INGENIEUR
Sustainable Product Design
By Ir. Dr Oh Seong Por, Director
Samsung SDI Energy Malaysia Sdn Bhd
I
n the recent century, human activities which
involve mass production of products, high
consumption of energy and other resources with
the intention to bring betterment to mankind have
unprecedentedly changed the ecosystem. It is an
undeniable fact that every product manufactured
has an impact on the environment although the
product may provide convenience to mankind. The
impact may be big or small, immediate or after
lapse of time. Sometimes the impact can only be
understood over some period of application. A
good example is the plastic bag. When it was first
introduced, consumers found it very useful and a
convenient way to carry materials even till today.
However recently, it has been established that
disposed plastic bags contribute contamination
which is harmful to the environment and living
creatures, triggering a ban or reduction in the
usage of plastic bags in many places.
Traditionally many environmental problems
caused by products have been addressed by the
end-pipeline strategies. These business strategies
are normally to produce fast and sell many as long
as there is demand and find ways later to handle
the waste. Even if product usage may affect the
environment, it is normally sacrificed for function
and profit. In the long term, this frequently turns out
to be inefficient since the strategy mostly provides
a temporary remedy once the product has been
created and not a long-term solution to the issue.
This has decreased product sustainability, and if
left unchecked, may endanger the ecosystem. The
product impact can be controlled more effectively
at the design stage. This brings about the
importance of sustainable product design, which
product developers or manufacturers should
apply. As said by Brundtland (1987), “Humanity
has the ability to make development sustainable
— to ensure that it meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of the future
generations to meet their own needs.”
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VOL
VOL 79
55 JULY-SEPTEMBER
JUNE 2013 2019
What is Sustainable Product Design?
Sustainable Product Design is a product design
approach to fulfil needs and acquire reasonable
profit to maintain business, with greater emphasis
on preventing or minimising impact to the planet
through:-
i. Conserving energy and water as well as
protecting air quality
ii. Optimising material usage with no over
consumption and no waste
iii. Selecting materials that are recyclable and
non-hazardous.
iv. Protecting a supply chain that is renewable
and able to sustain resources.
The design should be able to address the
environmental impacts of a product throughout
the complete life-cycle without unduly sacrificing
intended requirements such as function and
quality. This definition is best illustrated in pictorial
form in Figure 1.
What is Sustainable Product Life-Cycle?
Sustainable Product Life-Cycle is a process
sequence of product development starting
from identifying need (or problem) to creating
solution, translating solution into design,
producing products and distributing to buyers
with consideration for product disposal function.
It covers the entire cycle, managing product from
creation for use until beyond usage. In short, it
is the management of waste and impact to the
environment along the entire flow, from cradle to
grave as demonstrated in Figure 2.
The disposal function is integrated in the
product design to ensure that at the end of the
product cycle and when it is scrap, there is no
harmful effect to the environment. Some of the
common product disposal functions are: