The case for transforming the approach to waste, and growing a circular economy; a design perspective.

In recent years, there has been a growing discussion of resource efficiency, the ‘circular economy’ and the economic and environmental benefits of maximising the value of resources beyond the life of a product. This Environmental Audit Committee inquiry was initiated to examine the case for transforming the approach to waste, and growing a 'circular economy'. This is an evidence paper published online at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmselect/cmenvaud/214/21411.htm A full transcript of the inquiry is available at http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/environmental-audit-committee/growing-a-circular-economy/oral/9635.html

Designing for Fast and Slow Circular Fashion Systems: Exploring Strategies for Multiple and Extended Product Cycles

Abstract: This paper reviews work conducted by practiced-based textile design researchers based at the University of the Arts London (UAL) who were part of the multi-disciplinary, Swedish-based Mistra Future Fashion research consortium between June 2011 – May 2015. The objective of the consortium was to research opportunities to advance a more sustainable, yet still profitable, fashion industry. The final stage of the project involved developing practice-based approaches through physical exhibition prototypes, which formed the basis of the project’s online exhibition, The Textile Toolbox (Earley & Goldsworthy, 2014). Here we discuss two of these design prototypes which both explored ‘designing for cyclability’ as a proactive approach to improving the retention of material value within ‘circular fashion systems’. Designing in order to enable fully joined up cycles of material use is the ultimate aim for both approaches, but this ‘speed’ of cycle creates very different challenges on which to make informed and appropriate design choices. The two approaches are deliberately extreme opposites, with ‘short-life’ closed-loop garments explored as complementary to ‘long-life’ user engagement strategies. Both can ultimately be argued to have an ‘extending’ affect on materials in the value-chain; one by keeping products in use over multiple cycles in perpetuity, the other by extending the single use cycle of a product over time. By exploring this polarisation of ‘speeds and needs’ we aim to gain insights into creating an effective circular materials economy, which acknowledges the complex nature of our current and emerging fashion system

Textiles, environment, design (TED): making theory into textiles through sustainable design strategies, pedagogy and collaboration

Abstract The TED research cluster at Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, is a collective of practice-based design researchers whose main concerns are the consideration of the role that the designer can play in creating textiles that have a reduced impact on the environment and to provide a toolbox of designer-centred solutions. The cluster involves both staff and students in projects that apply ecodesign theories to textiles practice, with the aim of generating artefacts and theories that will aid designers in creating „better‟ materials, products, systems and improved social well-being. This essay uses three recent TED projects to illustrate how some of the TED members are creating new textiles, dialogues, and enterprises that are all inspired and guided by the TED cluster and its open, pedagogic and collaborative structure

MultiSheers

'Multisheers' is a project to explore ‘design for disassembly’ and ‘mono-materiality’ as a way to produce ‘interim’ textile products utilising digital manufacturing techniques and the recycling of PET polymer waste

Design for Cyclability: pro-active approaches for maximising material recovery

Paper in Making Futures Vol 3, Interfaces between craft knowledge and design: new opportunities for social innovation and sustainable practice. This work was first presented at Making Futures Conference, Plymouth University (October 25th-26th 2013). Abstract: Design for Cyclability is something of a holy grail for sustainable designers - the promise of a contained and never-ending supply loop of material resources which don’t require further materials extraction from an already depleted global supply promises a more sustainable future. But the reality of designing in this context presents the designer with many challenges. In order to consider a product’s eventual incorporation back into the materials pool, the designer must understand the processes at end-of-life and create products which are truly recyclable. Often, on the journey from raw material to product, previously recyclable resources are transformed and inextricably fused together to create material mixes or ‘monstrous hybrids’ as coined by McDonough and Braungart (2002) which ensure a one-way route to landfill. How can designers begin to approach working with materials differently, designing them with a recycling system in mind at the outset? Suren Jelinski et al (1992) and Erkman (2007) describe a need for this approach in their papers on ‘Industrial Ecology’, even suggesting that new roles will emerge in the future purely for the interpretation of material systems so that we can work better with them. There are two ways to approach material recycling for designers: they can either work with existing material waste streams - a ‘re-active’ approach - or they can design from the outset for the product to be ‘closed loop - a ‘pro-active’ systems approach. Many design approaches to recycling are reactive and could be described as ‘extended life techniques’ rather than true ‘design for recycling’. In order to design fully recyclable textile products, potential barriers torecycling needed to be identified and ‘designed out’ at the production stages. At end-of-life there are many ways to recycle garments/ textiles, and ‘closing the loop’ is obviously the ultimate state. However, it is important to consider what the other options are: re-use; recycling at garment level; recycling at fibre level; recycling at chemical level, and how they relate to each other. This ‘Hierarchy of Recycling’ will be layered over the two approaches described above, to further define design strategies. Although pro-active strategies are a key area for designers to develop, a re-active approach will continue to be needed to address the waste already in the system. Both of these options are vital areas for innovation and will be discussed in the context of design strategy. We need to shift the act of design from a ‘product’ focused activity to a more systems-based approach. This paper will introduce lifecycle thinking as a visual framework for design ideation that allows for a deeper understanding of the key issues and barriers to closing the loop on textiles. By mapping the varied routes around and through the lifecycle we can define new briefs for the designer working in this field. The author has tested and reflected on this model through a series of case studies of designer-maker and industry projects and also through her own studio practice, developing new production techniques for recyclable textiles, towards a more connected materials economy

Laser Welding of Textiles: A creative approach to technology through a reflective craft practice

How can a reflective craft practice progress the development of an emerging production technology for textiles? In an increasingly digital age of manufacture the role of the craft practitioner and particularly hand making processes has had to be reconsidered. There are those that would argue the depletion of goods made by hand simply negates the need for making skills in the development of new products; however, there is an emerging argument that places more value in the potential benefit of craft practice, and particularly making, to bridge between scientific knowledge and the needs of industry. This paper calls upon the research of Dr. Kate Goldsworthy and Helen Paine, who have utilised laser-welding equipment, to explore the benefits of a ‘craft approach’ in assisting the development of an emerging technology, for decorative and functional textile finishing applications. Goldsworthy first worked with the technology in 2008 during her doctoral research, and has used it to develop unique surface finishes for textiles that preserve material purity and can be recycled within a closed-loop system. The inventors of the technology, TWI, fund Paine’s current doctoral research, and wrote the original brief for the project that is essentially technology driven; from which Paine has chosen to investigate new aesthetic and functional opportunities for stretch textiles offered by the equipment. Despite the disparate contexts for the research of Goldsworthy and Paine, their shared background in textile design has led them both to follow a familiar practice-led approach. In this unified approach they have been able to collectively recognise the benefits of working in a hands-on way with the technology. This paper will explore techniques undertaken by both researchers during their investigations and share their insights from working with the laser welding equipment, made available to them by TWI. More widely, the paper will demonstrate the benefit of an intuitive craft approach in the development of an emerging technology

Laser-finishing: a new process for designing recyclability in synthetic textiles

The main aim of this project was to find new tools and finishing techniques for designing recyclable, aesthetic ‘surfaces’ within the context of a ‘closed cycle polyester economy’ (Livingston, 2003). This can be explained as a mechanism of industrial ecology where all waste can be reused in a perpetual material metabolism or system. Of the total textile fibre produced globally, up to 65% is lost, post-consumer, to landfill, incineration or composting. Of this, at least 50% is said to be recyclable (Laursen et al, 2005). In particular polyester, a synthetic fibre group derived from oil, is responsible for as much as 79% of the global synthetic fibre market, at 31.9 million tonnes in 2009 (Engelhardt, 2010), and therefore represents a significant proportion of this textile waste. Polyester is a thermoplastic material and as such is fully recyclable, thus making a closed cycle polyester economy a theoretical possibility. Therefore sending it to landfill is an unnecessary waste of a non-renewable resource. However, if this textile fibre is used without an understanding of its material make-up, this inherent recyclability can be inhibited. Many design approaches to recycling are end-of-life interventions that can be described as ‘extended life techniques’ rather than ‘design for recycling’. In order to design fully recyclable polyester textile products, potential barriers to recycling needed to be identified and ‘designed out’ at the production stages. Current processing and finishing methods such as chemical coatings or lamination, commonly used in the industry’s ever growing desire for performance and functionality, often create barriers to this continuous cycle, by mixing materials with different reprocessing needs into an irreversible state. These complex hybrid materials leave a legacy of waste and prevent inclusion in future fabrications (Allwood et al, 2006). If polyester textile products are preserved as monomaterials during their production they can be returned for reprocessing into virgin quality material over several cycles through chemical repolymerisation. The research set out to find new, technological alternatives to these traditional finishing techniques which could be employed to preserve monomateriality in polyester materials in order to work within the boundaries of a Cradle to Cradle metabolism (McDonough & Braungart, 2002). Laser processing was selected as the most appropriate tool for development, because of its ability to manipulate thermoplastic materials through heat and its potential for flexible control through digital means. The resulting prototypes showed that several finishes which would normally need chemical coatings or adhesives could be achieved without any added agents. In summary, this research contributes to knowledge firstly by proposing a new model for designing ‘Cradle-to-cradle (C2C) textile products’ that can contribute to a future closed- loop material economy and secondly by presenting a new application of laser-welding technology as a tool for the finishing of 100% polyester textiles which can be repolymerised at end-of-life

Afterlife: Designing the End at the Beginning

As efforts intensify to move us from our linear models of making and consumption towards more circular, connected and progressive ones, our relationship with the materials we surround ourselves with will change. How we view and design products, not as static objects but as dynamic and evolving systems, is key to this more sustainable future. Respect and care for the materials themselves coupled with an appreciation of their inherent value leads us to create new narratives and perspectives. Can we design, not only for the new product that is destined to disappoint once its shiny shell has faded and worn, but for all the stages of its life journey (birth, growth, decay and death) ultimately guiding it to rebirth once more? Design has the power to harness these multiple approaches and find ever more creative ways to retell the story of materials and prepare them for their very own afterlife. The concepts and themes on the following pages are as much about the ‘what if’ of this circular material story as the current ‘what is’

Material Ages

Until the start of the 21st century the idea of a truly circular material world seemed far-fetched at best. Yes, we were able to create fibres from a mind-blowing range of sources with ever more incredible qualities, but the ability to turn those same fibres back into high quality materials for future use was not yet viable. The emergence of a commercial fibre-to-fibre recycling technology launched in 2006 changed that reality and promised a step-change in the way we produced and perceived recycled textiles, not as inferior downcycled materials but as regenerative and continuous resources. It’s fifteen years since Teijin’s innovation was set to rock the textile world and whilst their technology failed to reach scale, full circularity is finally beginning to feel within our grasp. And, today, it has never felt more important to stop our precious resources ending up in landfill or leaking fibres into our environment and oceans. It has flipped the practice of materials design and recycling from a reactive approach based on upcycling to a more proactive one based on recovery and regeneration. The essential aim is one of ‘preparing materials for recycling’ in the future. Starting with the end at the beginning. But if we take a longer view on materials development, this is not the only time in our materials history where we can pin-point a fundamental shift in the very nature of our relationship with the resources around us. When we look from this more holistic perspective there are three clear ‘ages of materials’ which can be identified, each providing a world-changing shift in innovation and propelling us forward to the next material revolution. Our ability to use natures resources in ever incredible ways has shifted more in the last 200 years than the previous 8,000 powered largely by our ability to synthesise and chemically transform natures materials in incredible ways. This has provided an abundance of ‘stuff’ to provide for the world’s increasing needs, but of course has not been without consequence. In order to move forward into the next materials revolution with sustainability and equity at its heart we must reconsider our relationship with the materials we use, to respect our valuable resources and retain their value for future generations. Recovery technologies are poised to launch us into the next materials revolution, and in the process reinvent our current material stocks and waste streams as the ultimate ‘renewable resources’ of the future. Article for Viewpoint Colour Issue 09 Styling by Titia Dane (Franklin Till) Photography by Pim To

The Speedcycle: a design-led framework for fast and slow circular fashion lifecycles

This paper reviews a project within the multi-disciplinary Mistra Future Fashion research programme (2015-2019) which aims to provide guidelines for designers to better design circular fashion products for ‘appropriate speeds’. Researchers at UAL have been exploring the seemingly opposed approaches to fast and slow ‘fashion speeds’ through a literature and practice review, alongside workshops with industry and emerging designers to better understand the challenges for designers. In this paper the author reviews key insights from initial design workshops and proposes a framework ‘The Speedcycle’ as way to represent multiple rhythms and speeds within a product’s entire lifecycle – a graphic model that visually demonstrates that notions of ‘speed’ are relevant across all stages of the lifecycle. The intention is to develop the discourse from simply fast and slow, to a level where multiple and proportionate speeds can be understood and ultimately engineered, to improve the circular efficiency of a product