Turning waste into resources: Rethinking the way we discard things
Licentiate thesis, 2014

Waste is one of the biggest challenges faced by our society. If not handled correctly, waste pollutes our natural environment with devastating results. However, it seems almost unavoidable that our society generates waste. Cyclical material use models have been proposed as a more sustainable alternative to our linear take-make-waste production culture. The aim of this licentiate thesis has been to investigate how to recover the material resources that today cannot go back into production, helping to redefine waste as a resource. In order to do that this work first defines a framework to address material flow through society followed by a general background on waste and waste management. The main body of the licentiate describes three studies performed by the author in order explore the topic addressed. The studies investigated (A) how design and waste management collaborate, (B) how to facilitate designing with difficult waste and (C) how the waste system interface can be designed to facilitate resource recovery. Studies A, B and C are described in the central chapters of this work, with more information provided through the annexed Articles. All three studies relied on the tacit knowledge of different relevant stakeholders in order to gain knowledge about the problem addressed. Studies B and C were carried out in collaboration with different actors, meaning that the knowledge gained in these studies have been generated collectively. The work concludes two relevant gaps to address in order to improve resource recovery: (1) the connection between waste management and production systems and (2) the connection between the users and the waste system. The first gap was addressed partially in Study B, where the possibilities of designing with difficult waste were explored. The main barrier to design with waste was found to be the lack of reliable material knowledge. It was also made clear that designing with waste is a palliative solution. Difficult materials reaching the waste system should be avoided to the highest possible extent. In the case of pre-consumer waste this could be achieved by broader adaptation of industrial symbiosis and stricter production regulations. For post-consumer waste , difficult waste should be avoided by significantly improving waste sorting and collection systems. Sorting and collection systems were addressed in Study C, which mainly investigated the relation between the users and the waste management system. Study C found that solutions that are in line with users' relations towards discarded materials are more easily adopted by the users, while solutions that generate value for the users could be a way to significantly improve user engagement. Biodegradable waste is currently insufficiently recovered, constituting a large portion of the discards that are landfilled or incinerated. Possibilities of recovering bio-waste shall be explored with future work.

waste sorting

Solid waste

design with waste

waste collection systems

material loops

user centred design

resource recovery

Room VG, Sven Hultins gata 6, Göteborg, Sweden
Opponent: Birgit Holmboe

Author

Isabel Ordonez Pizarro

University of Gothenburg

Chalmers, Product and Production Development, Design and Human Factors

Mistra Urban Futures

From Industrial Waste to Product Design

DesignEd Asia conference proceedings, "Incorporating Disciplinary Dynamics Into Design Education",; (2012)p. 65-77

Paper in proceeding

Collaboration between design and waste management: Can it help close the material loop?

Resources, Conservation and Recycling,; Vol. 72(2013)p. 108-117

Journal article

How Design relates to Waste : A Categorization of Concrete Examples

Proceedings of the 17th International Conference Sustainable Innovation 2012, Bonn, Germany, October 29 – 30,; (2012)

Paper in proceeding

Subject Categories

Production Engineering, Human Work Science and Ergonomics

Design

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Areas of Advance

Production

Materials Science

Room VG, Sven Hultins gata 6, Göteborg, Sweden

Opponent: Birgit Holmboe

More information

Created

10/7/2017