Designing for Circular Solutions.

A short summary

Design must enable business with new materials, new technology, new innovations and new business models. Use the Re:Plastics decision tree to explore how to eliminate, circulate or innovate your product, packaging and systems. Actioning these changes in your business will reduce environmental impact, and present new opportunities.

We have the opportunity to design out the environmental impacts of our products and packaging. It is estimated that 80% of the environmental impacts of everything we make, use and consume is determined at the design stage. 

The problem starts well before plastic enters the environment, and so do the solutions. No matter where you are in your journey, you can start by redesigning your product or packaging to be circular. 

By eliminating the problematic plastics we don’t need, circulating the plastics we do need, and innovating at unprecedented speed towards new business models, product designs, materials, technologies, and collection systems. 

If we ALL do these three things at scale, we have the opportunity to reshape our plastics economy and transform plastics impact in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Every business that uses, designs, produces or sells products containing plastic has a role to play. 

Eliminating problematic plastic is the number one priority. Elimination means removing any plastics that are not necessary, reusable, recyclable or compostable, contain hazardous chemicals, are likely to be littered, or hinder recycling of other items. 

Any resources should be utilised in a way that extracts their full potential. To circulate, we must design for reuse, design for recycling and design for composting. We must prioritise reuse models as the highest value system. To do this — we design in closed loops wherever possible so that products/packaging are collected after use, reused, recycled or composted, creating new value again and again (and again and again)! 

Innovate at Unprecedented Speed and Scale. How can you change the status quo? Design new business models, product designs, materials, technologies and partnerships for collection systems. This means taking responsibility beyond tweaks to your existing product and packaging design. It means completely rethinking how you make, sell, and take back — being a leader in the design of your own system or service. 

When innovating new solutions, it’s essential to continue designing with both the start — and the end in mind.

Consider total circularity for your product / packaging, its wider systems and users. Create quality, strive for longevity, serve multiple uses, with smarter supporting platforms, easy options of repair, recovery, disassembly, recycling (or perhaps even composting) at the very end of a lifecycle. Innovation is where we bring it all together to work cohesively — reshaping the conversation from wasted value to valuable opportunity.