The Industrial Resolution Ebook

THE INDUSTRIAL
RESOLUTION
New thinking on closed loop product design and manufacturing.
Published by Ove Arup & Partners Ltd, 13 Fitzroy Street, London W1T 4BQ, UK
Copyright © January 2018 Arup
ISBN 978-1-9999860-1-8
THE INDUSTRIAL
RESOLUTION
New thinking on closed loop product design and manufacturing.
By Stephen Philips and contributors.

Forword by Sir Kenneth Grange.
CONTENTS
1. Foreword 06
Closed Loop Making - Sir Kenneth Grange
2. The Industrial Resolution 08
3. Arup and our Journey into Product Design 10
4. Aesthetics and the Development of Tools 14
5. The Industrial Revolution 18
6. The Circular Building

Carolina Bartram 20
7. Converting Waste into Gold

The Art of Upcycling 32
8. Seating and Furniture

From Woodland to Workshop and Back Again 42
9. Metallurgy and the Development of Low Carbon Vehicles

Neil Perry 50
10. New York’s Waste Infrastructure

Josh Treuhaft 63
11. New Tech and the Challenges of e -waste 74
12. Packaging
What Goes Around Comes Around 86
13. Conclusions 98
Chapter 1: Foreword
©Anglepoise
Sir Kenneth Grange CBE, PPFCSD, RDI

Industrial Designer. May, 2017
6 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

Chapter 1: Foreword
FOREWORD
Closed Loop Making – Sir Kenneth Grange
The raw materials we need to make the products we use, to immediate future is to penetrate this destructive cycle,
construct the buildings we live in and the vehicles we travel based as it is on historic systems and processes and our
in are not infinite. limiting assumptions as to what we can expect the user to
be capable of understanding, and begin to treat all products
Annually, around 70 billion tons1 of material resources
as a circular resource.
are extracted from the planet to cater for 7.3 billion2 or so
people who generate over 1.3billion tons of solid waste The issue today is not what we CAN do - which is the
material.3 We need to reduce the waste we create and reuse constant demand from commerce - but what we should
that waste as a raw material for new things. We need to do - to ease the human state. If closed loop making is to
make products, buildings and vehicles that are ‘closed embrace more than recycling and economic making and
loop’ that reuse waste material, last longer, allow repair and secondary merits - such as economy in use - then it must
reuse and allow materials and parts harvesting at the end of engage intimately with the user.
their useful lives.
The future, if we are to assert our trade as moral, caring and
The decisions we make now and the initiatives we set wholly beneficial should be one where design decisions
in motion within the next few years will determine our are taken in a holistic way with multiple human and social
children’s and grandchildren’s future. My call to politicians, benefits, long term and sustainable goals and a genuine
industrialists, engineers, makers and designers of the engagement with and trust in the user.
The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 7

Chapter 2: The Industrial Resolution
THE INDUSTRIAL
RESOLUTION
There is a growing awareness that the products and As a wholly independent organisation Arup is owned in
services we use should be produced in ways that do not use trust for the benefit of its employees and their dependants.
resources that cannot be replaced and that do not damage With no shareholders or external investors, the firm is able to
the environment. This awareness raises numerous questions independently determine its own priorities to shape a better
on what changes we need to make to achieve a future that is world. This includes investment in research, innovation
more sustainable. The questions around climate change and and development activities. The Industrial Resolution is
the environment are multi-layered and complex, covering the result of our global research, design and development
many themes which are pertinent to people and the waste activities in the field of product, building and vehicle
they generate. The Industrial Resolution offers insights and design. This, combined with knowledge harvested from our
initiatives to show how the products we design, manufacture, globally distributed specialists in materials, sustainability,
use and dispose of can be designed and engineered to reduce human factors, waste, transport and buildings, demonstrates
the impact they have on our planet. strategies and real examples of how we can direct our
knowledge, resources and enthusiasm into products that are
Arup is at the forefront of cutting edge architecture,
closed loop.
engineering and design. Founded by Ove Arup and his
colleagues in the mid twentieth century. Ove studied
philosophy and engineering in Copenhagen, moving to Image: The Al Bahr towers,
London in 1923, setting up Arup in 1938. This foundation set designed by Aedas and engineered by Arup are
over-clad on the south, west and east elevations
Ove’s course for social and cultural betterment through clever by a unique dynamic shading system that opens
design and engineering and led to collaboration with some and closes to provide self-shading as the sun
of the architectural pioneers of the 20th Century, including moves around the building.
Jørn Utzon, Marcel Breuer and Arne Jacobson. Since
these auspicious beginnings, Arup has grown organically,
challenged by architects, designers, planners, artists and
organisations globally to shape a plethora of innovative and
inspiring building design, infrastructure and art projects.

Chapter 2: The Industrial Resolution
© Arup
Chapter 3: Arup and our Journey into Product Design
ARUP AND OUR JOURNEY

INTO PRODUCT DESIGN
Arup’s work in the realm of product design has Like many other designers, we are in a privileged
grown during the past decade from our multi- position to influence people and the products
disciplinary design and engineering roots. they use in their everyday lives. It carries a
responsibility to do the best possible job for
The team consists of an imaginative and
current society and ensure our work leaves a
dedicated group of individuals harnessing
significant and positive legacy for subsequent
Arup’s global technical and engineering
generations.
expertise to develop designs that resolve user
and our clients’ needs. Each project is a response
to a particular challenge requiring a tailored
approach and design process. From the outset,
a product’s form and function are rightly treated
with equal importance. We involve our clients The team consists of an imaginative
and users as much as possible in the design
process. The design projects we work on are and dedicated group of individuals
intentionally diverse and encompass a realm of harnessing Arup’s global technical and
mechanical and electronic appliances, furniture,
digital devices, lighting, building products and engineering expertise to develop designs
components, transportation and packaging. that resolve user and our clients’ needs.
Image: Stephen Philips working on the View

LED lighting range.

© iGuzzini

P
utting sustainability at the heart of our more often than not, taking a more sustainable
projects is one of the ways we make a approach can be less convenient and therefore
positive influence on the wider world. more expensive than buying products which are
Investing in research and development is cheap to make, easy to source, buy and dispose
another; without such investment, innovation of…the roots of the disposable culture.
can be stifled. Without the capacity and freedom I joined Arup in 2008, a product and furniture
to innovate, our ability to combat the effects of designer, excited by the opportunity to work
climate change and other global issues would with some of the world’s leading technical
be compromised. ‘The Industrial Resolution’ specialists. Familiar with Arup’s significance
reveals just some of the inventive and fascinating in the world of architecture and infrastructure
approaches we have initiated and encountered, design, developing a product design team at
drawing on the work of international designers, Arup continues to be an exciting and intriguing
engineers, industrial and commercial opportunity.
organisations. These case studies capture diverse
insights and approaches to the subject of product Although products aren’t buildings (buildings
sustainability at this moment in time. The are larger, more permanent and almost always
product landscape is extremely diverse because prototypes), the products we work on are still
they respond to different problems, wrapped up imbued with cultural, human and performance
in the history and culture of the people that make factors that are vital to the success and
and use them. In my view, climate change in the significance of some functional products over
product world won’t necessarily be resolved others. They also have to work and specialist
with sweeping, radical change but will need input from our technical staff ensures that form
to be addressed incrementally by a number of and function work hand in hand. Products have
different approaches that are appropriate to the fewer parts than buildings, often designed
circumstances of the particular product and the for serial production, assembly and efficient
people that make and use them. To encourage distribution. Our engineering colleagues enjoy
an approach and policy that reduces waste and applying their knowledge and skills on products,
use of dwindling resource will be a key driver as useful physical objects of a different scale.

© Claudia Marini
© Arup © Arup
Images: Craft LED Hi Bay lighting installed at Comer Industries factory near
Milan. Lighting manufacturer Zumtobel now offers light as a service, taking
responsibility for luminaire refurbishment, upgrades and recycling at end of
life; Pocket Habitat modular green roof product, designed by Arup for Sky
Garden; Arup’s Product Design team.
Chapter 4: Aesthetics and the Development of Tools
© todd-quackenbush-Unsplash
AESTHETICS
AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TOOLS
The first stone cutting tools were made these items as ‘products’, standardised Through history, useful objects have
and used by Australopithecus afarensis and useful tools, mass-produced and been imbued with cultural references
in East Africa some 3.3 million years traded on a large scale. and an aesthetic, non-functional element
ago.4 During the next 3 million years or shape to the design that go beyond
In the 20th century Modernist
Homo Habilus and Homo Erectus mere usefulness. Our understanding of
designers believed that good design
made small refinements to the tool’s human psychology, anthropology and
was about usefulness – how well an
designs and grew their tool repertoire the mind has developed tremendously
object performed its function. For
for different purposes such as chopping during the past century. This, combined
others, good design is less tangible.
and spearing. This allowed them to with more recent investigation into
It might be something that is capable
thrive in their immediate environment behavioural neuroscience, or the
of provoking an emotional response-
and migrate. It wasn’t until the process mechanisms within the brain
perhaps through beauty or wonder. It’s
arrival of Neanderthals, just 33,000 are helping us to realise the importance
clear that what is good design is open to
years ago that there was a significant of people’s perception and experience
debate and interpretation. Many people
change and flowering of creativity of certain products, object shapes,
share the belief that there is a moral or
with the development of imaginative materials and the meaning behind them.
ethical component to design and that
ornamentation and jewellery. Since We have a growing understanding of
design can be responsible for enriching
then objects and tools have become as the importance of working with, not
our lives or ‘doing good’ in the world.
much about how they look as how they against people’s expectations of what
However, if good design can improve
work. During the industrial revolution, a product should look like as well as
our world then presumably bad design
new tools and objects were invented, how it works.
can harm it. This highlights the moral
refined and optimised for industrial
responsibilities of designers and of the
production. We can start to think of
people who use their creations.

I
t is now widely accepted that For instance, users understand that
people need to experience chairs made from wood, with four
excitement, pleasure and legs work, whereas a seat made of
confidence when looking at and sheet glass induces fear as a user is
© Archaeological Museum of Heraklion.
appraising a product or thing for the familiar with the cold brittleness of
first time. These experiences vary from glass and the harm it causes if it were
person to person, but an experienced to break. Finally, our dorsolateral
designer can shape products to achieve prefrontal cortex, the front of the brain
these positive responses. They happen responsible for analytical thinking or
subconsciously within a few seconds logic, helps us to consider product
or so of encountering a new product. It performance and price.
is only after this, once the person has
This understanding shows that
experienced their ‘first impression’ of
although product performance is an
the product or thing will they consider
essential part of the product make up,
4 the performance and value of the
3 the product’s shape or ‘look and feel’
1 product. This process can be linked to
needs careful consideration. It is less
the neurological processes within the
2 acceptable to make a product that
central nervous system.
looks great but doesn’t work and there
When viewing an object or thing, the is equally little excuse for making
optic nerve sends a nerve impulse a product that works well but looks
from the retina to the amygdala in the wrong for its application and uses
brain. The amygdala reacts quickly slightly inappropriate materials as no-
and emotionally to the object…a one will feel compelled or confident
reaction of excitement and pleasure about purchasing it in the first place.
or disinterest and at worst fear. A This premise helps us to understand
secondary, instantaneous impulse the approach required for products
from the amygdala deep in the centre that are more in tune with people’s
of the brain to the cingulate gyrus in psychological and functional needs
the front of the brain, informs our and therefore more sustainable and less
secondary cognitive reaction to the wasteful. It also explains why people
© Eames Office LLC
product or object, based on our past are unlikely to buy and use a product
experiences. This can explain why where its sustainability credentials are
people feel comfortable with certain the main feature. The product has to
product characteristics and shapes look right, work beautifully and offer
and less comfortable with others. value as well.

This understanding shows that although product

performance is an essential part of the product
make up, the product’s shape or ‘look and feel’
needs careful consideration.
© Gearheads.org
Images left and above: Designers, engineers and manufacturers that we use today are the result of
Minoan pottery from Pyrgos, Greece 3000–
2600 BC; Our reaction impulse to seeing
need to consider how they reuse evolutionary design, the seeds of which
things.1: Retina; 2: Amygdala; 3: Cingulate recycled materials in new products were developed by our ancestors. To
gyrus; 4: Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Ray and consider how the materials can understand the context of why products
Eames sitting on an experimental lounge chair,
1946; Model T Ford assembly line, 1913
be separated and recycled again at the are the way they are today, we can
Detroit. end of that products useful life. Many study how things were made and used
of the most successful, useful things in the past.

Chapter 5: The Industrial Revolution
THE
INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
In the developing world, there that allowed people and goods to be
© Black Country Living Museum

were rapid changes in technology, transported, grew in parallel.
farming, mining, manufacturing, and
This transformation brought about
transportation from the mid-18th to
better economic conditions for
mid-19th Century. These technologies
many people. Before the Industrial
had an impact on people’s social and
Revolution, each generation produced
cultural life, as well as their economic
conditions. Machines such as the steam a roughly similar number of utilitarian
engine were developed and used to objects to their predecessors and
power machinery that could perform overall economic conditions
many of the jobs and tasks that had were relatively stagnant. After
previously been carried out manually. industrialization, production grew year
Before the Industrial Revolution, on year and the capitalist economic
societies were largely rural. system resulted in human prosperity,
Industrialization meant that more and comfort and certainty for some, as well
more people lived in towns and cities as poverty and hardship for others.
where goods were increasingly mass Waste, pollution and carbon emissions Image: A replica of Thomas Newcomen’s
1712 steam engine, used to pump water out
produced in purpose-built factories. A also grew. The steam engine was one of tin and coal mines during the industrial
network of roads, railways and canals, of the most important inventions of revolution.

Chapter 5: The Industrial Revolution
7
10000
Million Metric Tons of Carbon

6
Population (in Billions)
8000
5
6000
4
3 4000
2 2000
1 0
1751
1766
1781
1796
1811
1826
1841
1856
1871
1886
1901
1916
1931
1946
1961
1976
1991
2006
0
1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
Year Year
the Industrial Revolution. The first manufactured goods increased to meet this revolution now requires change,
practical steam engine was a machine the needs of a burgeoning population. a closed loop approach to design and
made to pump water out of mines Our global population reached manufacturing. Having reflected on
by the English inventor, Thomas approximately 1 billion in 1800 and the history and challenges facing
Newcomen in 1712. The design was increased to 1.7 billion in 1900 5. The designers and the society they serve
later improved upon by the Scotsman, past 118 years has seen the world’s we have identified a number of
James Watt. As well as powering population expanding by 440% to the key projects and initiatives which
the machines used in factories and 7.5 billion estimate we see today. represent that incremental change
mines, steam engines were also used towards Closed Loop Design. Some
The Industrial Revolution was an
in ships and locomotives, improving of these are small scale and localised
inevitable and necessary turning
the transportation of people and goods while others have the potential to scale
point for the developing world, but
dramatically. Naturally, the quantity of up and become global systems.
more than ever, the consequences of
Images above: Global population and CO2 emissions
between the mid 18th and early 21st centuries

Chapter 6: The Circular Building
THE CIRCULAR
BUILDING
CAROLINA BARTRAM
Introduction
The Circular Building was an exploration by Arup,
Frener & Reifer, BAM and the Built Environment
Trust of circular economy principles in the construction
industry inspired by the fact that our industry produces
three times more waste than UK households. It was
intended to test the maturity of circular economy
thinking in the supply chain and to examine what it
means for building design. The aim was to design
and build a small prototype building for the 2016
London Design Festival. The challenge was: Can we
design a building which is flexible in its use and, at
the end of its life, all its components and materials are
reused, re-manufactured or re-cycled? We found that
asking this question profoundly altered the design and
construction priorities.
Images: The Circular House. Image: © Ben Blossom.


Design Frameworks Design Principles

The team used two frameworks to Early discussions were focussed longevity of use, against designing
develop their ideas. The first is the around space planning and structure for deconstruction. Currently when
ReSOLVE framework defined by the which are the two elements of a most buildings are demolished the
McKinsey Centre for Business and building which tend to define its overall structure is down-cycled: concrete
Environment with the Ellen MacArthur life. We were keen that the Circular waste is used to form engineering fill
Foundation. This framework identifies Building, although small and with a for roads and landscapes or aggregate
six ways of implementing circular defined lifespan, explored principles for new concrete structures, timber is
economy principles: Regenerate, that were more universally applicable used as fuel for biomass plants, and
Share, Optimise, Loop Virtualise and to larger scale, more permanent steel is melted down and reformed.
Exchange. building typologies. In particular with So, ensuring the longevity of a
regards to structure there was a lot typical structure is possibly the most
We also categorised the building into important issue in terms of keeping
of debate about the balance between
six areas defined by their likely life in materials at their highest value for the
providing flexibility and ensuring
a “typical˝ building. For this we used longest period possible.
the categories set by Stewart Brand
in his book “How Buildings Learn˝.
These are: Site (long term), Structure REGENERATE • Shift to renewable energy and materials
(50-100 years), Skin (15-20 years), • Reclaim, retain and restore health of ecosystems
• Return recovered biological resources to the biosphere
Services (5-15 years), Space (i.e. space
planning 5 years) and Stuff - all the SHARE • Share assets (eg cars, rooms, appliances)
other things inside such as fittings and • Reuse/secondhand
furniture and our belongings (short • Prolong life through maintenance, design for durability,
term). Using these categories helped upgradability etc
shape our discussions during the OPTIMISE • Increase peformance/efficiency of product

design stages and in fact the building • Remove waste in production and supply chain
• Leverage big data, automation, remote sensing and steering
became a physical incarnation of
Brand’s diagram. LOOP • Remanufacture products or components
• Recycle material • Digest anaerobically
• Extract biochemicals from organic waste
VIRTUALISE • Dematerialise directly (eg books, CDs, DVDs, travel)

• Dematerialise indirectly (eg online shopping)
EXCHANGE • Replace old with advanced non-renewable materials

Images over page: Diagram from Stuart • Apply new technologies (eg 3D printing)
Brands book “How Buildings Learn˝;
• Choose new product/service (eg multimodal transport)
The Circular Building; Cladding sketches

© Ben Blossom
© Arup

Design for Longevity repetitive structure that could be structural elements have reused the
partitioned up internally or extended steel or timber on the same site and
What “design for longevity” means for in length. in those cases the cost of careful
buildings is highly debatable. It is not deconstruction and testing have had
always the buildings that are designed Design for Deconstruction negligible economic advantage over
for longevity that last longest, as Design for deconstruction of a the more standard route of demolishing
shown by the famous example of structure is also a key issue with and selling materials for salvage.
MIT’s Building 20; which was built regards to the circular economy, but
as a temporary timber shed during the Another important issue is that, outside
currently the economic argument for
war and survived until the late 1990’s. of housing or warehouse/shed type
carefully taking apart a building and
This unassuming building was the structures, most buildings are tailored
reusing the materials rarely equates.
laboratory of choice for 9 Nobel prize to suit their site and brief, rather than
winners, Naom Chomsky’s linguistics This is due to a complex range of being repetitive “products” like cars.
laboratory and innumerable tech start- issues. On the one hand, we do not have This means that the use of standardised
ups despite being cold, leaky and a market in terms of reused materials prefabricated systems, which would
“implacably ugly”6. -partly due to lack of traceability in lend themselves to deconstruction, do
terms of quality and performance of not always lend themselves to many of
A recent study by Arup engineer the materials. Many of the buildings the buildings we design without some
Helene Gosden into the current trend where we have considered reuse of element of customisation.
for adaptive reuse of commercial
office spaces found ten key indicators
of whether a building was suitable
for re use. Increasingly the list
was split between design issues Inportance Building Attribute
(loading capacity, plan layouts) and 1 Condition of existing structural frame
pragmatic issues (records, drawings,
2 Availability of archive information
information).
3 Existing floor to ceiling heights
For building structures, a key
consideration is the balance between 4 Party wall issues
allowing for potential future higher 5 Depth of building
loads and the capacity for creating
=6 Internal space layout / Historic listing
openings and removing elements,
against the requirements for lean 8 Building structure (type of frame)
construction. In the design of the 9 Load capacity
Circular Building we ended up with
= 10 Structural redundancy / Foundations
the idea of a singular space with a

The final argument against design for

deconstruction is that typically ‘cast in
place’ concrete, often reinforced with
steel rebar or mesh, is the preferred
material, used for floors and foundation
construction for many structures,
in terms of both economics and
robustness. This form of construction
provides a high level of strength,
fire and acoustic resilience that is
simple and cost effective to build.
Unfortunately, full deconstruction and
reuse of this composite material is
virtually impossible. Concrete’s mix
of chalk and clay cement, sand, gravel
and crushed stone aggregate mixed
with water results in a consolidated
mass that can only be dismantled
through demolition. This, coupled
with a cast in steel rebar skeleton
within the structure makes harvesting
the concrete and steel even more
difficult and expensive. Challenging
this both in terms of the use of different
materials, but also in the way we use
concrete is something many engineers
are looking at.
Design for deconstruction of structure is Image:

Reinforced cast concrete
something that we are looking at more often, but
currently the economic argument for carefully
taking apart and reusing materials is not there.

N
otwithstanding these required. The floors were timber with on site as well as some last-minute
arguments we felt that as minimal glues or fixings. screw fixing. The contractor was also
an exemplar structure the distinctly nervous of a system without
The project also challenged us to
Circular Building had to attempt to positive fixings.
rethink the way we design façade
be a fully de-constructible building
systems nowadays. Prefabrication as However, the greatest challenge in
for all components, not just structure.
applied to facades often means glued, terms of facades was in finding a
This meant considering, from the
pre-sealed or unitised panels – but we membrane which was not bonded in
beginning of the concept design stage,
began to question whether this was place. We finally found a system which
not just how we would erect and
the best way forward or should we was mechanically fixed. Overlaps in
install the various elements, but also
be making facades which could be the waterproof membrane were glued
how we would take them down with
deconstructed into their components. together to form a seal but could be cut
minimal impact to the component
So, we created a simple clamped glazed and re–bonded at least once or twice.
itself and what we would do with each
façade, rather than a glued system and
element at the end of the project. This
used more high-tech approaches to
meant that it was critical to engage
maintain a dry air cavity, rather than
The project also challenged
with contractors and suppliers from us to re-think the way we
sealing the panel irreversibly. This
the beginning to understand what
they might take back, and under what
form of construction would have the design faҫade systems
advantage of allowing the components
conditions, or whether we could lease
of the facades to be upgraded over the nowadays.
or hire components.
years or to be deconstructed and re-
We decided to use steel for the main cut to size for a new use.
frame as it lends itself towards a design
for deconstruction methodology but we We also used open source, push fit
worked with the fabricator and supplier techniques and patterning for the
to develop details that minimised any backing panels of the solid facades.
customization. For example, we used We used a base particle board made
end plate connections as cutting them from waste timber and designed the
back minimally had less impact on panels to be lifted and slotted together
the rest of the steel member. We also without mechanical fixings. This was
tried to avoid any holes or fixings less successful than the steel frame
into the steel structure for secondary or the glazing as we realised that the Images over page clockwise: Cladding
connections to facades and finishes. variances we could get with CNC panels and structural steel with bolt
Instead we worked with Lindapter cutting the particle board were greater connections; Particleboard interior panels
with push-fit connections; Lindapter clamp
to develop clamp fixings that would than our push fit tolerances, which fixings allow disassembly and seperation of
connect effectively and resist the loads led to some last-minute filing down materials; Cladding panel assembly drawings.

© Simon Anson

Materials and Sustainability

The previous examples were
primarily concerned with methods
of construction but we also did a
great deal of research into individual
materials and products.
A key consideration was what would
happen to the materials and systems
at the end of the Circular Buildings
life. Would they go back to suppliers?
Could they be re-fabricated? Could
they be sensibly recycled or did they
fit within a cradle-to-cradle system?
The cradle-to-cradle approach to
design was developed by William
McDonough and Michael Braungart
in 2002. It is a method used to
minimize the environmental impact
of products by employing sustainable
production, operation, and disposal
practices and aims to incorporate
social responsibility into product
development.
Under the cradle-to-cradle
philosophy, products are evaluated
for sustainability and efficiency in
manufacturing processes, material
properties, and toxicity as well as
potential to reuse materials through
recycling or composting. Many of
the materials we worked with were
designed to go back to the fabricators
if the Circular Building was not re-
© Daniel Imade, Arup
built somewhere else.

This was enabled by the short-term novel low energy ventilation solution
nature of our project, however in maintaining high levels of fresh air
reality only the suppliers of a few with limited energy use, particularly
products, such as the Accoya cladding useful for winter. The electrical
and the Desso carpet, were set up to installation used a low energy, low
take back their product. voltage direct current (DC) system
which is safe and inherently flexible
We also used a high proportion
for building owners to adapt to the
of materials recycled from waste
future needs. The light fittings were
products, such as Kvadrat’s Revive
controlled using Bluetooth low-energy
upholstery fabric, made from 100%
(BLE) technology, removing the need
recycled polyester which can in turn
for separate control boxes. All the
be recycled.
services were controlled using an open
Materials and products were reviewed source central processing unit which
to find the best balance of efficiency allowed for future flexibility. The
and circularity. A prime example of roof was designed to support modular
this was the cradle-to-cradle certified photovoltaic (PV) panels which can be
Aquion salt water battery where linked to the low pollutant salt water
every part was made from abundant ion based Aquaeon battery.
non-toxic materials capable of being
It is fundamental to circular
In the Circular Building, the services economy principles that the
recycled.
design prioritised the circular principle
Energy and Sustainability of flexibility to allow upgrading and building was designed to
It is fundamental to circular economy
reuse to extend the life of the building be low energy, to consume
and systems within. The Mechanical
principles that the building was
Ventilation with Heat Recovery Unit minimum resources and
designed to be low energy, to consume
minimum resources and to recycle
(MHVR) was designed and built by to recycle heat and water
Federico Casarini and a team of Arup
heat and water where appropriate. The
staff using recycled plastic, aluminium
where appropriate.
wall panels were highly insulated and
cans and a refurbished electric scooter
air tight to better than current UK Part
motor. The casing and heat exchanger
L building envelope requirements to
elements are recyclable. The lighting
prevent heat loss in winter and heat
installation reused components
gain in summer. Images left and above: The Circular
from previous Arup exhibitions and
Building's external cladding and photovoltaic
The mechanical ventilation heat installations which will be used again panels; The Mechanical Ventilation Unit
recovery (MVHR) unit provided a in the future. made from re-purposed components.

Waste is Material Without grade and physical properties of the technologies, the use of secondary
Information steel but as it is usually a small scale materials may be less achievable, for
mark its use is limited to validation. instance the increasing strength of
The final area we investigated was standard steel alloys over the last 30
the link between information and For the circular building, we had a full
years may mean that older materials
circularity. What was clear was that no Building Information Modelling (BIM)
are no longer usable. Also, the time
matter what we did with the design and model which contained information on
between design and construction,
construction, if the ideas and essential all components including a materials
often up to a year or more for large
information could not be handed passport and details of key issues.
structures, means that it’s difficult to
on then they could potentially have BIM models can now be linked to give
foresee what elements may be able
minimal impact on the future reuse “X-ray” views of the buildings. This
to come from secondary stock in
of the building. The economic and means you can stand in a space and
advance. We need a different and more
practical argument for reuse has to be using a simple tablet view the hidden
flexible design process if we are to
based on a having a good material and build-up of the space, which would be a
engage with the circular economy.
information database; whether this is great help in understanding the potential
with regards to the materials and design of reusing a building. I have only touched on what feels like
of a building or whether it helps source a few aspects and materials that we
The materials data base was also linked
what is available on the market. used on the Circular Building. There
via Quick Response (QR) codes to
were also discussions and research
Building Information Modelling each element. So simply pointing a
into finishes, furniture, environmental
(BIM) QR scanner (easily downloadable to a
systems, renewable energy, batteries
smartphone) provided a link back to the
In terms of building design, we etc. that would take a book to cover.
website hosting the data base.
realised that we need to have a good The project was fast and furious but
set of information for all the building Markets and databases of secondary
was a great learning experience for the
components, stating what they were, the materials should have become more
whole team. It enabled us to try out
properties that were key to their reuse, accessible but in reality, the few
ways of designing and building and
where they came from, any issues that suppliers we spoke to felt that the
to test the use of certain materials and
might affect their reuse (for instance market had actually shrunk over the
typologies, which we could not have
fatigue loading on structures) and how last few years.
done in a more commercial project.
we envisaged their deconstruction. The best examples we found were However, this work is now feeding
Alongside this information other where companies could come and back into our more mainstream
physical stamping or certification is remove a particular element and projects. Clients, designers and
useful to guarantee certain fundamental reuse this material almost directly contractors are asking about how a
issues, such as material strength. Steel (gypsum ceilings being one example). Circular Economy could benefit their
structures are now physically CE For structures with a long life, set projects and this build was invaluable
marked on site. This helps confirm the against the rate of change of material in helping us to explore this.

Images above: Exploded assembly drawing

The Circular House; QR Codes with links to
material and product suppliers websites.

Chapter 7: Converting Waste into Gold
CONVERTING WASTE
INTO GOLD
THE ART OF UPCYCLING
The Crown Estate is the collection of land and holdings in the UK belonging
to the British Monarchy making it the ‘Sovereign’s public estate’, which
is neither government property nor part of the monarch’s private estate.
The Estate’s property portfolio includes buildings on Regent Street and
around half of St James’s in the heart of London’s West End.
Image: Regent Street © Dreamstime


© Stephen Philips, Arup

Their tenants include retailers, considered including the wider supply As well as designing products that
restaurants, hotels and coffee shops at chain involved in the production of the reuse the waste, the team proposed
street level, with offices located above. new products. The idea of upcycling is the development of upcycled
It returns 100% of its annual profits to reuse waste material and transform manufacturing, reuse and logistics
to the Treasury for the benefit of the it into something useful and more initiatives necessary to sustain the
public finances. This has totalled valuable. upcycling concepts they developed.
£2.6 billion over the last ten years7.
Material Selection and Design The proposals included new office
In 2002 The Crown Estate started a
Approach furniture and packaging and paper
£1 billion investment programme to
manufactured from waste paper and
improve Regent Street’s commercial, Arup’s product design team set about cardboard pulp, re-usable coffee cups
retail and visitor facilities and public collecting examples of the operational designed to reduce the need for non-
realm. The initiative has delivered dry waste from the Regent Street recyclable laminated coffee cups and
an international retail destination consolidation centres where the glass tumblers and mini desk gardens
with world-class new buildings, different waste streams are collected and planters made from the large
wider pavements, new public realm, ready for delivery back to London’s volume of waste bottles, designed for
beautiful lighting, great restaurants state of the art Material Recovery reuse in the restaurants and offices.
and leading retail brands. Facilities (MRF’s). The waste paper Packaging could be converted into re-
In 2017, The Crown Estate from offices and paper cups from usable lunch boxes designed to reduce
commissioned a scoping study from coffee shops, cardboard and plastic reliance on ‘use-once’ food packaging
Arup to find ways to upcycle Regent packaging from retailers, as well as waste that was so prevalent in the
Street’s tenants’ operational waste, used wine and beer glass bottles from waste stream.
specifically ‘mixed recyclables’, restaurants and hotels were to be used
the intention being to reduce waste as the new material resource. The
output and gain more value from it. team worked with the client, MRF’s
The project forms part of The Crown Bywaters and Paper Round as well as
Estate’s ambition to eliminate waste Arup London’s materials and waste
from across its Central London specialists to come up with product
portfolio by 2030. Positive social design and closed loop initiatives.
outcomes from the project would be
of added benefit. The waste resource
was to be taken through closed loop
recycling and making strategies
and returned to the Regent Street Image Left and right:
tenants for reuse. Conversion and Bywaters Materials Recovery Facility in
East London; Waste upcycling workshop
manufacturing processes had to be © Stephen Philips, Arup

UPCYCLING WINE BOTTLES

INTO GLASS PRODUCTS
Glass bottle to tumbler upcycling process

© Arup


The Upcycler - Goldfinger The materials are converted into

Factory products carefully, with minimum
energy use and transportation
One of the upcycling concepts costs. The waste resource nature of
has been quickly realised into a these products is intentionally non-
commercial operation. The team had explicit. The food safe, blow moulded
developed a range of design concepts polyethylene containers have a soft,
and initiatives also investigating translucent quality that appears modern
who could carry out the upcycling and contemporary. The cut solid timber
material conversion process. As part lids add weight, warmth and character.
of their comprehensive investigation, All the components can be separated
they identified Goldfinger Factory, and replaced or recycled at the end of
an award-winning design, making the products usable lifespan.
and teaching platform with a focus
on upcycling that creates bespoke
furniture and interiors, whilst helping
artisans and artisans-in-the-making
become self-sustaining, saving
materials from landfill and providing
skills training to assist people in
gaining or returning to employment.
On meeting the Goldfinger Factory
founders, Oliver Waddington Ball and
Marie Cudennec, Arup’s team found
their enthusiasm and commitment
to design, upcycling and social
enterprise infectious. As a result of
their collaboration, they recently
developed one of Arup’s initial design
concepts into ‘Golborne’, a family
of small, medium and large storage
and desk tidy products that combine
waste, blow moulded polyethylene
milk bottles from offices and coffee
shops with waste timber from interior Images above:
refurbishment projects. The Goldfinger team; Stephen Philips with Oliver Waddington Ball © Paul Carstairs, Arup

As a result of their collaboration, they developed

‘GOLBORNE’, a family of small, medium
and large storage and desk tidy products that
combine waste, blow moulded polyethylene
milk bottles with waste timber from interior
refurbishment projects.
S
tephen Philips who came condition. The dry tack labels are
up with the new design and removed and the bottles washed ready
logistics concept stated. ‘We for precision cutting. The solid walnut,
can’t assume people will buy products oak and plywood used for the lids are
on the basis they are sustainable, sourced by Goldfinger Factory are
the look, feel and function of the made from a variety of waste timber
design and the story behind it has sources including furniture worktops,
to stack up. The GOLBORNE range flooring and factory offcuts. The
offers a sustainable approach to lids are precisely machined using a
the manufacture of functional and combination of CNC cutting and hand
beautiful products, one that uses waste finishing techniques.
as a resource with minimum impact,
In total, the project could reduce The
whilst providing less advantaged
Crown Estate’s operational waste
people with the know how to make a
by 600 tons a year, implementing
living from upcycling in the future.’
initiatives such as re-usable packaging,
The waste material harvesting and product reuse and upcycling. Aside
conversion process is relatively from upcycling low value waste into
simple. At the end of each working functional products that are more
day, one person collects used HDPE valuable, the most satisfying result
milk bottles from the dry recyclables of the project so far is the creation
bins on each floor of a typical office of creative design, manufacturing
building or segregated bins in coffee and commercial skills required to
shops. If the bottles are damaged, turn upcycling into a viable business.
usually in the corners and they are Initiatives like this foster new and
rejected and stay in the recycling exciting opportunities necessary to
bin, but the majority are in perfect
Images: © Daniel Imade, Arup
kick start the upcycling industry.

Images: © Paul Carstairs, Arup.
Left and above:

Waste plastic bottle harvesting and cutting;
Golborne upcycled product range for
Goldfinger Factory.

Chapter 8: Seating and Furniture

SEATING AND
FURNITURE
FROM WOODLAND TO WORKSHOP AND BACK AGAIN
Image: The Vitra Design Museum’s Schaudepot gallery

in Weil am Rhein forms an important part of their chair collection
and demonstrates how chair design has mirrored cultural and design
thinking through the 20th and 21st Centuries.
© Vitra Design Museum, Mark Niedermann

© Dreamstime
Above: Wooden chair components Seating and furniture is one of the of which survive at Skara Brae on the
turned on a pole lathe
most fascinating barometers of Orkney Islands. Early seating was
cultural and technological change largely treated as a symbol of status
since the first built in seating and and ceremony and it’s true to say that
furniture was developed around 3180 chairs and furniture continue to reflect
BC by Neolithic man as part of their our changing times.
stone and timber dwellings, examples

As we entered the Industrial age, Like Henry Ford, Thonet exhibited

timber chair production inevitably at many international fairs and
moved from rural production to established a global reputation. They
factory based production. Tools such built a worldwide network of retail
as the pole lathe used to turn the legs outlets and, from 1859, published
and stretchers and the steam boxes and multi-lingual catalogues showing
jigs used to bend the bow backs and every model, individually numbered,
arms for the popular Windsor chair of to facilitate orders. Their strategy
the 18th century initially located in proved so successful that by 1930 over
the woodland where the timber was 50 million model No. 14 chairs alone
harvested moved to the workshop. had been sold. © Gebrüder Thonet
In Germany, Michael Thonet and his Thonet’s strategy to market and

brothers moved from workshop to manufacture their products globally
factory production for their lightweight to supply a burgeoning population
and elegant No.14 Bentwood chair is mirrored by other manufacturing
designed in 1859. The firm’s key pioneers across other industries during
design principle was to manufacture the industrial revolution.
as many chair models as possible from
as few parts as possible.
These parts were then packed in boxes,
for ease of shipping, and assembled
elsewhere by the distributors or © Vitra
retailers. In this way, Thonet was able

to increase production from 10,000
chairs per year in 1857 to 1,810,000
by 1913. Both chairs used steam bent
timber and remain poplar today.
To reflect the modern ‘machine’ age
and simplify chair production further, Right: The Thonet Chair Factory in the
Thonet started the serial production 19th Century; Charles Eames DAW Chair;
The Mirra office chair by Herman Miller is
of Marcel Breuer’s first tubular steel one of many chairs that represent current state
Wassily chair in the early 1920s and of the art office chair design and technology.
Mies van der Rohe’s cantilevered The chair achieved a Bronze rating in the
Cradle to Cradle product standard and a gold
chair in the late 1920s. rating for material reutilisation.
© Herman Miller

Moving on 30 years or so, we saw component separation at end of life. Because woodchip is used to reinforce
the development of Charles and Ray The challenge for IKEA and other and fill the recycled plastic, the new
Eames moulded plywood and GRP furniture manufacturers is how to composite materials will be virtually
chairs for Herman Millar and Robin offer products where materials can be impossible to re-separate and re-
Day’s pared down polypropylene chair separated at end of life. Particleboard use at end of life, so incineration or
for Hille. Herman Millar, Knoll and panels impregnated with resin and landfilling may be the only solution.
Vitra in particular have concentrated on laminated with resin based melamine On a more positive note, the waste
technology driven seating to provide and high pressure laminated surfaces, materials used for these products are
responsive seating for office workers. make recycling such composite serving a secondary purpose, but can
There is now a plethora of different materials a challenge. these materials be used in a way that
furniture manufacturers offering prevent contamination? Perhaps Ikea
IKEA’s products, building stock,
different approaches and specialisms can offer a chair repair service to
production and logistics are very
to furniture design and manufacture. fill, sand and extend the life of these
efficient, reducing costs and allowing
For this study, with such a diverse products indefinitely as the designs
them to offer convenient and price
market, we have looked at closed have a long term appeal.
competitive products. IKEA is
loop initiatives implemented by small,
addressing the need for products that A naturally smaller, but perhaps
medium and large manufacturers in the
reuse waste material as a resource, more radical approach to furniture
past two years or so.
developing some upcycled products made from upcycled material has
Re-use on Large, Medium and as part of their PS range, launched been initiated by Rod Fountain and
Small Scales. in 2017. The range is intentionally Mary Dorrington Ward, founders of
design led and a touch more expensive Flute Office. Working with materials
Today, Ikea is the largest furniture than IKEA’s other products and scientists, structural engineers and
manufacturer in the world, with 392 this reflects the higher cost of using furniture designers, an intense period
shed warehouse stores generating recycled material over virgin. The of research and development between
38 billion Euros of revenue in 2016. Odger chair is moulded from 70% 2010 and 2012 culminated in the
The multinational company founded recycled plastic impregnated with launch of their first flat-pack desk
by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden is 30% wood fibre. Door panels used for manufactured from waste cardboard
responsible for approximately 1% their Kungsbacka kitchen cabinet use in 2011.
of world commercial-product wood recycled plastic from waste PET blow-
consumption, making it one of the Further experimenting with cellulose
moulded bottles, again reinforced with
largest users of timber in the retail manufacturing processes, product
timber fibre.
sector. Much of their product range development and sales led to
uses particle board, connected by At face value, although IKEA’s first additional public funding and private
the ingenious cam and pin fixing steps to offer products that reuse investment, allowing Flute to set-
allowing the user to quickly dry fix the waste material is admirable, there up its manufacturing and upcycling
components together, also allowing is a material and moral dilemma. centre of excellence in 2016.

The range is intentionally

design led and more
expensive than IKEA’s
other products and this
reflect the higher cost of
using recycled material
over virgin.
Image:
The Odger Chair.
© Ikea

© Flute Office
Flute now converts several thousand To encourage closed loop product in technology and work trends, so it
tons of low value waste cardboard and lifecycle, Flute clients can subscribe makes sense for manufacturers of this
paper into higher value furniture on a to Flute’s furniture supply service, furniture to better plan for closed loop
large scale. The process mixes shredded buy or lease the furniture. Flute will production.
paper, cardboard, textile and coffee cup take back the products and replace
A fascinating, small scale and
fiber with water and organic additives. them with new upcycled products.
inventive example of problem solving
The pulp is screened, pressed and dried The old products are re-processed and
through upcycling was initiated by
to form upcycled sheet material that is converted back into new furniture,
London based furniture designer
not contaminated with resins and glues partitions and signage.
Carl Clerkin and design led furniture
and has performance characteristics
Office furniture such as workstation manufacturer SCP. Much of Clerkin’s
similar to MDF. Flute is set up to use
desks and storage units often have a work is playful, but ‘to the point’,
thousands of tonnes of waste material
relatively short lifespan of just 7-20 integrating found and ready-made
to manufacture thousands of items of
years as they tend to mirror changes objects as components.
furniture, wall systems and signage.

© Carl Clerkin
SCP was set up by Sheridan Coakley To raise awareness of this initiative, than disposal. The initiatives by Ikea
in 1985 and over the years they had the new designs were exhibited at the and Flute demonstrate how seating
accumulated a number of damaged, SO gallery in East London and finally and furniture continues to reflect our
broken and unusable furniture sold at an auction evening at SCP, with growing concerns about waste and
pieces in their warehouse. Instead proceeds going to the designers and climate change. Our challenge is
of disposing of these broken and Cancer Research charity Maggie’s. for these and other initiatives to be
damaged pieces, Clerkin worked with What’s interesting about this initiative adopted on a much larger scale and for
like-minded designers Danny Clarke, is how many of the chairs and tables us, as consumers to demand these new
Neil Austin and Jasleen Kaur and set are made up of seats, backs and leg initiatives and re-production processes
about creating new, one-off furniture bases from well-known classics as standard practice.
pieces that were cleverly cut and by Charles Eames, Robin Day and
reassembled to create new one-off Marcel Breuer. Clerkin’s pieces are as
furniture pieces from the remains. much a reflection of our times where Left and above: Workstations and Storage by
refurbishment makes more sense Flute Office; Furniture upcycling, Carl Clerkin

Chapter 9: Metallurgy and the Development of Low Carbon Vehicles
METALLURGY
NEIL PERRY
© Erdenebayar Bayansan

AND THE DEVELOPMENT

OF LOW CARBON VEHICLES
Human evolution and history is defined The discovery led to a preliminary
by metals. The ‘Bronze Age’ and ‘Iron understanding of the behaviour,
Age’ are so called because of tools properties and performance of modern
crafted from iron and copper alloys steels, a key milestone in industrial
by early humans. Iron constitutes development.
some 5% of the earth’s crust, existing
The Bessemer steelmaking process
in the form of different ores. Iron ore
was developed, using techniques to
is easily extracted and converted into
produce quality steel by modifying
elemental metal. Aluminium is more
batches of steel in the molten form
abundant than iron and constitutes
to achieve strength characteristics,
8% of the earth’s crust. Unlike iron
blowing air through molten pig iron to
ore, aluminium is difficult to convert
remove the impurities. This made steel
into elemental metal and requires a
easier and quicker to manufacture
series of complex processes. This
reducing costs, a revolution for
explains why our ancestors didn’t
structural and mechanical engineering.
discover aluminium as readily as
Steel remains one of the most
copper and iron.
predominant materials in the built
The production and characteristics environment and the manufacture of
of the steels used in industry today vehicles. The material was essential
were developed and understood in the for the development of screws, nuts,
late 19th century. The discovery was bolts and clips, those small but critical
underpinned by the study of swords components that allow secure, dry
and knives, perfected by heating, assembly and robust connection of
folding, and hammering red hot iron. It parts that also allow products, vehicles
was revealed that hot working reduced and components to be repaired,
impurities and the carbon content of replaced or cleanly disassembled at
early cast iron. the end their useful of lives.

Metal Recycling oils, lubricants, plastics and glass, a bailed materials, including cans and
large proportion of which has to be containers that are pressed into blocks
Iron, steel and aluminium are relatively removed before re-melting. or bales. Generally, bulk solids and
easy to recycle by re-melting. Recycling large objects are more valuable because
reduces reliance on mining, conversion The first stage separation of steels and
of reduced processing, however the
and smelting of metal ores. Mining, iron is very simple because of their
technology of separation and sorting is
conversion and smelting processes are magnetic properties. Magnets can
developing rapidly.
costly, high in energy consumption extract these materials from a conveyor
and result in significant environmental belt of mixed waste. Aluminium Closed-loop scrap metal is a valuable
implications from land use, source of material in addition
waste (tailings) and emissions. to open-loop or post-consumer
The recycling or re-melting of metal. Many foundries and
scrap iron and steel requires metal processors revert and
approximately 30% of the return waste by-products
total energy compared to generated during processing.
smelted ore. The re-melting Most waste management
of scrap aluminium requires organisations define contracts
approximately 5% of the total and specifications for well
energy compared to smelted defined, segregated and
ore. The value and possibilities characterised scrap from
in re-melting iron, steel and manufacturers. These contracts
aluminium depend strongly require controls and segregation
on the extent of separating, of waste streams and types,
cleaning and processing of scrap resulting in more valuable scrap
material. There is significant that requires less sorting and
interest and development in processing and is inherently
requires the use of more complex
the reuse of metals – this is an area of well characterised. A common scrap
‘eddy current’ separators to deflect this
even greater benefit from a cost and classification system is the ‘ISRI
material from a mixed waste stream.
environmental perspective. Recycling scrap specifications circular’. Many
The quality and acceptance of scrap
requires management and separation. foundries define categories for the
metal for re-melting is influenced by the
This is a key part of the recycling type and form of scrap for different
form and extent to which processing,
process and reduces contamination or processes and products that they will
separation and characterisation occurs.
undesirable effects. purchase from recyclers.
Scrap metal is generally sorted into
Open-Loop or general scrap metal bulk solids or large sections which
Image:
comes with a plethora of contaminants can be placed in a furnace in solid Pressed metal blocks from car waste allows
including paints, coatings, foodstuffs, form, or small fines such as swarf and for efficient transportation and re-smelting

THE RECYCLING OF SCRAP
IRON AND STEEL REQUIRES
APPROXIMATELY 30% OF THE
TOTAL ENERGY COMPARED
TO SMELTED ORE.
© Dreamstime
The melting and alloying process

is similar in principle to baking a
cake. In order to meet international
standards and product requirements,
the ingredients of the ‘cake’ must
be carefully defined and controlled.
Most foundries require recycled
materials in graded form to achieve
this. Understanding the constituents of
recycled scrap is key to achieving an
acceptable product – in many cases,
scrap is melted with ‘virgin’ alloys,
produced from ores to achieve the
required standard. The level of control
and quality of sorting influences the
extent to which scrap can be recycled.
Car Assembly, Disassembly can be harvested at the end of the Car recycling starts with vehicles
and Recycling vehicles useful life and spare parts being inventoried for parts. The
continue to be manufactured all-be-it wheels, tyres, battery and catalytic
The car recycling industry is relatively
in smaller batches. converter are disconnected and
well developed. Just after the turn
removed. Fluids such as fuel, oil,
of the 20th Century Henry Ford set In 2000, The European End of Life
coolant, transmission fluid and air
up the Ford Motor Company and Vehicle Directive (ELV)8 harmonised
conditioning refrigerant are drained.
first Model T car assembly line in European legislation for vehicle
Sodium azide, the propellent powder
Michigan. Since then, the component recycling. Aimed at cars and light
used to rapidly inflate air bags is also
parts developed for high volume car commercial vehicles, the directive
removed.
production have made the repair, encompasses the design, requirements
refurbishment and recycling of cars for collection and treatment facilities, Images: Disassembled Volkswagon Golf;
relatively efficient. Car parts are the attainment of targets for reuse, Car assembly line, Győr, Hungary.
designed to be mechanically fitted recycling and recovery of vehicles Cars are generally assembled using
components and materials at end of pre-manufactured components and sub-
together at speed and this makes car assemblies that allows efficient disassembly,
recycling straightforward and cost life. Since the introduction of the ELV, part replacement and reassembly, extending
effective. Spare parts, even for cars European car reuse and recycling rates the life of the car. This approach, when
have increased from 6.3 million in combined with clear car recycling rules
that have fallen out of production are has resulted in more parts and materials re-
relatively easy to source as the parts 2008 to around 10 million in 2017. harvesting at end of life.

© Audi AG.

© Jaguar Land Rover
Parts such as electronic modules, The remaining metals are sold in large highlights the need for lighter, more
alternators, starter motors, batches to steel mills for recycling fuel efficient and responsive vehicles to
entertainment and information whilst the residual glass, plastic and transport people and goods. Although
modules - even complete engines or rubber particles are removed for steel remains the most popular material
transmissions are often removed if recycling or incineration. for vehicle manufactures, lighter
they are in working condition and can aluminium is becoming the material
Since the Model T Ford, cars are
be profitably sold on; either in their of choice for certain car manufacturers
generally assembled using pre-
used condition or to a restorer for repair such as Audi, Tesla, BMW and Jaguar
manufactured components and
and restoration. Interior seating, trim developing a growing number of
sub-assemblies that allows efficient
panels and linings are often removed aluminium and even the first titanium
disassembly, part replacement and
as are air conditioner evaporators, component in their cars. Compared
reassembly, thus extending the life
heater cores and wiring harnesses. to steel, it is softer, more expensive
of the car. This approach, when
and harder to manipulate, so not used
The remaining car body shell and combined with clear car recycling
on the majority of vehicles. However
chassis are crushed flat or cubed, to rules has resulted in higher parts and
engineering, metallurgical and
allow efficient batch transportation materials re-harvesting at end of life.
manufacturing ingenuity is resulting
to an industrial shredder or hammer
A move to lightweight vehicles in more aluminium car components.
mill. Here, the vehicles are further
Jaguar have carried out an 8-year
reduced into much smaller nuggets of The fluctuating and volatile nature of
research ‘REALCAR’ project with
metal and residual materials known as crude oil prices and debate as to when
aluminium recycler Novelis and other
automotive shredder residue (ASR). peak oil extraction will be reached

The autonomous vehicle is

intended to allow people to travel
rapidly into, under and across small
cites in a matter of minutes.
stakeholders to develop a closed-loop modes of transport that use existing carbon future while supporting
production vehicle. power and material technologies. sustainable economic growth.
The autonomous vehicle is intended
Its new aluminium alloy, containing “The AVRT is an electric vehicle
to allow people to travel rapidly
up to 75% recycled content has which is being developed deliberately
into, under and across small cites in
been successfully used for structural to make public transport more
a matter of minutes. The high speed
components in their production cars. The attractive than using a car – to all
electronic vehicles will look more like
company was able to reduce the amount people, including the most affluent.
a bus than a train or a tram and they
of waste it sends to landfill by 79% by It therefore needs to be very speedy
do not need a track or tram lines to
vehicle, ahead of a target to achieve zero and run very frequently. The AVRT
run or, indeed, a driver. The vehicles
waste to landfill by 2020. would run at speeds of 120mph – the
could run in convoy along a dedicated
system we are looking into does also
guide-way, both above and under the
21st Century Vehicle run slower than this, but this would
ground, allowing dozens of passengers
Technologies – ‘A period of actually make it more expensive, as
to board at any one time. Professor
transition’. you would need more vehicles to keep
John Miles, holder of the University
the service as frequent”.9
New modes of public transport that of Cambridge energy research post
combine lightweight materials with which is co-sponsored by Arup and
electric power-trains such as the AVRT the Royal Academy of Engineering Above left and right:
reflects the growing interest in how Jaguar aluminium body structure;
(Advanced Very Rapid Transport) Advance Very Rapid Transport (AVRT)
vehicle could offer low carbon society can build toward a lower vehicle concept


T
© Dreamstime
hese are fascinating times for For medium to long distance travel,
vehicle design, technology trains will continue to play an essential
and legislation. The industry role for fast mass transportation. The
is entering a disruptive period with considerable investment required for
nations and regions from China to rail infrastructure and trains ensure
California considering a widespread they have a relatively long lifespan.
ban on the internal combustion engine For instance, one of the first high
over the next 10 to 20 years. Most car speed trains, Kenneth Grange’s iconic
manufacturers are planning to launch Inter City 125 was developed and
all electric vehicles, despite questions introduced to connect the UKs major
over how clean the source electricity cities in 1975. The original power
will be, the practicalities of charging trains and rolling stock, refurbished
times and the continued supply of from time to time are still transporting
lithium batteries required to power thousands of people in 2017, over
them. Additionally, manufacturers 40 years later. Like cars, because of
have started preliminary production their extended lifespan, they need
and testing of autonomous vehicles to be designed using mechanical,
with 5 levels of autonomy from driver robust but easy to replace parts and
assistance (level 1) to full automation sub-assemblies to allow rolling stock
(level 5) where the driver makes no refurbishment and encourage efficient
decisions. disassembly at end of life. Trains are
Theoretically, level 5 autonomous a valuable source of metal and other
vehicles may become the panacea to materials for future products.
urban traffic congestion and the sheer
number of vehicles on the roads. Most car manufacturers
Vehicles could be ‘on demand’ and are planning to launch all
shared. Vehicles that have been used
by one person for a journey to a mass
electric vehicles, despite
transit railway station could be used questions over how clean the
by another group of users for another source of electricity will be...
journey so that less cars stand idle or
parked when not in use. The travelling
time could be used for a range of
other in car activities such as relaxing,
working and networking. Image: Electric vehicles recharging.

A
long-distance mass transit Ve h i c l e m a n u f a c t u r e r s h a v e
development project is successfully used a mixture of
Hyperloop One. Originally mechanical, composite and adhesive
proposed by Elon Musk one of the joining technologies to construct
instigators of Tesla, the Hyperloop and connect lightweight vehicle
is based on the idea of magnetically components. However, to ensure
levitating pods that would travel in easy material separation of materials
near-vacuum tubes at over 700mph, at end of life, it’s the humble nut,
powered by an electro-magnetic bolt, screw and clip that are the key
propulsion system that allow the components that will allow for robust
pods to glide at high speed for long assembly during production and rapid
distances 10. disassembly ready for reuse at the end
He proposed the idea as an alternative of a vehicles useful life.
to California’s high-speed rail project; Having considered the challenges
a Hyperloop journey from Los Angeles facing large scale builders and
to San Francisco could take only 36 manufacturers seeking to reduce
minutes by Musk’s calculations and material costs and increase efficiency
cost under $6 billion (£4.88 billion), through closed loop design and
compared to the $68 billion (£53 energy efficient lightweight materials
billion) estimated costs for the rail we are going to consider how society
project. can deal more effectively with the
The first propulsion system tests and waste it creates.
tube test structures are currently taking
place in the Nevada desert. John
Miles and ARUP have partnered with
Hyperloop One in the UK. “There’s
an engineering challenge in getting
the system to work, but I don’t see why
we couldn’t overcome it.”11 Careful
trials and analysis will determine
which materials are used for these new
modes of rapid transportation and the
tube sections and connections required Right:
for the Hyperloop infrastructure. Arup’s Hyperloop vehicle and station design.

© Arup

Chapter 10: New York’s Waste Infrastructure
NEW YORK’S
WASTE INFRASTRUCTURE
JOSH TREUHAFT
Walk down almost any street on garbage day in

NYC and you will inevitably be confronted by
what I like to call the “Garbage Walls”.
Sometimes they stretch almost the entire length
of a city block nearly 6 feet high, a visual
reminder of the volume of resources currently
required to enable daily life for the 8.5 million
people who call New York City home.

© Gavin Schaefer

Approximately 2.3 billion dollars is

ABOUT spent each year on garbage collection,
JOSH sorting, movement and disposal.
TREUHAFT
Circular Initiatives in New York
Josh Treuhaft is a Design Strategist in Arup’s

Foresight, Research + Innovation Practice in
New York where he examines how closed-
loop systems thinking and circular economy
principles can fuel the design of solutions to
urban challenges in ways that keep resources at
their highest and best use for the most people
for the longest time. He is also the Founder
and Creative Director of Salvage Supper-club,
a multi-course dining event that transforms
people’s relationships to food (and helps
reduce food waste) by leveraging the creative,
social and sensorial dimensions of interactive
communal meals. He has been actively shaping
a more sustainable and resource efficient New
York for the last ten years and has recently
joined the board of BIG Reuse – the city’s
pre-eminent salvage, reclamation, and reuse
organization for building materials and home
appliances. He holds an MFA in Design for
Social Innovation from the School of Visual
Arts in New York.
© Dreamstime

At a macro level, the city currently to landfills by the year 2030. The zero-
produces 12,000 tons of waste every waste approach encourages alternative
day with City government spending solutions for the management of
between $320m and $400m a year solid waste that can prevent valuable
on waste export costs alone, shipping resources from being disposed of in
much of the waste to far-flung landfills landfills. By encouraging product-
in the Midwest and Southern US. As design improvements to facilitate repair
the city continues to grow and the and extend a product’s useful life, and
needs of that expanding population by expanding reuse and recycling
put pressure on our limited space and opportunities, the zero-waste approach
resources, it stands to reason that the contributes to the circular economy, in
current model is not sustainable. We which “products are optimized for a
need to radically rethink our approach cycle of disassembly and reuse.”12
to resource utilization, re-utilization
When it comes to managing materials
and management to grow and thrive in
in the residential waste stream (e.g.,
the 21st century and beyond.
recycling soda cans, composting food
In an effort to align the city’s operations scraps, or anaerobically digesting food
with its aspirations as a global leader in waste to create energy for the city),
sustainability and innovation, they are the Department of Sanitation (DSNY)
taking immediate steps and making can have a direct impact on processing
more robust action plans to reduce and landfill diversion. But for reuse,
impact and improve quality of life. upcycling and diversion of commercial
“Zero By 30 (0x30)” is the umbrella materials to higher and better uses
name the city has given to this initiative. and beyond, they need to encourage
In their most recent 2017 Reuse Sector innovative, ‘circular’ practices from
Report,12 they have established an a diverse set of stakeholders that sit
ambitious goal of sending zero waste across the NYC ecosystem.

© Pixabay
BRIGHT SPOTS
AND INSPIRATIONS IN NYC
Like many other cities around the world, New
York is on a journey. That journey is not without
its current and future challenges, but despite these
hurdles there is a growing legion of public, private
and not-for-profit change-makers who are actively
charting a course toward a zero-waste city. It’s not
within the scope of this short reflection to name
all of them, but I’d like to share a few that I find
particularly inspiring.

Bright Spots:
BIG REuse
BIG Reuse is a long-standing New York non-profit office renovations; film crews, Broadway shows
organisation that takes a multi-faceted approach and general contractors can all donate items. They
to materials recovery and reuse. They run two run a salvage lumber mill, processing reclaimed
warehouses selling a wide assortment of reclaimed lumber for use on construction projects around the
materials, appliances, accessories and furnishings city and they are instrumental in the city’s roll-out
to the public at reasonable prices. They stock of composting, educating the public, and collecting
those warehouses from a range of sources: Their and processing more than a million pounds of food
deconstruction crew removes items from homes waste a year into rich organic fertilizer.
and apartments in and around NYC; the public can
https://www.bigreuse.org/
donate materials; businesses can donate materials
such as furniture from showrooms and commercial
© BIG Reuse.

Bright Spots:
Ecovative
Ecovative is not technically based in New York City product line uses local agricultural waste materials
as the HQ is in Green Island New York, but they are coupled with patented biological technologies
truly a world-changing organization and a shining (primarily mushroom-based) to produce materials that
example of a transformative, closed-loop, product outperform conventional alternatives but are made
portfolio with a financially sustainable business entirely out of harmless natural materials that would
model. Their mission is to “envision, develop, decompose naturally under the right circumstances.
produce, and market Earth friendly materials, which, From Styrofoam packaging substitutes, to Mycoboard
unlike conventional synthetics, can have a positive (MDF substitute) and beyond, their products are
impact on our planet’s ecosystem.” The primary making it possible to hit cost, performance, health
and environmental targets
across an array of sectors.
https://www.
ecovativedesign.com/
© Ecovative.

Bright Spots:
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn Bridge Park is one of my favourite places to The Granite Prospect sitting and viewing area is made
spend a Sunday afternoon. It’s the result of a successful entirely of materials salvaged from the Roosevelt
redevelopment of a waterfront industrial district that’s Island bridge project, and the shed coverings for the
been painstakingly transformed into a public amenity sports complexes on Pier 2 are repurposed from old
filled with beautiful skyline and river views, pocket Port Authority sheds. By upcycling locally-sourced
parks and inviting landscapes with a wide range of materials from decommissioned projects, the park
amenities including picnic areas, athletics fields, was able to reduce material mileage and embodied
restaurants and fishing areas. Beyond all that, it is carbon, contribute more to the local economy, save
filled with upcycled features so all of the tables and on materials costs and create a rich and meaningful
benches in the Picnic Peninsula and on Pier 1 are made story that connects the park directly to the history of
out of reclaimed long leaf yellow pine from the cold the city and the site.
storage warehouse that used to sit on the site.
Left to right: Brooklyn

Bridge Park seating;
Reclaimed materials used for
stepped seating area

© Brooke cagle
Bright Spots:
NYC Centre for Materials Reuse
(NYC CMR)
The NYC Centre for Materials Reuse was established by the
Department of Sanitation in partnership with the City College
of New York’s Grove School of Engineering as a first-of-its-
kind R+D program focused on tracking and empowering more
reuse in the city. Its primary activities include:
1) Ongoing research on local and global models for materials
reuse that could be applied more widely in NYC,
2) The collection and processing of verifiable data about
greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption and materials
diversion in the city,
3) Supporting the growth and development of local NGO’s
that redistribute goods and materials to support social services
and workforce development.
They are also responsible for the development and operation
of the NYC Reuse Impact Calculator, a data processing system
to track reuse metrics in NYC.
http://www.nyccmr.org/

Bright Spots:
Pop-up Repair
Pop Up Repair is an “itinerant repair service for rate of more than 85% of them. Repairing items
household items.” They open short-term “shops” helps avoid sending additional waste to landfill, but
in neighbourhoods across NYC such as empty also reduces the demand (and material implications)
storefronts, at greenmarkets, and inside other of new items made from virgin feedstocks. It
businesses, to meet their customers in the most reduces material mileage and creates local income
convenient local places. Anyone with items in need streams, and most importantly, over time helps to
of repair can drop it off, pay a small and fair fee, and shift the cultural mindset about disposability and
pick it fully repaired before the Pop Up moves on to material value.
its next location. Over the last 3 years, they’ve taken
http://popuprepair.com/faq/
in more than 2,000 broken items and have a success
© Pop up Repair.

Bright Spots:
Recycled Brooklyn
Recycled Brooklyn is a family-owned and operated, salvaged across greater NYC. While their operation is
furniture design and home goods company, founded relatively small with 10 fabricators in an 8,000 square
by brothers Matthew and Steve Loftice. They design foot workshop, their pieces show the type of quality
and build furniture for individuals, restaurants, that can be achieved using high quality salvaged
offices and hotels using a wide range of salvaged and materials with older vintages to create contemporary
reclaimed materials culled from sites across NYC. furnishings and experiences.
Their 2-column “Brooklyn Dresser”, for examples,
https://recycledbrooklyn.com/
is made of material that was cut from floor beams
Steve Loftice of Recycled

Brooklyn re-machining
salvaged timber.
© New York Times.

CONCLUSIONS -
ZERO BY 30 AND BEYOND
For much of our history, we have lived in a Linear resilient system. Some are big and some are
City, where materials primarily flow from cradle small but all are valuable even if just for helping
to grave. We dig up raw materials from the earth, the world see that we can do things differently.
turn them into products, and ship those products Ideally, we will see many more organizations and
to people who use them and discard them into a new approaches emerging and evolving in the
landfill. The paradigms are slowly shifting on a years to come and before we know it, the idea of
global scale to a more circular model. It’s a model getting to “Zero by 30” will be a thing of the past.
where materials and products are used and then People will look back wonder how it could be that
reused, reconstituted, refurbished, renovated and there was a point in time when so many valuable
re-imagined in perpetuity. Sending zero waste to materials were being so systematically underused.
landfill and processing as much as we can locally.
The NYC story is one that should hearten us all
New York can and will become a Circular City.
however not all solutions can be found at the user
It is already filled with industrious, proactive,
end of the journey. The city is finding solutions
transformative organizations that are working
to a problem through innovation and lateral
tirelessly to enable that shift. They are all doing
thinking. Going forward cities and governments
things in their own unique ways, working at
need to have a more planned and cohesive
different scales with different strategies, and
approach to the reuse of waste. Switzerland has
filling different roles in the wider system. We
taken the lead here using a form of surcharge to
are taking a multi-pronged approach at a range
enable consumers and manufacturers to “close the
of scales, and that gives us a more diverse and
loop” for technological waste.

Chapter 11: New Tech and the Challenges of e-waste
NEW TECH
AND THE CHALLENGES OF E-WASTE
Developments in communication more mobile and intuitive. The size
and technology products during the and weight reduction of these products,
past 35 years have been nothing short have helped with device usability
of meteoric. This coupled with the and an overall reduction of physical
launch of the world-wide web in 1991 material required to manufacture
have fundamentally changed how we them and manage at the end of their
communicate, share data and work. functional lifespan.
Since Motorola developed the first Thanks to an increase in processing
mobile phone prototypes in 1973, power and battery life, faster network
launching the Dyna TAC 8000x speeds and larger touch screens,
production model ten years later, people prefer to use their smartphone,
phones have become some 20 times coupled with a laptop or tablet as
smaller and 8 times lighter. Aside their main communication and
from this reductionist improvement, connectivity device. Research shows
the integration of high resolution that approximately 43% of the global
interactive screens, development of population use a mobile device 13,
smart applications and improving while data from the Association
connectivity infrastructure have of Global System for Mobile
transformed the functionality of these Communications reported the number
devices for users. Personal computers of active mobile devices overtook the
have followed suit, becoming ever global population in 2014.14 / 15
Image: E-Waste Recovery Centre.


© Recycle for Lewisham.com

E-Waste Regulations & materials can be salvaged. The different stakeholders at each stage of
Logistics logistics, recycling and management the product life cycle. The directive
process is financed by the Advance imposes the responsibility for the
An awareness of the need to recycle Recycling Fee. disposal of waste electrical and
electronic waste (e-waste) started in electronic equipment on the product
the early nineteen nineties. In 1991, the Regulations specify that manufacturers
manufacturers or distributors and
first electronic waste recycling scheme and importers that do not pay
requires those companies to establish
was implemented in Switzerland contributions to a private organisation
an infrastructure for collecting
by the Swiss Economic Association such as Swico Recycling are to
electronic waste, in such a way that:
for the Suppliers of Information, dispose of the equipment taken back
“Users of electrical and electronic
Communication and Organizational at their own cost. In addition, they
equipment from private households
Technology (Swico). Starting with are required to maintain an inventory
should have the possibility of returning
collection of used refrigerators at of equipment that they sell and take
WEEE at least free of charge”17.
designated collection points, retailers back, and must be able to provide
and suppliers, the system gradually evidence that they have forwarded The directive saw the formation
introduced the collection and recycling it for recycling. The Swiss Federal of national producer compliance
of all other electronic products. Office for the environment have the schemes into which manufacturers and
right to inspect these documents for distributors pay an annual fee for the
Manufacturers and importers of new the previous five years. All in all, the collection and recycling of associated
electronic goods pay the Advance cost of going it alone is considerably waste electronics from household
Recycling Fee (ARF) on equipment higher than becoming a member waste recycling centres. The
sold in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. of Swico Recycling as required by application of the WEEE Directive
These costs are passed on to end users statutory regulations is adhered to has been criticized for implementing
by product distributors and dealers. otherwise, companies run the risk of the Extended Producer Responsibility
In return for paying the ARF, the damaging their reputation and being (EPR) concept in a collective manner,
end user is entitled to hand in their heavily fined. The scheme is the most and thereby losing the competitive
used equipment free of charge to successful of its kind as the total incentive of individual manufacturers
manufacturers and importers or at a amount of recycled electronic waste to be rewarded for designs that
collection point. The collection points exceeds 10kg per capita per year 16. allow easy disassembly and material
forward the equipment to one of the separation at end of life.
The European Union implemented
designated Swico specialist electronic the Waste Electrical and Electronic
waste recycling companies. At these Equipment (WEEE) Directive
recycling companies, the products are in February 2003. The Directive Images left:
dismantled, components containing provides guidance on take back Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
pollutants are removed and the other Bank; Airstream Organic Light Emitting
schemes, collections, recycling Diode (OLED) smartphone and pad product
parts are taken apart so that recoverable facilities and responsibility of the concepts.

It is perhaps inevitable that solutions to

the challenge of reducing waste create
new problems and issues.
EPR is an environmental protection to focus on federal action to establish advanced Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
strategy intended to reduce the total electronic stewardship in the United can only partly be recycled. The
environmental impact of a product, States. In many states, approximately epoxy glass laminate substrate has no
passing responsibility for the 2.5kg per capita per year of electronic value and cannot be recycled back to
entire life-cycle of the product and waste is recycled. Like the majority its constituents, but the gold, silver,
especially for the take-back, recycling of nations, the United States e-waste tin and copper plated contact surfaces
and final disposal to the manufacturer management includes waste to provide the most valuable e-waste
or importer. Under the directive, each landfill and e-recycling and reuse materials that can be recovered from
European member state recycles at programs as well as export shipments the PCB through a range of often
least 4 kg of electronic waste per of domestically produced e-waste hazardous melting and chemical
capita per year. to China, Africa, Latin America and processes.
India.
In 1993, journalist Steve Lohr’s In 2012, a revised WEEE Directive19
article highlighting the need to recycle It is perhaps inevitable that solutions introduced restrictions to the use
electronic waste was published to the challenge of reducing waste of certain hazardous substances
in the New York Times. 18 The US create new problems and issues. and materials. However, as most
Environmental Protection Agency current e-waste is pre-2012, e-waste
(EPA) estimated that 11.7 million tons
Printed Circuit Boards and materials often include lead, mercury,
of e-waste was generated in 2014. Batteries cadmium, hexavalent chromium,
The scrap value for the plethora of sulphur, brominated flame- retardants,
The United States does not have an
e-waste components and materials perfluorooctanoic acid and beryllium
official federal e-waste regulation
varies tremendously. They contain oxide, all of which are extremely
system, yet certain states have
recoverable, reusable materials such hazardous to human health without
implemented state regulatory systems.
as steel, aluminium and thermoplastic carefully implemented precautionary
The National Strategy for Electronic
product housings and etched copper measures.
Stewardship was co-founded by The
Council on Environmental Quality and sheet, contacts and core cable however The unprotected and labour-intensive
the General Services Administration the other precious metals which nature of e-waste material harvesting
(GSA) and was introduced in 2011 make up the cocktail of materials in often causes serious environmental,

© Dreamstime
health and social issues.20 Guiyu is old electronics to extract lead, gold, billion market for recycled materials
a town in the Guangdong Province copper and other valuable metals. The harvested by cheap, often child labour
in southeast China and is one of the workers usually carry out extraction in poor working conditions, with
largest e-waste sites in the world, one tasks without any protection and are devastating health and environmental
of several examples of a community therefore exposed to highly toxic consequences makes it an industry
living off the recycling economy of and carcinogenic emissions. People and market sector badly in need of
digital products’ waste. The air, water working in this sector have 54% higher resolution.
and soil are contaminated with these levels of lead in their blood, compared
harmful materials. Much of Guiyu’s to people living and working 30 Above:
150,000 population work in the 5,500 kilometres away. The low purchase Worker cable harvesting. Guiyu in
Guangdong Province is the location of the
material recovery businesses, many of price for scrap PCBs at just 0.13 largest electronic waste site on earth; Printed
them family workshops, that dismantle dollars per kg³, yet it provides a $3 circuit board fabrication

T
he treatment of WEEE in European directive to ban the sale of
industrialised nations varies Nickel-cadmium batteries containing
significantly depending on more than 0.0005% of mercury
the category and technology type. and 0.002% of cadmium, except in
Treatments range from large-scale emergency and alarm systems, medical
shredding technologies to disassembly equipment and cordless power tools.
processes, either manual, automated or The directive calls for collection points
combined, according to the facilities. to be established where consumers
So solutions to deal with e-waste are can hand in used batteries at no extra
being developed but the high human cost. All batteries must be removable,
cost of some of these systems needs to and all producers of batteries must be
be addressed. registered and bear the cost of battery
recycling. Since the directive, the
Batteries also represent a challenge to high energy density, slim profile and
recycle. Although dedicated disposal slow discharge rates of Lithium Ion
containers are available in many batteries have made them the a most
shops and supermarkets, only 20 to popular and effective replacement to
40 percent of Lithium Ion batteries Nickel Cadmium, despite their higher
in mobile phones and other consumer production and material costs.
products are currently being recycled.
Once collected, they need to be sorted Professor Philip Nelson, chief © Arup
by chemical constituents before going executive of the Engineering and

through an energy intensive process Physical Sciences Research Council, © Arup
to separate and retrieve the metals said: “Batteries will form a cornerstone
from it. Indeed, reclaiming metal from of a low carbon economy, whether in
some recycled batteries can take 6 to cars, aircraft, consumer electronics,
10 times more energy compared to district or grid storage. To deliver the
mining.21 A Pyrometallurgical process UK’s low-carbon economy we must
is generally used to retrieve valuable consolidate and grow our capabilities
materials from NiCd batteries. The in novel battery technology.”22 The
recovered Cadmium and Nickel UK government recently announced
enriched iron can be used as raw £246 million, to be spent over four
materials in stainless steel production. years on research and innovation in
battery technology. It is likely to have
The greatest environmental concerns particular benefits in the automotive
relate to lead and cadmium-based and renewable energy sectors.
batteries. In 2009, this resulted in a

...solutions to deal with e-waste are being

developed but the high human cost of some
of these systems needs to be addressed.
At present there are around 33 lithium impossible to separate the aluminium

ion battery mega-factories globally. housing from the over-moulded
China is the largest producer by plastic features and components.
far providing 62% of the world’s When designing those connections, a
production, enough to store 108GWh of push fit or screw fix approach could be
electricity. Production in South Korea more appropriate to allow the repair,
and the USA is increasing and this separation and reuse of materials at the
will include Tesla’s new solar powered end of the product life.
Gigafactory in the Nevada desert,
Initiated as a reaction to the complexity
intended to provide 35GWh of Li-ion
and environmental impact of the smart
batteries to meet its planned production
phone manufacturing ecosystem,
of 500,000 Tesla cars per year by
Fairphone was founded by Bas van
2018.23 We need to ensure that closed
Abel in Amsterdam as a social enterprise
loop design principles are used in the
company in January 2013, having existed
development of new battery technology
as an awareness raising campaign for
so that batteries have a long and
© Dreamstime two and a half years. The company have
sustainable user life and materials can
developed their closed loop smartphone
be harvested safely and economically at
with a repair and take back service,
the end of their user life.
“designed and produced with minimal
Smartphone Tear-Down and harm to people and planet”24. The project
Industry Initiatives. started in 2010 as a campaign against
the use of minerals extracted in conflict
To understand what it takes to recycle regions, but the team thought it was
a digital product, we disassembled a better to actually develop a “fair,” or
state of the art smart phone with a view ethically built, phone than start another
to harvesting materials for recycling. petition campaign.
We found that due to over moulding (a
process where a single part is created
using two or more different materials Images Left:
in combination), it was virtually Smartphone tear down; Lithium Batteries

“As technology advances rapidly, consumers

have lost any ability to modify, repair, and
truly understand how they can keep their
devices longer”.
Fairphone’s objectives are to source A study into 3 potential methods of 21 cells with dual-robots used in cells
materials that are less hazardous and Fairphone materials recovery found that require more time-consuming
toxic, increase use of recycled and/ that partial dismantling followed by disassembly tasks and longer cycle
or renewable material and to source selective smelting offered greater times. The system can recover the
materials from mines that empower recovery of materials by weight cover-glass assembly, lithium battery,
vulnerable communities or have better (19% metal recycling, 28% total motherboard, receiver, speaker, alert
sustainable performance. They also material recycling and 31% recycling/ module, rear facing camera, and main
acknowledge that smartphones are recovery) as well as the widest variety housing.
often upgraded or discarded every of materials recovered. 26 By May
There are currently two Liam systems,
18 months, creating a considerable 2016, 100,000 Fairphones were in
one in California and another in
environmental impact. “As technology circulation offering users options
the Netherlands, each capable of
advances rapidly, consumers have lost to maintain, repair and extend the
disassembling up to 1.2 million
any ability to modify, repair, and truly lifespan of their products. In 2016,
iPhones a year. As Liam is currently
understand how they can keep their Apple sold over 200 million iPhones,
an R&D project, the next challenge
devices longer”. 25 To counter this, taking a large slice of the global smart
for Apple and the wider technology
Fairphone have designed a modular phone market, with Samsung selling a
industry will be to pilot a product
phone, built to allow users to repair similar volume. This comes with some
return and automated disassembly and
and replace components and extend responsibility for aiding the recovery
materials recovery process like this,
the product lifespan. The company of materials used for the phone
so it can be refined, optimized and
provides official tutorials for users to assembly.
implemented at scale.
fix their phone themselves and spare
So far, Apple have developed their
parts can be purchased online. This
own R&D project called Liam
modular approach not only extends
focusing on the development of a Right:
the life of the phone but also eases
robotic iPhone 6 disassembly line.27 The Fairphone with rear transparent cover.
dismantling at end of life to increase The design encourages users to replace and
The system consists of 29 robots in
material harvesting opportunities. update individual components.

© Fairphone

The Success of E-Bay. Used products, vehicles, toys, clothes, globally, extending the lifespan of
furniture and other products are sold those products and offering a greater
Disassembly, recycling and upcycling product choice for consumers. It’s
in online auctions for reuse. Specialist
are not the only solution as we know hard to think of a more successful
products are often sought and despite
that one person’s waste is another realization of the circular economy,
the controversy that has arisen over
person’s treasure. So, perhaps the one that utilizes and manages data via
certain items put up for bid (entire
most useful and successful large scale our ever-developing digital products.
countries have been listed, often as
circular economy initiatives to harness Our challenge is to implement a
a joke or to garner free publicity)
digital technology and the world- materials recovery infrastructure
in general, the company removes
wide-web is EBay. Initiated by Pierre and refine the design of technology
auctions that violate its Terms of
Omidyar in 1995, this multinational products to enhance recovery. Global
Service agreement.28
e-commerce site allows individuals and local policy that encourages
and businesses to buy and sell a EBay offers a new mode of trading
material harvesting and recovery
plethora of used and new products. products for 162 million active buyers
supply chains will be paramount.

So far, Apple have developed

their own R&D project
called Liam focusing on the
development of a robotic
iPhone 6 disassembly line.
The system can recover
the cover-glass assembly,
lithium battery, motherboard,
receiver, speaker, alert
module, rear facing camera,
and main housing.
Left and Right:

The success of Ebay; Apple’s Liam phone
disassembly robot © Apple

Chapter 12: Packaging - What Goes Around Comes Around
PACKAGING
WHAT GOES AROUND
COMES AROUND
To understand the magnitude of change
in packaging and how recently this
change has happened, it is important
to understand the history and context
of how we got to where we are today
and to learn from it. For the movement
and protection of food and possessions,
we can assume that containment was
necessary for early hunter gatherers
and their journey out of Africa as early
as 50,000 B.C.
Image:
19th Century Birchbark Mocock
from East America. Birchbark is
simultaneously light, sturdy and waterproof:
as a result, it was used to make containers for
liquids, such as this mocock for collecting
maple syrup. © The British Museum

T
he lack of any physical remnants Paris placed the food in glass jars, International Fair in London in 1862.
from this period could be down sealed them with cork and sealing This plastic was intended to replace
to the materials used for such wax and placed them in boiling water ivory and was dubbed “parkesin”. In
early forms of packaging. The leaves to sterilise and preserve the food. 1849 Charles Goodyear and Thomas
and animal skins used for wrapping, A year later, food merchant Peter Hancock developed a procedure that
the nut shells and gourds used for Durant was granted a patent for the destroyed the sticky property and
water containment, the timber used pressed cylindrical tin can. Aluminium added elasticity to natural rubber and
for storage and movement of larger versions of the can were developed by 1851 hard rubber or “ebonite” had
items and the vines used for strapping in 1959. become commercially available.
and tying them would have naturally
Mulberry tree bark was used in China In 1870 New Yorker John Wesley
decomposed within a few seasons of
in the 1st and 2nd centuries B.C to wrap Hyatt was given a patent for “celluloid”
their initial creation and use.
food and the technique of using fine produced in high temperatures
While early man would have sought wood and plant pulp for paper making and pressure with a low nitrate
solutions to make food transportable was thought to have started around content. This invention was the first
later civilisations needed vessels 1500 years ago for calligraphy and commercialized plastic and remained
to store as well as transport food. wrapping. Paper making techniques as the only plastic until 1907 when
Wooden, ceramic, glass and metal spread globally and improved during Leo Hendrik Baekeland produced
vessels were developed over time with the following 1500 years via the “Bakelite”.
the discovery of new and increasingly Middle East to Europe and America.
sophisticated processes and materials. The material ingredients of plastic
The first commercial cardboard box
However, these containers were not were relatively unknown until 1920
was produced in England in 1817, 200
packaging in the way we think of it when chemist Hermann Staudinger
years after China developed corrugated
today – they were valuable objects concluded that plastics, rubber and
cardboard, replacing wooden boxes for
in their own right – used and reused cellulose materials were ‘polymers’ or
exporting goods. These developments
many times. substances with a molecular structure,
led to cardboard and paper as the most
built up from a large number of similar
The idea of storing and transporting popular packaging material of the
units bonded together. Staudinger
food safely in disposable containers 20th Century.
and his peers gathered and developed
was first developed in 1809 when The Rise of Plastic Packaging. further evidence to back up his theory
Napoleon Bonaparte offered a and 33 years later in 1953, he won the
12-thousand-franc reward for a The first known plastic was
Nobel Prize for “his discoveries in the
solution to protect and transport food discovered by Alexander Parker in
field of macromolecular chemistry”.
for his armies. Nikolas Appert from 1838 and was displayed at the Grand

W
ith the growth of the global the useful lifespan of a plastic bag is are a multitude of initiatives that can
consumer goods market just 12 minutes. After it’s all too brief reduce plastic packaging waste and
and its need for efficient, life, plastics such as polyethylene reverse this trend. Glass and plastic
low cost, robust and consistent terephthalate (PET) takes 50 to 100 bottle return schemes run successfully
packaging, all with different shapes, times longer to biodegrade compared to in Germany, Denmark and some states
colours and branding, polyethylene the cellulose fibre plant based materials in Australia and the USA. The UK’s
packaging became more widely used that were widely used before the 20th 5p mandatory charge for plastic bags
after 1950s. Towards the end of 1970s century. Now, around 300 million tons implemented in 2016 saw an 85%
the plastic packaging sector grew of plastic is produced globally each reduction in the disposal of plastic
rapidly.29 year. Just 12-14% of that is recycled. bags, resulting in a sharp increase in
The reason we use so much Much of this plastic packaging waste bag reuse that customers bring to shops
disposable packaging is its low cost to finds its way into the ocean and it is
Plastic that has not been co-moulded
manufacture from scratch. However, estimated that 5 trillion tons of micro
with another polymer or over moulded
the useful lifespan of a blow moulded plastic are in the oceans now with one
around other materials such as metal
plastic bottle is just 2-3 weeks, whilst truck load added each minute. There
are very recyclable as is paper.
We developed a biodegradable packaging design that

88 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products allows efficient delivery, display on the shelves and a cup
that provides easy handling and eating of the porridge.
However, the paper coffee cup is a scale organic mill, situated on Als, an sugar cane. This cellulose material
waste stream that is often assumed to idyllic island off the southeast coast of can be disposed of as food waste and
be recyclable. A conservative estimate Denmark. Owned and run by Jørgen follow the same anaerobic digestion or
puts the number of paper cups handed Bonde and Hanne Risgaard, they in-vessel composting process applied
out by coffee shops in the UK at 3 realised that farming organically “just to food waste streams.
billion, more than 8 million a day. wasn’t enough” and they decided to
A move away from plastic packaging
Yet, fewer than one in 400 cups are produce baking ingredients that were
that takes decades or centuries to
being recycled. The problem stems out of the ordinary. Since 2003 they
degrade, to faster degrading non-
from the materials used for the cup. It have specialised in the production of
laminated paper and card packaging and
is manufactured from paper laminated organic, freshly ground flour with bran
compostable cellulose based packaging
with a plastic layer, to keep it water or and preserved wheat germ, especially
makes sense. Polylactic acid (PLA)
coffee tight. But the compound creates suited for artisan bread-making. They
is a bio plastic produced from corn or
a complicated recycling process. It grow and source low yielding grain
dextrose. Its characteristics are similar
cannot be viably treated as pure paper. varieties that provide the highest
to conventional petrochemical-based
First, the plastic coating needs to be quality. “The flour is stone ground
mass plastics such as polyethylene
separated from the recyclable paper to preserve the natural content of
terephthalate and it can be processed
fibre of the cup itself. vitamins, minerals and amino acids
using standard equipment that already
that are so important to us.” 31
Jonny Hazell of Green Alliance exists for the production of some
summarized. “There’s a real challenge It is this desire to maximise the conventional plastics. PLA and PLA
to separate compound materials”.30 goodness and flavour of the products blends generally come in the form of
To solve this problem, reusable ceramic in a sustainable way that led them to granulates with various properties,
cups could be used by customers in the approach Arup for materials advice and are used in the plastic processing
coffee shops, whilst coffee to go could and the design of the packaging that industry for the production of films,
be supplied in a re-usable coffee cup contains the same DNA as the healthy fibres, plastic containers, cups and
that the consumer pays for and can be and sustainable porridge ingredients bottles. The challenge with these
cleaned in the office or at home ready they were developing. We developed materials is strength, however for a
for reuse. a biodegradable packaging design use once solution, a container that is
influenced by the Danish modern biodegradable via industrial composting
Compostable Packaging. design masters Arne Jacobsen and Hans could make more sense than a single
Another potential solution to reduce Wegner that allows efficient delivery, use container manufactured in super
packaging waste is to revert back to display on the shelves and a cup that durable plastic that degrades in the
the simple cellulose or plant based provides easy handling and eating of ground or ocean over several centuries.
compostable packaging materials the porridge. The cup, lid and sleeve
used by our ancestors some 50,000 are designed and engineered using Left: Compostable packaging by Arup for
years ago. Skaertoft Mølle is a small- natural cellulose fibres derived from Skaertoft Mølle

Chapter 12: Packaging - What Goes Around Comes Around © Ellen MacArthur Foundation
The New Plastics Economy.

The poor recycling rates of plastic packaging was the
primary theme at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in
Davos. In 2016, The WEF and Ellen MacArthur Foundation
launched ‘The New Plastics Economy’ initiative and
publication 32 highlighting the need to prioritise plastic
recycling and reuse rates globally and the need to prevent
waste plastic ending up in the oceans.
© Ellen MacArthur Foundation Chapter 12: Packaging - What Goes Around Comes Around
The initiative included calls for

–– Innovative packaging models
based on product refills and
replacing single use plastic
bags with reusable alternatives,
which could see 20% of plastic
packaging profitably reused.
–– A further 50% of plastic
packaging could be profitably
recycled if improvements are
made to packaging design and
systems for managing it after use.
–– A fundamental redesign and
innovation in small format plastic
packaging such as sachets, tear-
offs, lids and sweet wrappers
which represent 30% of the
market by weight and often
escape collection systems.
–– Replacement of three uncommon
polymers which are used as
packaging materials globally,
but in comparatively small
volumes: polystyrene (PS)
expanded polystyrene (EPS)
and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s
call to the plastics and packaging
industry and to relevant policy makers
is to coordinate and create an improved
recycling and effective after-use,
plastics economy that encourages the
reuse of existing material.

“It’s simply never going to be economic to sort

out all the millions of plastic items disposed of
every day into all the thousands of grades, let
alone recycle them all separately.”
Due to the sheer volume of plastics of types and properties. Sadly, as he properties is not very precise. But it
on our planet and disposed of today, points out, this is also the biggest can be perfectly good for transport
designers and engineers will need to obstacle to recycling them. “It’s pallets, site hoarding, railway sleepers,
master how to better use all the different simply never going to be economic work boats, barge covers and hundreds
types of plastics as a valuable material to sort out all the millions of plastic of other applications that are yet to be
resource. Graham Dodd, who leads items disposed of every day into all the found.
Arup’s global Materials team points thousands of grades, let alone recycle
Designing products for this class of
out that engineers have the opportunity them all separately.”
material and their manufacturing
and duty to imagine how something
However, he also believes that if we process is an area few people are
could be better and to make it so.33
can make something useful out of yet working in and it needs some
Over the years he has designed all sorts
this mixed waste, using low capital adjustment from the usual methods for
of things out of glass but started his
investment, it will become worthwhile designing in plastics. At Arup, Graham
career designing domestic appliances,
to salvage it. Not only will this rescue Dodd and his team have been working
long before joining Arup. For him,
plastic from landfill, but it will also with one such technology, the powder
engineering is about designing and
give us the chance to unlock valuable impression moulding (PIM) process,
making useful things out of materials,
polymers. At the end of their life, and have learned a great deal from
using innovative processes. He leads
the re-made plastic objects could be designing a stadium seat in this way.
the materials practice where they focus
depolymerised into a petroleum form,
on the materials and manufacturing If we can think of plastics as having
from which speciality polymers can
knowledge used by our designers this sort of two-stage life cycle, it gives
again be made.
for the built environment “making a glimmer of hope for solving the issue
materials work’ is how I sum up our There are emerging processes that of plastic debris in the ocean, which
purpose.” can make useful, comparatively low- the United Nations Environment
performance products out of mixed Programme (UNEP) has described as
He would like to see society master its
plastic waste. The key is designing a “wicked problem”. The quantity of
use of materials and processes so that
with this type of material in mind. It floating plastic debris is estimated in
we can develop in harmony with our
tends to produce objects with thick wall the hundreds of millions of tonnes.
environment and believes that the great
sections and the control of structural
advantage of plastics is their diversity Image: North Pacific Gyre convergence zon

e © National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

“That scale of material sounds like a

resource to me, so what useful things
could be made from salvaged marine
plastics using PIM or other mixed
plastics processes.”
He has also considered how could we
collect the plastics for processing? The
plastic in the oceans accumulates along
the high-water mark and in a number
of regions known as gyres. The largest
of these is the North Pacific Gyre, (also
known as the Eastern Garbage Patch).
“Is a resource like this worth trawling
for? Before long, someone will find a
way to make it economic to collect this
debris and make a useful thing that pays
for itself and eventually is desirable for
de-polymerisation and re-synthesis.
In the meantime, one class of plastics
that stands out and to a limited extent
is already being selected and recycled
is polyethylene terephthalate (PET).” 33
Known as polyester in fibre form and
PET in blow-moulded bottle form,
these plastics are very easily recycled
into products of near enough original
quality. Perhaps the most popular PET
product example is the soft drinks
bottle, where at least one company
sells some of its product in bottles
made from recycled PET.
At the 2017 WEF, Unilever announced
that all its plastic packaging would
be fully reusable, recyclable or
compostable by 2025.

Proctor & Gamble launched a Energy and Environmental Research increase glass and plastic recycling
shampoo bottle consisting of 25% in Germany showed that refillable rates and reduce litter. Studies show
recycled post-consumer plastic beach bottles have 50-60% lower global that beverage container legislation
waste. They announced that by the warming potential than single use has reduced roadside litter by between
end of 2018, 90% of its European bottles.36 30% and 64% in states that have
production of Head & Shoulders and passed the bill and while overall
Pre-1990s, drinks in Germany were
Pantene packaging will consist of 25% beverage container recycling rate
often bottled in refillable glass and
beach waste, equating to 2600 tonnes is approximately 33%, states with
plastic containers. The customer paid
of recycled plastic each year. Other container deposit laws have a 70%
a small deposit as security, ensuring
global signatories, committing to the average rate of beverage container
they would return the bottle intact, to
initiative were Amcor, Carrefour, recycling. Michigan’s recycling rate
receive their deposit back. The retail
Coca-Cola Co, Constantia Flexibles, was the highest in the nation, as was
price of the drink included the cost of
Danone, L’Oreal, Marks & Spencer, its $0.10 deposit.
returning the bottle to the beverage
Mars, Pepsico, Veolia and Dow
supplier and the cleaning, re-filling
Chemicals.34
and return process. During the 1990s,
© Proctor & Gamble

Packaging Re-use and the retail price competition resulted in
Future. cheaper, single use packaging as a
more popular choice with Germany’s
But plastic packaging isn’t the only refillable quota falling below 72% for
problem. Glass drinks bottles are the first time. This triggered a return to
wholly recyclable into new bottles as a mandatory deposit system in 2003.
contamination from other materials is This successful u-turn has resulted in
low, however the glass re-processing over 90% of refillable bottles being
at the molten end of the bottle returned by consumers. The durability
manufacturing process requires natural and quality of the recovered materials
gas or fuel oil-fired furnaces operating is good enough for glass and to a lesser
at temperatures of up to 1,575 °C. The extent plastic bottles to be reused
glass recycling industry is relatively several times before glass recycling
well developed, however as 1.4 kg of becomes necessary. Similar deposit
CO2e is required to re-manufacture systems have proved successful in all
1kg of recycled glass and 8.4kg of Scandinavian countries, Holland and
Co2e is required to re-manufacture Croatia.
1kg of non-recycled glass, bottles
that are used only once seems energy In the U.S, ten states have passed Left and above: Beach waste; Recycled plastic
intensive. 35 A recent Life Cycle container deposit legislation, polymers out of PET water bottle; Shampoo
Assessment from the The Institute for popularly known as ‘Bottle Bills’ to bottle made from 25% plastic beach waste.

T
aking a pathway towards a Reduce reliance on laminated or print on our planet. Timber derived
more sustainable and robust multilayer plastics and papers that cardboard and paper remains as a
packaging future is challenging are virtually impossible to recycle. low impact, recyclable material that
but necessary. We will continue to can be enhanced with a proportion
–– Decouple plastics from
need a mix of different packaging of renewable virgin timber fibre.
oil based feedstocks.
types and materials, some recyclable, The development of re-usable
some reusable and some compostable. –– Establish the global plastics or recyclable alternatives to the
The following suggestions provide protocol with clear and laminated plastic films and containers
guidance in how to start the journey to coordinated material labelling. should be a primary goal. This,
a more sustainable packaging future. combined with improved reuse, return
–– Engage policymakers to
Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s ‘New and recycling initiatives, regulated
develop legislation that
Plastic’s Economy’ publication by policy development, legislation
encourages these aims.
provides an in-depth guide to and education will be necessary to
the current issues around plastic The plant based materials used for harmonise our packaging industry and
packaging. The key aims I found packaging by our early and more economy.
particularly important were as follows: recent ancestors left a small foot
Image: Reverse vending machines
–– Radically increase the economics,
quality and uptake of recycling.
–– Scale up the adoption of
reusable packaging.
–– Scale up the adoption of
industrially compostable
plastic packaging for
targeted applications.
–– Improve after-use collection,
storage and reprocessing
infrastructure in ‘high-leakage’
countries, where materials often
fall out of the recycling system.
–– Steer innovation investment
towards creating packaging
materials and formats that are
easier to reuse and recycle.

© Ellen MacArthur Foundation Chapter 12: Packaging - What Goes Around Comes Around

Chapter 13: Conclusions
CONCLUSIONS
We all need physical things to conduct and live to carry out our day to day activities. We need
our everyday lives. Packaging to contain and buildings to provide shelter and furniture,
transport food and products safely, utensils light, heat and ventilation provide further
to prepare and eat the food we need, modes levels of comfort. All these things have
of transportation to get from place to place, allowed people to thrive and say something
a multitude of tools and devices from beam- about our beliefs and culture.
saws to smartphones and taps to toothbrushes


...these materials are not infinite, the design,

material conversion and assembly processes
required to make, re-use, recycle and upcycle these
things needs a refinement or change in approach.
However, all these things are made smart phone upgrades that result in an This approach, combined with robust,
from materials that are extracted from operational life that’s shorter than an re-usable packaging and the increased
the ground or grown and may need item of clothing. We need to treat all use of natural, cellulose based,
energy to power them. Because these materials as a precious resource. biodegradable packaging will further
materials are not infinite, the design, reduce contamination of land and
To ensure a product is useful and usable
material conversion and assembly water.
in the first place, designers, engineers
processes required to make, re-use,
and manufacturers need to consider The use of dry fitted, removable screws,
recycle and upcycle these things needs
the user at each phase of the design clips and snap fittings as opposed
a refinement or change in approach.
development process. Products have to to adhesives and resins to connect
The research described in The look right and bring excitement to be different base materials will ease
Industrial Resolution demonstrates accepted by people in the first place. material separation and harvesting in
just some of the exciting opportunities They need to work perfectly, long term, the future. Products will then be easier
and challenges that closed loop and we need to offer more product to repair and refurbish, thus extending
design, material re-use and product refurbishment, part replacement and life span and will allow material and
re-manufacturing presents today. A take back schemes as a service and to component separation at end of life.
look at the past shows that products harvest materials from products that
Our recent dependence on low value,
and utensils were not replaced every have reached the end of their useful
cheap products can be seen as one of
18 months, superseded by the latest lives. Moving forward, the design of
the primary causes of our disposable
trend. A continued shift towards the ingenious and desirable new products
culture that generates so much waste.
adoption of products that people value that re-use waste material as a resource
The products we use should not
more, both physically and aesthetically, that can, in turn, be recycled is our
necessarily be super expensive, but
which last longer, is essential. key challenge. If we get it right, and
high value, high performance, robust,
we get the message across to a new
Products that avoid short term beautiful and user friendly items,
generation of consumers, they will
technological and stylistic trends something to be proud of, cherish and
increasingly value this approach and it
tend to endure as they don’t ‘date’ age beautifully, products that need less
will strengthen their loyalty to certain
as quickly; contrasting perhaps with energy to make and use should be an
brands and manufacturers.
aspiration for us all.

© iGuzzini
We have seen that there are plenty of Pop-up Repair’s product refurbishment Above: Arup and iGuzzini designed View,
a versatile family of high performance, low
opportunities to upcycle, reuse and services in New York and on a larger energy LED lighting for museums, art galleries
recycle on a range of scales from scale, Novalis’ and Jaguar Land and retail. Use of clips and screw fixings allow
quirky furniture reassembly by Carl Rover’s development of cars that hardware replacement and material separation
at end of life.
Clerkin, Goldfinger Factory’s upcycled use increasing volumes of recycled
products made from waste material, aluminium and the success of E-Bay.

"We need to make products, buildings and
vehicles that are ‘closed loop’ that reuse
waste material, last longer, allow repair
and reuse and allow materials and parts
harvesting at the end of their useful lives."
Sir Kenneth Grange

References
REFERENCES
1. United Nations Global Material Flows, United Nations Report 15. Measuring Mobile Penetration, Untangling ‘subscribers’,
Final. March. 20.7.2016 ‘mobile phone owners’ and ‘users’. GSMA Intelligence, Joss
Gillet, 22nd May 2014.
2. United Nations Population Prospects: 2015 Revision.
16. Swico Recycling website - www.swicorecycling.ch/en/home.
3. World Bank municipal solid waste estimates – What a waste: A
Retrieved 20th September 2017.
global review of solid waste management, Daniel Hoornweg and
Perinaz Bhada-Tata, March 2012. 17. Official Journal of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 27 January 2003. WEEE Directive, 2002/96/EC.
4. Nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150/oldest-stone-tools-
discovery-harmand-archeology. Retrieved 20 November 2017. 18. Steve Lohr. “Recycling Answer Sought for Computer Junk.”
The New York Times 14 Apr. 1993. The New York Times.
5. United Nations. The World at Six Billion. ESA/P/W.P.154, 12
October, 1999. 19. Official Journal of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 4 July 2012. WEEE Directive, 2012/19/EU.
6. Fred Hapgood, Up the Infinite Corridor: MIT and the Technical
Imagination, Reading, Mass.1992. 20. Present status of e-waste disposal and recycling in China.
Lin Wei, Yangsheng Liu. Procedia Environmental Sciences 16
7. The Crown Estate Business and Ownership. http://www.
(2012) 506 – 516. Available from www.sciencedirect.com/article/
thecrownestate.co.uk/ourbusiness. Retrieved 20 September
pii/ S1878029612006081.
2017.
21. The Lithium Battery Recycling Challenge. Waste
8. Directive 2000/53/EC of the European Parliament and
Management World. Aswin Kumar. 1 August, 2011. https://
the Council of 18 September 2000 on End of Life Vehicles
waste-management-world.com/a/1-the-lithium-battery-recycling-
(Amendment) Regulations. Published by the European
challenge.
Commission, 2000 and amended in 2010.
22. Innovate UK, Deaprtment for Business, Energy & Industrial
9. Cambridge News. www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/futuristic-
Strategy and Rt Hon Greg Clark MP. www.gov.uk/government/
high-speed-driverless-avrt-12688976
news/business-secretary-to-establish-uk-as-world-leader-in-
10. Wired. www.wired.co.uk/article/hyperloop-one-official-test- battery-technology-as-part-of-modern-industrial-strategy. 24 July,
vegas 2017.
11. Cambridge News. www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/ 23. Tesla. https://www.tesla.com/en_GB/gigafactory. Retrieved 21
futuristic-high-speed-driverless-avrt-12688976 November 2017.
12. NYC Reuse Sector Report. http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/ 24. IDG Communications, Inc. ‘Fairphone to Start Building
docs/2017-NYC-Reuse-Sector-Report-FINAL.pdf ‘Ethical’ Smartphone’. Loek Essers. Jun 5, 2013.
13. Global Smartphone User Penetration Forecast by 88 25. Fairphone Design Goals. https://www.fairphone.com/en/our-
Countries: 2007 – 2022 Report. Strategy Analytics, Author: Yiwen goals/design/ Retrieved 7 July, 2017.
Wu, Dec 21. 2016.
26. ‘How Recyclable is the Fairphone 2’? Miquel Ballester. 27
14. The Independent. There are officially more mobile devices February, 2017. https://www.fairphone.com/en/2017/02/27/
than people in the world. Zachary Davies Boren. 7 October, 2014. recyclable-fairphone-2/ Retrieved 7 July, 2017.

References
27. Liam – An Innovation Story. Charissa Rujanavech, Joe

Lessard, Sarah Chandler, Sean Shannon, Jeffrey Dahmus, Rob
Guzzo. Published by Apple inc. September 2016. https://www.
apple.com/environment/pdf/Liam_white_paper_Sept2016.pdf
28. Top 5 Strangest Things Ever Sold on Ebay! http://www.ebay.
co.uk/gds/TOP-5-STRANGEST-THINGS-EVER-SOLD-ON-
EBAY-/10000000011731589/g.html. Retrieved 22 September,
2017.
29. History of Packaging. Packaging Manufacturers Association,
Istanbul. http://www.ambalaj.org.tr/en/environment-history-of-
packaging.html. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
30. Caffiene hit: what happens to Britains 3bn empty coffee cups?
The Guardian. Ellie Violet Bramley. 15 March, 2016. https://www.
theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/15/coffee-cup-britons-3-
billion-so-few-recylced. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
31. About Skærtoft Mølle. http://skaertoft.dk/about-skaertoft-mill/.
Retrieved 10 July, 2017.
32. The New Plastics Economy. Rethinking the Future of Plastics.
Pub: The Ellen MacArthur Foundation. January 19, 2016.
33. Give Plastics a Second Chance, Arup Thoughts. Graham
Dodd. 14 June, 2012/3 http://thoughts.arup.com/post/details/213/
give-plastics-a-second-chance. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
34. Davis Calling, David Eldridge, Page 5, Plastics News Europe,
March 2017.
35. Bevarage Packaging and Zero Waste. Zero Waste Europe.
https://www.zerowasteeurope.eu/tag/germany-deposit-refund-
system/ September, 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
36. IFEU, Heidelberg – Institut for Energy and Environmental
Research. Life cycle assessment of refillable glass and PET
bottles for mineral water and soft drinks. Andreas Detzel, Jurgen
Giegrich, Martina Kruger, Sandra Mohler, Axel Ostermayer. 2008.

Credits
CREDITS
The Industrial Resolution Art Director: Liz Dunford

Written by Stephen Philips. Proof-Reader: Heather Clements
Contributors: Thanks to:

Sir Kenneth Grange Devni Acharya
Carolina Bartram Lucie Barouillet
Neil Perry Jørgen Bonde
Josh Treuhaft Richard Boyd
Carl Clerkin
Marie Cudennec
Graham Dodd
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Flute Office
Rod Fountain
Anna Forrester
iGuzzini SpA
Julie Hogarth
John Miles
Hanne Risgaard
David Spink
Oliver Waddington Ball
Jane Wakiwaka
Rainer Zimmann
Vitra Design Museum
Zumtobel GmbH

© Arup 2017.
All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited without prior permission.
We would like to thank all individuals, organisations and institutions that

kindly made picture material available for reproduction in this book. We
have done our utmost to locate all copyright holders. Should we not
have been successful in individual cases should be addressed to Arup.
Printed on recycled paper.

The Industrial Resolution Ebook

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

The Industrial Resolution Ebook

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

THE INDUSTRIAL

By Stephen Philips and contributors.

2. The Industrial Resolution 08

3. Arup and our Journey into Product Design 10

4. Aesthetics and the Development of Tools 14

5. The Industrial Revolution 18

6. The Circular Building

7. Converting Waste into Gold

8. Seating and Furniture

9. Metallurgy and the Development of Low Carbon Vehicles

10. New York’s Waste Infrastructure

11. New Tech and the Challenges of e -waste 74

Sir Kenneth Grange CBE, PPFCSD, RDI

6 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 7

8 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

ARUP AND OUR JOURNEY

Image: Stephen Philips working on the View

10 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 11

12 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 15

16 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

This understanding shows that although product

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 17

© Black Country Living Museum

18 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

Million Metric Tons of Carbon

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 19

Images: The Circular House. Image: © Ben Blossom.

20 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 21

Design Frameworks Design Principles

shape our discussions during the OPTIMISE • Increase peformance/efficiency of product

VIRTUALISE • Dematerialise directly (eg books, CDs, DVDs, travel)

EXCHANGE • Replace old with advanced non-renewable materials

22 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 23

24 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The final argument against design for

Design for deconstruction of structure is Image:

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 25

26 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 27

Materials and Sustainability

28 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 29

30 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

Images above: Exploded assembly drawing

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 31

Image: Regent Street © Dreamstime

32 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 33

© Stephen Philips, Arup

34 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 35

UPCYCLING WINE BOTTLES

36 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 37

38 The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products

The Upcycler - Goldfinger The materials are converted into

The Industrial Resolution: Closed Loop Products 39

As a result of their collaboration, they developed