Lecture 6: Sustainable Use Of Materials

Question 1

Whart are the 6 options for reducing material consumption?

Answer 1

1) Reduce yield loss (40% of aluminium never makes it to products - due to raw material being wrong shape, lower quality being removed etc.)

2) Divert scrap (scraps can occur from non tessellating blanks - think the scraps around cookie cutters, over ordering material etc., design products and processes better to avoid scrap)

3) Re-use old scrap (Use the scrap steel available from old buildings and products, disassemble to create supply of components)

4) Use less by design (Design products to use less material like open web joists)

5) Reduce demand (Opportunities for shared ownership - boris bikes, most products fall far below potential capacity)

6) Longer life goods (Increase durability, upgradability, give unsuitable products to others, design for recycling)

Question 2

What are constrained materials and what is the solution?

Answer 2

• Materials under limited supply due to being embedded with other materials, such as materials inside modern devices.
• Makes for difficulties in extraction and recycling meaning many materials have a limited global supply.
• Solution: make longer life (50 times more gold in E-waste than gold ore)

Question 3

What are the environmental impacts of material use at each lifecycle stage?

Answer 3

• Extraction (land use, deforestation, loss of habitats)
• Processing (chemical use, pollution, climate change)
• Manufacture (energy use, emissions, waste)
• Disposal (landfill, methane)

Question 4

What are the problems associated with landfill?

Answer 4

• Uses land close to populated areas
• Methane is created from material degradation
• Substances leach into nearby land and water sources
• Attraction of vermin
• Long term management costs

CASE STUDY: Ajka, Hungary, 2010 - 600,000 tonnes of toxic mud covered 40km2, killing 10 and injuring 150.