Kate Barclay
Nicolas Baroni
Frankie Ho
Stephanie Hutcherson
Mike Ronquillo
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Product Service Systems - Re-Store
My proposed PSS design focuses on reducing the amount of waste that is being produced by fish markets, focusing on Asian markets where produce is delivered in the morning via either a cooled small 1.5T truck or delivery van. The fresh produce arrives in polystyrene boxes covered with ice. Stores generally place the goods inside the cool room immediately but some bring it out into the front and start cleaning the fish. The fish are washed, gutted, de-boned and heads are often removed and binned along with the polystyrene boxes.
The problem lies with the destruction of polystyrene boxes which adds into landfill. Throwing these out also reduces the space available inside the garbage bin, and my design aids this issue and also provides a system where recycling is also possible.
Anaerobic digestion is a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. It is becoming more commonly used in the Industry to manage biodegradable waste, which reduces the emission of landfill gas into the atmosphere. More common practices with anaerobic digestion are small compost piles at home, or on a larger scale, the production of biogas which can be used directly as cooking fuel, or can be upgraded to natural gas-bio-methane.
What my PSS design provides is a system where it is able to eliminate polystyrene boxes and reduce increasing amount of trash going into landfill. The Re-Store is a polypropylene injected moulded storage unit, which is able to be retrofitted and used with current systems in place and provides a recycling service. It will work with current transportation methods by fitting into the racks inside the vans or trucks during transit. It can also withstand average cool room temps of -10 degree Celsius inside storage facilities.
The Re-Store unit is used as a replacement for the polystyrene boxes, where deliveries arrive in the morning with fresh produce and can be stored inside cool rooms or is ready for the fish to be brought in to be cleaned and processed. During cleaning, all unusable parts of the fish (such as fish heads, bones, scales) can be placed inside the Re-Store tub, and closed up and placed inside the cool rooms awaiting pick up the next day for recycling. The unit is then transported to recycling plants for recycling and once completed; it is then cleaned and shipped back for restocking and delivery of fresh produce to fish markets.
This PSS will aid the reduction of polystyrene boxes and reduce excess trash and promote recycling within the community.
Video Reflection - The 11th hour
The 11th hour is a pretty full on documentary, which investigates about the worlds environment. It goes over all the problems dealing with sustainability. There was quite a lot of information to take in especially how much detail it goes through. Two topics i've found interesting were about both amount consumers and society. More so that people are not willing to change how we think as if we are trapped inside some sort of box making us unable to move forward into something new. Below are the two points i've wanted to address after watching;
Consumers don't understand the issues us designers are trying to address. Reducing the amount of production is usually the number one priority in designing something new.
Many people i know think that when we design something new, its always in producing more and newer stuff thats much better than the old. They simply just dont get it. I have mentioned countless times when people ask me about design is that we are trying to reduce the amount of production in a product whilst increasing value in that product. This i find is what us designers face, the challenge of increasing value in the product.
Many people complain about society not having the technology to do this and that.
This point was raised saying that its not that we don't have the technology to do things, its because we don't have the people behind it. People don't want to change and risk losing their money in investing into something that could actually work. They like to stick with what they have and the conventional ways of doing things. Us designers must think outside the box and this is what i try to do in my own designs. Personally i try to look outside the box in my uni designs and proposals, even though some are quite far fetched but attempt to make them work. I think society really needs to look outside the box as we do have the technology to improve many things but people are not willing to try something new.
These two were the take home messages i thought were interesting. Things that us designers need to think about and see if we can find a solution to work around, especially when society will not change very easily. We designers need to push on and help society to move forward into the next era.
Consumers don't understand the issues us designers are trying to address. Reducing the amount of production is usually the number one priority in designing something new.
Many people i know think that when we design something new, its always in producing more and newer stuff thats much better than the old. They simply just dont get it. I have mentioned countless times when people ask me about design is that we are trying to reduce the amount of production in a product whilst increasing value in that product. This i find is what us designers face, the challenge of increasing value in the product.
Many people complain about society not having the technology to do this and that.
This point was raised saying that its not that we don't have the technology to do things, its because we don't have the people behind it. People don't want to change and risk losing their money in investing into something that could actually work. They like to stick with what they have and the conventional ways of doing things. Us designers must think outside the box and this is what i try to do in my own designs. Personally i try to look outside the box in my uni designs and proposals, even though some are quite far fetched but attempt to make them work. I think society really needs to look outside the box as we do have the technology to improve many things but people are not willing to try something new.
These two were the take home messages i thought were interesting. Things that us designers need to think about and see if we can find a solution to work around, especially when society will not change very easily. We designers need to push on and help society to move forward into the next era.
Video Reflection - Giving Packaging a new life
Watching these series of videos really gave me an insight into how things are being recycled and their processes. It is very interesting to see that in other parts of the world, there are many different approaches into how recycling should be done.
Finding that recycling paper is made out of 60% of recycled materials is just unbelievable Considering the amount of paper used in offices and businesses in society, if Australia is able to increase the amount of recycled materials in our recycled paper, it would definitely benefit the environment in the long run. I didn't know that newsprint can also be produced solely from waste paper until i watched these clips. It is really interesting to find out this is possible as I've always thought that the ink would make the paper unrecoverable due to poison from the inks.
Seeing new sorting systems really give new light into what machines can really do nowdays. Such advanced systems are able to determine different materials by using a reflective infrared system. It would be so effective in sorting out materials on a conveyor belt having seen on the video. The idea of sensors determining what colour fragments are in glass by seeing how much light is absorbed is just simply fantastic! What a clever idea! This really gave me an insight and a few ideas actually into future project that could use this technology.
Redesigned tin cans provides about 40% of raw materials required for steel production in Germany which is enough for 9 billion cans. A can that has been returned to the production hop can be recycled as often as desired without any quality loss. It is very interesting to know that quality can be kept even after recycling. I've always thought that quality would be a dramatic quality loss in products that have been recycled. I think in society this is the issue that many are facing that the quality of recycled products is not great. This message really needs to be shown to society and made known that these products are as good as the norm.
The take home message for me is that, us designers need to look at how the other countries around the world are doing things. Especially with recycling, i've now found that there are many other technologies that i haven't looked into and didn't even think existed. Now having that insight, i really urge not only designers but everyone to look around the globe for ideas.
Finding that recycling paper is made out of 60% of recycled materials is just unbelievable Considering the amount of paper used in offices and businesses in society, if Australia is able to increase the amount of recycled materials in our recycled paper, it would definitely benefit the environment in the long run. I didn't know that newsprint can also be produced solely from waste paper until i watched these clips. It is really interesting to find out this is possible as I've always thought that the ink would make the paper unrecoverable due to poison from the inks.
Seeing new sorting systems really give new light into what machines can really do nowdays. Such advanced systems are able to determine different materials by using a reflective infrared system. It would be so effective in sorting out materials on a conveyor belt having seen on the video. The idea of sensors determining what colour fragments are in glass by seeing how much light is absorbed is just simply fantastic! What a clever idea! This really gave me an insight and a few ideas actually into future project that could use this technology.
Redesigned tin cans provides about 40% of raw materials required for steel production in Germany which is enough for 9 billion cans. A can that has been returned to the production hop can be recycled as often as desired without any quality loss. It is very interesting to know that quality can be kept even after recycling. I've always thought that quality would be a dramatic quality loss in products that have been recycled. I think in society this is the issue that many are facing that the quality of recycled products is not great. This message really needs to be shown to society and made known that these products are as good as the norm.
The take home message for me is that, us designers need to look at how the other countries around the world are doing things. Especially with recycling, i've now found that there are many other technologies that i haven't looked into and didn't even think existed. Now having that insight, i really urge not only designers but everyone to look around the globe for ideas.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Video Reflection: Who killed the electric car?
This film goes through the history of the electric car in production and commercialization. The main car that this film focuses on is the General Motors EV1. It is one of the first Zero-emissions vehicle in the 90's that passed the Californian Air Resources Board. Things didn't go too well this car and was destroyed in the later years. It is probably because that it relied too heavily on battery powered and charging batteries which lead to its destruction due to it to be not feasible in the long run.
This film also progresses and talks about the oil monopoly, how the oil companies were worried about losing the profits if oil was not required as much as we do currently. Considering the consumption of oil that we currently use, if this consumption drops, profits are going to decline heavily causing many business possibly closing down. However, reducing the amount of oil used, i think would be a great step for society. As we are currently running on a limited amount of oil, especially with the world's oil reserves starting to run low, reducing consumption is definitely a positive outcome even though some businesses will suffer. I think that this would play a vital part in those who oppose the electric vehicle as a majority of the world is driven by money.
It also goes on and talks about hydrogen. I really do believe that this is the solution to our problems, as hydrogen is the most abundant mineral in the world and it can be filled up just like a normal petrol car at the servo. Consumers wouldn't have to go out of their way to change their normal day habits as society today is used to the normal procedure of refilling their car if it runs low on petrol. Instead of filling up on petrol, consumers would just be using liquid hydrogen instead. Especially with this car having its own charging station, it really does hit the nail on the head and is currently in production. The car is called the Honda Clarity and is only sold is California because of the lack of hydrogen filling stations but i hope that this will continue around the world.
The take home message would be that the new hydrogen sources would be a temporary fix not a permanent one. I personally think we need to find another source of renewable energy as solar will only get us so far. Either that, solar energy needs to be more efficient in daily use in life.
The take home message would be that the new hydrogen sources would be a temporary fix not a permanent one. I personally think we need to find another source of renewable energy as solar will only get us so far. Either that, solar energy needs to be more efficient in daily use in life.
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