Industrial designers should watch 'Giving packaging a new
life' as it gives a succinct analysis into the recycling process of everyday
consumer products and packaging. The series looks at the six main types of
packaging materials used in the world. It details how these are sorted and then
the recycling process they undergo to become 'new' raw materials for other
products. By watching the series, industrial designers can learn what materials
to make their products from to make them more recyclable and have less of a
damaging imprint on the Earth. Some interesting facts I took out of the videos
were:
- waste paper accounts for 60% of material for new paper
- remaining plastic and aluminium in tetrapaks are used for cement
- steel scrap makes up 40% of the raw materials for steel productions
- magnetic fields separate aluminium cans from other waste
- glass bottles need to separated by their colour before being recycled
- plastic packaging used to be incinerated or sent to land fill
The final video in the series looked at the future of
recycling and sorting innovations. The world's first fully automatic sorting
plant is established in Hannover, Germany. A large sieve drum separates most of
the recycled materials based on size and shape. A large magnet then removes the
cans from the remaining recycled waste. Paper is removed in large washing
drums, whilst aluminium is removed using an endocurrent separator.
Three take home messages from this series I'd mention are:
- It is imperative that us as designers and consumers choose to create or purchase products whose materials can be safely and efficiently be recycled. This reduces the amount of raw materials needed to produce other items which is important as we need to sustain our natural resources as the world population continually expands.
- Countries need to get to the same standard as Germany when it comes to the level and promotion of recycling. It seems everyone in Germany is doing their part to recycle as much as they can. In Australia consumers just throw all glass bottles into one bin, whereas in Germany consumers have to sort them by colour. Also Germany has the world's first fully automatic sorting plant.
- More investment and incentives need to occur in some countries to promote recycling. Generally we are doing okay in terms of recycling, but we can do much better. Incentives could include cash rebates for the amount you recycle. This would be aimed more at large businesses that go through a large sum of recyclable materials.
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