2.4

Design for Recycling: Reducing Waste on the Drawing Board

Design for Recycling is a concept and policy framework that aims to create products and packaging with the end-of-life in mind, making them easier, more efficient, and more cost-effective to recycle.

Key principles include using compatible materials, designing for easy disassembly, and avoiding features that hinder the recycling process, like certain inks or adhesives. The goal is to reduce waste and the need for new raw materials, taking the first steps towards a circular economy.

The video below takes a critical look at the recycling system in Germany, indirectly making the case for better design of products that are easier to recycle.

Design for Recycling of Products Containing Plastics

The report, Design for recycling of products containing plastics, suggests general design criteria across seven focus areas to increase plastics circularity. These criteria emphasize:

Resource efficiency: Designing products with the minimum material needed and enabling transport efficiency.
Material Simplification: Reducing the number of additives (like pigments) and prioritizing common, compatible polymers (e.g., avoiding PVC with polyolefins).
Separation: Using modular design to easily separate different polymers, ensuring user-friendly disassembly, and using compatible or removable labels.
Traceability: Implementing systems (like QR codes) for increased transparency and visible labelling to facilitate automatic sorting at recycling facilities.
Demand: Actively promoting the use of recycled plastic in new products to boost market demand and profitability.

Further reading, learning and references

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute – How design can help increase plastics recycling https://www.ivl.se/english/ivl/press/press-releases/2024-04-19-how-design-can-help-increase-plastics-recycling.html

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute – Design for recycling of products containing plastics https://ivl.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1845203/FULLTEXT01.pdf

Nordic Swan Ecolabel – Design for recycling https://www.nordic-swan-ecolabel.org/nordic-ecolabelling/environmental-aspects/circular-economy-and-resource-efficiency/design-for-recycling/

EU Circular Plastics Alliance – Design for Recycling Work Plan https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/47334

© Daniel Mossberg, CEMUS, Uppsala University and Sonali Phadke, studio Alternatives and Stephanie Foote