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Designing products with the environment in mind and to assume some responsibility for the products environmental consequences as they relate to specific decisions and actions executed during the design process. Obviously, the designer cannot bear responsibility for all negative effects; however, the designer can have a significant influence over the environmental impacts that may arise upstream and downstream of his or her own interaction.
A robust Ecodesign approach is one that blends creative excellence, innovation and technical rigour with a view to fearlessly pursuing major environmental and functional objectives. Ultimately, products have a function and a purpose, and this must remain the designers priority. The challenge is to assert product
functionality while simultaneously minimising life-cycle environmental impacts and maximising competitiveness.
One of the critical adjuncts to Ecodesign over the past decade has been incorporation of Life cycle assessment (LCA), sometimes more popularly referred to as cradle-to-grave analysis. LCA is one of the most useful tools in identifying and assessing the environmental aspects and potential impacts associated with a product. The value of LCA is in its ability to map a products environmental impact across its whole life-cycle, including:
- Extraction and processing of raw materials
- Manufacture of the product (and any associated packaging and consumables)
- Use or operation of product
- End-of-life options (e.g. re-use, remanufacture, recycling, treatment and disposal)
A critical distribution or transport phase usually occurs between all the above stages and can have a significant impact on a products life-cycle environmental
impacts.
It is this life-cycle perspective that has formed the cornerstone of Ecodesign and won the support and acknowledgement of progressive governments and corporations,
of the global environment movement and of an ever-growing list of influential designers. In design terms, LCA can perform practical functions as well as more strategic tasks.
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