Sustainability

Question 1

What are the six processes which can help to reduce the environmental impact ?

Answer 1

1. Rethink
2. Refuse
3. Reduce
4. Re-use
5. Repair
6. Recycle

Question 2

Describe the process of rethinking.

Answer 2

We can use no packaging or print information on products in order to use less resources.

Question 3

Describe refusing.

Answer 3

Consumers can make products which are built to last so they are not rejected by the target audience.

Question 4

Describe reducing.

Answer 4

Bulk packs can be used to save materials and energy as well as using thin plastic to reduce packaging needs. Goods can be transported directly from factories to consumers to save energy.

Question 5

Describe re-using

Answer 5

This is where supermarkets provide incentives such as using shopping bags and rewards for reusing these. Products can be designed with re-usable parts.

Question 6

Describe the process of repair.

Answer 6

Products have built in obsolescence. This wasn’t always the case, in the 70s TV engineers could easily repair TVs that would last over 10 years.

Question 7

Describe recycling.

Answer 7

This saves 20 x the energy when aluminium is recycled as opposed to extracting aluminium from bauxite. Collection and transport increase costs however and recycled paper is also more weak. Recycling reduces dependence on raw materials and colour bins can organise materials which are recycled.