weight and thereby receive a
higher price.

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Typifying the chain

In sum, all value added-activities listed at the stages in figure 2. are of a poor level (R&D, design,
production, logistics, etc.). In addition the supporting environment is very poor as well, with
governments and business organizations unable to sustainably develop and professionalize the chain
(perhaps Bolivia is an exception due to the strong commitment of the government to promote the
sector internationally). Overall, the Andean GVC is hard to place within the framework of the five fold-
typology prominent in GVC literature. Due to the prevalence of intermediaries and a few select traders,
power asymmetry is high and producers of fibers and products are thus captive. However coordination
throughout the chain is nearly absent and producers are quite capable to craft their own goods without
much input, pointing to a market model. Albeit a market without working institutions and non-viable
designs for a global market. However, to commercialise their products for the global market, both in
terms of quality and getting the physical product sold and reap their potential, a large degree of
coordination and capacity is needed that is not there. As a result artisans remain locked in a poverty
cycle without any bargaining power.

Ways of Upgrading the Chain. Luxury Garments from the Andes.

Global Value Chains in the Development Field

Nowadays, all major institutions and NGOs have embraced the GVC approach which is becoming
more and more mainstream. Humphrey and Navas-Alemán identify four different ways NGOs attempt
to employ the GVC approach to integrate actors in the chain: 1). strengthening the weakest link to
address potential bottlenecks; 2). improving flows of knowledge and resources to make all firms in
the chain more productive; 3). working on specific links between firms to improve efficiency and 4).
creating new or alternate links in the chain to promote diversified outcomes. The NGO and social
enterprise in our case study engages in all these activities.

Hecho por Nosotros and animaná: Luxury garments from the Andes
Hecho por Nosotros (HxN) is an Argentine NGO aiming to make the fashion industry fair and more
sustainable. Its mission is to aid local development of artisan communities in the Andes and
Patagonia. Founded in 2008, they assist in developing the camelids textile sector at every point of the
chain by working together with industry, governments and civil society; and they engage with global
civil society and international institutions to realise a paradigm shift in the world of fashion. animaná
works together with HxN and is a B-Corp working with communities and natural fibres of Patagonia
and the Andes, combining ancestral techniques with contemporary design to create sustainable
luxury products. They offer clothing, accessories, and home deco products. It was founded
specifically to commercialise the work of Andean artisans. The objective of the two joint-organisations
is to create an open market that is fully integrated with the global economy in a sustainable way.
Business and producer associations should be able to classify and commercialise fibers accurately,
which will increase their bargaining power and value added. A transparent and open market
mechanism needs to be created and access to finance has to be increased. Producers need to be
trained. An international reputation or mark of origin needs to be implemented to be build to
showcase the quality of the material, and give buyers reassurance about its origin. The global fashion
market and local producers need to be linked to create products with more value added.

To reach these outcomes animaná and Hecho por Nosotros have been working on four different
fields:

1. Developing entrepreneurs and local communities:

Animaná and HxN work closely together with entrepreneurs and local communities in
strengthening their capacity to produce goods that have a perfect market fit. They bring
internationally renowned designers to the Andes in order to exchange ideas on sustainable
designs and train artisans to be able to supply the luxury market. They try to collaborate with
local institutions for a better targeting of projects and diffusion of knowledge. Together with
the training, equipment and working capital, they aim to make an inclusive, long lasting,
impact. They have increased the capacity of 3021 artisans and 500 companies in the past
ten years. 51% of the entrepreneurs with whom the NGO/Company worked were aged
between 15 and 35, aiding the retention of youth in rural populations. Roughly 60% was

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female, increasing their independence in a male-dominated society. To give an example of

the work that is being done with respect to commercialization: in 2018 the NGO has been
working with a regional business organization in the north of Argentina to capacitate 300
artisans for the luxury market. The resulting collection will be showcased in New York.

2. Developing the camelids textile chain in the Andes:

The second key activity is assisting in the development of the camelids textile chain in South
America. They map the challenges that small producers face and the economic dynamics of
the sector; identify best practices and opportunities for growth; and conduct investigations
about the quality of the fibers. They set up public-private partnerships to develop the chain in
an inclusive and sustainable way and actively spread their knowledge through interviews,
publications, and activities in numerous international forums and industry events. They have
trained 1500 fashion students on sustainable fashion; collaborated with 21 universities and
200+ organisations on the sustainable development of the industry; organized 30 workshops
with international designers and artisans in five countries; the animaná brand has been
featured in international press, such as the Financial times and Vogue.

3. Promoting the development of a Sustainable Fashion Industry:

They engage with global civil society and international institutions to advocate for a paradigm
shift to a more sustainable world of fashion. They have established an online network of
organisations, consultants, companies and people in academia to boost collaboration across
the chain. They generally attend UN events as the NGO holds a consultative status, to inform
policy makers on the sector and to make recommendations.

4. Commercialising and linkage with the global economy:

Through the animaná brand, producers have been integrated with the global economy.
Artisan’s products are being sold in boutiques in Buenos Aires and Paris, through online
shops in Argentina and France, and through wholesale in the United States, Europe and
South America. In 2017, under Fair Trade practices, animaná spent $100,000 in Andean
communities, buying roughly 4,000 products made from 800 kg of fiber, giving artisans an
average price of $25 per product. Having noted earlier that Andean artisan families typically
depend on an income of $300 a year, one product bought by animaná is one month’s worth
of income for a family. After empowering small communities they start supplying to animaná
and receiving a fair price and a bigger demand, which translates into considerably higher
incomes. They have developed a fluid business network of roughly 7500 artisans who can
meet the market demand in terms of volume and animaná’s quality standards, thereby
integrating a previously disenfranchised group with the global market.

Analysis of the case

The work of animaná and HxN has thus led to social and economic upgrading for artisanal SMEs.
Socially because their culture is being preserved and their incomes have increased. In 2017 animaná
sourced $100,000 worth of luxury products from the artisans, with each product constituting a month’s
income for a family. Economically upgrading occurred through process and product upgrading: using
more modern production and management techniques, production has become more efficient and the
products have more value added to more sustainable and modern designs. The importance of the
latter cannot be understated. Due to the high quality of the fiber, the potential for success on the luxury
market is enormous. As such it is vital that the most value is added at the artisanal stage. Which is
exactly what animaná and HxN have been doing. Functional upgrading has occurred as well:
producers have taken up the responsibility to send finished goods to their buyer, animaná. As such,
the value-added activities mentioned in figure 2, which are typically only limited to production, has
been improved on the areas of logistics, design and marketing as well.

Whereas the general camelids market has been characterised as modular, with lacking market and
supporting institutions and a high power asymmetry, the value chain of animaná has become
relational, as production is based on a dialogue between the brand and its artisanal producers with
the intent of creating sustainable profitable operations. All parties benefit from the collaboration.
Power is more equal because artisans can not find a buyer for their luxury goods easily, and are
dependent on animaná and HxN for capitication. Similarly animaná can not engage in spot market
buying due to significant training, investment and relationship building needed to ensure as table

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well-functioning supply chain. Coordination levels as such are higher than typical in the chain (see
figure 4).

The approach is multi-nodal as the NGO hecho por nosotros acts as a network hub for all actors
throughout the chain, enabling them to work together and collectively tackle challenges that require
cross-nodal solutions. See figure 4. below for a summary presentation. Note that the activities target
the chain directly through upgrading of the value-added activities, as well as the surrounding
supporting environment.

Figure 4. The Value Chain of animaná and Hecho por Nosotros. Remaining challenges

Unfortunately challenges remain: no open and transparent market is created yet and no international
mark of excellence of the quality of camelid fibers is being promoted by producer organizations and
governments jointly. In addition, many of the camelids remain unsheared, pointing to the untapped
potential of the sector, and it is hard for animaná alone to establish a reputation of the fiber as high
quality and consequently increases sales and incomes . These factors severely impede the ability of
SMEs to change the industry, and demonstrate the need for solid institutional backing of the
development of a sector. Social enterprises and NGOs can not go at it alone. To that extent, animaná
and HxN have also been exploring collaborations with major luxury brands, to increase the market
share in a sustainable fashion. And to improve regional cross-sectoral collaboration, since 2016 HxN
and animaná have been coorganizing with local and regional authorities the annual forum for
camelids and textiles.

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Conclusions and Recommendations

The rise of fast fashion has given developing countries many opportunities to integrate themselves
more firmly with the global economy. Several countries have been able to develop their economies
through the opportunities for social and economic upgrading the advent of buyer-driven fashion chains
has provided. This has seen them moving from captive models of collaboration with western lead firms
to more independent and mature methods of production. However, the social and environmental cost
has been high, and the overabundance of cheap labor in other nations has ensured that profits remain
unequally distributed.

We have taken the lessons from this analysis and contrasted them with the Andean textile chain. The
chain is still very informally organized, with no transparent and formal market institutions. There is not
sufficient institutional support to reap the benefits the high quality of the camelid fibers provide.
Global Value Chain analysis should take into account these aspects of an informal economy and
could elaborate the standard five-fold typology. Economic and social upgrading does not occur
automatically. Especially as there are no strong lead firms present in the sector to coordinate efforts
of economic upgrading to make the camelids fiber and garments commercially more viable.

This also means there is plenty of opportunity to develop the chain in a sustainable and equitable
way. To avoid the costs paid in the fast fashion chain, we argue in favor of an integrated multi-nodal
approach to value chain development should be taken. The case of animaná and Hecho por
Nosotros that we have presented here demonstrate the possibility of using such a sustainable holistic
approach as a way to overcome developmental challenges. The success of the brand shows that a
business case is to be made for this developmental approach, as long as both the producers are
capacitated and sufficient commercialisation is done on the demand side. The link the social
enterprise and the NGO have made between international luxury fashion designers and traditional
artisans is a striking example of this.

Recommendations:
 Public and private actors should join hands in promoting the quality of the products a sector
makes. Without demand, well-trained and professional SMEs have no market. This could be
carried out by implementing an internationally known mark of origin stating quality of
excellence.
 When discussing economic upgrading, the literature has found that this is dependent on both
firm-specific actions ánd the environment in which it operates: mentioning the collective
efficiency of the cluster; the pattern of governance of the value chain; and the sector specific
patterns of learning and upgrading. As such, development interventions should target the
supporting environment as well (see the strong East-Asian state as an example for its
importance). Local, regional and national authorities should thus invest in their institutional
support for well-functioning and transparent markets.
 In addition, this also means that as business also form clusters locally, through varying
degrees of formality, several SMEs working with a foreign lead firm, can have spillover effects
to similar SMEs. Well established brands should thus take on an important role in developing
and commercialising the chain.
 NGOs in richer nations have an important role to play in coordinating this effort as they are
close to both the end-consumer and brands, being able to leverage them through consumer
activism. In addition, they can guide brands on working more closely together with their
suppliers further down the chain.
 NGOs should coordinate and pool their resources to execute projects that are cross-nodal,
and a such have cascading effects and streamlines the expectations throughout the supply
chain.
 Traceability (most likely through Blockchain technology) needs to be implemented to help
identify opportunities for efficient resource management and sustainable production. This in
turn gives more credibility to companies branding themselves as sustainable towards
consumers and gives consumers the ability to make fair choices
 International institutions should support all of these activities in which every way they can,
providing neutral spaces for dialogue; research and expertise; and political support.

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References
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150. No 3-4. (2011): 319-341.

Castells Manuel. "Four Asian Tigers With a Dragon Head: A Comparative Analysis of the State,
Economy and Society in the Asian Pacific Rim.” In States and Development in the Pacific Rim,
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Clean Clothes Campaign. Facts on the Global Garment Industry. Clean Clothes Campaign 2015,
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februar y-2015.pdf.

Common Objective. Sustainability Issues. Common Objectives,

2018, https://www.commonobjective.co/learn/sustainability-
issues?a=19.

Drew, Deborah and Genevieve Yehounme, “The Apparel Industry’s Environmental Impact in
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Ellison, Christopher and Gary Gereffi. "Explaining Strategies and Patterns of Industrial
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Frederick, Stacey. Development and Application of a Value Chain Research Approach to

Understand and Evaluate Internal and External Factors and Relationships Affecting Economic
Competitiveness in the Textile Value Chain. Doctoral dissertation, North Carolina State University,
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Frederick, Stacey and Cornelia Staritz. “Developments in the Global Apparel Industry after the MFA
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Clusters and SMEs in Latin America. Washington, D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank, 2006.

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UNECE. “Do You Know Where Your Clothes Come From? UNECE Joins the EU and ITC to Discuss
Transparency and Traceability in the Solutions at the European Development Days, UNECE, 2018.
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Sustainable Fashion: Designers’ Perspective in the Mass Apparel

Retailing Sector - Prabod Munasinghe, D.G.K. Dissanayake, Angela Druckman

Prabod. Munasinghe

Visiting PhD Researcher

Centre for Environment and Sustainability

University of Surrey

United Kingdom

D.G.K. Dissanayake

Senior Lecturer

Department of Textile and Clothing Technology

University of Moratuwa

Sri Lanka

Angela Druckman

Professor of Sustainable Consumption and Production

Centre for Environment and Sustainability

University of Surrey

United Kingdom

The Fashion and Apparel sector plays vital role in the global economy while expecting to expand
nearly 65% in 2030. While shows a healthy expansion in the business, the sector creates large
environmental impacts: high resource consumption, high emission and generation of wastes.
Therefore, integrating sustainability into the apparel products requires a radical change across the
whole system to face future challenges. While environmental implications are generated every stage
of the apparel production, the major impacts arise due to decisions made at the fashion design stage.
Therefore, it is vital that fashion designers consider the reduction of the environmental implications of
apparel products during their decision making process. Therefore the focus of this study was to
investigate designers’ perception of environmental sustainability in the mass scale fashion sector, with
the aim of discovering practical and realistic approaches to reduce the environmental implications in
the fashion and apparel sector.

Introduction
The Fashion and Apparel sector is currently a key player in the global economy, and is expected to
expand significantly by 2030 (Kerr and Landry, 2017). The industry was valued at nearly 1.4 trillion
USD in 2017 (Statistica, 2017) and is the 4th largest global merchandise exporter, accounting for 5%
of total exports in 2016 (WTO, 2017). Furthermore, global apparel consumption was 62 million tonnes
in 2015 and is expected to increase by 65% to 102 million tons in 2030 (Kerr and Landry, 2017), with
an accompanying increase in exports.

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The fashion and apparel industry creates high environmental impacts, and these are increasing due to
the expansion of the industry. The main concerns are high resource consumption, carbon emission
and generation of wastes (Cobbing and Vicaire, 2016; Amed et al., 2016; Kerr and Landry, 2017). The
production processes of materials consume significant amounts of energy, chemicals and water
(WRAP, 2017; H&M Group, 2017) and they emit significant amounts of wastes to the environment
(WRAP, 2017). Furthermore, the use phase creates adverse impacts due to the water and energy
usage and releases of microfibers during domestic clothes washing. It is estimated that 20 million tons
of plastic microfibers will be released to the environment by 2050 (Amed et al., 2017). Ultimately, the
post-consumer stages creates immense environmental impacts due to large disposals, landfills and
incineration of used clothing (WRAP, 2017).

The mass market is one of the key fashion segments that creates sustainability concerns in the global
fashion and apparel sector. Low price points in mass market prevents consumers focusing on
sustainable portfolios (Bly, Gwozdz and Reisch, 2015). Even though certain brands claim their
products as eco-friendly, they struggle to address environmental impacts in reality (Beard, 2008).
Mass market is expanding as low cost stylish product ranges are highly attractive to young consumer
groups such as Millennial and Generation Z (Weinswig, 2017). Therefore, integrating sustainability
into the fashion-apparel products is vital to reduce the environmental impacts coursed by the ever
increasing production and consumption. This move requires a radical change across the whole
system, from production to consumption and disposal process.

It has been recognized that the environmental impacts of a product need to be taken into the
consideration during the early stages of the design process, and not after the product is being made
(Kerr and Landry, 2017; Gwilt, 2012). This has been emphasized along with the fact that the product
design process has a strong interconnection with the final product characteristics and the designer has
power to influence the product (Kerr and Landry, 2017; Gwilt and Rissanen, 2011; van Boeijen and
Daalhuizen, 2010). Therefore, integration of sustainability considerations into the fashion design
process will be one of the best ways of reducing environmental impact caused by fashion products.

Even though the sustainability in production process is beyond the control of the designer, there is a
trend in some of the fashion brands to improve the production processes by reducing footprints:
energy; carbon, waste; and water which may be a positive drive to improve the sustainability of the
product (Kerr and Landry, 2017). However it is evident that a mass market designers have to take
certain design decisions other than the material selection and the production methods such as colour
palette, key shapes, key trends, mood…etc. (Han, 2015). Those decisions can also be considered to
make a sustainable product together with sustainable fashion design strategies such as design with
life cycle thinking, design for reusing, design for recycling, design for delight…etc.(Fuad-Luke, 2002;
Black, 2008; Fletcher, 2014)

This study was focused on investigating designers’ perspective on environmental sustainability in the
mass scale fashion sector, and discovering practical and realistic approaches to reduce the
environmental impacts of fashion products.

Methodology
In this pilot study, a qualitative research approach was taken, using in-depth, semi-structured
interviews. Purposive sampling method was used in order to obtain most reliable data. Designers
working in the mass apparel sector were chosen who are working with multiple brands and have
experience of multiple working environments were selected. Qualitative researchers normally focus on
small samples with in-depth studies (Miles, Huberman and Saldana, 2014) and “There are no rules for
sample size in qualitative inquiry” (Patton, 2015, pp.244), although saturation is often used to know
when the sample is large enough (Nathan, 2014). However, as this was a pilot study, only a small
number of people were interviewed. In the interviews, the designer’s perception on environmental
sustainability, their current practices to improve the environmental sustainability in design process,
current challenges and their view on future solutions to integrate sustainability in to the design process
were investigated.

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Results
Five fashion designers, with over five years’ experience in different mass market brands each, were
interviewed (Table 01). The interviews revealed that the designers all had a very limited and shallow
perception about the factors that are important in the environmental sustainability aspects of products,
giving examples such as the use of organic and recycled materials; low footprint creation in production
processes; and fast and slow fashion. Four of five participants explained environmental sustainability
as the use of organic and recycled materials. “We use organic cotton, therefore our products are
sustainable”, designer B explained. Most of them felt proud about their products because of the use of
these ‘environmental friendly’ materials. While their focus was more on material selection, some of
them showed awareness of the importance of wider production processes. For example, “Our entire
production process is focusing on reducing water and energy consumption, therefore the end product
is sustainable” elaborated designer A, who works with denim products. However, none of the
participants demonstrated awareness that environmental sustainability is affected by all the stages of
the lifecycle. For instance, they had little appreciation of the importance for environment sustainability
of end use and post end use stages of products.

Table 1 : Details of the sample

Designer Current Position Total work No of mass market Origins of the brands
Experience fashion brands they they are working/
working/worked with worked
A Senior Fashion 6 years > 05 Europe/USA/Asia
Designer
B Design Manager 6 years > 05 Europe/USA/Asia
C General Manager 10 years > 05 Europe/USA/Asia
Design
D Senior designer 8 years > 05 Europe
E Senior designer 6 years > 05 Europe
The other major finding was that they lack awareness about the possible use of sustainable design
strategies and how to integrate them in all the stages of the product lifecycle to make the product more
sustainable.

Most of the interviewees have limited practices on improving the environmental sustainability in their
product designs. Interview data revealed that there were certain key challenges faced by designers
during the design process to integrate sustainability in to their products. The biggest challenge was the
cost factor. “Buyers always push us to integrate eco-friendly materials into the designs while
maintaining low price margins. But the sustainable materials are not that much of cheap. "They are bit
costly” designer C explained. Designer E said that, “the high work load and the short lead times take
us away from putting extra effort to think about the sustainability of a product”. Furthermore, all the
designers urged the importance of introducing novel solutions which are effective, convenient and time
saving in order to apply environmental inputs in to their designs. However they emphasized the
importance of novel solutions which are compatible with current designing process. For an example,
they had low interest on using novel software by giving up existing design solutions like Photoshop,
illustrator...etc.

Discussion
The scattered perspectives of the mass market fashion designers on environmental sustainability
shows that they are driving around only certain areas of the fashion product lifecycle: materials; and
product manufacturing. However that is very important to make proper platform for designers which
have strong integration among all the stages of the fashion product life cycle such as material
production, product designing, product manufacturing, retailing, end use and post end use stages.
Designer will have to gain a better awareness about footprints which can be generated in each stage
due to their design decisions and how sustainable design strategies can be incorporated to reduce the
footprints in each stage. Since the fashion and apparel industry is expanding, the environmental
impact will also be multiplied. Therefore the importance of having such platform which can make
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strong awareness on designers regarding the impact of their decisions on environment during the
design process will be a better solution to control the environmental impact.

The next key identification was that, the designer’s perspective about environmental sustainability was
driven mainly around material selection and production process. Nevertheless they have some other
important decisions in their design process, it is very important to draw their attention on those design
decisions to make success their products. For an example, they should have awareness on how the
colours, shapes, mood and trends can be used to improve the product sustainability. In such case, it is
very important to have further explorations to analyze how those design decisions can be used to
reduce environmental impact.

The key challenges of the mass market designers to consider more on environmental sustainability
were that, the limited time, high workloads and the low price points of the products. Especially the fast
fashion concepts take them away from thinking product sustainability due to the short lead times and
high profit margins. Sometimes the introduction of a novel solution to incorporate sustainable
initiatives will be also making more pressure on them to manage their current challenges. Therefore it
is very important to take sensible approaches to introduce new solutions in order to make the product
more sustainable while reducing their existing challenges. It is better to introduce new solutions which
should compatible with current practices or tools. Effectiveness, convenience, practicality and time
saving would be the key words of the new solutions.

Conclusion
The limited appreciation shown by participants about the whole life cycle of products, and the
importance of taking all stages into account in order to improve environmental sustainability, results in
the designers generally only driving initiatives in certain areas of the fashion product lifecycle, namely
materials; and product manufacturing. This shows that it is very important to develop a pragmatic,
robust platform for designers that integrates sustainability into all the stages of the fashion product life
cycle - resource extraction, material production, product manufacturing, retailing, end use and post
end use stages. This will help designers to gain a better awareness about footprints generated in each
stage due to their design decisions and help them incorporate sustainable design strategies in order to
reduce the footprints in each stage and overall. Since the fashion and apparel industry is expanding,
its environmental impact will also increase, unless steps are taken. Therefore the development of such
platform which can raise awareness of designers regarding the impact of their decisions on
environment during the design process, and help them manage them, is crucial in order to control
environmental impacts.

The study also showed that the designer’s perspective about environmental sustainability was driven
mainly around material selection and production process. Nevertheless they have some other
important decisions in their design process, and it is very important to draw their attention on those
design decisions. For an example, they should have awareness on how the colours, shapes, mood
and trends can be used to improve the product sustainability, and the platform will raise awareness of
this and empower designers to take environmental sustainability into account when making these
decisions.

The study also indicated that a key barrier preventing mass market designers to consider more on
environmental sustainability were the limited time, high workloads and the low price points required for
the products. In particular, the fast fashion business model takes designers away from thinking
product sustainability due to the short lead times and high profit margins. The introduction of a novel
solution to incorporate sustainable initiatives may put more pressure on designers, on top of managing
their current challenges. Therefore it is very important to take pragmatic approaches to the
introduction of new solutions in order to make the product more sustainable. Thus it is better to
introduce new solutions which should compatible with current practices or tools. Effectiveness,
convenience, practicality and time saving are the key desirable features of the new solutions.

References
Amed, I. et al. (2016) The State of Fashion, Business of Fashion & McKinsey & company. doi:
10.1163/156853010X510807.

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Amed, I. et al. (2017) ‘The State of Fashion’, Business of Fashion & McKinsey & company, 63(12), pp.
42–43. doi: 10.1163/156853010X510807.
Beard, N. D. (2008) ‘The branding of ethical fashion and the consumer: A luxury niche or mass-market
reality?’, Fashion Theory - Journal of Dress Body and Culture, 12(4), pp. 447–468. doi:
10.2752/175174108X346931.
Black, S. (2008) Eco-Chic The Fashion Paradox. London: Black Dog.
Bly, S., Gwozdz, W. and Reisch, L. A. (2015) ‘Exit from the high street: An exploratory study of
sustainable fashion consumption pioneers’, International Journal of Consumer Studies, 39(2), pp.
125–135. doi: 10.1111/ijcs.12159.
van Boeijen, A. and Daalhuizen, J. (eds) (2010) Delft Design Guide: Design Strategies and Methods.
Faculteit Industrieel Ontwerpen. Available at:
https://arl.human.cornell.edu/PAGES_Delft/Delft_Design_Guide.pdf (Accessed: 26 April 2018).
Cobbing, M. and Vicaire, Y. (2016) Timeout for fast fashion, Greenpeace. Available at:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/briefings/toxics/2016/Fact-Sheet-
Timeout-for-fast-fashion.pdf.
Fletcher, K. (2014) Sustainable Fashion and Textiles Design Journeys. 2nd edn. New York:
Routledge.
Fuad-Luke, A. (2002) The Eco-design handbook. Thames & Hudson.
Gwilt, A. (2012) Integrating sustainable strategies in the fashion design process : A conceptual model
of the fashion designer in haute couture . Doctor of Philosophy.
Gwilt, A. and Rissanen, T. (eds) (2011) Shaping Sustainable Fashion - changing the way we make
and use clothes, Shaping Sustainable Fashion: Changing the Way We Make and Use Clothes.
London: Earthsacan. doi: 10.4324/9780203126172.
H&M Group (2017) Sustainability Report 2016, H&M Group. doi: 10.1016/S0022-3913(12)00047-9.
Han, S. L. (2015) ‘Upcycling as a design strategy for product lifetime optimisation and societal
change’, in. Nottingham.
Kerr, J. and Landry, J. (2017) Pulse of the, Global Fashion Agenda & The Boston Consulting Group.
Available at: http://globalfashionagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pulse-of-the-Fashion-
Industry_2017.pdf.
Miles, M., Huberman, M. and Saldana, J. (2014) Qualitative Data Analysis, European Journal of
Science Education. doi: 10.1080/0140528790010406.
Nathan, P. E. (ed.) (2014) ‘The Oxford Handbook of qualitative research’, in. Oxford University Press.
doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107415324.004.
Patton, M. Q. (2015) Qualitative Research and Evvaluation methods. 4th edn. London: Sage
Publications, Inc.
Statistica (2017) • Size of the global apparel market 2011-2020 | Statistic. Available at:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/551775/size-of-the-global-apparel-and-footwear-market/ (Accessed:
24 April 2018).
Weinswig, D. (2017) Deep Dive: UK Value Clothing Market - Pure Plays Drive Market Growth, The
Fung Group. Available at: https://www.fungglobalretailtech.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/UK-
Value-Clothing-Retailers-April-3_2017-DF.pdf [Retrieved 27/03/2018].
WRAP (2017) Valuing Our Clothes: the cost of UK fashion, WRAP. Available at:
http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/valuing-our-clothes-the-cost-of-uk-fashion_WRAP.pdf
(Accessed: 24 April 2018).
WTO (2017) ‘World Trade Statistics Review 2017’, World Trade Organization, p. 181. Available at:
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/wts2017_e/wts2017_e.pdf (Accessed: 24 April 2018).

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Circular Economy and Implementation of Paris Agreement

Objectives. Case Study - Recovering, Recycling of Plastic Waste
and Production of SynGas - Informal and Formal Sector In Mexico - Lurena Mun oz

Lorena Munoz

Universidad Vina del Mar, and

Senior Consultant

Economy Finance Green

Chile

There is no doubt humankind face an environmental crisis. Perspectives for 2050 indicate: to keep
impact of climate change under safe boundaries, GHG should be reduced by 50%. World population
would rise 9 billions, increasing pressure over natural resources and energy use. Solutions could
potentially cost 5.5% of global GDP. New models to transit from linear to circular economy are
needed. One alternative to reduce externalities is implementation of sustainable life cycles.

The following paper describes impact of activities to increase full recycling of plastic waste. At present
time protected agriculture covers 20.000,00 hectares in Mexico. It generates 320.000,00t/year plastic
waste and in 2015, less than 10% was recycled. Even it can be recycled, produce virgin plastic over
recycled plastic is more expensive. Therefore, these activities would be an important opportunity for
small farmers and plastic manufacturers to decrease their plastic waste generation, thus the waste
production in Mexico.

Theoretical Framework
Globalization of planetary activities has generated pressure on ecosystems, generating, among other
effects, a global ecological crisis (Crutzen, 2006). Solutions would include transition to “sustainable
development”. It would be reasonable to analyse the consequences on the "well being" of humankind
– measured as economic growth – of this transition (Brodhag et al, 2004). Therefore, the variable
should be considered when establishing and implementing the strategy of a firm. If we consider that in
total absence of externalities, an individual will promote wellbeing (Heap, 2013); it is understandable
society considers the environment as part of wellbeing (Klink, 1994). Then, stakeholders are willing to
pay for environmentally safer products (Barrett, 1992). There is also a positive perception of the
market regarding future cash flows of firms with good environmental performance (Klassen &
McLaughlin, 1996) Appendix 2, Figure 1.
The main objective of firms is to create economic value for shareholders through reduction of cost,
maximizing the return of investment, and minimizing finance risk (Amat 2000, Bonilla 2010). From this
classic approach emerge tools that allow the inclusion of environmental cost and leverage into the
equation (Joshi et al, 2001). The lack of direct models leads to indirect estimations that are impossible
to transform into management indicators in the implementation of a corporate strategy. Actual global
footprint leaves us the need to focus in four priorities: climate change, biodiversity, water and pollution
impact on health. This scenario represents an opportunity to manage environmental liabilities, and
create somehow environmental assets.
The point of view that has been prevailing in the decision-making process of the firms is to leave their
external effects into the eaves of the governments (Pigou, 1924). Therefore the cost of remediation is
transfer to society, without even analysing the transfer price of it (Coase 1959, 1960, 1998; Dalhman
1979). The loss of natural environmental assets and the generation of associated environmental
liabilities are accounted for (Labandeira et al 2007). In fact, natural assets (minerals, water, soil,
among others) (Carvajal, 2017, Mejía Soto & Vargas, 2012, Aguilera 2006) have begun to be
considered as a consequence of the shortage that would imply current patterns of economic activity
(Carvajal, 2017). As shown in Appendix 1, the measurement of natural assets focuses on
unidirectional flows of natural capital to the economy and environmental liabilities from the economy to
the environment (United Nations et al, 2014). Nevertheless, in the current situation, flows of assets
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from the economy to the environment are neither considered nor accounted (Schaltegger et al., 1996,
Benett and James, 1997a, 1997b, Ditz et al. al., 1995; and Masanet-Llodra, 2006, Labandeira et al,
2007), and record keeping is circumscribed to natural stock changes up-to-date (United Nations et al,
2014 and Carvajal, 2017). This situation would tend to change during the transit to a sustainable era
through the implementation of a circular economy (Witjes & Lozano, 2016).
This, itself, implicates a gap in literature and leads us back to the so-called "Coase Theorem", (Cooter,
1989) based on two publications by Ronald Coase (1937, 1960). Because, if the actions of the firm
can have consequences, they should be valued in a quantitative point of view and included as part of
the firm's costs (Coase, 1960). This would unveil aspects with strategic, reputation, marketing, and
financial consequences for the firm (Fraj-Andrés, et al, 2009; Klassen & McLaughlin, 1996). Therefore,
the veil caused by the undervaluation or null valuation/inclusion of environmental liabilities/assets in
transaction prices, together with the qualitative assessment of social responsibility, have given rise to
the "Green washing" (Laufer 2003, Walker & Wan, 2012). The natural consequence is overvaluation of
the perception of social responsibility actions, mainly in the case of industry with high socio-
environmental impact (Devenin, 2015). Improvement of sustainable profile of firms is needed, whether
through "Green washing" (Walker & Wan, 2012, Sanchez et al 2016, Bocken et al 2014) or through
the implementation of environmental improvements (Brodhag, 2004, Brocken & Short, 2016).
However, firms that implement green policies beyond minimum regulatory requirements do not receive
sufficient incentives (Cerin & Karlson, 2002).

Premise: New economical models need to include transaction costs associated

with environment (liabilities and assets)
In the Coasian vision (Coase, 1960, 1972, 1998) the firm would arise, grow, develop, stagnate and / or
disappear in market environment. All of it happens through the mechanism of prices and transaction
costs that occur in the firm-environment interface (Coase 1998). The actual international scenario
represents uncertainty. Therefore, adaptation problems would rise (Williamson, 1991). Changing
conditions will require modify the terms of trade agreements and it costs (Williamson, 1981a and
1981b). As the structure of the interactions becomes more complex, the firm's ability to obtain
products and services is affected by coordination costs and the level of transaction costs (Coase
1995, 1998). The transaction costs and transfer prices of goods resulting from the new valuation of
environmental liabilities and assets included in previously incomplete contracts (Williamson 1981a and
1981b).

My approach: Optimal externality needs to be reached

Evidenced the literature gap, I consider significant the study of these aspects from the point of view of
the firm and its interaction with the market.
Coase (1959 and 1960) states that in the presence of "external effects", it will be possible to reach an
optimal externality - although not necessarily the total disappearance of it. Pigou (1924) on the other
hand indicates that externalities would be a result of the difference between private cost and social
cost. Pigou projects externalities could be corrected through various institutional mechanisms
(Dahlman, 1979). Nevertheless these are not fully applicable. In one hand, not all externalities are
initially significant. In the other hand, the relationship between those affected by externalities and the
generators are complex. It is observed that the solutions that arise from the market are more
applicable and representative (Medema & Zerbe, 1999). Following the principle that what can be
measured can be managed (Engel et al, 2008; McCann et al, 2004); the theory of transaction costs
would seek to be applied to the implementation of sustainable policies. However, measurement is
difficult (Williamson 1985). Clear definitions of the concept are needed in order to measure ecological
services (Fisher et al, 2009). This would allow communication of social benefits of implementation
sustainability (Gomez-Baggethun & Ruiz-Perez, 2011, Gomez-Baggethun, 2010, Laufer, 2003, Walter
& Wan 2012).
These market solutions will seek to reach this optimal externality (Allen, 1999, Coase 1960). This
approach has the difficulty of counting on reliable, traceable information that ensures a calculation
base close to reality (Zéghal & Dammak, 2007; CCE, 2003). It will be important to establish a
complement to the current definition of natural asset and include environmental asset that could be
generated by the firm (Canterbery and Marvasti, 1992). In environmental liabilities/assets case, the
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allocation of resources occurs independently of property rights (Coase 1959, 1960, 1972). It is
essential for the analysis that property rights could be assigned (Allen 1999). When valuing the assets
and liabilities we are focusing on the allocation of property rights and/or the assignment of
responsibilities. This means that the costs of the transaction of such property rights that eventually can
change hands successfully (Stavins, 1995; Niehans, 1987; Brehmer et al 2018).
Since the area of influence of the firm is increased, transaction costs and relative price of the goods
and services traded would change as a result of transparency. This would require reaching a new
balance in the system Firm v / s Area of influence.

Methodology
I proposed to study implementation of the Extended Producer Responsibility Law (EPR Law) and
Paris Agreement Goals, in Mexico. This scenario; creates – in a developing country - the need to
address life cycle of some major goods, among them, plastics. Also it implicates investment in low
carbon technologies at a cost of 189US$/tCO2e (upon Mexican Institute for Climate Change).
Mexico has been selected, because, like Chile, is an OECD country; it leads the subscription and
implementation of environmental treaties in Latin America. Likewise, it is (together with Colombia,
Costa Rica and Chile) leading the implementation of national accounts of natural environmental assets
(ECLAC, 2015). Also, plastic waste itself represents a major problem of global impact. Unlike Chile,
Mexico already has regulatory bodies in relation to the handling of agricultural plastic waste that allow
establish the total analysis of the cycle.
Traditionally, agricultural sector has prospered in areas where natural climate and resources are
conjugated in optimal way. Therefore, creation of protected systems of culture was impelled. Mexico
has actually 20.000,00 hectares occupied with protected agriculture. Although this has allowed an
increase in the productivity and an improvement in the culture systems, it created externalities
associated to agricultural plastics waste at a growing rate of 20%/year. The increasing is mainly due to
US export of plastic waste as recycling material to Mexico; a country that lack of recycling
infrastructure. Before project implementation, just 24.000,00t/year of the total 320.000,00 t/year of
agricultural plastic waste were recycled through ARPAM associates. Furthermore, the common
practice in agricultural areas is to give away the agricultural plastic waste to poor farmers households
to avoid all associated costs to waste management. Those farmers normally burn it to heat the
household and to cook producing highly toxic amounts of atmospheric emissions.
Object of Analysis: Life cycle of plastics within the framework of the EPR. This implies the
implementation of a system that includes responsibility from production until the post-consumption of a
certain number of imported or produced good.
Boundaries: Firm is defined as ARPAM (Mexican Agricultural Plastic Recyclers Association) and it
interaction with the market.
Variables to Calculate: Environmental liabilities and environmental assets associated with both
scenarios. Life cycle of plastics will be analysed, identifying the critical points along the management
(BIRF 1991). A review of the components of the cycle will also be carried out. Evaluation will include
the required items, namely: costs, assets, capitalizations, liabilities and obligations (UNCTAD, 1998).
Since under environmental accounts scheme, flows of natural assets are measured, among others, as
flows of energy, e.g. TJ and kWh will be accounted. Flows (of environmental liabilities/assets) will be
monetized and impact on firm will be evaluated. Therefore, energy will be translated into tCO2e to
measure impact in GDP and employment. It will also be possible to review - in a new equilibrium
between the market and the firm - through the transfer costs that this implies.
Temporary Horizon: A time horizon is proposed is 2030 - date of compliance with the UN
Sustainable Development Goals and goals Paris Agreement on Climate Change and OECD Goals.
From this information, will be used to project results up to 2050.
Scenarios: Baseline, prior to EPR Law and post-implementation situation of EPR Law. (Appendix 3)
Estimations AMS III AJ "Recovery and recycling of solid waste materials" will be applied in
accordance with the requirements of the UNFCCC. Estimation of Processed Tons were performed in
baseline situation (before 2016) and situation with the project (after 2017).

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Results
The methodology was applied since the conception of the project, mainly due to the fact that even
plastics presents high recycling possibilities, however, plastic recycling is not viable due to the fact that
is cheaper to produce one kilo of virgin plastic over one kilo recycled plastic.
Therefore, part of the problem to increase processing volumes of plastic recycling in Latin America
and probably in other developing countries, besides technological issues, cost of producing recycled
plastic need to be solved. Therefore, first step was to select best technologies available and to
determine cost structure of process. In order to implement valuation of liabilities/asset methodology,
there was a need to standardize existing facilities. The standardisation allowed counting on reliable
data.
The objective that it seeks to achieve with this project is the increase in the recycling rates of plastics
generated in said country year after year to fully recycle the waste agricultural plastic generated
around 2022. The standardisation also implicate to increase capacity and to produce electricity with
wasted plastic that cannot be recycled. Hence the new Energy Law gives opportunities to the plastic
manufacturers, throughout the possibility to reduce electricity consumption costs with energy private
production, decreasing the price of energy per kWh. Since app 20% of it is too damage to be recycled,
electricity through plasma technology will be produced. Appendix 6. Total investment to be raised was
350 million dollars to fund the green-field needed plus generation plants.
In the cost structure of the process 80% is represented by energy cost. After it, standard unit was
determined. The standard production unit is set in a process line (industrial plant) 1,000 to 1200 ton /
month that will follow the current local regulations and will tend to generate a PCR set for the Reynosa
facility (first one implemented under new scheme in October 2017).
Projections of implementation of the projects (facilities per year) allow us to determine impact of
project in the country (year after year) – Appendix 4, 5 and 7. At present time technology transfer for
the second and third facilities is been develop.
Once fully implemented, projections of the full project implicate:
In terms of net emission reductions:

 If we consider each ton of virgin resin generates between 0,503566875 tCO2e/t produced and
0,725644575 tCO2e/t produced, and that each ton of plastic recycled generates 0,041
tCO2e/t, we would obtain a net emission reduction of 0,0559t CO2e/t processed/produced.
 Also, considering electricity generated will replace electricity from the grid, it will also generate
a reduction of emissions due the fact we are replacing fossil energy with renewable energy.
This reduction will rise to 500 MtCOe2 by 2050.
 This gives us between 7 to 8,4 million tCO2e up to 2050 depending on plastic mix recycled.

Considering each tCO2e reduced would require an investment 189 US$/tCO2e of GDP for Mexico, we
could project a reduction of GDP invested in Paris Agreement Goals equivalent to 1,2 to 1,5 billion
US$ up to 2050.

43,000 MWh/year of electricity would be generated, and 39 million US$ of savings in energy cost
would be obtained (at actual energy price for the recyclers).

In another hand, in developing countries like Mexico, 1 ton of plastic recycled implicates 5 jobs.
Increasing rates of plastic recycling would lead to the creation of 1,5 million employments.

Conclusions
The increase in the volume of recycled plastic from the formal and informal sectors of Mexico will be
achieved through technological change and investments in new industrial facilities.

Among Impacts we can see:

First, it would have an important impact in the direct flow of environmental assets and or
environmental liabilities from the firm to the environment and vice/versa because of the growing
capacity of plastic recycling.
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 Flows of energy and oil from Environment to Economy will be reduced.

 Flows of energy from Firm to Environment would be created.
 Also, emission reductions, besides creating reduction in GDP invested into low carbon
technology, would impact the climate system therefore biodiversity.

Second, it would have a profound social impact, by increasing the formalization of the sector, creating
direct and indirect jobs, and generating a positive impact on the incorporation of women (heads of
households) into the labour force.

Third, shows that both the proposed technological change and the investment in new industrial plants
have social and environmental benefits. It also shows that the economic benefits are strongly
leveraged by environmental assets generated (Emission Reductions and Energy Produced). The
benefits of the project.

Using analysis of transaction cost as Coase (1960, 1937) proposed, and including environmental
liabilities and assets of each scenario, we observe that it is not anymore cheaper to produce virgin
plastic. One could conclude that including environmental assets/liabilities to equation, allows the
market to unveil that:
 Environmental leverage actually can fund sustainable investment.
 Non-sustainable investments have hidden cost and are socializing externalities without
including transaction costs.
 Plastic recycling can change it cost production curve and be more competitive that virgin
plastic production.

Therefore, these activities could be an important opportunity for small farmers and their families, and
also plastic manufacturers to decrease their plastic waste generation, thus the waste production in
Mexico.

Methodology could be applied to other sectors of the economy and firms. The transaction costs and
transfer prices of goods resulting from this valuation of environmental liabilities and assets included in
equation demonstrate that in this new scenario unveiled incomplete contracts of un-sustainable world.
But also shows new firm scenario and need of a new equilibrium between firm and it environment.

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Appendix

Appendix 1 - Types of Environmental Accounts

Adapted from the training program SCAE – ECLAC 2015

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Appendix 2.- Figure 1 - Link between environmental management and profitability of the firm –
(Klassen, R. D., & McLaughlin, C. P. 1996, Fig.2, pag 1202)

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Appendix 3.- Scenarios to be evaluated and Methodology of Calculations

Source: page 228, Small Scale Methodology – CDM Methodology Booklet, November 2016 (up to
EB91)

Emissions per ton of virgin resine produced

BE HDPE,y = 0,557585775 tCO2e/t

BE LDPE,y = 0,725644575 tCO2e/t
BE PET,y = 0,613605375 tCO2e/t
BE PP,y = 0,503566875 tCO2e/t

PE,y = Qi x ( FCi,y x NCV FF x EF FF,co2)

Because ECi,y + SEC P,i ) x EF el, y = 0

Factor per ton of recycled plastic produced

PEy 0,041 tCO2e/t

ERy = BEy - PEy - Ly

ERy aprox = 0,0559 tCO2e/t processed y produced

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Appendix 4.- Tones of plastic recycled in both scenarios.

Company Facility Tones processed per month Annual

Without Project With Project projection with
project

RECICLADOS Y SERVICIOS DEL Reynosa 600 1200 14400

NOROESTE
2 GreenField 1000 12000
3 GreenField 1000 12000
4 GreenField 1000 12000
5 GreenField 1000 12000
PRESTADORES DE SERVICIOS Puebla 87 1050 12600
ECOLOGICOS, S.A. DE C.V.
7 GreenField 1000 12000
8 GreenField 1000 12000
BIOCASAS INTELIGENTES (XOCHIMILCO) 50 600 7200

CAMPO LIMPIO AMOCALLI A.C. (DF) 250 2000 24000

GRUPO IBANAVA, S.A. DE C.V. (COLIMA) 100 1200 14400

HORTICULTURA PALOMO (HIDALGO) 100 1200 14400

AGROTILENO DE MÉXICO (GUADALAJARA) 1000 2000 24000

GreenField 14 1000 12000

15 1000 12000
16 1000 12000
17 1000 12000
18 1000 12000
19 1000 12000
20 1000 12000
21 1000 12000
22 1000 12000
23 1000 12000
TOTAL 2187 26250 315000

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Appendix 5.- Reductions measured in tCO2e due to plastic recycling.

Yearly evolution of project Interval of emission reduction.

implementation
(depending on mix of plastic processed)
(tCO2e/year)
2018 6,038 7,394
2019 15,518 19,003
2020 75,901 92,945
2021 116,157 142,239
2022 216,795 265,475
2023 216,795 265,475
2024 216,795 265,475
2025 216,795 265,475
2026 216,795 265,475
2027 216,795 265,475
2028 216,795 265,475
2029 216,795 265,475
2030 216,795 265,475
2031 216,795 265,475
2032 216,795 265,475
2033 216,795 265,475
2034 216,795 265,475
2035 216,795 265,475
2036 216,795 265,475
2037 216,795 265,475
2038 216,795 265,475
2039 216,795 265,475
2040 216,795 265,475
2041 216,795 265,475
2042 216,795 265,475
2043 216,795 265,475
2044 216,795 265,475
2045 216,795 265,475
2046 216,795 265,475
2047 216,795 265,475
2048 216,795 265,475
2049 216,795 265,475
2050 216,795 265,475
Total 6,500,669 7,960,356

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Appendix 6.- Power Generation due to plastic recycling.

Yearly Annual
Evolution Generation
MWh/year
2020 1.067
2021 2.963
2022 15.040
2023 23.091
2024 43.218
2025 43.218
2026 43.218
2027 43.218
2028 43.218
2029 43.218
2030 43.218
2031 43.218
2032 43.218
2033 43.218
2034 43.218
2035 43.218
2036 43.218
2037 43.218
2038 43.218
2039 43.218
2040 43.218
2041 43.218
2042 43.218
2043 43.218
2044 43.218
2045 43.218
2046 43.218
2047 43.218
2048 43.218
2049 43.218
2050 43.218
Total 1.209.047

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Appendix 7.- Reduction on Energy Cost and Emission Reductions due to Power Generation

Yearly Annual Reduction in Energy cost at

Evolution Generation actual tarif prices Emission reduction
MWh/year US$ / year tCO2e /year
2020 1.067 $963.537 527
2021 2.963 $2.675.645 1.464
2022 15.040 $13.580.791 7.430
2023 23.091 $20.850.889 11.407
2024 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2025 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2026 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2027 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2028 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2029 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2030 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2031 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2032 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2033 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2034 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2035 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2036 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2037 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2038 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2039 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2040 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2041 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2042 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2043 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2044 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2045 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2046 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2047 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2048 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2049 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
2050 43.218 $39.026.133 21.350
Total 1.209.047 597.278

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

Systemic Design Approach; Bring Holistic Governance into Europe's

2030 Economic Paradigms - Carolina Giraldo Nohra, Silvia Barbero

Carolina Giraldo Nohra

PhD Researcher

Politecnico di Torino

Torino

Italy

Silvia Barbero

Associate Professor

Politecnico di Torino

Torino

Italy

Introduction
How will the future European production systems ensure enough natural resources, quality jobs and
income opportunities for millions of people in a more humane, sustainable and efficient manner? In
times where the current linear economy has increased exposure to the risks of unpredictable resource
prices, job instability, and supply disruptions. These problems of resource security and scarcity are
highlighted by the EU’s increasing dependence on material imports (six times more material imported
than exported) (Lazarevic et al, 2017). Moreover, the situation has gotten sharper as the low costs in
production and labor in Asia have put the European Economy at a disadvantage. As a consequence,
the EU industry is producing and consuming not local resources in an unsustainable way.
On that view, according to the SDG 12 “Ensuring sustainable consumption and growth patterns” What
impacts will bring the systematic decoupling of economic growth from resource consumption in
European regions by 2030? European regions will have to prepare for a long-term transformation
towards a Circular Economy (CE) in order to achieve significant waste prevention, reduction, recycling
and reuse by 2030. To achieve this goal the European Commission released on 2015 the CE Package,
whose purpose is through the integration of policy proposals on waste management, landfills, and
recycling and reuse, foster a shift to a sustainable economic paradigm in the EU. Furthermore, an
Action Plan on closing the loop of the product life cycle in each step of the value chains.
Incorporating actions such as repairing and remanufacturing that will promote the introduction of raw
materials into the economy (EC, 2017). Through these actions is that critical raw materials will be kept
within Europe, strengthen the EU industry and making it less dependent on imports, less vulnerable
to market volatility and material supply issues. (Lazarevic et al, 2017)
What does the transition toward a CE entail and what can it do? However, on this inevitable transition,
we must be aware that not all parties would benefit from a circular model on regards growth and
employment. According to McKinsey, there are non-captured system benefits and rebound effects
could limit the income. Moreover, this scenario will bring consequences to a considerable part of the
industry and employment segments that will be likely to not act quickly enough and would lose by
2030.
Hence, to generate a way towards an effective transition it’s required new anticipatory approaches on
governance from a holistic and systemic point of view that promote a cohesive and smooth transition
to circular business models. On that view, how design can innovate in policy making process towards
a CE in a 2030 scenario? To begin the role of the designer has turned in to an essential figure as is
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used to deal with complex scenarios, anticipating future situations, creating innovative results and
promoting new approaches to complexity (Celaschi et al., 2013). The Design Policy has based its
implementation on different methods such as design thinking, generating innovative approaches from
design methodologies in the area of policy planning (Bason,2014). This is how the Systemic Design
Approach (SDA) has come out as key expertise, bringing effective tools to approach complexity.
Allowing the design of new relations between the stakeholders and the visualization of “sleeping” assets
of a territory (Bistagnino, 2011), features a clear perspective of territories. More specifically on how to
support active cooperation among local actors and local resources.
This paper highlights the impacts of CE policy design processes driven by an SDA and how this
expertise could ease a better transition to CE by 2030 in EU regions. This evidence will be featured
through the results of the RETRACE Interreg Europe project, where SDA defines a policy roadmap
towards a CE in 5 European Regions. This case study is presented in order to demonstrate how the
SDA through a strong involvement of stakeholders (industry, academics, policy makers, non-
governmental organizations, etc.) and a holistic comprehension of the territory can work
systematically on supporting policies needed to promote sustainable local value chains.

Systemic Design Approach for policy planning

To reach tangible EU 2030 goals on SDA decoupling economic growth from the use of resources, “CE
must be understood as a fundamental systemic [innovation] instead of a bit of twisting the status quo”
(Kirchherr et al, 2017). To accomplish this SDA developed in the early 2000’s by the research group of
the Department of Architecture and Design at Politecnico di Torino, delivers tools for territorial thinking
that allow to visualize and design the flow of material and energy from one element of the system to
another, transforming outputs of one process into input for another one in order to obtain zero
emissions and generating resilient territories (Bistagnino, 2011), more likely resulting in new, locally-
based, value chains (Barbero, 2012). On that view, the SDA is proposed as an anticipatory tool for
policymakers presenting a new starting point across the Holistic Diagnosis (HD) or system mapping
(Battistoni, Giraldo Nohra, 2017).
The SDA allows territories to be comprehended in a wider vision, through the creation of new networks
among the territorial actors, making possible the overview of hidden assets that will boost proactive
collaborations among local stakeholders and enhance new productive resilient economic models. This
engagement of stakeholders supports an exchange of strategic thinking process generating innovative
decision-making, leading to define and implement effective policy planning. Also, allowing to advocate
better governance, in order to anticipate local and regional development targeting fundamental social
benefits.
At the same time, to design effective policy strategies the SDA contains also other methodologies
such as; design thinking, co-design, user-centered design, bottom-up design, and participatory design.
These previous methods contain active participation of stakeholders in their design processes which
creates an innovative decision-making process, making the end-user into the focus of the policy-
making formulation system (Allio, 2014). Such elements prove how the SDA is more efficient in dealing
with complexity at a governance scale, allowing a better comprehension of the wider context around a
concrete policy or strategy (Barbero, 2017).
In an EU context, this expertise for policy-making aims to improve a sustainable and balanced territorial
development supporting key policy instruments for the European Commission such as the CE
Package and Cohesion Policy. As the SDA creates strategies which foster efficient decision-
making in order to anticipate regional development that fulfills crucial environmental-economical-
social benefits. Promoting a cohesive territorial development at different levels in EU regions but also
that over time have an effect on policymaking for EU governance. On that view, as a transition to CE
will require significant shifts in production and consumer behavior, this means that CE policy planning
process has to consider with a 2030 CE scenario that will influence a long-term policy orientation to
guarantee territorial cohesion in time (EPSON, 2018).

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Case Study: RETRACE Interreg Europe project.

As the CE paradigm in Europe is now gaining momentum promising to overcome the contradiction
between economic and environmental prosperity, it is necessary to endorse suitable governance
measures to accomplish a cohesive transition towards a CE by 2030. A current example is the
RETRACE Interreg Europe Project (2016-2020) (A Systemic Approach for Transition towards a Circular
Economy) which aims at promoting SDA for local and regional policies to move towards a CE,
according to which waste from one productive process becomes input in another, preventing waste to
be released into the environment. Financed under the first call for proposals of the Interreg Europe
ETC Programme, 4.2 Specific Objective: Improving resource-efficient economic policies. The project
coordinated by the Department of Architecture and Design at the Politecnico di Torino, involves 8
private and public partners and more than 70 stakeholders from Piedmont (IT), Basque Country (ES),
Nouvelle Aquitaine (FR), North-East Romania (RO) and Slovenia (SL) to foster the cooperation
between regions of European countries. This synchronized work between universities, managing
authorities (MA) associations and public administration whose main aim is to undertake the EU
priority of transitioning to a CE keeping the subject set up by the “Flagship Initiative for a Resource-
efficient Europe” for a transition to a resource-efficient, low-carbon economy to achieve
sustainable growth as stated in the Europe 2020 strategy and the EC Communication “Towards a
Circular Economy: A Zero Waste Programme for Europe”.
The project RETRACE partners are convinced that the implementation of more systemic approaches
at territory/regional level will play a vital role towards a complete transition towards a CE by 2030.
Through the RETRACE outcomes, the SDA has proved to be a key tool for an integrated territorial
development through the implementation of effective policies that enhance CE in the regions involved.
The project has delivered an innovative policy-making pathway lead by the SDA towards a more
competitive European economy compatible with EU objectives on CE Package and Cohesion Policy.
To that end, as Policy Design process that takes SDA as an anticipatory tool for policy making,
RETRACE has delivered several milestones:
• 5 Holistic Diagnosis (HD) from the involved regions. The HD focused on the main complex industrial
systems (productive chains) of each region, this holistic overview eased the policymaking processes
on identify the opportunities that encouraged a transition into CE, where waste (outputs) from one
productive chain part become the inputs for another. (Batisttoni, Giraldo Nohra. 2017). HD included
a self-assessment on the gaps of available policies and regional Operational programmes, allowing
each partner region better addressing the nature and scope. The HD as a tool for policymakers
instrument aimed to enhance the competences of the MA and policymakers to manage public
issues, through a qualitatively innovative approach in the process of policy planning. Also, it featured
the different approaches on CE each region have which could vary based on geographical,
environmental, economic or social factors while showing that the CE is not a standardized process
but an adaptive one. From the policymakers, perspective was regarded as a supporting instrument
to increase the public sector effectiveness and innovation.

Figure 1 Holistic Diagnosis Infographics (Batisttoni, Giraldo Nohra. 2017)

• 5 Regional Action Plans (RAP) in CE. This document established regional priorities addressing a
wide range of CE Policy Gaps; planned measures and forms of support available for the

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implementation period and beyond. Therefore, SDA allows delivering policies were all stakeholders
can see the evolution of the multiple actions on CE with a short, mid and long term. This outcome of
RETRACE also aims to transform key relevant policies instruments for regions such as the EU
regional operational programme, Smart Specialisation Strategies (RIS3), waste management or
industrial development plans, combine impacts on current and future programming period (Babero &
Giraldo Nohra, 2018).

• Apply a bottom-up approach through the involvement of a wide spectrum of stakeholders. In order to
support, regional actors to promote cross-sectoral cooperation on CE: between industries,
associations, communities, research, and MA. Addressing a collaborative approach to consumption
from innovative value chains, Social Economy to Industrial Symbiosis. These CE strategies
encourage regional cooperation fostering territorial cohesion. These axes have been promoted
within the RETRACE project:

Industrial Symbiosis: Encouraging new productive relationships. Through the HD in each

region, it was possible to unveil the importance of multiple productive chains and their hidden
potentialities to generate critical mass for industrial symbiosis. On that view, RAPs addressed
measures to ease collaboration between sectors for the production of new by-products. For
seen as long-term action, this aims to transform regional RIS3 generating new synergies
between the industrial sector and the territory and in CE 2030 scenario.

Social Economy: Aiming at the increase of employment in the field includes cooperatives,
mutual societies, non-profit associations, foundations and social enterprises, which can take
any legal form. The SDA enables a holistic visualizing of the quantitative and qualitative
resources, allowing to comprehend the impact of the social and cultural aspects on the local
value chains and CE at a regional level. Demonstrating the important role covered by social
enterprises as a connector between environmental sustainability and societal health. This is
reflected within the RETRACE’s multi-stakeholder perspective which has involved a wide
spectrum of actors to deliver a bottom-up approaches policy planning. Boosting territorial
cohesion through social economies across the regions proves that the CE must be developed
toward social challenges and fostering inclusive growth across the EU.

Innovative value chains: Fostering value chains to change, from product design to market and
company models, from methods of transforming waste into resources to consumption
approaches to promote sustainable production and repair systems. To enable an efficient
transition towards a CE it is vital to consider the following strategies on regards a product life
cycle: repair, reuse, share, loop (EMF, 2015). The RETRACE’s RAP, consider such strategies
at different levels from the macro-productive chains to local social enterprises creating
synergies in wider networks among all CE regional stakeholders.

Conclusions
Even if RETRACE features the SDA as practical expertise that enables a transition towards a CE, it is
not merely theoretical; it is a framework for tangible actions to be developed towards a CE context by
2030. As it is imperative to overcome this obstacle at a governance level, to achieve CE goals at the
EU level. To accomplish an efficient transition CE it is needed research on design elements such as
the SDA that will be able to mediate this process and adapt to their morphology, towards the
development of resilient and cohesive regions. On this view, the endorsement of the SDA as expertise
that could ease the potential effects that transitioning into a circular model might bring will be key to
envision policy scenarios by 2030. This kind of methodologies for policy-making will be the base of key
policy instruments for the EU such as the Cohesion Policy and the CE Package enhancing Europe’s
future growth, employment, and environmental objectives towards a balanced territorial development.

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Therefore, the importance of policy outcomes like RETRACE proves that the key role of SDA
in supporting a regional transition to a CE proving that a real systemic change and a strong
and innovative drive is required, not only regarding technology but also concerning the organization,
societal approach, financing methods and policies. On this view, the SDA has recognized the
great opportunities offered by the regions through the HD increasing their resource productivity. This
will be reflected on less export of raw material towards Europe and the more efficient use of
resources along the local value chains. This could reduce the material needs of 17%-24% by 2030,
with savings for the EU industry of the order of €630 billion per year and the EU GDP could raise up
to 3.9%.
From that point of view, RETRACE aims to be a milestone on the way to a better comprehension of
the impact the implementation of SDA on Policy Design processes in EU regions towards a
CE. Moreover, this holistic approach offers an opportunity for renewal or smooth change for the
economic policy paradigm, including many previously under-leveraged opportunities coming into
focus. Also to disrupt paradigms on governance and allow innovative paths towards territorial
cohesion and EU policymaking for CE. For the future policymakers, the SDA can support the
generation of more efficient policies that can promote better governance on CE and disseminate
innovative solutions.
RETRACE as interregional experience features how the SDA it is key for an integrated
territorial development through the generation of effective policies that enhance a cohesive CE
transition by 2030. It is not a coincidence that projects like RETRACE are happening at amongst the
continuous debate on the future of EU policies towards a 2030 CE scenario, regions and cities have
to demand a deeper territorial dimension in terms to accomplish more significant results on a
cohesive territorial to shape the future EU circular for regions.

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G-ROAD.COM_How to Implement a Green Platform for Sustainable

Innovation Along the Silk Road - Peter Ruge
Peter Ruge

Architect

Peter Ruge Architekten

Berlin

Germany

Picture 1

G-ROAD.COM (abridged Green Health Road) is the vision of a robust and beautiful green and
healthy Silk Road. It utilizes the new infrastructure for the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative under
construction to envisage an interconnection of local identities, communities, ecological, technological
and economic visions to create a human-centric development that reflects demographic waves and
cultural conditions. This holistic approach lays the foundation for a green and sustainable
citizenship connected overland between Europe and Asia.

The Silk Road refers to an old network of caravan routes between Europe and Asia. The main
connection formed the first land and water bridge between the East and the West, linking China to
the Mediterranean Sea and vice versa. The name “Silk Road” dates back to the German geographer
Ferdinand von Richthofen who first used the term in the late 19th century.
Silk was commercially traded to the West along the ancient Silk Road, while spices, wool, gold
and silver were traded to the East. Silk Road trading played a significant role in the development of
civilization in China, Japan, the Indian subcontinent, Europe and Arabia, starting before the 1st
century.
Not only merchants, scholars and armies used this network, but also ideas, religions and whole
cultures diffused and migrated along the routes from East to West and vice versa. Simultaneously,
it was a transit route for diseases and health threats, such as the Black Plague, which appears to
have propagated along the Silk Road in the 14th century from the dry plains of Central Asia to
Europe, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 200 million people. The physical connection itself
between the areas resulted to an unhealthy and deadly interaction.
Around the same time, travelling along the Silk Road became more and more unsafe and the
overland connection was forgotten for many centuries. At the advent of the modern Silk Road as we
know it today, the buddhist monk Wang Yuanlu discovered an immense treasure of around
50,000 documents in different central-Asian languages in the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China.
Today, there are various way of alluding to the Silk Road: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of the
People’s Republic of China, for example, focuses on an infrastructural multi-billion dollar investment,
starting with the establishment in 2011 of a rail connection from Chongqing, China to Duisburg,
Germany, cutting travel time from 36 days by container ship to 13 days by freight train.
The Silk Road is the topic of various research projects between Europe and Asia, including Peter
Frankopan's book: “The Silk Roads: A New History of the World”. In it, he suggests a very
optimistic notion that “the Silk Roads are reviving”.

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G-ROAD.COM
The vision of G-ROAD.COM (abridged Green Health Road) creates the robust and beautiful idea of a
green and healthy Silk Road. It uses the new infrastructure under construction to envisage an
interconnection of local identities, communities, ecological, technological and economic visions
linked to imagine a human centred development that reflects demographic waves and cultural
conditions.
This network of ideas and visions connects educational and commercial partners from different
institutions, cultures and countries to boost green and healthy key strategies and actions for the
sustainable development of the Silk Road, safeguarding its cultural and environmental resources.
It is a platform for discussion, evaluation and inspiration.
The latter frames the research in an amalgamation of the mystic ancient Silk Road and a modern
high-speed infrastructure - the multi-trillion dollar investment over the next decade will reconnect
Europe to Asia overland and vice versa in a green and healthy way.
The plan is to make the results of this three-year study available to a broader audience through the
platform, to arrange and stipulate a defined set of criteria that support green and healthy decision-
making in decentralized local communities across different climate zones. This would provide a
dialectic to redirect a mainly economically-driven development into a paradigmatically shifted
sustainable environment. A platform of concept collections is efficient in promoting the exchange of
global ideas, to achieve a green and healthy civilization with strong local beliefs.

G-ROAD, not just another road, but a green & healthy Silk Road
G-ROAD.COM is a sustainable and outstanding vision of a successful green and healthy
civilization along the Silk Road, inspired by its rich cultural heritage and forward-looking holistic G-
IDEAS.
Based on comprehensive research, G-IDEAS are created to emerge visionary opportunities that
reflect environmental challenges, health technologies, local identities, social conditions and cultural
diversity:
1G - Local identities: Reflecting the long history of the Silk Road’s local identities are the starting
point for cultural visions and to create a purposeful paradigm shift for combining the rich heritage
with modern society along the G-ROAD.
2G - Social: G-ROAD socialization performs methods of combining new technology with social living
in order to support local conditions. A new world of sharing, free education, and sustainable humanity
are visualized in the G-IDEAS.
3G - Ecology, environment: From the backstage of arid deserts, expansive grasslands to majestic
mountains and humid forests, the principles of ecological conditions inspire, improve and create
feasible solutions and a vision for a green and healthy evolution.
4G - Technology, economy: The never-ending story of technological innovation and new
currencies along the Silk Road are catalysts of the advancement of humanity. G-ROAD visions
utilize technology as one of the tools to sustain and encourage a green and healthy society.
5G - “Green Health”: As a holistic scheme, “green and healthy” development is shared with
society and supports improving the environment, health, technology, local identities and social
conditions.
Deliberately designed from diverse sources, these concepts aim at personal green inspiration. Each
project is a sustainable dream by itself and is connected with the long-lasting story of the G-ROAD.
In its entirety, G- ROAD.COM forms an impressive rhapsody in green: the vision of a green and
healthy development to be shared with future generations.

Pictures 2 - 6

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Five examples for G-IDEAS (One in each category)

1G: 2080 Tomorrow
Hotan, China
On this very day, a strawberry shaped object emerges into the sky. Its name is Hover the Third,
which is scheduled for the Gobi Desert. To create an everlasting work and life balance, you do not
have to leave your family and the people you love in order to work at a place far away. With its
attractive appearance, everyone’s dream becomes true. Today, Hover the Third had finally achieved
the human desire and a new sustainable method of thinking along the Road of Dreams.

2G: G–Street Libraries

Damascus, Syria
G–Street Libraries empower free education. As information is crucial for the future of the G-ROAD,
G-Street Libraries are allow free reading and cultural exchange. They are built out of recycled
bricks available in Syria. The unique beehive shape is inspired by traditional Syrian dwellings from
over 5000 years ago.

3G: Water Lily

Sylhet, Bangladesh
Water Lily is a prototype for collecting and transporting water to arid areas through G-Spine to
balance the consequences of climate change. Located at Ratargul Swamp Forest, one of the few
freshwater swamp forests in the world, in the North East of Bangladesh, they store water during the
heavy rainfall and maintain the water level in the dry season. Excess water is transported through G-
Spine.

4G: G-Charging Pod

Valais, Switzerland
A world full of electric cars is approaching. G-Charging Pod provides a new concept for charging
stations and healthy public space. Every G-Charging Pod design is in harmony with nature by using
local materials or available natural resources which helps users to be aware of their local resources
and consume with their self consciousness.

5G: Desertification
Lop Nur, China
Climate change and lack of water have led to desertification, natural disasters, war and extinction
along the Silk Road. Inspired by a traditional water transportation system, ‘Karez’ towers are built
to pump underground salt water through the Taklamakan desert. Desalination water treatment for
settlements inside a limited supply radius are developed as multi-function tower units and distributed
along the G-ROAD.

How can we design holistic eco-innovations and support green growth

economy along the G-ROAD beyond 2030?
G-Road is developed to communicate radical changes through an adaptation in social structure and
organizational practices, visible in sustainable local identities. The concept of supporting local
employment and creativity will give an opportunity to reduce an inefficient megacities outline.

Climate change and water scarcity is not only a matter of lifestyle but a beacon of misled economies.
Market transformation can be optimized to yield opportunities such as new currencies in fusion with
carbon collectors, as presented in the G-Idea “New Currency”. The idea is to invite and activate

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a sustainable community that is resourceful and give a new way of using building materials in its life
cycle.

Why is it important to provide a local strategy interconnected along the

concept of the G-Road in order to create a green and healthy environment in
2030?
The Silk Road is the appropriate case study for local development. Its rich historical background
and the most immense scale of trade routes encompasses a large population that consists of
diverse nations, cultures, languages, ethnicities and lifestyles.
Green growth and economy is designed for protection of the environment, consisting of product
sustainability, remanufacturing it as eco-innovations. When pollution is diminished by these
measures, green and healthy ecology as the basis of the G-Road vision will be acquired.
Public buildings as icons for collective services and cultural values of cities can be achieved. The
private-public sector embodies generosity, democracy and identity along the G-Road.

What can be achieved on the road to 2030?

Socialization especially improves connection between rural areas, which empowers mutual benefits
in supporting the neighborhood, and shared sustainability. Interconnected local communities will
support the work on-site and communicate best practices.
Under the chemistry of “Moore's Law”, the G-Road approach empowers applying innovative, green
materials in construction processes and biomimicry in the manipulation of design parameters. G-
Ideas largely present the possibilities in this field such as the “G-Shell” and “G-Street Libraries”.
Innovative tools reduce building construction time. Possibilities are exchanged to incubate and
execute the chain of ideas.
G-ROAD.COM has been researched and designed in on-ongoing process in three consecutive
master theses Studios Peter Ruge at Dessau Institute for Architecture: 2016/17: “SR Recall”, 2017/8:
“The Road of Dreams” and 2018/9: “How deep is Your Green?”, in cooperation with the Golden
Panda Design Award and the Peter Ruge Architekten office in Berlin. G-ROAD.COM traveled in
2018 as an exhibition from Berlin to Mexico-City and Chengdu.
The speed of raising awareness is far slower than the evolution of environmental disasters. And yet
again, the present focus is mainly on infrastructure. Over several decades, we have perceived
technologies as issues when advancement is imbalanced in over-utilizing resources. With G-
ROAD.COM we have created opportunities for a holistic approach in order to lay the foundation for a
green and sustainable citizenship.

References

Picture 1 Author: Peter Ruge Architekten, Berlin, 2018

Picture 2 Author: Chin Yan Jun, Dessau International Architecture Graduate School, Dessau, 2018
Picture 3 “G – Street Libraries“ is a derivative of “Aleppo, citadel 2009 reflection“ by Johan, used
under CC BY 2.0.
Picture 4 “Water Lily“ is a derivative of “Entering the Ratargul Swamp Forest“ by Faisal Akram,
used under CC BY-SA 2.0 and “Sylhet ratargul swamp forest 2“ by Abdullahap, used under CC BY-
SA 4.0
Picture 5 Author: Peter Ruge Architekten, Berlin, 2018
Picture 6 Author:Alex Sia Hong Rui, Dessau International Architecture Graduate School, Dessau,
2017

Peter Frankopan, The Silk Roads, Zhejiang University Press, Hangzhou, 2016

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SEEbalance® - a Newly Developed Approach for the Evaluation of

Social Impacts Along Value Chains - Peter Saling, Ana Alba Pérez, Thomas Grünenwald, Peter Kölsch

Peter Saling

Director Sustainability Methods

BASF SE

Ludwigshafen

Germany

Ana Alba Pérez

Senior Manager Applied Sustainability

BASF SE

Ludwigshafen

Germany

Thomas Grünenwald

Senior Manager Applied Sustainability

BASF SE

Ludwigshafen

Germany

Peter Kölsch

Team Leader Applied Sustainability

BASF SE

Ludwigshafen

Germany

Measuring sustainability as an important prerequisite for making strategic

decisions
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are in the focus for social indicator systems and for the
assessment of improvements in the social dimension of sustainability. In the new approach of the
Social Hot Spot Assessment of the Social Analysis, the SDG are implemented as a guidance system
for the detection of Social Hotspots in a supply chain.
The Social Analysis is implemented in the SEEbalance® calculating results with the Social Life Cycle
Assessment and with a specific Social Hot Spot Assessment. Both approaches generate, calculate
and interpret the social impacts from different perspectives.

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Premise: Assessment of social impacts in the value chain

Measuring sustainability is an important prerequisite for making strategic decisions. BASF has
developed several instruments to evaluate sustainability whereby the utilization of each method
depends on the concrete purpose or issue in question. The new Social Analysis will contribute to this
setup by assessing social impacts along the value chain.
Social criteria and objectives – such as education, health or working conditions – are becoming
increasingly important which is why these factors are also addressed by the SDGs (Sustainable
Development Goals). For this reason, social aspects also have an increasing impact on marketing and
management decision-making processes. With this article, we are focusing on the Social Hot Spot
Assessment

Our Approach: The Social Analysis is built on two modules which can be applied separately
The combination of technical know-how, know-how on supply chains and the link to meaningful social
assessments is often challenging. The selection of meaningful indicators and the aggregation into
findings that support decision-making processes are difficult and need to focus on relevant aspects.
The assessment of social impacts can be done on different levels of information and with different
views on a supply chain. We developed an approach that addresses social impacts in a social analysis
with different perspectives.

The Social LCA within the Social Analysis

The Social LCA in our approach is like an environmental LCA and considers system boundaries with
the same logic. Life cycle steps are defined to produce a defined product with a defined function.
To link the life cycle modules with relevant data, company specific, country specific or mixes of
different data sets are prepared to integrate them in a life cycle approach. In an overall figure, social
impacts by assessing 11 impact categories from different sources with different indicator sets are
generated. An aggregation scheme that was developed within this setup can aggregate and display
the results in a meaningful and easy understandable manner.

The Social Hot Spot Assessment within the Social Analysis

The Social Hot Spot Assessment is the second module of the Social analysis. It follows in the first
step the environmental LCA and Social LCA, the definition of system boundaries. If a Social LCA is
available, the system boundaries can be used again and vice versa. In the next step, possible life
cycle steps are identified that might be relevant for a deep dive of specific social hot spots.
In the assessment process of the whole supply chain the most significant life cycle step(s) is/are
identified and highlighted. The identification of possible life cycle steps does not follow a mass-
oriented approach, because even small volumes of materials can cause high impacts on social
aspects. Because of the deep dive of the method, a limited number of life cycle steps is assessed. The
goal of this module is the identification of hot spots beyond statistical figures that are important for the
marketing of a product. The identification of the relevant life cycle steps follows the logic of
determining each identified unique and specific step that have a high importance to social indicators. It
is important to focus on life cycle steps which are possibly linked to a high risk.

Process for Hot Spot identification

The identification of the most relevant life cycle steps follows some basic questions or qualification of a
possible focus. It is considered to discuss the topics of most salient social risks, the need for more
detailed information and contextualization, links to social risk in direct/indirect business relationships,
leverage and improvement potentials. Furthermore, the relevance for stakeholders and recent or
evolving public attention is considered.
Significant steps can be working conditions in some countries or companies producing a good with
high attention of the public. The crude oil production in other countries as precursor for textile
chemicals might be of less importance than the production of a textile. In the production of a

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packaging material, the most salient social risk might be in the collection and recycling step of the
packaging and not in the assessment of printing materials for the label.
For a better structure of the assessment, a clear and meaningful search and the expression of findings
in tangible terms, we used the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as the basis. The goals and the
targets defined by the UN are used as guiding element and as well for the expression of the findings.
In depth analysis of effects that contradicts the SDG are identified and used for the interpretation of
improvement potentials in the supply chain. So this approach only considers negative impacts to the
SDG. The consideration of positive impacts to SDG were checked as well, but we did not find a
meaningful and loadable approach that consistently shows the positive impacts.
The process can be defined after the selection of the most relevant life cycle steps in a consistent
manner. Starting with a free desktop research on all social topics that can be found in internet,
literature, social media, etc. and filter of the relevant information. After that, a cross-check of the
findings follows in a detailed analysis. The SDG goals and targets are used after that free research to
structure a more detailed search of impacts that affect the SDG negatively. Table 1 shows an example
of the results of such an assessment for the SDG 5.
Table 1: Search functions and linkage to identify incidents where SDG are negatively affected;
example SDG 5

SDG Target Description Finding Result

5 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls x

In this sector women

End all forms of discrimination against all women
5.1 are much less paid x
and girls everywhere
than men
Violence against
Eliminate all forms of violence against all women woman was reported
5.2 and girls in the public and private spheres, including in several cases x
trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation

Proportion of ever-partnered women and

girls aged 15 years and older subjected to
physical, sexual or psychological violence
5.2.1 No indication
by a current or former intimate partner in
the previous 12 months, by form of
violence and by age
Proportion of women and girls aged 15
years and older subjected to sexual Several reports on
5.2.2 violence by persons other than an intimate violence against x
partner in the previous 12 months, by age woman
and place of occurrence

Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early

5.3 No indication
and forced marriage and female genital mutilation

ctd.…

Process for Hot Spot evaluation

The hot spot evaluation is based on the identification, utilizing the SDG. The evaluation does on one
hand display the hot spots aligned to the SDGs and links them to the identified step in the system
boundaries. In addition, it exposes the severity of the issue compared to other regions of concerns. It
is a kind of a normalization step, transferring the result a colour code system as used in the Social
LCA as well. This assessment is achieved by comparing, on an international level, the regional hot
spot to other countries’ performance in the specific issues. Furthermore, the performances will be
compared on an interregional level. Information from different regions within the relevant country are

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used as a systematic approach for setting baselines as well as “best in class” levels. With this
information, the practitioner can make expert statements about the classification of each hot spot.
Thereby, the overall severity of the cumulated hot spots of each alternative is emphasized.
For finding baseline information we classify the issue by using the SDG_identification database (SDG-
tracker via https://sdg-tracker.org/). With this data source, country specific evaluations on every SDG
can be found and integrated as a baseline or “best-of class” information. In other words: Subsequently,
by searching for the hot spot “value” via viable sources, the upper bound (= best performing country)
and lower bound (= worst performing country) can be detected. They define the scale for all the other
countries and are link with the red and the green scale (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Example of social hot spot classification against a baseline

In the evaluation steps, the issue will be classified as part of the hot spot assessment by using a scale
from worst to best performer in the specific hot spot type (Figure 1). Thereby, the severity of the issue
will be evaluated by comparing it with the best and worst performer and a color code is dedicated to
the life cycle step. If there is an identification of a green scale, it will not be addressed as social Hot
spot. It can be the basis for positive improvements of an activity linked with the SDG.
For presenting the findings

Figure displays the ideal approach where all information, namely the process risks, the respective
SDGs as well as the hot spot severity are combined. It gives a god overview for decision-makers and
can highlight the most important social Hot Spot topics along the value chain. It shows, which SDG in
which life cycle step or module from the system boundaries are affected negatively and why. It shows
different impacts parallel and allows the comparison with another alternative process. Position 1
shows the definition of the relevant steps in the value chain, position 2 shows a selection of the
affected SDG on high level basis and position 3 shows the identified colour code compared to country
averages and the specific Hot Spot definition. The colour code is mainly the same as in the Social LCA
and enables decision-makers to make cross-references. In terms of the Social Analysis within the
SEEbalance both types of analysis give a comprehensive picture of social aspects for the defines
product alternative. It can be compared to product and process alternatives very easily and allows the
definition and description of measures for possible improvements of the situations. It gives a clear
picture, where and how in the value chain improvements are realistic, can be achieved and how the
situation will be after the improvements.

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Figure 2: Presentation of Social Hot Spot Assessment

The selection of appropriate indicators and the aggregation into a result are key aspects in social
assessments. Therefore, the SEEbalance® can be executed on different levels of information and with
different views on a supply chain to identify the relevant disparities between the evaluated alternatives.
The approach consists of four modules that together address economic, environmental and social
impacts. The Social Analysis covers the assessment of social impacts and consists of two modules,
namely the Social LCA and the Social Hot Spot Assessment (see Figure.3).

Social Life Cycle Assessment

 Identify social risk (based on credible commercial
data providers)
 Important impact categories considered include fair
wages, forced labour, health and safety
 Focus on stakeholder groups like workers,
communities and consumers

Social Hot Spot Assessment

 Evaluation of hot spots
 Linkage of relevant risks or benefits to the UN SDG´s
 Recommendations for concrete improvements

Figure 3:Opportunities of Sustainability assessment with the SEEbalance®

The Social Analysis is used for the identification of information on social impacts, risks and
improvement potentials of product or process alternatives by the consideration of the whole supply
chain with a life cycle approach. Deep dive assessment steps with the Social Hot Spot Assessment
enables analysts the generation of a clear picture of the social impacts and improvement potentials of
alternatives fulfilling the same functional unit. Together with Eco-Efficiency information, a
comprehensive, life cycle oriented and holistic overview of alternative systems can be described.
Together with the Eco-Efficiency Analysis a n good overview about all three dimensions of
sustainability is possible. Decision-making processes but as well design and R&D processes can be
supported with a lot of meaningful information for identifying more sustainable solutions. The SDG as
a guiding principle as basis for future developments can be used together with our strategic
assessment system, to identify improvement potentials and to trigger activities in regions or sectors for
more sustainability. The assessment allows the generation of clear pictures concerning hot spots in

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the value chain with a sound background, the identification of important gaps to come closer to the
SDG and a tangible information for the supply chain actors. Several examples showed that the Social
Hot Spot Assessment can be applied to a variety of products with a lot of applications.

References
Saling P, Kicherer, A.; Dittrich-Kraemer B, Wittlinger R, Zombik W, Schmidt I, Schrott W, Schmidt S,
Eco-efficiency analysis by BASF – The method, Int J. LCA 7 (4), 2002, 203-218.
Schmidt I., Meurer M., Saling P. Kicherer A, Reuter W, Gensch, CO, SEEbalance - Managing
Sustainability of Products and Processes with the Socio-Eco-Efficiency Analysis by BASF, Greener
Management International, Greenleaf publishing Sheffield, S. Seuring (guest editor), Issue 45, Spring
2004, 79 - 94.
Kölsch, D., Saling P., Kicherer, A., Grosse-Sommer, A. How to Measure social Impacts? What is the
SEEbalance® about? – Socio-Eco-Efficiency Analysis: The Method. In: International Journal of
Sustainable Development. Int. J. Sustainable Development, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2008, 1-23.
Saling P, Grosse-Sommer A, Alba-Perez A, Kalisch D, Using the Eco-Efficiency Analysis and
SEEbalance in the Sustainability Assessment of Products and Processes. In: Sustainable
Neighbourhood, from Lisbon to Leipzig through Research, 4th BMBF-Forum for Sustainability, Leipzig,
Germany, May 2007, pp 8-10.
Saling P, Pierobon M, Measuring the sustainability of products: The Eco-Efficiency and
SEEBALANCE® analysis, LCM 2011, Berlin, http://www.lcm2011.org/papers.html, 21.11.2011
Saling P., Alba Pérez A., Grünenwald T., Kölsch P., Generation, calculation and interpretation of social
impacts with the Social Analysis of SEEbalance® in Traverso M., Petti L., Zamagni A. (eds)
Perspectives on Social LCA: Contributions from the 6th International conference, Springer (2019) in
print
Saling P, SEEbalance in Goedkoop M.J., Indrane D., de Beer I.M.; Product Social Impact Assessment
Handbook - 2018, Amersfoort, September 1st, (2018).
Saling P., Alba Pérez A., Grünenwald T., Kölsch P., (2018), Applying Social-LCA and Social Hot Spot
Analysis including a SDG Evaluation to Product Assessments with SEEbalance®, SETAC conference,
Rome

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The Life Cycle of Smart Devices in 2030: The Effect of Technology

Trends and Circular Economy Drivers on Future Products - Karsten Schischke, Nils Nissen, Klaus-Dieter Lang

Karsten Schischke

Group Manager Product Ecodesign and Circular Materials

Fraunhofer IZM

Berlin

Germany

Nils Nissen

Head of Department Environmental and Reliability Engineering

Fraunhofer IZM

Berlin

Germany

Klaus-Dieter Lang

Director, Full Professor

Fraunhofer IZM

Technische Universität Berlin

Germany

A defining feature of smart electronic devices is short innovation cycles – smart phones in 2030 will
look very different than those of today. Technology innovations in the microelectronics domain and in
related fields along the product life cycle, such as recycling and refurbishment technologies, will have
a dramatic impact on product design and the product life cycle. In parallel, emerging circular economy
concepts, business models and policies will influence how technologies develop. The interaction
between technology innovation and circularity drivers is discussed below using data from life cycle
assessments of smartphone products as example. A key focus is the latest research results of the EU-
funded Horizon2020 project “sustainablySMART”, which investigates the product life cycle of smart
mobile devices and new product design concepts, in particular, modularity of the device as such and
on printed circuit board level, as well as robotics-assisted disassembly technologies, rework of
semiconductor components and repurposing of electronics in other devices.

Technology-driven Trends
In the early years of the 21st Century, mobile phone development was largely defined by shrinking size
and volume, with weight reduced to 100 grams or less. This trend was braked by physics – a minimum
size for both, display and keys to ensure ergonomics. With the advent of the smartphone in 2008,
technology progress turned from miniaturisation to making mobile phones multifunctional micro-
computers. In recent years, the size trend has been even reversed and has led to larger display sizes
– which also require larger batteries. As result, the tablet market was cannibalized and the
smartphones of today are larger than 20 years ago. An additional effect has been the dramatic
increase of the environmental impact: for example, the life cycle assessment of a 3G Nokia phone in
2003 was calculated as having Global Warming Potential of slightly less than 8 kg CO 2-eq. for the
production phase (including raw materials) (Singhal 2005); today for the carbon footprint of

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smartphone production is estimated as being in the range of 30 to 80 kg CO2-eq. (see e.g. Proske, M.
et al. 2016; Ercan, M. et al. 2016; Suckling, J. & Lee, J. 2015) for raw materials acquisition and
production. This is also an indicator of the additional functionality squeezed into today’s smartphones.
Smartphone technology is mature and the next disruptive innovation to change the appearance may
well be flexible displays and electronics. Patents on flexible displays have already been filed by Apple
and first prototypes of bendable smartphones were recently showcased by Rouyu Technology, Lenovo
(Krishnan, K. 2019). Based on recent market releases, one could spectulate that, instead of
integrating further functionality, the smartphone of the future will function as a router for peripheral
wearable devices, such as smart watches, smart glasses and the in-ear headset ala Babel Fish quasi-
predicted in Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and stationary and mobile
counterparts, such as a wide range of identification terminals and remote-controlled hardware.

Circularity-driven Trends

Circular Design
While the product “smartphone” evolves, or is occasionally catapulted forwards by disruptive
technology changes, circular design trends has begun kicking in. However, the effects of evolution and
circular design approaches are sometimes contradictory (Schischke 2018):

1. Reparability: Some small manufacturers, such as Fairphone (Figure 1) and Shift, have
explicitly design smartphones with do-it-yourself reparability in mind. The logic design
approach for this is modularity and simple fasteners that can be released without
sophisticated equipment or the risk of causing damage to the device. At the heart of the
simplicity of repairable design is a battery that can be easily replaced by the device owner.

Reparability and serviceability can also be realised on PCB-level. Here, individual

functions are integrated in distinct PCB modules, which are attached using reversible
interconnection technology to a backbone board. Figure 2 depicts such a module for the
USB connector of a mobile ICT device, which features embedded components.
Embedding technology is a promising approach to compensate for the otherwise
increasing PCB footprint, i.e. PCB area, of a modular printed circuit board (see discussion
on the environmental price of modularity further below).

Figure 1: Modularity of the Fairphone 2 and the latter’s carbon footprint

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Figure 2: USB module for a mobile ICT device featuring embedding technology

2. Upgradeability and flexibility: Whereas hardware “upgrades” for the established

smartphone market is shorthand for replacing a device with a better, newer one, the
circular economy approach requires upgrading only individual functions. Performance can
improve as user expectations increase or change without replacing the base device.
Examples are the concepts of the Puzzlephone and of the discontinued Google ARA
project. The Puzzlephone is intended to comprise just three modules, the “spine”, i.e. a
display unit, the “heart”, i.e. a battery module, and the “brain”, which is the main
electronics module, of which there are numerous different variants. In fact, the key
component of this modular concept is a proprietary connector specification that is made
available for other developers. In this way smartphone developers can make efficient use
of an existing platform to develop modules with specific functionalities, The user would
easily be able to exchange not only a broken display module or a battery reaching its end-
of-life, but also the “brain” module to take advantage of newly released features.

Figure 3: Puzzlephone design study, with brain (1), spine (2) and heart (3) modules (left, courtesy of
Circular Devices Oy) and the Google ARA project concept (right)

The Google ARA project was an extreme example of this upgradeability approach. It
featured an endoskeleton with a display on one side and numerous slots for modules on
the backside (Hankammer, S. et al. 2016): Functionality was fragmented further, but led to
significant complexity, which was one of the reasons why the concept was discontinued.
However, if it had, as intended, transposed success story of the software apps universe
onto the hardware world, sever major rebound effects would likely have materialised: Just
as many users download many more apps than actually used, there would have been the
risk that users would just own many more modules than slots provided by the Google ARA
and actually only use a few. Instead of increased efficiency, the outcome would have been
excessive hardware consumption.

3. Cascading: Smartphones are powerful mini-computers - with the resulting increased

carbon footprint. At end of life, they are still powerful mini-computers, albeit more one or
several of the following: a drained battery, a broken display, increasing software

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incompatibility, deteriorated performance. At the same time the ubiquitous use of

electronics for e.g. home automation or the Internet of Things qualifies smartphones and
its components for cascade reuse. For example, the Galaxy Upcycling project, announced
in 2017, but still not publicly launched (as of January 2019) is intended to be exactly this:
An open innovation community and platform to exchange ideas and hardware solutions for
how to repurpose used Samsung Galaxy smartphones for specific applications – for
example, monitoring and operating a fish tank remotely is the use case example featured
in the promotional YouTube video of the Galaxy Upcycling project. Another example of the
cascade approach is the above discussed Puzzlephone concept, which can also facilitate
a proper reuse of the main electronics: The company Circular Devices is working on
turning several used “brain” modules into a stacked computing array as a workstation
(Figure 4).

In fact, components of conventional “mono block” smartphones can also be reused: Sitek
et al. (2018) demonstrated a high quality desoldering and rework process for
semiconductor components from mobile devices, and similar components have already
been repurposed for low-cost memory sticks, toys and the like in non-European countries.
This trend is likely to continue with the increasing performance of end-of-first-life
components. Technically, this requires a specification of components for repeated reuse,
with the challenge being device reliability that can withstand the stress of the de- and re-
soldering process. Although semiconductor components are only qualified for a limited
number of soldering cycles, research by Sitek et al. (2018) has shown that parts such as
memory components can easily withstand more than the specified number of soldering
cycles. What remains to be investigated is whether the increased number of read-write
cycles on memory chips with extended component use life will become a problem in
future: Latest memory technologies with ever increasing storage density will last an ever
lower number of read-write cycles due to physical constraints. Reusing these memory
components might yield reliability problems.

4. Multi-purposing: As a smartphone is a mini-computer, why not using it as a computer? The

German company Shift, known also for a concept of modular smartphones, recently
announced a project to develop a modular smartphone, which can be turned into a
workplace computer with a compatible screen, keyboard and docking station (SHIFTmu
bundle; WindowsArea 2018). As such a smartphone with accessories might replace
computing devices, which usually have a much higher carbon footprint.

5. Durability: A waterproof design, i.e. ingress protection (IP) classes 67 or 68, protects
against the most frequent defects of smartphones, namely accidental dropping in water or
spillage of liquids. However, the hidden disadvantage of this protection is that, if
something else breaks, repair of IP67 devices is generally much more complicated than
products not sealed with rubbers and pressure sensitive adhesives and the like. Today, an
increasing number of smartphone models feature higher IP classes, which is a
controversial trend from a circular economy viewpoint.

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Figure 4: Cascade reuse concept for second life Puzzlephone modules – Puzzle Cluster (image
courtesy of Circular Devices Oy)

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Figure 5 depicts the product release timeline – to date - of selected modular smartphones.

Figure 5: Modular smartphones (selection)

The Policy Context

These technology innovations are emerging in a volatile policy environment, in which the Ecodesign
Directive implements increasingly stringent material efficiency requirements, as well the related
standardisation under mandate M/543 as regards ecodesign requirements on material efficiency
aspects for energy-related products in support of the implementation of Directive 2009/125/EC.
Standardization and policy are currently framing circular design. The optimistic scenario is that
material efficiency requirements will have an impact on products and product lifecycles similar to the
impact energy efficiency labelling and energy consumption thresholds have had as part of the
Ecodesign Directive on power consumption. Incentivizing reparability, reusability, upgradeability, but
also recyclability (see Fairphone B.V. 2017) all incentivize modular design approaches.

Circular Economy Conflicts

Circular Design does not come for free: Modularity requires additional connectors, potentially
additional sub-housings, and potentially larger printed circuit board footprints (Proske, M. et al. 2016).
In particular, the connectors require additional materials, which are concerning in environmental terms:
The Fairphone 2 comes with pogo-pin connectors with a gold finish, just as the Google ARA design
(“spiral 2”) featured gold contacts for the electrical contact and magnets containing neodymium and
cobalt for mechanical fixation. Gold is simply the material of choice for reliable, ductile, electrical
conductive, non-corroding surfaces, magnets are a convenient way to hold modules in place: There is
a range of “modularity materials” (Schischke 2019) found repeatedly in modular devices.
Unfortunately, several of these materials are in conflict with sustainability aims. Similarly, life cycle
assessments of modular products show that the cradle-to-gate impacts of material acquisition and
production are higher for a modular product than for a conventional product. This has been shown by
Proske, M. et al. (2016) for the Fairphone 2, by Pamminger, R. et al. (2018) for a mobile digital device,
and by Vaija, S. (2018) for a stationary ICT device. To compensate, or actually over-compensate, the
additional manufacturing impact of modular design, the circularity potential of modularity has to be fully
embraced: repairing, reusing, refurbishing, instead of discarding. Only then, and that has been
demonstrated by all of the three studies named above, the environmental impact per functional unit is
significantly reduced below the level of a conventional product concept.

Another potentially negative side-effect of long-lasting smartphones is the risk of over-stocking spare
parts for long-term reparability. Key components of smartphones are quickly discontinued. Component
obsolescence thus requires stocking spare parts for later repairs. As later demand can hardly be
precisely forecast, either more spare parts are actually produced than needed or reparability is limited
by a lack of spare parts.

In conclusion, the modular approach to smartphone design cannot be assessed without taking into
account the following considerations:
Modular mobile devices…

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 require a sound modularity strategy: Which parts need to be repaired, upgraded?

 support environmentally benign use patterns (DIY repair, upgrade when really needed, longer
lifetime through “growing device”).
 might initially lead to additional environmental and technical footprint.
 limit over-dimensioning of devices‘ functionality.
 might yield significant rebound effects (purchasing of more modules than actually needed –
 the “app effect“)

Technology Outlook

Trend 1: Smartphones become main computing device for end-users

As seen with the SHIFTmu bundle the smartphone as such might become the core module of mobile
personal computers, making at least laptops and tablet computers obsolete for some use scenarios.
The transition from larger computing devices to smaller ones, which are apparently taking over the
function of computers, is underpinned by market data: The global desktop PC market is in steady
decline, laptops reached maximum sales figures in 2011, tablets in 2014 (Figure 6). The smartphone
market plateaued in 2016-2018, but market intelligence suggests again increasing sales figures in the
next few years driven by the introduction of 5G communication. From a sustainability perspective
these market figures show two detrimental trends:

 Devices with a high carbon footprint decline in market share and those with a smaller carbon
footprint are on the rise
 There is a clear rebound effect: The peak of tablet sales has been higher than the peak of
laptop sales, and smartphone sales are now much higher than sales of desktop PCs, laptops
and tablets ever has been.

With this latter observation, we have to state that on the global scale despite (environmentally)
improving products the trend is rather towards ever increasing absolute environmental impacts.

Figure 6: Global shipments of desktop PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones 2010-2022 (data: IDC)

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Trend 2: Wearable and flexible devices

If the predicted trend towards wearable, and flexible devices, continues, the next logical step towards
merging technology and circular design trends are modular flexible devices. Inspiration as to the
possible manifestation of this in practice includes the way wearable systems are designed today, for
example, the mechanically flexible micro battery stripe depicted in Figure 7: An array of rigid segments
are the first step towards flexibility. While fully flexible systems might be achieved in the final stage, the
intermediate step is likely to be a modular system – great entry point for circularity: as the modular
system is upgradeable, repairable, refurbishable – all of which is possible if reversible connection
technologies are applied.

Figure 7: Mechanically flexible micro battery stripe made from segmented battery cells (© Fraunhofer
IZM)
An example of this new direction in microelectronic design is the modular smartwatch BLOCKS, the
design of which raised some 1.6 million USD on Kickstarter in 2015. Various functional modules can
be attached along the strap to allow for an individual configuration of the watch. Similar to the Google
ARA project, a public development kit is intended to allow third-party developers to customize modules
based on Android as the operating system. However, shipment of the watches has been severely
delayed – only a few backers have yet received the core module (as of January 2019). But while
BLOCKS is not yet a shining business example of a flexible, modular, smart device, it is currently the
closest we are to the mobile devices of 2030.

Acknowledgements
The project sustainablySMART has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020
research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 680640.

References
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Proske, M.; Clemm, C.; Richter, N. 2016: Life Cycle Assessment of the Fairphone 2 - Final Report,
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A Design-Theoretic Review of Sustainable Product Development

Literature - Josef-Pet er Schöggl, Ciar án J. O'Reilly, Peter Gö ran sson

Josef-Peter Schöggl

Postdoctoral Researcher

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Department for Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering, the Centre for ECO 2 Vehicle Design

University of Graz

Austria

Ciarán J. O'Reilly

Associate Professor

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Department for Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering, the Centre for ECO 2 Vehicle Design

Stockholm

Sweden

Peter Göransson

Full Professor

KTH Royal Institute of Technology

Department for Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering, the Centre for ECO 2 Vehicle Design

Stockholm

Sweden

Improving the socio-ecological performance of products in the design stage is essential for achieving
sustainable patterns of production and consumption in line with the aims of the UN Sustainable
Development Goals or the EU Action Plan for a Circular Economy. However, the uptake of available
methods for sustainable product development (SPD) in practice is still low. Therefore, this paper
explores if and how the integration of such methods with theories and models of design can contribute
to overcoming the lagging adoption of SPD practices. The systematic review that was conducted on
the intersection SPD and design theory research reveals that out of 2849 peer-reviewed publications
on SPD, only 27 have a design-theoretic foundation. In fact, only the Theory of Inventive Problem
Solving (TRIZ) and Axiomatic Design were utilised in SPD methods. The majority of the reviewed
publications address cross-functional conflicts and provide exemplary cases but mainly focus on
environmental aspects. Adoptions on a large scale are not reported. We conclude that underpinning
SPD methods with theories and models of design constitutes a considerable research gap and that
the addressing of it has the potential to further advance their integration with conventional engineering
and design tasks.

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Introduction
Over the past three decades a wide range of methods and tools have been developed that can guide
designers and engineers in making sustainability-oriented product improvements. However,
companies are still challenged by the operationalisation and integration of sustainability considerations
into product design (Dekoninck et al., 2016). Often these considerations are confined to ensuring
compliance with legislation and to capitalising on clear-cut efficiency improvements (Deutz et al., 2013;
Weaver and Boks, 2007). More elaborate, multi-criteria approaches face several barriers among which
the balancing of socio-ecological against conventional requirements is a primary challenge (Jaghbeer
et al., 2017). For this balancing to be effective, sustainability criteria must be integrated into the
conventional product design process and aligned with potentially underlying theories and models of
design1. While the former is covered by an increasing number of conceptual and empirical studies by
authors such as Bovea and Pérez-Belis (2012) or Deutz et al. (2013), the latter alignment with design
theories and models is still largely unexplored.
Therefore, this paper addresses the following two research questions:
RQ1: To which extent have established theories and models of design been utilised in the
development of approaches for sustainable product development?
RQ2: How have these theories and models been intertwined with approaches for sustainable product
development?
From the perspective of this paper, design theories and models are relevant because they can
prescribe the architecture of decision-support tools (Gregor and Jones, 2007). Considering them
during the development of tools for SPD could therefore be a vital, yet largely unexplored leverage for
their uptake in practice (Gagnon et al., 2012). For instance, Pigosso and McAloone (2017) discuss the
role of design science in supporting the circular economy transition and identify the utilisation of design
theories as a primary research gap. Similarly but from a business model perspective, a lack of a
design theoretic foundation in product development can be considered as an uncaptured value that, if
addressed properly, can be transferred into a value opportunity (Yang et al., 2017).

Methods
To answer the two questions above, we conducted a systematic literature review (Fink, 2005) and
qualitative and quantitative content analyses (Mayring and Gläser-Zikuda, 2008). Following such a
systematic approach avoided searching and selecting design theories and models arbitrarily. As input
for these analyses we used a total of 2849 journal articles from the past 20 years (1998-2017) that
were extracted from the Scopus-database using a set of keywords focusing on the fields of eco-
design, design for sustainability and sustainable product development by (Bovea and Pérez-Belis,
2012), which we extended to also include publications on design for circularity. Thus, the following
keywords (and variations of them) were used for the search in the titles, the abstracts and keywords of
peer-reviewed articles: Eco-design, design for environment, sustainable product development,
sustainable product design, life cycle design, life-cycle design, green design, sustainable design, life
cycle engineering, design for sustainability, environmentally conscious design, design for circularity,
circular design and eco-design sustainable product development. Building on a recent and
comprehensive review article by Chakrabarti and Blessing (2015), we created a second set of
keywords that covered a total of 28 theories and models of design. It appeared reasonable to use this
review as a reference because it summarizes theories and models of design from the last fifty years
and because it also refers to those covered by other relevant publications 2. To distinguish this paper
from reviews of SPD and eco-design methods such as those by (Bovea and Pérez-Belis, 2012;
Byggeth and Hochschorner, 2006; Ramani et al., 2010; Rossi et al., 2016) we deliberately omitted
methods for environmental assessment (e.g., LCA and its variants), design methods and approaches
(e.g., eco-ideation, design thinking, Six Sigma) and multi-criteria decision-making methods (e.g., AHP,
_________________________
1 Here, design “theories" and “models" are viewed as having an overlapping yet distinctive spectrum of meanings in line with the
discussion in Chakrabarti and Blessing (2015).
2
e.g., such as the special issue on the “History, state of the art and advancements in design theory" in the journal “Research in
Engineering Design” (Le Masson et al., 2013).

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ANP, QFD) and kept a narrow focus on theories and models of design. However, further research may
expand the scope to explore the boundary area between models and methods, as no definite
distinction can be made between them.

Results
In total, only 28 out of the 2849 publications on SPD directly referred to one or more of the 28 design
theories or models mentioned in a total of 3387 publications (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Scope of the systematic review literature review. “n” refers to the number of publications
retrieved with the two sets of search terms specified in section 2.
As can be seen in Table 1, only the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ, 21 articles) and
Axiomatic Design (6 articles) were utilised for SPD.
Table 1: Number of papers that referred to one of the 28 theories and models of design (n=27)

Design theory/model Papers Design theory/model Papers

Prescriptive model of designing Model-based analogy
Theory of technical systems (TS) Knowledge operation model of design
Domain theory Computational design synthesis
General Design Theory (GDT) Infused Design
Function-Behavior-Structure (FBS) Integral Design Methodology (IDM)
Descriptive model of designing Integrated Model of Designing (IMoD)
VDI 2221 Generate-Evaluate-Modify-Select
(GEMS)
Six-stage mechanical design SaPPhIRE
process
Process-based Support System Contact and Channel Approach
(PROSUS) (C&C2-A)
Axiomatic Design Theory 6 Munich Model of Product Concretization
Knowledge Level Theory Environment Based Design
Universal Design Theory Characteristics-Properties
Modeling/Property-Driven Development
of Design (CPM/PDD)
Concept-Knowledge Theory (C-K Inventive Design Methodology (IDM)
Theory)
Domain Independent Design Theory of Inventive Problem Solving 21
Theory (TRIZ)

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Axiomatic design
Axiomatic design (AD) is a mathematical approach to design that is underpinned by two axioms: the
(1) independence axiom and the (2) information axiom. In general, axiomatic design aims at turning
design from an art into a science (Foley and Harardóttir, 2016). The axiomatic design framework,
which was developed by Suh (1988), structures the engineering design process into (1) a customer,
(2) a functional, (3) a physical, and (4) a process domain. Following this sequence, customer needs
are translated into a series of functional requirements, which decompose the multiple functions of a
product. The functional requirements are then linked to corresponding design parameters for which
process variables are defined (Suh, 1988). In the AD sequence, Axiom 1 maintains the independence
of aspects while they proceed from one domain to next. Axiom 2 implies that the design with the
lowest information content is the preferable design (Arsenyan and Büyüközkan, 2014). From the
perspective of SPD, AD is a promising approach as it can be applied already in the early stages of
product design (Morrison et al., 2013) and because it takes into consideration the complexity and
multi-functionality of products, which allows for linking sustainability impacts to the relevant functions
of the product (Kim et al., 2014). AD has a wide range of application and a significant potential in
formalising design and development processes (Beng et al., 2014).
Out of the six AD-related publications in the sample the following four provided specific AD-based
methods for SPD. Morrison et al. (2013) propose the AD-based eco-design method “eAD+”, that
comprises a set of ecological customer needs, which were used to identify ecological functional
requirements. The ecological customer needs were derived from eco-design methods found in
literature. According to the authors, the ecological functional requirements can be used to improve the
ecological performance of products. The authors point out that a challenge of using AD in the context
of eco-design is that functional requirements must be logically independent, but environmental aspects
can be directly related (coupled) to the consumption of materials. Morrison et al. (2013) address this
problem that “…eco-design depends on the balancing of several deeply coupled issues”, by
distinguishing ecological aspects into those that can be used in an AD method as an independent
functional requirement and those aspects that are for instance coupled to the material consumption.
Therefore, if the independence is not given, an aspect may be relegated to the status of a constraint,
selection criteria or optimisation criteria, thus, either restricting designs or contributing to their
evaluation. Following the approach by Lee and Jeziorek (2004) to integrating costs into AD, the
authors suggest to append coupled aspects (e.g., those related to LCA) as additional rows in the
decision matrix. This solution addresses a central question when utilising AD for SPD, namely how to
consider environmental, alongside conventional company/product functional requirements.
Kim et al. (2014) build on AD to overcome two shortcomings of classical LCAs regarding their
applicability to multi-functional products and regarding the consideration of the volume of supply. In
their approach the authors determine economic and environmental impacts by conducting LCA and
LCC for each design parameter. Furthermore, they show how the total societal impact of a product can
be derived as a function of the sales volume. Beng et al. (2014) review crisp and fuzzy AD approaches
and provide their own framework. The authors also suggest introducing sustainability aspects as
additional functional requirements and exemplify how a hybrid model of crisp and fuzzy AD
approaches can be used to analyse sustainability characteristics of machining processes. Hosseinpur
et al. (2015) propose a quantitative SPD method that integrates AD with quality function deployment
(QFD). QFD is used to identify customer needs, which are subsequently mapped into functional
requirements and translated into design parameters.
In summary, the analysis of the studies that utilised AD for SPD showed that environmental
considerations can be in general incorporated into an axiomatic design approach and that the
application of such integrated approaches in practice is possible. Furthermore, all AD-based SPD
methods address cross-functional conflicts. However, as pointed out by Morrison et al. (2013), not all
environmental aspects can be defined as functional requirements without violating the first
“independence” axiom. Further research is required regarding the latter as well as with regards to the
inclusion of the social dimension of sustainability, which was not considered in any of the reviewed
publications. A stronger emphasis may also be put on testing AD-based SPD methods in practice, as
the reviewed approaches were only described with examples.

Theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ)

The “Theory of inventive problem solving” (TRIZ) – encompasses a series of tools for problem analysis
and tools for system change that shall enable designers to solve inventive problems, while avoiding

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trial and error processes (Yang and Chen, 2011). TRIZ is based on the assumptions that changes to
products follow a finite number of laws and that truly creative solutions are hampered by a designers
psychological inertia (Ilevbare et al., 2013). According to TRIZ, this inertia can be overcome by
seeking creative solution not in a designers own field but in others by analogy (Houssin et al., 2015).
In total 21 publications in the sample directly referred to TRIZ in the context of SPD. As can be seen in
Table 2 the majority of publications applied it in conjunction with other methods for sustainability
assessment or multi-criteria decision making.
Table 2: Overview of the publications that utilise the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) for
sustainable product development (n=21).
Methods and approaches
TRIZ is combined with Authors
Quality Function Deployment (QFD) (Kobayashi, 2006) (Caligiana et al.,
2017), (Yeh et al., 2011), (Bao et al.,
2016)
and LCA and back-propagation network (Trappey et al., 2011)
prediction model
and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) (Vinodh et al., 2014)
Case Based Reasoning (CBR) (Houssin et al., 2015), (Yang and Chen,
2011), (Negny et al., 2012), (Liu et al.,
2012)
and Rule-Based Reasoning (RBR) (Liu et al., 2014)
and simple LCA methods (Yang and Chen, 2012)
and fuzzy AHP and LCA (Ameknassi et al., 2016)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (Russo et al., 2016)
Design for Six Sigma (Cheng et al., 2012)
Advanced Systematic Inventive Thinking (ASIT) (Turner, 2009)
Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (Vidal et al., 2015)
CAD software (Chang and Chen, 2004)
No combination (Russo et al., 2014), (Cherifi et al., 2015)
(Low et al., 2001), (Liu et al., 2010)

Most frequently (i.e., in 67% of the reviewed papers) TRIZ was used in the SPD context in
combination with Quality Function Deployment (QFD). For instance, Kobayashi (2006) developed a
systematic approach for eco-innovative product design that builds on the life cycle planning method.
Environmental aspects are considered via the use of QFD and an eco-specification matrix. To assess
the environmental performance a factor-X analysis is conducted. The author points out that further
research is required on the representation of life cycle options such as reuse and recycling in the
contradiction matrix. Caligiana et al. (2017) use QFD and TRIZ to align direct open moulding with
principles of sustainable design. Yeh et al. (2011) conducted a four-stage QFD process to support the
design of a more environmentally friendly notebook. In this process, the TRIZ inventive principles and
the contradiction matrix were used to resolve problems related to major contradictions that were
identified in the QFD. Trappey et al. (2011) developed a method that integrates LCA, QFD for the
environment (QFDE), TRIZ and a back-propagation network (BPN) prediction model. Vinodh et al.
(2014) suggest an environmentally conscious QFD (ECQFD) to translate (environmental) customer
requirements into design options. Conflicting trade-offs in the design options are addressed with TRIZ
and feasible designs are selected using an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).
Several authors adopted TRIZ together with case-based reasoning (CBR) (24 %). CBR also builds on
analogical reasoning, but in contrast to TRIZ utilises prior experience as solutions to new problems
(Houssin et al., 2015) (see for instance Rousselot and Renaud (2015) for more details on differences
and similarities between the two approaches). Yang & Chen (2012) relate TRIZ evolution patterns with
previous cases to foster the development of new product concepts. For estimating the environmental
impact of a new design it is compared to previous ones using a simplified Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA). Yang & Chen (2011) describe how CBR can be used to obtain desired functional

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characteristics of a new design, while TRIZ supports designers in achieving design objectives (Rossi
et al., 2016). In their approach, seven elements of eco-efficiency in design by the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) are related with the 39 TRIZ engineering parameters.
This linking of the seven elements of eco-efficiency with the engineering parameters goes back to
Chen and Chang (2001) and was used in several other applications of TRIZ. For instance, Liu et al.
(2012) developed an ontology database of green product design cases and suggest to build
association tables between the engineering parameters and the eco-efficiency elements. Negny et al.
(2012) propose a computer aided eco-innovation system based on TRIZ and CBR that is supposed to
systematize the development of environmentally-friendly inventive product concepts. For integrating
environmental considerations, they extend the contradiction matrix with seven adapted eco-efficiency
aspects. Chang & Chen (2004) present a TRIZ-based CAD software for eco-innovation, in which they
use an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize the seven eco-efficiency elements.
Besides QFD and CBR, Russo et al. (2016) suggest the use of guidelines that they derived from TRIZ,
to transfer critical environmental impacts identified with LCA into improvement options. Russo et al.
(2014) describe the implementation of main elements of TRIZ into a collection of tools for eco-design.
For considering environmental aspects, the authors propose to use a function modelling method to
map a product’s life cycle and to conduct an LCA to identify hotspots for improvement. These
improvements are fostered by the TRIZ-based collection of tools. Among Chinese publications in the
sample, Cheng et al. (2012) integrate TRIZ with Design for six sigma, and Liu et al. (2010) identified
associations between the TRIZ engineering parameters and design for disassembly attributes.
In summary, the use of TRIZ is well established in SPD research, and various elements of it are
applied in methods for developing eco-innovative products. However, as this review revealed, the
consideration of sustainability aspects is, except for the approaches by Caligiana et al. (2017) and
Turner (2009) limited to ecological impacts. They are either directly integrated via the 39 TRIZ
engineering parameters or indirectly considered via environmental assessment approaches such as
LCA. Buzuku and Shnai (2017), who reviewed the use of TRIZ in eco-design, come to a similar
conclusion and point out that the indirect consideration of environmental aspects via an LCA is the
most common approach. In contrast to the above outlined AD-based approaches, only 16 of the 21
reviewed TRIZ-based SPD methods address the problem of cross-functional conflicts. As also
mentioned by Russo et al. (2014), the application of TRIZ in an SPD context also lacks a full product
life cycle perspective. Therefore, further research may focus on the question if and how a more
comprehensive sustainability perspective can be integrated into elements of TRIZ and how TRIZ can
be combined with other tools for SPD that also take the social dimension of sustainability into
consideration. The latter question was for instance addressed by Hede et al. (2015) who propose a
conceptual framework that is underpinned by TRIZ, Systems Thinking and Complex Adaptive
Systems.

Conclusion
In this paper a systematic literature review on the intersection of sustainable product development
(SPD) and design theoretic research was conducted in order to explore the extent and nature of their
combinations and interactions. Regarding RQ1 we found that the extent to which theories and models
of design are utilised in SPD research is limited to the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) and
Axiomatic Design (AD). Regarding RQ2 it can be concluded that TRIZ and AD were both successfully
utilised for SPD but, except for two out of 27 studies, mainly for environmental considerations. These
findings indicate a research gap that needs further addressing, especially because most of the
reviewed methods address cross-functional conflicts (20 of 27), a major barrier to the SPD
implementation (Byggeth and Hochschorner, 2006; Dekoninck et al., 2016). Especially when looking
towards 2030 and beyond, it can be expected that sustainability and circularity-related requirements
from governments and consumers will furthermore increase in number and stringency. Thus, to reach
the ambitious aims these and other agreements set out for 2030 and beyond, sustainability needs to
become an integral part of product development and innovation processes. Therefore, further research
on the resolution of cross-functional conflicts and the trade-offs that are induced by them, underpinned
by a design theoretic foundation, may serve as a major catalyst for SPD.

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Acknowledgements
The financial support by the VINNMER program from Vinnova Swedish Government Agency for
Innovation Systems and by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Digital and Economic Affairs and the
National Foundation for Research, Technology and Development is gratefully acknowledged.

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Wardrobe Detox with a Purpose - Anagha Vaidya Soocheta, Khandini Rajmun

Anagha Vaidya Soocheta

Senior Lecturer

Department of Applied Sustainability and Enterprise Development

Faculty of Engineering

University of Mauritius

Mauritius

Khandini Rajmun

Founder and Style Coach

The Minimalist

Mauritius

Who does not have a messy wardrobe cluttered with ‘no-no’ clothes? Having tons of clothes, and yet
not finding anything to wear or using only a few of them, where the rest remain unused, means waste
of money spent while buying them, energy consumed in producing the clothes and so on! CLOTHING
DRIVE MAURITIUS is a campaign that aims to be the voice of change to reduce Wardrobe Pollution.
Its motto: ‘Sharing a touch of love’ embraces an objective to encourage people to step out of the fast
fashion cycle. The idea inspires people to go through a wardrobe detox and de-clutter to reduce
excessive clothing with a purpose. The framework includes advising people on styles which best suit
them. Revisiting their current wardrobe in that context, and then cleaning up the wardrobe by donating
the unwanted clothes. The project further comprises ‘COLLECT REDESIGN DONATE’. Upcycling the
collected garments gives a new life to those pieces that are not worthy of donation. Altering,
accessorising and combining clothes in new ways creates trendy eco-friendly fashion. The project was
launched in April 2018. In less than a week the project had driven across 700 kilometres covering
twenty regions in Mauritius collecting 1385 garments. In three months 80% of these garments were
upcycled and donated to needy and so found a better way of reusing clothes without going through the
textile recycling process that is energy and resource intensive. All items donated were in excellent
condition. The ongoing project’s objective is to propel the essence of styling, minimalism and reducing
clothing waste for a greener fashion world.

Fashion Sustainability and Minimalism

The fashion industry is a major contributor to problems of social and environmental sustainability. The
fashion industry is facing a growing issue of accumulation of textile waste, as fast production and
consumption of clothing has led to a perception from consumers that clothes are disposable (Allwood
et al., 2006; Andersen, 2017). One way of addressing these issues is through a ‘circular economy’.
Tonnes of post-consumer textiles are landfilled simply because these items have reached the end of
their first use phase. This provides an incredible opportunity to apply circular strategies to the industry
in order to capture the inherent value of textiles, displace the use of virgin fibres upstream, and
eliminate textile waste downstream.
Fashion by definition does not give the impression of sustainability or minimalism. It is always
looking for something new. Minimalism sets out to expose the essence or identity of a subject
through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts. Minimalism shows the way to
appreciate the value in simplicity.

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Consumer Apparel Disposal

Collection of clothes is an essential part of creating a circular material flow in the fashion industry, as
materials from customers need to be brought back to be reused or recycled (Leonas, 2017). Carlsson
et al., 2015 state that charities are the largest collector, as they collect material directly from
consumers through multiple channels or through donation partnerships with retailers and clothing
brands. A commercial enterprise for used clothing requires several steps for upcycling or value
generation such as collection of clothing, sorting, refurbishing, repairing, washing, redesigning etc.,
before the garments can be sold. Used garment collection schemes have been implemented in
companies such as H&M, Bestseller, KappAhl, Lindex, Gina Tricot, Indiska, Filippa K and Boomerang
amongst others (Hvass 2015; Stål & Hervé, 2017). There are many ways of consumer apparel
disposal e.g., charity, friends and family, trash. A study by Norum, 2015, on analysis of clothing
disposition states that charity was the most frequently used disposal mode (64.54%) followed by
donation to second hand stores (49.17%) and the trash (39.48%). Other less commonly used disposal
methods include selling at garage (boot) sales or consignment shops, repurposing or using as rags
and saving for the future (Hibbert et al.,2005). The choice of a disposal mode has been shown to be
closely linked to the reason a consumer is disposing of an item. Exploring the most common reason
for donating, Norum, 2017, states that donating apparel to charity shops made participants feel good
and donations to religious organizations was the desire to help the needy (Domina & Koch, 2002).
According to Birtwistle & Moore, 2007, a feeling of guilt is associated with disposal of rarely worn
expensive items that may result in donations to charities. Hibbert et al. found that a sentimental
attachment was a reason for handing down a garment and “to get rid of goods” was related to giving
items to family and friends. Elder women were found to be influential in contribution of unwanted
clothing that would be disposed of through gifting within family and friends (Cruz-Cárdenas et.al,
2017). Koch and Domina, 1999, examined the relationship between various methods of textile
recycling and reasons for the discard of garments. The most frequently cited reasons for using as
rags, selling at garage sales, selling in consignment shops, and passing on were the physical
condition, not wanting to be wasteful, item still having value, and item no longer fitting. The physical
condition is a primary consideration when determining whether or not to dispose of an item of clothing
(Norum, 2015). Apparel in poor condition that were inexpensive and worn for more casual occasions
or under garments were discarded in the trash (Norum, 2017).

Fashion Pollution and Fast Fashion

Fast Fashion is the second dirtiest industry in the world, next to oil. Fashion is a thirsty industry: it is
the second largest consumer of water and, according to the World Bank, the cause of 20% of global
water pollution. 80% of all that we throw away is reusable. Fashion is a complicated business
involving long and varied supply chains of production, raw material, textile manufacture, clothing
construction, shipping, retail, use and ultimately disposal of the garment. To blame are the industry’s
aggressive use of chemical substances in every step of the value chain and the mass ive over-
exploitation of water-thirsty cotton plants, which have a tremendous impact on our planet.
Unfortunately, we consume more and more clothing, treating them like disposable goods, every day.
Climate change is certainly real and unfortunately fashion plays a big role in it.
Fast Fashion is a trap! People get entangled in the vicious circle where they are enticed & tempted to
buy, buy & buy even if the need is not felt. Shopping has been claimed to be a stress reliever for some
people but in the real sense, it’s a waste of money as people tend to purchase more of things that they
don’t need. From the stage of production to retail, there’s a race of meeting targets by producing or
selling more & more clothes: It may be a money making business but causes severe environmental
threats. This is the saddest part of Fashion Pollution!

Case of Mauritius
A transformation of consumer values, attitudes and behaviour is required to stimulate a kindle point for
sustainable fashion. Appreciating the unbounded nature of sustainability and the fact that all problems
cannot be tackled single-handedly, the present project partners with students, business and society. It
works to inspire all to be more active in promoting sustainability in their approach.
With an initiative aimed to thrust the consumers towards embracing more sustainable practices, the
project focuses its efforts on three themes:

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 Wardrobe Minimalism
 Upcycling for donation
 Creating a circular economy

Wardrobe Detox
‘Fashion shouldn’t cost the Earth’ - Mary Creagh
The Minimalist is pioneering towards inspiring young people, students, the working class or any
individual looking for creating their style statement to achieve a refined image projection. As a Slow
Fashion promoter, voicing out the global issue of Fashion Pollution, we work directly with
stakeholders, designers, manufacturers, brands, educational bodies, non-profit organizations,
government & consumers to infuse positive change in the Mauritian Fashion Industry.
It’s not just the future of Fashion but the future way of living: Let’s Rethink Fashion!
In the swing of our busy lives, our wardrobes are stacked with unused clothes creating dead zones
which make our style space to be cluttered & uninspiring. Who does not have a messy wardrobe
cluttered with ‘no-no’ clothes? Having a ton of clothes, yet having nothing to wear or using only a few
of them where the rest remain unused for eternity means a waste of ‘money spent’ in buying those,
‘energy consumed’ in producing the clothes & ‘labour effort’ who face terrible conditions working in
factories to produce those garments. Only 20% clothes from an over-spilling or suffocating wardrobe
are actually being worn – That’s massive! Our closet often ends up with clothes that don’t fit, are not
flattering our body shape, we don’t need, do not reflect our personal style or are being kept for
sentimental value. Why cling on to those? The main advantage of wardrobe detox is that this type of a
lifestyle phenomenon will help clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy wardrobe.
Consumers who focus on stylishness (enduring but individual style) rather than fashion are
significantly more likely to purchase environmental clothing and dispose off their clothing sustainably
(Cho et al., 2015). Consumers are unaware of the way to minimise the environmental impact of the
textile waste (Jorge & Patricio, 2018). Wardrobe detox leads to another question… WHAT DO I DO
WITH MY CLOTHES?

Problem Identification:
Pollution comes in many forms & in one way or the other, they all affect our Mother Earth atrociously
as witnessed today through climate change results. Fast fashion is gradually leaving a silent footprint
of pollution on Earth. Being a fashion follower at the cost of our environment …a big ‘no-no’. People
can still be stylish & have a refined image by dressing up with an eco-touch.

Clothing Drive Mauritius by - The Minimalist

What is Clothing Drive Mauritius?
 Social Responsibility of The Minimalist, born to Rethink Fashion since April 2018.
 The Minimalist came with the project to propel the essence of styling, minimalism & reducing
clothing wastage for a greener fashion world
 It is a way to help needy people who cannot afford to buy trendy/branded or any sort of
clothes to wear through donation.
 ‘CLOTHING DRIVE MAURITIUS’ is the voice of change aiming to reduce Wardrobe
Suffocation & Fashion pollution.
 The idea is to encourage people to come out of the fast fashion cycle, go through a wardrobe
detox & declutter: reduce excessive clothing.
 The drive is organised to COLLECT clothes, REPAIR, RECYCLE & UPCYCLE them to finally
donate to homeless & needy families.

Social Media Campaigns through Awareness

The Minimalist initiated an awareness campaign on the issue of Fashion Pollution through social
media platforms from 13 March to 18 March 2018. Social Media users were requested to share their
views on Fast Fashion and were asked ‘What do you do with clothes that you no longer wear?’

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In the following week 19 to 25 March 2018, SOLUTIONS were proposed to counter attack the deadly
issues of Fashion Pollution:
 REDUCE: To go through wardrobe Detox & embrace Capsule Wardrobe
 REPAIR: Back to the Basics, reconnect to stitching by repairing a button that came out, a torn
part or any simple imperfection.
 RECYCLE & UPCYCLE: The future way of living, by giving a second life to unused clothes by
simply recycling them into a new style or repurposing them. A design solution to an
environmental challenge.
 DONATE: The culture of giving by donating to the underprivileged who cannot afford to buy
unbranded or branded clothes.

The great response and awakening from people, triggered the idea of turning the campaign into action
& the idea of ‘Clothing Drive Mauritius’ was born.

Project Realization:
The objective was to help reduce and divert textile waste from landfills. Upcycling to refashion
garments was used as a solution for clothing sustainability. Upcycling increases innovative re-use
strategies. It is about immediacy. Outdated garment styles were refashioned, altered, modified, and
amended. They were transformed or changed to modernise their look. Size adjustments and
adaptations made gave a new look to these discarded garments. All textiles and fibres are useable
and reusable. However the condition and quality of the textile or clothing will determine its next life
cycle. Damaged and left over pieces were also modified, some down-cycled and used for developing
rag dolls or toys and also used as stuffing for toys. The strategy was to adopt a ZERO WASTE
concept.
Reclaiming these discarded items and processing them into purposeful items, remakes new clothing
for the FASHION stream. It also works toward resource conservation by getting them back in a new
loop.

Idea Development:
Motto: COLLECT >> REDESIGN >> DONATE
Tag Line: ‘Sharing a touch of Love to the needy’

Edition I
The first edition was done without much support, involving only family and friends. So eventually had
to drive to people to collect their unused clothes. Easy and convenient clothing disposal method
seemed to be important reason for donors. Door to door collection gave an opportunity to interact with
donors and share the purpose and intent of the project. The project was introduced to student
volunteers at the University of Mauritius. Garments were washed, mended, separated for sizes and
packed. Only garments that were good to wear were donated.

Edition II
Second edition in collaboration with L’Entrepôt Boutique to become the collection point for donated
garments. Retailer-led collection was very effective in collecting used garments. The message was
also passed through social media. Upcycling and recycling of the products was done with the objective
of sustainably enriching them through design. All accessories or any element added in the garments
were taken from existing garments to avoid additional expense. Recycled garments were created in a
very usable way giving them a new lease of life so that needy people wearing them will be
comfortable. Garments were upcycled with passion, creativity, imagination and looked as good as
new. The response received from the needy families was over whelming. Feedback received from
them was heartening. Mothers requested for clothing for their little ones. Most were amazed with the

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quality of garments that they received. This shaped a way for the next edition which was targeted to
include children wear.

Edition III
Donation for the third edition was organized at Cottage, an area affected by a disastrous flood. The
flood had caused harm to various inhabitants who had lost many of their valuable items or almost
everything from their homes. The donation was conducted in collaboration with friends, families and
staff of L’Entrepôt Boutique who donated toys, food commodities as well as needy items. Trainers
from National Women’s Council and volunteering students from Department of Applied Sustainability
and Enterprise Development, University of Mauritius (UoM) worked industriously to resuscitate the
garments and bring them around to another level by adding value through design. All upcycled clothes
were ecologically packed in news paper bags and were distributed as per age of children.

Future
This continuing project is about wardrobe detox with a purpose. It is about sharing! In simple terms,
sharing what you do not use with someone else who might use it for life. ‘Sharing a touch of love’
refers to clothes that you bought with much love & urge to wear them, but eventually ended up
untouched in our wardrobe for years. So instead of creating dead zones in the wardrobe which is a
waste of energy, waste of workers’ sacrifice, dormant expense ... it’s better to share with someone
else who will love it and wear it with pride, adding value to our leftovers. Reclaiming the unwanted
surplus from our wardrobes is in line with one of the three principles of sustainability that mark
sustainable fashion. The other two being fair trade ethical production and man-made biodegradable
materials. The strongest driver of consumer donating behaviour is attitude to recycling. Upcycling and
recycling stands for reduction of landfill mass and slowing down of unnecessary virgin textile
production. Involvement of young student designers in the project is now making them look at
upcycling such waste as real opportunity to put it back again into the life cycle. It could possibly result
in a non-trash outcome. Campaigns and education programmes by academicians, businesses and
non-profits who wish to discourage post-consumer waste from ending up in the landfill could create
awareness and sensitize consumers. Wearing quality is related to confidence. So in a way sharing
these branded or good condition clothes to needy people may help in boosting their confidence. Like
food, clothing is also a basic human need. Needy people who cannot afford to buy good branded
clothes for their children or themselves were overwhelmed with happiness to receive such a pack of
clothes. The social side of the project was impactful in bringing a ton of smiles.

Acknowledgements
We are very grateful for the support, participation we have received from National Women’s Council
and volunteering students of University of Mauritius especially for collection, upcycling, packaging and
distribution of the garments. Special thanks go to all at L’Entrepôt Boutique for their support and active
involvement. Appreciation and many thanks to all the donors and volunteers who provided invaluable
perspectives and for reaching out.

References
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future sustainability of clothing and textiles in the United Kingdom', Journal of the Home Economics
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Bianchi, Constanza & Birtwistle, Grete (2012) Consumer clothing disposal behaviour: A comparative
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Birtwistle, G.; Moore, C.M. Fashion clothing - Where does it all end up? Int. J. Retail Distrib. Manag.
2007, 35, 210–216.

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Götaland Sweden.

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Processes, and Interactions. Cloth. Text. Res. J. 2017, 35, 49–63.
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Fletcher, Kate. (2012). Sustainable fashion and textiles: Design journeys. Sustainable Fashion and
Textiles: Design Journeys. 1-237. 10.4324/9781849772778.

Hanson, J.W. A proposed paradigm for consumer product disposition processes. J. Consum. Aff.
1980, 14, 49–67.

Harris, Fiona, Roby, Helen and Dibb, Sally (2016). Sustainable clothing: challenges, barriers and
interventions for encouraging more sustainable consumer behaviour. International Journal of
Consumer Studies, 40(3) pp. 309–318.

Herman I. Stål, Herve Corvellec, A Decoupling perspective on Circular Business Model

implementation: illustrations from Swedish apparel, Journal of Cleaner Production (2017), doi:
10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.249

Hibbert, S.A.; Horne, S.; Tagg, S. Charity retailers in competition for merchandise: Examining how
consumers dispose of used goods. J. Bus. Res. 2005, 58, 819–828.

Hvass, K. K. (2014). Post-retail responsibility of garments – a fashion industry perspective. Fashion

Marketing and Management, 18(4), pp. 413-430.

Jacoby, J.; Berning, C.K.; Dietvorst, T.F. What about dispositions? J. Mark. 1977, 8, 22–28.

Jorge Cruz-Cárdenas & Patricio Arévalo-Chávez (2018) Consumer Behavior in the Disposal of
Products: Forty Years of Research, Journal of Promotion Management, 24:5, 617-
636, DOI: 10.1080/10496491.2018.1405514

Kirsti Reitan Andersen Stabilizing Sustainability in the Textile and Fashion Industry PhD Series
05.2017

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Sci. Res. J. 1999, 28, 3–17.

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Norum, P.S. Towards Sustainable Clothing Disposition: Exploring the Consumer Choice to Use Trash
as a Disposal Option, Sustainability 2017, 9, 1187; doi:10.3390/su9071187

Norum, P.S. Trash, Charity and Secondhand Stores: An Empirical Analysis of Clothing Disposition.
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Stål, H & Hervé, C 2017, 'A Decouple Perspective on Circular Business Model implementation:
illustrations from Swedish apparel', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. Vol. 171, pp. 630-43.

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Insects for Protein: A Disruptive Business Model and Approach to

Waste Management - James Suckling, Angela Druckman
James Suckling

Research Fellow

Centre for Environment and Sustainability

University of Surrey

United Kingdom

Angela Druckman

Professor of Sustainable Consumption and Production

Centre for Environment and Sustainability

University of Surrey

United Kingdom

The human food supply chain is placing an ever increasing strain upon the Earth’s environment. A
growing and increasingly affluent population is increasing demand for meat, one of the most
environmentally damaging food sources. Growing feed for animals requires significant tracts of land
and spare land is limited. Food waste within the supply chain further compounds the environmental
burden by using resources that are not utilised effectively. Insects offer an alternative, more
environmentally friendly source of animal feed, and one which may be fed upon food wastes. A new
business model comprising distributed food waste bio-processing units, using insects to turn food
waste into feed, and which can be located close to waste sources, is presented. The opportunities and
challenges are explored, both short-term and longer term to 2030 and beyond, and these may
determine whether or not this model may flourish within the current system.

Introduction
The human food supply chain is placing ever greater strain on the Earth’s environmental systems. The
world’s population is growing in number and affluence and both these factors are contributing to a rise
in the demand for meat by an estimated 48 Mt to 367 Mt by 2027 (OECD et al., 2018). Looking further
to 2050, demand for meat is anticipated to grow by 76 % as compared to 2007 (Alexandratos and
Bruinsma, 2012). Meat is a particularly environmentally damaging source of protein, already
accounting for 14 % anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Gerber et al., 2013) and
occupying 33 % of arable land to grow feed crops for livestock (Steinfeld et al., 2006). Therefore, to
cope with increasing demand for meat, and its environmental impact, better ways of rearing animals
are needed.
One avenue for reducing environmental impact of feeding animals is by using insects in feed stuffs
(van Huis et al., 2013). Insects may be substituted in for fishmeal (Belghit et al., 2018) or soybean
meal based feeds (e.g. Tallentire et al., 2018) thereby reducing demand for those feeds. Of further
interest is their natural ability to process wastes (including manures, e.g. Čičková et al. (2015)) into
viable feeds, and at a reduced environmental impact compared to other waste processing practices,
such as composting or anaerobic digestion (Mondello et al., 2017). This is especially pertinent given
that approximately 37 - 50% of food is wasted post-harvest within the supply chain (Alexander et al.,
2017).
There is a need to free up land in order to help meet the 1.5°C climate change targets as proposed by
the 21st Conference of Parties (UN, 2015). Most proposals utilise bioenergy with carbon capture and

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storage (BECCS) as a solution to reducing greenhouse gas emission (Gough and Vaughan, 2015).
Yet this will increase demand for land (Williamson, 2016) and it becomes difficult to see how enough
land can be found to meet both the rising demand for meat and proposed climate change solutions.
Insects processing food wastes may play a role in finding this balance.
Current commercial business models for bio-processing of waste using insects tend to operate on
large scale, centralised facilities in extra urban settings (Stamer, 2015). However, with a global
population increasingly living in cities (UN, 2017), there is a growing need to control the movement of
nutrients into and waste out of those cities. A new business model utilising distributed bio-processing
of food waste is proposed, one which may operate within an urban setting. This paper will introduce
the proposed distributed bio-processing business model. It will explore the opportunities for the
business, both in the short and longer-term, and the challenges it may face. Concluding remarks are
offered.
It should be noted that within this article, the term “food waste” is used throughout to denote the
organic matter which is no longer required by the businesses that produce it. However, it is not
considered a waste for the bio-processing business: it is a resource. For simplicity of understanding
within current modes of thinking, the term waste is still used to denote the organic matter, but for bio-
processing to be most effective, a shift in perspective is demanded such that food waste becomes
coveted as a “resource”.

Introducing a New Business Model

To capitalise on the three needs of reducing environmental impact of food production, processing of
food waste and mitigating the effect of increased urban populations, a new business model is being
explored in which insects process the waste in small decentralised food waste bio-processing units.
These may be placed within an urban setting, close to sources of food waste. A schematic of the
business model is shown in Figure 1. The waste bio-processing units are located close to individual
sources of food waste (waste producers) who supply the unit. The units are automated, so that the
processing of food waste to final insect product requires minimal manual labour. Instead, multiple units
are managed from a central location (management hub) and the insect harvest is collected periodically
from the bio-processing unit. The harvested insects may then be used in different ways, for example
as feed in urban aquaponics, further processing into a fish feed additive for the aquaculture industry,
or other outlets for the organic materials in the insects, such as biodiesel (e.g. Wang et al., 2017) or
high-value, refined chemicals (Muller et al., 2017).

Figure 1 Insect bioprocessing hub and spoke model for distributed bio-processing of food waste.
Although it would be possible to feed mixed municipal food waste to the insects it is preferable to
collect individual food waste streams from individual businesses. The nutritional qualities of insects
depend on what they feed upon, and it is easier to manage the composition of the feedstock, and
reduce risk of contamination, if taken directly from the producer than if utilising uncontrolled, mixed
municipal waste streams.

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Opportunity to 2030
A new business model such as this offers opportunity in the way that food waste is processed and
animal feed is produced. The opportunities relate to feed market growth, favourable legislative framing
and changing attitudes towards waste. These opportunities are outlined in this section.

Short-term Opportunities
Room for Growth in the Fish Feed Market
The fish feed market is undergoing a transformational change. Regulations which were introduced to
prevent the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) have recently been updated on 1 st
July 2017 to allow the feeding of insects to fish in aquaculture (European Union, 2017). The projected
use of fishmeal is approximately 7.4 Mt now, growing to 7.6 Mt in 2030 (World Bank, 2013, p48). The
growth in wild caught fish quantity has stagnated in recent years and is predicted to continue to do so
due to increasing scarcity of supply (World Bank, 2013, p42). Yet, the global aquaculture industry is
growing, and expected to match wild caught fish by tonnage in 2030 (World Bank, 2013), leading to a
growing need for fish feed in the future. Insect protein production is predicted to grow from 0.002 Mt in
2018, to 1.213 Mt in 2025 (IPIFF, 2018). Therefore, not only is there significant opportunity for growth
for insect meal within the existing markets, but given the constrained future of wild caught fishmeal,
this opportunity appears to only be greater approaching 2030 and beyond.

Opportunities in Waste Processing

In an imperfect food supply chain, food waste will never be eliminated, and with growing population,
the net waste quantity may yet grow. Approximately 10.2 Mt of food waste occurs within the UK, or
which 3.2 Mt is pre-consumer and potentially available for bio-processing (WRAP, 2017).
Theoretically, this might yield of the order of 1 Mt of insects in the UK alone if commercial feed
conversion ratios can be achieved on the waste (for feed conversion ratios, see Lundy and Parrella,
2015). In terms of environmental impact, insects are seen as one of the better methods of processing
wastes, compared to anaerobic digestion, composting or incineration (Mondello et al., 2017). This is in
line with the food waste hierarchy, Figure 2, which gives an order or preference of disposal of food
waste which is consistent with how close the nutrient loop remains to food production. Feeding food
waste to insects would sit between feeding food waste to animals and sending it to anaerobic
digestion. It means that bio-processing with insects is viewed more favourably from a regulatory
position than those below it in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Food waste hierarchy (adapted from EU Directive 2008/98/EC on waste: Waste Framework
Directive).

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Longer-term Opportunity
Entry into Non-Fish Feed Markets
Looking further into the future, regulation concerning animal feed is expected to relax even further.
The International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF), expects insects to be permitted for
poultry and pig feed in the future (IPIFF, 2018). However, no timeline has been set for the permission
to be granted. The time and degree of openness will depend on the evidence base regarding the
potential for disease transmission between insects, food animals and humans. Research into this is
on-going, but is unlikely to be a quick process and will likely stretch to 2030 and beyond.
In addition, there are possible uncertainties over the production of other sources of feed for animals.
For example, the EU is only 3 % self-sufficient in soybean meal for animal rearing (de Visser et al.,
2014). This represents a high dependence on the productivity of soy crops grown in other parts of the
world, such as the USA, Brazil and Argentina. Climate change is predicted to impact upon reliability of
supply, and the ability of soybean meal production to grow to meet future demand. By contrast, insects
can be fed the waste generated from the food supply chain within Europe, which presumably will be
more stable into the future, given the imperative to feed humans. Therefore, future resilience to climate
change and a more European (or UK) centric production base may prove lucrative in the future,
especially over timescales considered when discussing climate change: 2050 and beyond.

Changing attitudes towards waste

An additional trend is the changing attitudes towards waste from something of no value to be
discarded, to something that holds residual value to the producer and to someone else further down
the chain. Small steps towards this are already happening. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) leads
some companies to engage with food reclamation charities to reduce waste generation (Pulker et al.,
2018). This shows a growing recognition of the value in the waste: value of the nutritional qualities it
still holds, and value of the beneficial marketing potential for the company engaging in the activity.
Taking these first steps may lead companies to seek to do better things with more of the materials that
they no longer need, as per the waste hierarchy.

Challenges
The challenges to the new business model concern around the optimisation of the process itself and
the ability to gain access to reliable streams of wastes. Many of the challenges are not unique to this
particular business model, but they are still valid as concerns for potential future business success.

Short-term Challenges
Cost issues
Insect based feeds are at present more expensive than their (larger scale) competitors, with insect
based feed have a break-even price of between €1280/t and €2370/t, compared to a market value of
€1470/t for fishmeal or €320/t for soybean meal (Roffeis et al., 2018). Insect meal will need to achieve
a better price point in order to compete in the long-term. In the near term, opportunities exist by
introducing the insect meal as a high-value nutrient additive to other products, such as soybean meal.

Finding Outlets for Bio-Processing By-Products

The bio-processing itself is not perfect; some of the original waste material will be left uneaten
(Meneguz et al., 2018). This needs to be understood in terms of the original waste that was fed to the
insects. For example, is the by-product more like a compost which can be spread to land, and is a
revenue generator for the bio-processing business? Or does it still contain unprocessed food wastes
which may cause environmental and health issues and therefore need disposing of as a waste, at cost
to the business? The new business may seek to learn lessons from the anaerobic digestion industry,
which has issues disposing of digestate, a nutrient rich liquid by-product which could be used as a
fertiliser, but is in reality a cost burden to the businesses as the high liquid content limits the viable
transport distance (Hoolohan et al., 2018).

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Prevention of Waste Categorisation

Key to the success of the business is access to the food waste in the first place. At this point calling it
a ‘waste’ makes little sense, and is indeed detrimental. Therefore, it makes sense to avoid that
classification where possible. For this to work, unwanted foodstuffs must be treated in a safe and
traceable manner. For example, the material could be put into a special receptacle which is collected
by the bio-processing business, and kept under known and controlled conditions. Most importantly, it
must be treated with a certain degree of respect by the waste producer, much akin to the requirements
of food handling as required by the UK’s Food Standards Agency. This presents a challenge at the
interface with the waste producer. They must adopt new handling methods which segregates the
material from other wastes. While not technically difficult, it will require a change of behaviour of the
waste producer, and may involve initial cost.

Acceptance of Insects into the Food Supply Chain

Also key to the business success is acceptance of the final food product to the consumer. Will they be
happy to eat meat from animals reared on insects? The literature indicates that consumers will be
accepting (e.g. Ankamah-Yeboah et al., 2018). However, studies are often based upon surveys, and
not a real test of willingness to eat a product placed in front of a participant. The results from such
studies may indicate a different result. To date there is very little research of this kind and more is
needed in this area.

Longer-term Challenges
Waste to Resource
For the practice of rearing insects on waste to be successful, a regulatory shift is required over the
definition of wastes and resources. Adding traceability to the process of unwanted food disposal may
be an answer, but it is working around the current regulatory framework. Rather, it should be
embraced within regulation. For example, feeding food scraps to pigs has been banned for fear of
spreading disease, despite proven safe practices being used elsewhere, such as in Japan (Sugiura et
al., 2009). Insects start to blur the boundary between a pest and a product in terms of food safety,
depending on when and how they are manifest (for example mealworms in a grain store are a pest).
Using them for bio-processing may cause difficulty with respect to finding a clear definition of what
constitutes a waste or resource as it too will be context dependent. While challenging, this is unlikely
to be impossible, as even animal manures are not classified as a waste when used as part of a lawful
fertiliser spreading practice which is within nitrate limits for a given crop (ADHB, 2018). Yet finding the
appropriate terminology and context for regulation may take considerable time, and might only move
on once the insect industry has grown enough in size and importance to necessitate the change.

Inertia in Infrastructural Investment

Bio-processing may also face a challenge from incumbent waste processes methods such as
anaerobic digestion and incineration. Both require large investment and have an operational life of 20
years or more. Waste processing companies will seek a return on that investment before considering
alternative approaches. Given that new bio-processing businesses will be in direct competition for the
same material inputs, it may be expected that competition for the food waste may become fierce.

Conclusion
A new business model for distributed bio-processing of food wastes into animal feed using insects is
presented. Small, automated processing units can be distributed around a city, close to the source of
waste production and allow the return of a source of feed close to sources of urban agriculture. Bio-
processing of food waste into animal feed has potential for strong growth in the short to mid-term
through opening up of animal feed markets by the relaxation of regulations. It also offers more
environmentally beneficial food waste processing by keeping the nutrient loop closer to food
production than other processes such as anaerobic digestion or composting. This offers a potential
value proposition for producers of the food waste through a more socially conscious treatment of
waste. However, there are challenges to the uptake of the model, such as overcoming the
entrenchment of the incumbent waste disposal practices.

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But perhaps most importantly, our fundamental relationship with food waste and its role as a potential
resource must be rectified. This applies not just to food waste, but to all other materials considered
waste at present (Cox et al., 2015). It is rare that a material is truly a waste, with no use whatsoever.
The change must come from all parties: from individuals within their homes, small and large scale
producers of food, regulatory and municipal bodies. By embracing bio-processing on a local scale,
maybe this perception can begin to change for all resources currently considered as wastes.

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DE VISSER, C. L. M., SCHREUDER, R. & STODDARD, F. 2014. The EU’s dependency on soya bean
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GERBER, P. J., STEINFELD, H., HENDERSON, B., MOTTET, A., OPIO, C., DIJKMAN, J.,
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The Road to a Low Carbon 2030 - Fred Steward

Fred Steward

Emeritus Professor

Policy Studies Institute

University of Westminster

United Kingdom

10 years after the failure of COP15 in Copenhagen to renew the Kyoto model of a top-down target-led
climate strategy we can see the emergence of a different style of bottom-up action-oriented approach.
It was born during 2015/6 with the Paris Agreement and the endorsement of the Sustainable
Development Goals. Although its sufficiency and enforceability remain fundamental concerns, it also
shows two more hopeful and novel features. The first of these is the focus on the role of innovation
through climate actions which depend on a diverse range of actors who are not national governments -
cities, businesses, and community organisations. The second is the linkage to wider social and equity
issues through climate co-benefits.

Actions and co-benefits are diverse and distributed and there is a risk of the focal attention on the
climate crisis being diffused. However, we are beginning to see innovative policy approaches which
aim to relate specificity and diversity with the more general and shared global challenge. One of
these is the action platform which aggregates and assembles specific actions in a transparent and
accessible fashion. This is promoted particularly by city networks such as the C40 and ICLEI as well
as through UNEP. Another is to articulate innovation space in new ways which seek to combine the
contrasting SDGs – those which address environmental limits with those that define social sufficiency.
Initiatives ranging from doughnut economics to the ‘just transition’ are expressions of this.

Although the low carbon transition will take several decades it is evident that significant progress
needs to be made over the next 10 years to 2030 if its momentum as a political project is to be
sustained. A key element for this is a fundamental reorientation of innovation policy to embrace
directionality and transformation. Addressing the climate challenge through transitions in our basic
sociotechnical systems is the goal of a transformative innovation policy. Approaches to this still differ
in whether their emphasis remains on technological missions or is shaped through societal challenges.
Two recent global initiatives express this contrast clearly. Mission Innovation prioritises radical
technological advances in energy supply such as electricity generation. The Global Covenant of
Mayors emphasises reconfiguration of city wide systems of energy use through housing and transport.

There is growing evidence that the end-use systemic approach may have a much bigger contribution
to make by 2030 that is often recognised. The International Energy Agency argues that cities should
be regarded as the heart of current decarbonisation strategies and that the key urban energy systems
were the building sector, transport systems and energy networks. The potential of this depends on
climate actors such as EIT Climate KIC engaging effectively with system innovation through
transformation of infrastructures and lifestyles. Some examples in the field of mobility transitions are
discussed as illustration

References
Steward, Fred (2017) Action oriented perspectives on system innovation and transitions, European
Environment Agency (2018), EEA Report 25/2017 Perspectives on Transitions to Sustainability ISSN
1977-8449 Ch 5 pp96-118
Gijs Diercks, Henrik Larsen, Fred Steward (2018) Transformative innovation policy: Addressing variety
in an emerging policy paradigm Research Policy ttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2018.10.028.

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#SORRY - Ewa Szczotka

Ewa Szczotka

Senior Lecturer, Subject Leader

University for the Creative Arts

Business School for the Creative Industries

Epsom

United Kingdom

This paper takes the hypothesis that Generation Z (‘Gen Z’) are the disruptive force for the future to
finally take sustainability from a niche eye brow raising micro trend where it has rested for over a
decade, into reality. Where technology and attention to real human life values will all play their part to
strategically moving society into a sustainable, evolving and inclusive global economy. Fashion has
evidenced innovative sustainable thinking for more than a decade. However, there is a plethora of re-
generated sustainable ideas becoming central to the mission statements of old and emerging fashion
brands shifting their commercial goals in order to maintain relevance with their emerging Gen Z
workforce and consumer.

Why Gen Z?
Through observing Gen Z’s generational behaviour patterns, there are clear indications of what living
in a sustainable economy might look like in the near future. Macro and micro trend indicators have
predicted an increasing return to local rather than global attitudes and the sustainable agenda is
central to planning for the future. Connectivity through digital and mobile has and continues to
empower society globally but for Gen Z it serves as an extension of themselves, both of their
emotional and physical selves. It has allowed them to curate personal relevant worlds that are aligned
both to their emotional and physical needs. It has been a place to experiment, develop and mature
their ideas of themselves – it is their go to place for new knowledge and to share experiences. As far
as their networks are concerned, they are borderless unrestricted by race, colour, creed age and
gender. Democratic to the very core, creating networks that previous generations could only imagine.
1995 is the year the Internet became fully commercialised and Gen Z are the first fully digitally
immersed generation and they have never known a time when they have not been connected globally
to friends, family, businesses and celebrities. Over 4 billion people are now connected to the Internet
and the ‘connected life’ is deemed to be well established (Nielsen 2018).
During Gen Z’s formative years their immediate environments (parents and school) have developed
their confidence and abilities in using digital technologies and these have been integrated into their
everyday lives. For instance, schools have embedded digital technologies into the curriculum and daily
teaching, actively encouraging students to use tablets, computers and mobile devices. The scepticism
that surrounded the adoption of digital technology by their parents has been replaced by an
acceptance of integration of digital technology into everyday life.
This has allowed for a newer freedom for Gen Z with digital technologies creating a determined self-
reliance and a willingness to find out things for themselves with monitoring only when it is deemed
necessary. This has encouraged the development of a solution driven empowerment and a belief that
they themselves can find solutions facilitated by digital technology. If Gen Z are not able to do
something they find an app, look to their communities or find a video to show them how. They are
solution driven and not just problem identifiers. Mobile technology is Gen Z’s technology of choice and
unlike previous generations, prioritise working but with equal weighting given to fulfilling career
aspirations, health and well-being, connecting with family and friends as well as surprisingly reading as

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a top spare time activity as opposed to gaming making them a better-informed generation1. (Nielsen
2015).

Gen Z and ethical issues

It has been identified that Gen Z have a common characteristic in that they want to make a positive
impact on the world (Patel 2017). They have witnessed the impact of the actions of previous
generations and are more informed through digital technology about the consequences of their actions
and are very aware of their future selves. In knowing that they are responsive to emotional reward
and mission orientated goals then the motivation to save the planet is a prime motivator and it explains
their commitment to doing more in work than just their ‘day’ job and to doing more with their lives in
general.
They are regarded as the most sustainably and ethically minded generation and are motivated by
authenticity and therefore caring about provenance including the ethical credentials of brands is
something that is important to Gen Z as it will reflect their personal values and it is therefore pertinent
both for the future of businesses, brands and the workplace. 94% of Gen Z 2 believe that companies
should help and address environmental issues and 89% would rather buy from a company addressing
these issues but most importantly of all, 81% feel that they impact social change by using social
media.
This should come as no great surprise as they have had a different framework of reference throughout
their early years; sustainability was embedded in their school curriculums and even further throughout
their further and higher education. They have also witnessed the unethical behaviour of brands and
watched disasters such as Rana Plaza3 in real time. They have been surrounded by recycling, green
initiatives and are encouraged to be community minded in volunteering and entrepreneurial schemes
in schools. They are a generation inspired by Blue Planet (14.01m viewers) and David Attenborough is
a hero for Gen Z and it is no wonder that videos such as ‘Dear Future Generation: Sorry’ by Prince Ea
achieved over 14 million views. Gen Z’s mood is very clear they have arrived; they are socially and
environmentally minded and they certainly do not intend to keep quiet about it as social media is their
digital tool of choice.

Gen Z and mission-orientated mindset

Gaming (heroes as central characters) together with games such as Second life (perfect worlds),
Fortnite4 (alternative versions of self), and of course social media (peer reviews) are the dopamine hit
of the Gen Z and have all played an important part in their development. They are the generation who
have just as an exciting time indoors with their interactive devices as previous generation have had
going outdoors. But it is their mission orientated and solution driven generational characteristics which
are the drivers for future change. Research shows that they like to work individually, in a multi-
disciplinary manner, they are impact driven and want to know how they will influence the bigger
picture. Recruiters in certain sectors are already changing their job descriptions to impact descriptors,
which are proving to be more relevant to the motivations of Gen Z (Morphy, 2018).
The government has adopted these types of strategies in their ambitious set of documents ‘The Grand
Challenges’5. These are mission orientated challenges focused on the global trends which will
transform our future with a focus on artificial intelligence and data, ageing society, clean growth future
___________________________
1The Nielsen Global Survey of Generational Attitudes was conducted Feb. 23 - March 13, 2015 and polled more than 30,000
online consumers in 60 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East/Africa and North America.

2Cone sampled a demographically representative sample of 1000 Americans to gain insight into attitudes, perceptions and
behaviours

3 On the 24th April 2013 the 8 storey Rana Plaza factory collapsed where a number of garment factories were housed 1138
workers were killed and nearly 2600 were injured

4 A ‘free’ to play game which has grossed over $1 billion because players can pay to customise their appearance

5 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-the-grand-challenges/industrial-strategy-the-grand-challenges

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of mobility’. They have worked with University College London to create mission-orientated6
frameworks addressing sustainable development goals for the future.
The increased momentum behind the adoption of sustainability at every level could be attributed in
part to these early adopters of digital technology, they have the distinct advantage of understanding
the potential of digital technology to create solutions but it more importantly their news channels have
allowed for immersion and sharing of global and environmental.

Gen Z and the self-concept

Gen Z has been encouraged to know the value of ‘self’ through parenting, digital technology, school
curriculums and activities all rewarding the individual and in so doing firmly establishing their
understanding of their own value.
Roger’s theory of ‘self’ gives a theoretical framework of congruence when self-actualisation takes
place and incongruence which occurs when there is a misalignment of the ideal self and actual self.
Simply put the more the actual-self and ideal-self overlap the more the person can self-actualise and
the happier they are. This early realisation of congruence and incongruence within this generation has
meant that this knowledge has made them bold but equally fragile and it is something workplaces of
the future need to be prepared to support in order to ensure their well-being and full engagement.
Gen Z accounts for 32% of the global population overtaking the Millennial segment and it is estimated
that by 2030 it will represent 75% of the workforce (Fatemi, 2018). Businesses have been quick to
respond to these characteristics of Gen Z and their notion of themselves and there has been a shift to
actively encourage Gen Z to recognise these core values and need to align with these values.
Workplaces have had to adapt to cater for this generation’s key motivators which is social and
community mindedness as well as individualism and solution driven entrepreneurism. Currently
businesses are encouraging intrapreneurism and Corporate Social Responsibility strategies are
becoming much more strategically prominent and activated within companies to make them more
attractive to Gen Z. Intrapreneurism is particularly attractive to Gen Z as it incubates, rewards and
nurtures talent from within – and actively seeks out the disruptor, viewing them as a key resource to
support the radical transformation of businesses rather than work against it. As an innovation strategy
intrapreneurism is key to ensure that businesses innovate with 65% of businesses considering the
empowerment of the 20’s to 30’s employees as a priority to enable the digital transformation
(Kennedy, 2017).
Businesses are starting to offer philanthropic initiatives such as volunteering within local communities
specifically aiming this strategy at the Gen Z and supporting their key motivations for working. Their
framework of reference is that they have been encouraged to volunteer from school age and to use
their knowledge for philanthropic projects and through this they have understood the idea of collective
good and community at a much earlier stage in their lives. Gen Z values company culture and the
flexibility to be able to express themselves, not just be as another cog within the business. Their
skillset is not just defined by what they do but how they feel doing it and this shift in company culture
has already seen the benefits by attracting the best Gen Z talent.

GEN Z and the Experience Economy

Self-actualisation in both Maslow’s and Roger’s theory depend on fulfilment of both emotional and
physical needs. As early as 1967, Grubb and Grathwohl saw the link between the consumer’s
personality and their value system and the symbolic value of the product that they buy and the
lifestyles they lead. Taking this research and Roger’s Self-Concept theories at their most literal it
follows that in the case of Gen Z there are clear opportunities for businesses if they can operate in a
moralistic reward based system that accommodates the ideal self. For businesses that are packaged
to appeal to the cause led Gen Z generation there are huge benefits and for businesses with
transparent sustainable and CSR values (key motivators for Gen Z) the benefits are even greater by
_______________________
6
UCL (2018) UCL Commission for Mission-Oriented Innovation and Industrial Strategy (MOIIS). At:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/partnerships/ucl-commission-mission-oriented-innovation-and-industrial- strategy-
moiis

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engaging them as consumers and/or employees Gen Z has experienced both and it goes part of the
way to explain their rejection of the traditional value system. They have witnessed the rise of disruptive
business models that have become integrated into their everyday lives very quickly. The success of
Uber and Airbnb can be attributed in part to the digital technology but it is also that their authentic
story which resonates with the communities that they serve – the idea of local sharing of services,
knowing the individual aligns itself tidily as one of the motivators for brand engagement within the Gen
Z and these brands have been able to harness the mood shift from a material to an experience
economy.
As this generation matures the experience economy is growing in relevance and offers future
opportunities for sustainable and ethical brands and trend forecasters are already seeing a huge
growth in moral brands and a move towards a meaningful materialism. Already 63% of consumers
agree that ethical issues are becoming more important to them and they would prefer to engage with
them even it means paying a higher price. (Mintel, 2019).
This new value system associated with Gen Z where sharing or sleeping in other people’s homes
(Airbnb) or drinking coffee with a message (Café from Crisis) or eating at someone’s home (pop up
restaurants in people’s home) have become a more meaningful emotional experience rather than
previous generation’s experiences, which was rooted mainly in material consumption and ownership.
This quiet revolution has been growing over the past decade and this different value system can be in
part attributed to cause related campaigns which have been a part of Gen Z’s formative years and has
caused them to be more critical of their own consumption habits. For instance, the value of unused
clothing in our wardrobes in the UK estimated at £30bn 7 and these kinds of statistics have much larger
audiences through social media and are defining this new kind of consumer.

Shifting consumer attitudes

There has been a paradigm shift in consumer attitudes towards green spending across all sectors
including green energy which increased by 56.3% in 2017, ethical clothing which increased by
approximately 20%, growth in the second-hand clothing market of 22% and similar rises in the ethical
food and drink sector (Ethical Consumer Report, 2018).
Research shows that Gen Z is returning to bricks and mortar shopping but it will have to be a very
different type of high street. The combination of experience and product will keep this consumer
engaged and for once, it is the ethical and sustainable brands that have caught mission orientated
behaviour patterns; showing in research that they have the distinct advantage and will have for the
foreseeable future (Ethical Consumer Report, 2018).
Gen Z’s movement away from conspicuous consumerism to conscientious consumerism shows much
more connection with their idea of their ideal self whose foundations are intangible emotions rather
than the tangible product and this insight has the prime motivator for commercial change. Fashion has
made slow progress, in general avoiding defining their sustainable credentials but at long last future
facing influential textile trade shows Blossom Premier Vision and Premier Vision have been willing to
put sustainability at the heart of their trade shows. Premier Vision 2018 had 75 talks and provided an
area called the Smart square specifically dedicated to sustainable and innovative developments in the
fashion industry.
The WEF, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Circular Textile Initiative all advocate the circular
economy8 as the benchmark for the future of sustainable production and business growth particularly
for fashion and textiles which has been lagging behind other industries due to the complexities of the
supply chain and the many global processes involved in making garments and textiles. However, the
ideas behind the circular economic business models have gained momentum and have captured the
imagination of many fashion and textile businesses as well as their younger creative teams and there
appears to be a real commitment in fashion to adopt these initiatives in the near rather than the distant
future.
______________________
7 valuing-our-clothes-the-cost-of-uk-fashion_WRAP.pdf (s.d.)
At: http://www.wrap.org.uk/sites/files/wrap/valuing-our-clothes-the- cost-of-uk-fashion_WRAP.pdf

8 Circular Fashion - A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning fashion’s future (s.d.)

At: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/a-new-textiles-economy-redesigning-fashions-future

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Fashion by its very nature thrives on being innovative and creative but it is digital technology coupled
with regenerated human sustainable creative thinking that has allowed for a shift towards more
sustainable fibres to enter the market place with a quicker adoption predicted by all levels of fashion.
Unfortunately, global cotton consumption still rose in 2018 to a record high of 27.5 million tonnes.
However, in response companies such as Evrnu are gaining a platform and are now able to
regenerate 30% of landfill cotton waste resulting in 80% reduction in polluting emissions and 98%
saving of water Frumat creates textiles from apple skins and Parley’s ocean plastic is used by Adidas,
representing just a few of the innovative new approaches seen centre stage at trade shows. Bolt
Threads have created Microsilk created from spider silk fibres and Mylo made from the roots of
mushrooms all showing the diversity of sustainable creative thinking but with the common mission that
will enable a quickening of the adoption process through the alignment of values with Gen Z conscious
mindset.
There are new fashion brands constantly emerging but there are those that are particularly reflecting
Gen Z’s ethical values such as Everlane, Kuyichi, Ninety Percent, Veja, Allbirds and Antibad. They are
becoming the anticipated antidote to disposable fashion and are responding to the Gen Z call for
transparency, authenticity, sustainability and ethics. Even the aftercare of garments is gaining more
interest through clear labelling. 38% of micro plastics released into the sea come from the aftercare of
garments and over half of the carbon footprint of every garment comes from the way we look after
them at home (UKFT). Ginetex has responded by creating Clevercare 9, a labelling system which
advises on how to reduce the impact of cleaning. H & M have taken this initiative and are using the
labelling in their own garments.
There is a growing collective appreciation of the different starting points in fashion and a collaborative
sustainable mindset is developing. Gen Z are impact and experience driven and the success of the
adoption rests with the brands with the brands themselves making sure that they continue to resonate
with this systematic shift in the values of Gen Z.

Conclusion
Much of the sustainable agenda is not new, it is more a re-generation of ideas but undoubtedly is
experiencing a renaissance period championed by a new disruptor with a message to share.
Manzini throughout his research has advocated the need for powerful drivers and social actors to
enable change and continuous social innovation in order to move towards a sustainable future. His
conclusions are that change can only happen from the bottom up using local communities, local
government and local expertise and collaboratively solutions will be found and adopted as those
invested in it will want it to succeed. What is now clear is that the key disruptor for change is not purely
technology it is Gen Z as they are invested in making a difference to the bigger picture.
The aim of this paper has been to show that it is the human individual emotional characteristics of Gen
Z that enables the disruptive force to make the sustainable future possible as neither digital
technology nor AI have the power of creative empathetic vision for the innovative thinking to create the
world Gen Z want to live in. Gen Z through their sharing prowess and moral values have inadvertently
created a gear shift for change and there is a real possibility to make this over used 1987 Brundtland
definition of sustainability a reality:
‘Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ 10

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The Grand Challenge missions (2018) At: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-
strategy-the-grand-challenges/missions (Accessed on 17 December 2018)
The New Luxury - Highsnobiety Whitepaper.pdf (s.d.) At:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18BoU4rRxQrAjF1MbZPhad7z4AU86iYP6/view (Accessed on 6
January 2019)
UCL (2018) UCL Commission for Mission-Oriented Innovation and Industrial Strategy (MOIIS). At:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/partnerships/ucl-commission-mission-oriented-
innovation-and-industrial-strategy-moiis (Accessed on 6 January 2019)
What Is Self-Concept in Psychology? (s.d.) At: https://www.thoughtco.com/self-concept-psychology-
4176368 (Accessed on 17 December 2018)
Wilson, J. et al. (s.d.) [No title]. At: https://www.nielsen.com/uk/en/insights/news/2018/five-reasons-to-
prioritize-sustainability-in-your-brand-playbook.print.html (Accessed on 2 January 2019)

News articles
BBC World Service - People Fixing The World, A Green Space Revolution in Paris (2018) In: BBC 11
September 2018 [online] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06kt6wb (Accessed on 6 January
2019)
BBC World Service - People Fixing The World, How to Build a City for an Ageing Population (2018)
In: BBC 13 November 2018 [online] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06rjnl5 (Accessed on 6
January 2019)
BBC World Service - People Fixing The World, Mending Our Disposable Culture (2018) In: BBC 2
October 2018 [online] At: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06mpb1d (Accessed on 6 January
2019)
Ersek, V. (2019) 'How climate change caused the world’s first ever empire to collapse' 3 January 2019
[online] At: http://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-caused-the-worlds-first-ever-empire-to-
collapse-109060 (Accessed on 4 January 2019)
Fatemi, F. (2018) 'What’s Your Strategy For Attracting Generation Z?' 31 March 2018 [online] At:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/falonfatemi/2018/03/31/whats-your-strategy-for-attracting-generation-z/
(Accessed on 2 January 2019)
Hessekiel, D. (2018) 'Engaging Gen Z In Your Social Impact Efforts' 26 June 2018 [online] At:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhessekiel/2018/06/26/engaging-gen-z-in-your-social-impact-efforts/
(Accessed on 7 January 2019)

Video
Dear Future Generations: Sorry. (2015) Directed by Prince Ea. Youtube. At:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRLJscAlk1M (Accessed on 2 January 2019)

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Future-Proof Sustainability - Joanna Watson

Joanna Watson

Lecturer Fashion & Branding

Amsterdam Fashion Institute

The Netherlands

Premise: The Moonshot Challenge

The fashion industry, with its dependency on raw materials and labour intensive production, is
particularly vulnerable to environmental and social problems in a fragmented global supply chain.
Faced with mounting pressures from government legislation and non-profit NGOs (Non-Government
Organisations), small incremental change will not be enough and the development of sustainability in
business has been championed as ‘innovation’s new frontier and they key to progress’. (Nidumolu,
Prahalad and Rangaswami, 2009.) The lofty pursuit of sustainable development goals is one of the
greatest market challenges today, and this has led to a renewed interest in the research work on
sustainable entrepreneurship that pulls together the often separate research streams on
environmental and social development. There is a widely held assumption that: (i) markets will evolve
over time to respond to socio-economic and environmental challenges and (ii) that profit can be made
in doing so.
Industry and market reports like to present this positive message with regard to the role of their
organisations, arguing that new technologies, systems thinking and innovative business models will
create a sustainable society. The ‘Pulse Of The Fashion Industry’, co-authored by the Boston
Consulting Group (BCG) and Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), predicts that by 2030, if fashion brands
continue, as usual, they will see a decline in EBIT profit margins of more than three percentage points.
Even if the entire fashion industry caught up with best practices, the report warns that it simply would
not be enough to address its environmental and social footprint. (Pulse Report, 2017) This said the
report’s recommendations were formulated around continuing fashion’s growth trajectory. Additionally,
the report recognises large sportswear brands like Nike as the highest scoring in sustainable
performance. ‘Nike’s sustainability reports are noteworthy for their strategic significance,’ said Lynn
Paine, John G. McLean professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. ‘Nike is one
of relatively few large, public companies making investments in potentially game-changing innovations
for the sake of sustainability.’ (Abnett, 2016) And Nike is one of the most prominent apparel firms to
integrate the circular economy concept into their business model.
We’ve set a moonshot challenge to double our business with half the impact. It’s a bold
ambition that’s going to take much more than incremental efficiency – it’s going to take
innovation on a scale we’ve never seen before. It’s a challenge we are setting for ourselves,
our collaborators and our partners as we move toward a circular economy future.
Hannah Jones, NIKE, Inc. Chief Sustainability Officer and VP, Innovation Accelerator.
A more radical interpretation of sustainable entrepreneurship exists: one that puts the environment
and social needs first and views profit as a means to achieve these goals. Young and Tilley’s (2006)
framework details the relationships that must operate in unison in order to achieve the true goal of
what they called being a ‘sustainable entrepreneur’. The model has broadened its horizons to include
social justice and the equal distribution of resources and it makes clear that being an environmental or
social entrepreneur is not the same as being a sustainable entrepreneur. The long-term horizon may
appear utopian to business but it exposes just how far the industry is from reaching the goal of truly
sustainable entrepreneurship. In reality, the industry is struggling to move beyond environmental
efficiency fixes. In 2009, Tilley and Young wrote that they preferred to use the name ‘sustainability-
driven entrepreneurship’ for their first published Sustainable Entrepreneurship framework, in order to
reflect the true process of development ‘as opposed to sustaining anything’. (Tilley and Young, 2009)

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Sustainable Development and Wealth Accumulation?

My research challenges the industry’s conventional ideas about sustainable entrepreneurship by
asking if sustainability can ever be achieved by big business. And to show how it might be possible to
use stringent models of sustainable entrepreneurship, such as these, to review companies’
sustainability reports. Here, I present Nike as a case-study, who set themselves ‘a moonshot
challenge to double their business with half the impact’ the results of which formed the starting point
for my qualitative research. Semi-structured interviews took place with key stakeholders (who seek
sustainable development from the different poles of environmental, social and economic development)
to ask their opinion on the feasibility of the fashion business moving beyond efficiency. Can industry
ever reconcile the twin goals of sustainable development and wealth accumulation?
Corporations will tend to fail to meet the requirements of Young & Tilley’s framework of sustainably-
driven entrepreneurship because itheir objectives are at odds with the current market requirement for
perpetual growth. However, it is important to note that Nike is not even an eco-entrepreneur or social
entrepreneur, despite leading the industry in best practices. The results of my case-study highlight the
four key relationships that big business fails to meet, and some challenges that they will need to
address for the future.
 Economic Equity: can the distribution of wealth ever be fair if all employees don’t have the
right to living wage?
 Inter-generation Equity: what do the advances in technology/automation mean for a future
workforce?
 Ecological Equity: How close is this and how much of a business should be regenerative by
design?
 Lastly, the ultimate conundrum - how should business promote responsible consumption and
curb demand?

Current practices in sustainable reporting do not consider the majority of Young & Tilley’s relationships
because they are difficult to measure. In fact the current desire to standardise measurements across
the industry is tending to see business goals only in terms of KPIs (key performance indicators) in
order to show eco-efficiency gains in Environmental Profit & Loss accounting. Thus environmental
factors are easier to quantify because human rights require far more sensitivity as can be seen, for
example, in the lack of agreement in the industry on how to measure a living wage. The danger of
taking this managerial approach to sustainability is that its gains fail to tackle the escalating problems
of economic equity, the fair distribution between the hemispheres, or the inter-generational inheritance
of natural capital. And the current trajectory completely ignores the need for sufficiency in business to
curb demand for the consumption of goods.

Future-Proof Strategies
By 2030 large companies will have become adept at acting on conventional risks that can be
managed and measured. The most recognised of these measurement tools in the fashion industry,
namely the Higg Index will be used to bring about consumer-facing transparency to rank apparel and
footwear companies with simple aggregated scores similar to the white goods industry, and the first
pilots could be in place by 2020. This will benefit larger organisations who invested early in mapping
their supply chain and who have more resources and leverage than smaller brands.
The transformation to a more sustainable fashion industry, however, will need to be driven by the
entrepreneurial efforts of both large firms and smaller sustainable pioneers. The corporations will bring
new technologies and innovations to scale, but a new generation of fashion brands will need to find
new models of working that tackle the more complex and un-measurable relationships of
sustainability.
The stakeholders who were consulted in this study, who are working for sustainable development in
the fashion industry, stressed the following priorities for new brands: (a) to collaborate & co-invest on
all levels, (b) to be human and speak in a way that resonates with consumer, (c) to distinguish yourself
on the market through sustainability, and (d) to use the advantage you have against corporations to
pilot innovations not yet ready to scale.

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The following three examples offer an encouraging glimpse of what future-proof strategies may
emerge by 2030.

Change the competitive playing field – forming new brand alliances

New brand alliances will use their shared voices to speak out on the importance of economic equity
and sufficiency. Collectively if these brands share the same message it will add up, cutting through the
marketing noise of individual brand messages to be one loud and powerful voice. The high street
fashion brands are failing to tackle how low pricing is creating exploitation and undeclared
subcontracting in the supply chain. Sustainable brands should make their costs transparent and share
the message of responsible pricing in order to influence the consumer. Equally the promotion of heavy
discounting and sales is antagonistic to sufficiency, and an alliance should take a stance similar to the
US outdoor brand REI and their campaign, which served as a platform to encourage both individuals
and other businesses to opt out of Black Friday sales and share in their campaign message to go
outdoors instead #optoutside. (rei.com/opt-outside).
Here in Europe, the Alliance of Responsible Denim (ARD) is an initiative with a range of organisations
including conventional denim brands and mills and partner organisations Made-By, Circle Economy
and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. (denimalliance.org) Together the brands and the
fabric mills have made a joint commitment to develop and integrate more recycled denim fabric into
the market, whereas in the past each brand was trying only to service their own individual denim.
These collaborative efforts challenge the traditional marketing rule of thumb, which is to distinguish
oneself from one’s competitors through product, price, place or promotion.

Cover all Bases – decentralizing the supply chain

The fashion industry is dependent on the global supply chain of low wage labour that has already
driven inequality to a global risk. (WEF, 2018) The future potential of blockchain, a decentralized
digital ledger, to certify, track and trace the origin of goods without one single party controlling the
information could transform the fashion industry. Looking further ahead, by recording and making
visible every micro-transaction, consumers could see what garment workers earn and even just how
far a garment has travelled in order to add carbon tax at the sales point. Provenance a company that
uses the technology in the food industry collaborated with designer Martine Jarlgaard to present the
first garment tracked with blockchain at the Copenhagen Fashion Summit in 2017.
(provenance.org/case-studies/martine-jarlgaard).
Another example of decentralizing the supply chain is Fibershed, a non-profit organisation that
develops regional, regenerative fibre systems. What began in 2010 as founder Rebecca Burgess’s
project to reduce her own ecological footprint has spread to a movement around the globe.
(fibershed.com) The organisation envisions an international system of regional textile communities that
take full responsibility for a garment’s lifecycle, reducing the pressure the fashion industry places on
one of the most heavily polluted regions of the world. China produces over half the world’s textiles and
this industry was the third largest wastewater emitter in 2015. (MEP, 2016). The future could promise
‘climate beneficial’ clothing made from soil and carbon enhancing practices and powered by
renewable energy. Much as in the past, these geographic regions could provide all the resources to
make one article of clothing as well as create economic and social benefits.

Move the Goal Posts – Re-thinking growth

The International Labour Organisation estimates about 56% of employment in Southeast Asia is at
high risk of being automated over the next two decades, with clothing and footwear manufacturing
jobs among the hardest hit. (Chang and Huynh, 2016.) Until there are policies in place to protect the
human worker, truly sustainable brands will have to think how to redistribute wealth. The idea of co-
operative economics is spreading in other industries and one example is worker owned factories. Niki
Okuk gave a talk TEDxCrenshaw about the LUCI the Los Angeles Union Cooperative Initiative, which
aims to create more worker-owned businesses. (TED talks, 2017) This cooperative idea could work for
a manufacturing-based industry such as fashion and has been inspired by the Mondragon Corporation
model in Spain, which is the world’s biggest and most successful worker cooperative, with 260
businesses manufacturing everything from bicycles to washing machines and employing 80,000
people. This may be one of the strongest examples of re-thinking market capitalism and a systematic
change towards responsible growth.

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A smaller but no less admirable step in rethinking growth is Huit Denim based in Cardigan, a small
town in Wales, where ten per cent of the population was employed, for three decades, making jeans.
When the brands moved their production overseas to cheaper manufacturing countries, the factories
were forced to shut down and 400 people lost their jobs. Huit Denim’s brand purpose is simple ‘our
town is going to make jeans again’. (Huit.com) Currently, only a fraction of the town are employed, but
apprentices are trained for three years in the whole process of making a pair of jeans, ensuring their
skills are more transferable for the future. Naturally, the brand’s costs are higher so they cannot yet
afford the minimum quantities for organic cotton. In the near future of consumer-facing sustainability
scores, how will this brand score if its social mission cannot be measured?

The Real Moonshot Challenge

Without re-thinking the blunt profit-making models of sustainable entrepreneurism there is a danger
that these inequalities and the inter-connected relationships between them, could, in the words of the
World Economic Forum, cause ‘runaway collapse’. (WEF, 2018) Thus the more ‘utopian’ vision of
sustainable entrepreneurship may have real value to businesses today in setting the level of ambition
that firms should be aiming for. This model can lay out a holistic and balanced sustainable
development path, whether it be for a new start-up, or a traditional corporation attempting to realign its
organisation. The following key points suggest why this model can have an immediate and practical
value for the fashion industry today.
 It will avoid the current trend of focusing on only one of the economic, environmental or social
poles.
 It will ensure that a sustainability agenda is not only viewed from the vantage point of
‘efficiency’ alone.
 Finally, it understands the importance of aiming for a long-term horizon to achieve truly
Sustainable Development Goals.

And it is up to a new generation of brands who will have to distinguish themselves in a playing field
tipped towards eco-efficiency to innovate in new ways. The struggle to become a true sustainable
entrepreneur is the real ‘moonshot’ challenge, if we are ever to achieve the systematic change that
both the industry and the world demands.

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References
Abnett, K. (2016) Just Fix It: How Nike Learned to Embrace Sustainability. Available at:
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/people/just-fix-it-hannah-jones-nike (Accessed on: 20
November, 2017)
Alliance of Responsible Denim (no date) Together, creating a cleaner & smarter denim industry
Available at: https://www.denimalliance.org (Accessed: 17 February 2018).
Chang, J-H. and Huynh, P. (2016) ASEAN in Transformation: The Future of Jobs at Risk of
Automation. Available at:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/actemp/downloads/publications/2016/asean_in_transf_2016
_r2_future.pdf (Accessed: 26 November, 2017).
Fibershed (no date) How did the Fibershed project start?
Available at: https://www.fibershed.com/about/ (Accessed: 26 November, 2018)
Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group (2017), ‘Pulse of the Fashion Industry’.
Available at: https://www.copenhagenfashionsummit.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pulse-of-the-
Fashion-Industry_2017.pdf (Accessed: 12 November, 2017).
Huit Denim Co. (no date) Our town is going to make jeans again. Available at: https://hiutdenim.co.uk/
(Accessed: 7 February 2018).
Ministry of Environmental Report (2016) ‘2015 ‘State Of Environment Report’ Available at:
http://english.mee.gov.cn/Resources/Reports/soe/Report/201706/P020170614504782926467.pdf
(Accessed at: 26 November, 2018)
Nike Inc. (2015). Nike Sustainable Business Report.
Available at: https://about.nike.com/pages/sustainable-innovation (Accessed: 22 October, 2017).
Nidumolu, R., Prahalad, C. K. and Rangaswami, M. R. (2009) ‘Why Sustainability is now the key driver
of innovation’, Harvard Business Review, 87 (9) pp. 57-64.
Okuk, N. (2016) Niki Okuk: When Workers own companies, the economy is more resilient. (online)
Available at:
https://www.ted.com/talks/niki_okuk_when_workers_own_companies_the_economy_is_more_resilient
(Accessed: 17 February 2018).
Provenance (no date) Increasing transparency in fashion with blockchain. Available at:
https://www.provenance.org/case-studies/martine-jarlgaard (Accessed: 17 February 2018)
Rei (no date). #OptOutside. Available at https://www.rei.com/opt-outside (Accessed: 17 February
2018).
Tilley, F. and Young, W. (2009) ‘Sustainability Entrepreneurs – Could They be the True Wealth
Generators of the Future?’, Greener Management International, 55, pp. 79-92. Available at:
http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/77342/ (Accessed: 22 October, 2017).
Young, W. and Tilley, F. (2006) ‘Can Business Move beyond Efficiency? The Shift toward
Effectiveness and Equity in the Corporate Sustainability Debate’. Business Strategy and the
Environment, 15, pp. 402-415.
World Economic Forum (2018) The Global Risks Report 13th Ed. Available at:
https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WEF_GRR18_Report.pdf
(Access: 20 January, 2018).

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2030 Sustainability, Innovation, Products & Technology:

Challenging Incrementalism- David Wheeler
David Wheeler

Academy for Sustainable Innovation

Faculty of Environmental Studies

York University

Canada

Challenging Incrementalism
According to the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5o C: “Global warming is likely to reach
1.5°C between 2030 and 2052 if it continues to increase at the current rate”. At 1.5°C 70-90% of coral
reefs will be eliminated (compared to 100% with a 2.0°C rise) and 14% of the world’s population will
experience extreme heat waves once in every five years (compared to a third of the world’s population
at 2o). In October 2018, the release of these observations led to urgent headlines eg “We have 12
years to limit climate change catastrophe, warns UN”1. Thus the timeframe of 2018-2030 has serious
relevance.
It would be somewhat optimistic to expect the world’s current technological and socio-technical
innovation systems to deliver solutions in 12 years that have not arisen in the more than 20 years
since the Kyoto Protocol first established clear national targets for the reducing the world’s emissions
of greenhouse gases. However, in that same period the world has at least developed a deeper
understanding of how innovation systems function.
In the late 1990s Henry Etzkowitz and others popularised the concept of so-called triple helix, network
based innovation systems involving governments, industry and academia (Etzkowitz & Leydesdorff
1995; Leydesdorff & Etzkowitz, 1998). Later, Frank Geels (2002 & 2004) and others demonstrated the
importance of understanding socio-technical approaches to innovation that would in theory enhance
the potential for social and political priorities to be better incorporated in the innovation process.
Coming from more of a direct sustainability focus, Boons et al., (2013) further elaborated linkages
between ‘sustainable innovation’, business models and economics asserting “Sustainable
development requires radical and systemic innovations.”
In an attempt to resolve the interplay between sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation processes
both in niche firms and incumbents, Stefan Schaltegger and co-workers (2016) proposed a theoretical
framework for transformation of business models to develop and serve mass markets for sustainable
products and services. The authors illustrated their thinking with four case studies from Germany.
They noted that the variety of potential pathways for fundamental market transformation are numerous
and therefore the interplay between different actors and market conditions innumerable.
It would be fair to conclude that deeper theoretical and practical understanding of how and why
innovation occurs in a ‘business as usual’ or ‘incremental sustainability innovation’ world do not
necessarily support innovation that will scale in the time available to turn an atmospherically +3 oC
world into a +1.5o world. One innovation success story: the deployment of solar photovoltaic power
generation which increased from 20 TWh in 2009 to a forecast 838 TWh in 2020 (International Energy
Agency, 2018a) needs to be tempered by the observation of declining rates of deployment in Japan
and the EU between 2015 and 2017 (International Energy Agency, 2018a). This means that meeting
SDS targets by 2030 (2732 TWh) is now almost entirely dependent on future energy policies of just
two countries: China and India. It will not escape anyone’s attention that these countries are also two
of the world’s most voracious consumers of coal and natural gas for energy generation and will
continue to be so for many years to come (International Energy Agency, 2018b).
_____________________________
1 Watts, J. (2018). We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe. The Guardian 8th October 2018.

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A similar story can be told for electric vehicles which are expected to increase in number from 3 million
today to 125 million by 2030, helped by decades of triple helix innovation and associated cost
reductions in battery technology. However, the vast majority of the 2 billion cars on the planet around
2035-2040 will still be gasoline powered (International Energy Agency, 2018c). And even if they were
not it would not affect the plans of the international oil and gas companies 2.
The key problem then is not how we can more effectively innovate incremental change in products and
services; it is how we can showcase and later ensure the elimination of inherently damaging
incumbent firms and industries through both political and market forces. Understanding processes of
incremental sustainability innovation (renewable energy at 25% of world energy demand, electric
vehicles at 5% of world vehicle demand by 2040) is useful and interesting. But it provides insufficient
insight into how, where and by when the world can move more expeditiously to a low carbon, socially
just and sustainable global economy. For this, and building on the insights of Schot and Geels
(2008), we must accelerate the range and numbers of bold experiments, not in niches but in entire
communities and markets in order to demonstrate what transition looks like. We are likely to need to
do this in the absence of constraints from incumbents (Smink et al., 2015) or politicians seeking to run
down the clock to environmental and social crisis (Milman, 2015).

References
Boons, F Montalvo, C, Quist J and Wagner, M (2013). Sustainable innovation, business models and
economic performance: an overview. Journal of Cleaner Production 45, 1-8.

Etzkowitz H and Leydesdorff L (1995). Universities and the Global Knowledge Economy: A Triple
Helix of University-Industry-Government Relations. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam.
Geels F W (2002). Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level
perspective and a case-study. Research Policy 31 (8-9), 1257-1274
Geels FW (2004) From sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems: Insights about
dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory. Research Policy 33 (6-7), 897-920.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2018). Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5o C.
Geneva: World Meteorological Association.
International Energy Agency (2018a). Solar PV. Tracking Clean Energy Progress.
https://www.iea.org/tcep/power/renewables/solar/ (accessed 14th February 2019).
International Energy Agency (2018b). Coal 2018. Analysis and forecasts to 2023.
https://www.iea.org/coal2018/ (accessed 14th February 2019).
International Energy Agency (2018c). Global EV Outlook 2018. https://www.iea.org/gevo2018/
(accessed 14th February 2019).
Lewis, S L and Maslin M A (2015). Defining the Anthropocene. Nature 519, 171-180.
Leydesdorff, L and H Etzkowitz (1998). The Triple Helix as a model for innovation studies. Science
and Public Policy 25 (3) 195–203.
Milman O (2015). James Hansen, father of climate change awareness, calls Paris talks 'a fraud'. The
Guardian, 12th December 2015.
Schot J and Geels FW (2008) Strategic niche management and sustainable
innovation journeys: theory, findings, research agenda, and policy. Technology Analysis & Strategic
Management 20 (5) 537–554
Smink, M M, Hekkert, M P, and Negro S O (2015). Keeping sustainable innovation on a leash?
Exploring
incumbents’ institutional strategies Business Strategy and the Environment (24), 86–101.
________________________
2 According to ExxonMobil analyst T J Wojnar Jr “If you make the assumption that every one of the 1.8 billion cars in the world
in 2040 is fully electric, oil demand would still be close to where it is now.”

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The World in 2030 - Nigel Willson

Nigel Willson

European CTO

Professional Services

Microsoft

United Kingdom

We stand at the edge of the next technological revolution, the impact of which has yet to be imagined.
It will give us the tools to create a sustainable future, help find cures for disease and it will redefine our
roles in creativity and the future of work. With that in mind, what will the world look like in 2030?
These might seem like bold claims, given technology already has such a great impact on our lives. But
as humans we think in a linear way, from step to step. While the technology we have created is
advancing at an exponential rate, something Futurist Ray Kurzweil referred to as ‘the Law of
Accelerating Returns’.1 The impact of technology being used to define the next generation of
technology. But as technology advances, we starting to hit limits in resources, in the silicon we need to
create processors and store data, the electricity we need to power our servers and data centres, and
in the number of transistors that can fit on a processor (currently around 20 billion).
So why do we need this ever-increasing compute power? There are still many intractable problems
that we are unable to solve with ‘classical’ computers, such as clean energy, global warming and
materials design.
It is estimated by the end of 2020 there will be in excess of 50 billion devices connected to the
internet, more than 7 times the population on the planet. Each of those devices all creating a data
footprint, from smartphones to smart cities. In fact, in 18 months we will create more data than has
ever been created in human existence.
With a growing world population, globalisation and dwindling resources it will be essential to find new
and innovative ways to provide a sustainable future.
And we have less time than the world thought, to make more progress than the world needs.
With that backdrop by 2030 we will need revolutionary technologies to help us solve the big
challenges facing us. One of those technologies will be Quantum Computing 2, still currently an
emerging technology, likely to be mainstream by 2030, a single Quantum Computer of a modest size
we exceed all the combined compute power on the planet today. Some of those intractable problems
that would take lifetimes or even millennia to solve with ‘classical computers’ will be solvable within
hours, days or weeks.
Not only will the power of this technology contribute to solving some of the world’s problems, but also
continue to cause us to redefine some of the areas that make us human. Such as our creativity,
decision making, ethics, privacy and innovation.
In this presentation will highlight the journey that has taken us to this point in time, show how looking
at our past is no longer a predictor for the future, and how these ground-breaking new technologies
will play a part in our future which may make 2030 the year we have to retire the word ‘impossible’.
_________________________
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerating_change#The_Law_of_Accelerating_Returns
2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_computing

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 Sustainable Innovation 2019

An Approach Proposal In Sustainable Design: Design From Waste

Materials In Context Of Re-Use Method - Meltem Yılmaz, Dilara Tüfekçioğlu
Meltem Yılmaz

Professor

Faculty of Fine Arts

Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental

Hacettepe University

Ankara

Turkey

Dilara Tüfekçioğlu

Research Assistant

Faculty of Fine Arts

Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental

Hacettepe University

Ankara

Turkey

The increasing environmental pollution, which is mostly due to human activities, had reached to a life-
threatening point. Nowadays all disciplines are being investigated in terms of their effects to the nature
via environmental approaches because every discipline that involves human activity.
Design/architecture fields are closely linked with the current environmental issues. The sustainability of
a design is closely related with the environmental consciousness of the designer. For that purpose, in
the course “Sustainable Design”, which is in the curriculum of Department of Interior Architecture and
Environmental Design of Hacettepe University, Turkey, the students are asked to produce design
works with only waste materials to help them gain a consciousness about sustainability and waste
formation. This paper will analyze the end results of the course which were held in 2017 – 2018 Fall
Semester and provide the findings for the re-usage of waste items as an important and holistic design
method for promoting sustainability.

Introduction
It is known that there is no way of life in the first half of Earth history. Two billion years have had to
pass before the most primitive form of life began. However, the time it takes to endanger life (with
seriously damaging the ozone layer for more comfort) is not so long as this. While it is not known
exactly when the ozone layer begins to be damaged, the Industrial Revolution is regarded as the
starting point. Along with industrialization, fossil fuel consumption has increased rapidly, and the
wastes of industrial facilities have caused both global warming and decreasing biodiversity in the seas,
it is ongoing to cause. Human species with a population of 1 billion in the 19th century and reaching 7
billion today; with its activities, it leaves indelible, irreversible geological traces on the earth. The

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design area is of great importance at this point as a field of activity which leave irrevocable marks
within the industrial production area, but it may be reversible.

The Concern of Sustainability in Design

The rapid urbanization and population growth with the rapid consumption of resource after the
industrial revolution, have caused serious environmental pollution in the world. This pollution has
endangered the life of all living species and the sustainability of life. This situation has enabled people
to reconsider their activities in all fields. In this context, it can be said that sustainability is a concept,
needs to be looked with an holistic approach starting from the triangle of nature, the environment and
the human (Yılmaz, Tüfekçioğlu 2018).

Architecture/interior architecture or design fields in general, have a significant impact on the

environment. In any kind of design, this may be a product, furniture or even a construction, the
decisions made by the designer on the choice and use of materials directly affect the human and
environment. Therefore, the field of design is directly related to human life and sustainability. In
sustainable design, the design has to use minimum space, material and energy, create minimum
waste, own low embodied energy1 and a long life and comply with the 3R2 rule. On the basis of
sustainable design, the aim is to use resources correctly and effectively; it is essential to generate
minimum waste and if waste occurs, to reduce the waste amount by including them in to the process
of re-production and reuse (Yılmaz, Tüfekçioğlu 2018). Therefore, in design; it is clear that a whole life
cycle of a product, including the process of use and the disposal phase, with the production phase,
should be considered. In this context, waste or waste material is a problem that rapidly occurs in
today's consumption societies and should be disposed of at the same rate while at the same time it is
a good alternative and useful method against the logic of this fast consumption.

What is The Waste?

Waste
Wastes can be defined as the substances, which generate as a result of the social and cultural
activities of the people, reach to the threatening levels of human health day by day in terms of quantity
and variety and must be taken away from the environment regularly due to the harmful effects on the
environment. Waste is the totality of the substances that occur in all of the stages from production to
consumption and which are no longer useful to its user and thrown away (TDK 2019).

Waste in Turkey
For the first time in Turkey, ‘waste’ is defined in the Environmental Law No. 2872 dated 1983 as: “any
kind of substance that thrown into the environment as a result of any activity“ (Environmental Law,
1983). In 1991, Regulation on the Control of Solid Waste was published and the ‘solid waste’ was
defined as: “solid substances and sewage sludge – that must be disposed of by the manufacturer in a
regular way in order to ensure the well-being of the community, and the protection of the environment
(KAKY 1991). In the Regulation on the Control of Hazardous Wastes (TAKY 1995) published in 1995,
the criteria that differentiate the waste from the product have been specified, so the substances that
cover the specified criteria are defined as waste. According to this regulation, “products that are non-
standard, deteriorated, misused, contaminated3, […] lack of useful performance, or are considered as
waste by the manufacturer” are waste (Tüfekçioğlu 2017). Finally, in 2015, Waste Management
Regulation has been published in which a general definition of waste is made. In this regulation which
contains General Principles of Waste Management; wastes are classified in detail and waste disposal
principles are specified clearly (AYY 2015).
______________________

1 The amount of energy required to obtain, process, transport, use and recover the material of the product/design to be
produced.
2 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

3 In Environmental Chemistry; it refers to the word pollution. It is caused by transport of pollution from a different environment to
a clean surface, environment or texture. Contaminated, impurity, defiled (Tüfekçioğlu 2017)

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Waste Classification
Wastes can be classified according to the various factors such as consumption, production, chemical
and physical properties, origin and composition. They can be basically classified as solid, liquid and
gaseous wastes. According to the organization chart of the Directorate General of Environmental
Management - Waste Management Department; wastes are classified as municipal wastes, packaging
wastes, industrial wastes, mineral wastes, special wastes and healthcare wastes, without the
separation of solid-liquid or gaseous (Tüfekçioğlu 2017).

Among them especially the disposal of solid wastes from the nature is a major problem. In fact, there
is no concept of solid waste in nature, the waste of an organism can be a source of food for another
organism (Artut 2015). However, the solid wastes origined from human show a continuous increase in
quantity and variety. Therefore, solid wastes have begun to be considered as resources that need to
be recovered rather than materials that must be disposed of. (Palabıyık 2003). In this respect, as
stated in an excerpt from Adewumi, it is a very accurate approach to call solid waste as "a source in
the wrong place" (Artut 2015). However, the usage of each solid waste as a source may not be
possible. In this respect, a detailed solid waste classification should be used. Then, which class
wastes with which method (recover, reuse, recycle, upcycle) can be used should be investigated well.
According to OECD4 (2001) datas, solid wastes are categorized as manufacturing, agricultural and
forestry, municipal wastes, construction and demolition wastes, water purification and disinfection
wastes and energy production wastes (Tüfekçioğlu 2017). In general, many of the aforementioned
classification of wastes are also applicable for solid waste classification. Accordingly, it would be more
accurate to make a classification that encompass all of these classifications for solid wastes.

Use Of Waste Materials In Design In The Context Of Sustainability

Until the midst of the 20th Century, due to the low population and high storage areas, waste was not a
problem. After this date, due to the developing industry, the increasing amount of waste and its
diversity has shown that the wastes should be managed effectively. In the developed waste
management system, 6 main strategy is envisaged under 3 main headings for the implementation.

 Avoidance;
Preventation, 2- Minimisation
 Recovery;
Reuse, 4- Recycle, 5- Energy Recovery
 Disposal;
6- Storage, 7- Incineration, 8- Landfill.
In this system, the aim is […] to improve the environment and human health, as well as to contribute
positively to economic development (Gündüzalp & Güven 2016). For this reason, prevention and
recovery stages are very important. It is of utmost importance that the materials used in the
construction sector, create minimum waste and recover by reuse or recycle methods. Because, in the
field of architecture / interior architecture / design and construction industry in general, the amount of
waste generated has a serious proportion in the total amount of waste. A third method for the recovery
of waste in this area is upcycle. In recycling, there is a decrease in the value of the material due to the
changing chemical structure. In the Upcycle, only the physical structure is changed and, unlike the re-
use, it is aimed to obtain a material / product that is more valuable than the existing material / product.
However, in these fields, it is necessary for wastes to have certain criteria in order to be reused.

“Wastes that can be reused in the context of architectural and interior architectural spaces are
included in the 'Industrial wastes' and 'Construction wastes' classes. Industrial wastes are the wastes
that generated during the production of the construction materials in related factories. Construction
and demolition wastes are the surpluses remained after the construction of any building, or wastes
generated after the renovation/destruction of any construction.” (Tüfekçioğlu, Yılmaz 2017).

___________________________
4 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: Founded in 1961 with 20 founding members, the OECD has been
one of the world’s largest and most reliable sources of comparable statistical, economic and social data. (OECD 2008)

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Figure 1 (a) Hero Playground, Design of playground from residues of plastic pipe and timber
factories, (RURAL STUDİO 1997) (b) Earthship, Design of space made of end-of-tires, wood
and glass bottles (Design: Michael Raynolds) (Source: https://www.cnnturk.com/yasam/atik-
malzemelerden-ev-yapiyor).

Additionally, although they are not in the structural classification, it is seen that second-hand goods,
end-of-life tyres and various packaging wastes such as, wood, metal, glass, plastic are being used in
space/furniture designs. Designs, can be made by using production residues that are industrial wastes
(a), with waste materials (b) as in the design of the space made of end-of-tires, wood and glass bottles
or with waste goods/ware parts (Figure 1). Such examples that are promotive and promising in line
with their aims, are helping to raise awareness about this issue as well.

Sustainable Design Course/Design With Waste Materials – Student Works

Waste is an important pollutant and a great amount of fiscal loss at the same time that can be
transformed into an economic resource and a recycled/reused material if a right management method
is used. Considering this importance, the topic of waste is handled for the last two years in the course
of “Sustainable Design”, which is in the curriculum of the Department of Interior Architecture and
Environmental Design in Hacettepe University, Turkey. The aim of the course is, initially, to provide an
understanding of the concept of sustainability and to raise consciousness about sustainable design
and waste formation. Another important goal is to create awareness about how important and effective
role the designer's desicions have on the environment. With this study, it is aimed to share the subject
of waste with the society and to open it to the scientific discussion. The most important aspect of the
study is the transformation of consciousness on the individual scale into the awareness of the social
scale.

In this study, student works conducted in 2017-2018 Fall semester were handled with their processes.
In the theoretical part of the course, information about the subject has given. In the application phase,
the students first have observed the most common waste items in their immediate surroundings and
then they came up with the design interpretations which were made by the waste items. (Considering
the duration of the semester, furniture design was deemed appropriate). The design of furnitures,
decisions for material, form, size and construction methods were left to students. As design materials,
students selected wood production residues, scrappages, soda bottles, transport pallets, paper and
cardboard waste. In this process, students have taken part as both the designer and the practitioner.
All design works have been improved by the critics and suggestions from the course instructors. Trial
and error processes have been evaluated all together in weekly courses and new ideas were
produced for the deficiencies on prototypes together. Designs from waste materials have been
finalized in the light of experience gained in trial and error stages. Seven studies designed and applied
within the scope of the course are given below together with the type of used waste material and the
type of used joint details. Examples represent six different methods for the re-evaluation of waste
materials; the use of production residues, the use of waste second-hand goods and packaging
wastes (as they are), the use of waste by changing the function, the use of waste as a binder, the use
of waste for the production of new materials.

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Design 1 – MD Console

Figure 2 MD Console, Storage unit designed from waste mdf, chipboard and wood parts
(Source: Personel Archive, Yılmaz, Tüfekçioğlu 2018)

Designed in response to the designer's need, this furniture is made of wooden production residues. In
the first attempt, a unit was designed from the existing wooden drawers in a carpenter's shop, but this
design was found to be ergonomically low, shallow in depth and suitable for dusting. In the second
trial, a deeper, higher and more closed design was made. Mdf and chipboard residues were passed
through the joining steps by cutting, gluing and screwing according to the designed dimension. The
furniture, which was composed of different coating surfaces, was painted in a single colour by spray
paint (anthracite) with the decision of the designer. Hinges and handles are attached to the openable
part. The designer has been left free for these plus-cost transactions. As a result, a console produced
from wastes, which has no difference from a new product, was obtained. (Figure 2).

Design 2 – V Chair
The second design is a chair made of waste wood pieces, sponge and surplus fabric pieces. This
study was also designed by using production residues, such as the first example. The waste spruce
panels obtained from a carpenter's shop were cut to the appropriate size according to the design and
the pieces were glued to form a double layer to provide durability. Then, all the parts were combined.
In this first attempt, problems were observed about the durability. In the second trial, the dowel joint
method was used for the thicker and stronger parts and positive results were obtained. After these
processes, the chair was sanded and varnished. Finally, a cushion was added obtained from the fabric
surplus and waste sponge parts. (Figure 3).

Design 3 – Node
This work is valuable to save the used wares which have been discarded but whose structure is intact
or could be repaired and saved from being idle, by uploading a new function without changing its form.
Drawing attention to the use of second-hand goods, the study is an important attempt to reduce the
junkyard areas. There is a junkyard in University of Hacettepe Campus which all kinds of furniture and
electronic wastes are found. As a result of her research in this junkyard area, different waste materials
have found that can be transformed into design. The design selected from the draft works is the
hanging display unit consisting of three identical waste drawers and ropes. After the technical
drawings were completed, the small repairs of the drawers have done initially in the implementation
phase of the design. Then, the drawers drilled from the appropriate places for fixing; the rope passed
through the holes and knotted at certain intervals under the holes. Finally, drawers hanged. (Figure 4).

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Figure 3. V Chair Figure 4. Node Figure 5. Pallet Chair

(Source: Personel Archive, Yılmaz, Tüfekçioğlu 2018)

Design 4 – Pallet Chair

In this study, a waste material that is used for a bed base formerly has turned into a different usage by
the change of its form and function. While this method proves that the life cycle of the waste material
can be repeated more than once, it has raised the importance of the question of 'is it really waste?'.
The student aimed to convert the transportation pallets that are used as bed bases in her own house,
into the seating element. Pallets whose original form-protected were cut to ergonomic dimensions and
the screws were used to join the parts. The cut surfaces were sanded. The parts of the pallets that
were damaged by the previous use or cutting process were repaired with spackle and were covered
with retouch paint. The design is finished with the cushions obtained by filling the waste sponge pieces
into the surplus fabrics.(Figure 5).

Design 5 – Honeycomb Panel

Figure 6 Honeycomb Panel, Wall panel designed from waste paper and waste corrugated
cardboard clippings (Source: Personel Archive, Yılmaz, Tüfekçioğlu 2018)

The most important feature of this work is the design of the material itself by wastes, before converting
it into a furniture. The owner of the design realized that a lot of paper and cardboard waste was
generated as a result of the studies carried out in the interior architecture department and she wanted
to evaluate these wastes. For this purpose, she first designed the material of the furniture. On the
application phase, the waste papers were milled and the corrugated cardboard was cut to the smallest
sizes. These paper and cardboard scraps were filled into the prepared hexagon molds with a
thickness of 3 cm, compressed by adding glue on the mixture and allowed to freeze. After 12 hours
passed, each module removed from the molds and were allowed to rest for dehumidification and
finished by polishing. The designer thought that odorless and insect-free modules can be used in living
spaces. The modules were then brought together on the plane to form a panel. As a result, the
proposal for the use of the design as a decorative wall panel is presented. This example has been a
different and an innovative study in which the waste material enabled to the design of another new
material. (Figure 6).

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Design 6 – Sensa Bookshelf

Figure 7 Sensa Bookshelf, Bookshelf designed from waste wooden laths and waste plastic
bottles (Source: Personel Archive, Yılmaz, Tüfekçioğlu 2018)
This study, in which plastic bottles are used as binders, is a different example produced entirely of
waste. The designer aimed to produce a bookshelf, by using this method that she encountered in
different applications. Firstly, the waste wooden boards supplied from the carpenter shop were cut and
the wooden laths were obtained. On the other hand, different sizes of waste plastic bottles were cut
into rings in certain dimensions. All laths were arranged horizontally and vertically in a way that, they
form the carrier post and shelf plane. The plastic bottle rings were passed around of each intersection
point of laths and were melted with heat, to cling to the surfaces and to attach the pieces. The
durability problems experienced in the prototype were eliminated by adding more plastic rings to each
point of intersection. The outcome is a good example of the versatile use of waste materials. It has
also shown that waste materials offer the design and production opportunities beyond the standards.
(Figure 7).

Conclusion
The studies have been primarily positive in terms of the students' to recognize the materials and to
experience the trial and error processes individually. On the other hand, it has eliminated the prejudice
about waste among the students and has allowed the acceptance of the idea of design with waste
materials. It has been understood that it is not obligatory to design with new materials; new, functional
and creative designs can be made also with the used or waste materials. Experiences have enabled to
built the awareness of sustainable design through the waste generation and waste consumption ideas.
With the different products produced at close to zero cost; It has been seen that waste materials can
repeat the life cycle, enable the production of new materials and can function as structural binders.
This is a versatile, a developable and an innovative achivement in terms of sustainable design. In
addition to recycling and reuse options of wastes, being a raw material in the production of new
materials or undertake tasks such as a binder or a carrier can be regarded as the most innovative
feature of waste materials in terms of sustainability. Waste research in these contexts will allow
innovative approaches for the production of different materials and different uses of wastes. This
situation will provide to make production and consumption issues without consuming the natural
resources; using less energy and causing less pollution to the environment. In addition, the results of
the research in this direction can be evaluated and the use of waste can be standardized.
Standardization on a global scale will contribute significantly to the economy and to the prevention of
environmental pollution. It is thought that the experience of waste material and application obtained
with this study will promote to the development of both design education and sustainable design and
production opportunities.

Designers: Elvan Melisa Dalkıran, Nevzat Erkmen Dönmez, Selin Yılmaz, Nuray Çelik, Ayşe Betül
Bahadır, Sena Gencer.

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For more information, please contact:

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Director
The Centre for Sustainable Design®
Business School for the Creative Industries

University for the Creative Arts

Falkner Road Farnham
Surrey GU9 7DS
UK

t: 00 44 1252 892772
CfSD website: cfsd.org.uk
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