TASK 2B SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

The Story of Cosmetics

 To be honest, I have never used an “organic” cosmetic, skincare or haircare product before mainly because I always thought that the ‘chemicals’ were not as strong as brand name products. I have used all the example of product that Annie Leonard has mentioned: Pantene Pro V, Herbal Essence, Estee Lauder products. I found it really shocking that these products contain cancer-related toxins because they’re very good quality.

When choosing a product in the supermarket, I noticed most of them claim that they did no animal testing. Seriously, I still have no idea how companies would sample cosmetics on animals, also how does animal skin relate to human skin?? But I do know they would’ve tested it on women. I’d be more interested in how many had bad reactions to it and what the other women thought of it. The ingredients list also annoy me a lot, I don’t even know 95% of it besides ‘water’! So I never bother reading the ingredients when I choose beauty products.

Annie Leonard said that industries are making their own safety standards; I do notice that some products claim it has been approved by the FDA. Sure it does make the product sound safe to use, but who bothers checking the standards?? I don’t. So nobody really knows what the safety standards are since they don’t explain which parts of their product qualify the FDA.

Tresemme Nourishing hair care line has been the latest fad because it claims to have ‘lower sulfates’ and even on reviews people have supported this newest and first ever ‘natural’ Tresemme hair wash. I wanted to purchase it since so many people and skincare bloggers claim it’s safe to use. Unfortunately my sister beat me to buying it, and we have a rule that we can’t use each other’s things. Now I have to find another organic hair wash which is typically twice the cost of it drugstore hair wash. (Why do I have to pay more to be organic?)

The design solution for this is simple, packaging designers should include information every day consumers would want to know. If they pass ‘their safety standards’ then the product will be purchased, if it doesn’t, well the companies will have to reformulate their products.

The Story of Bottled Water

Fiji bottled water was my favourite bottled water until Annie Leonard ruined it for me. I remember as a young child, there use to be so many news reports about tap water being unclean and at times contaminated. At that time, my mum stopped me from drinking water from the school bubblers and from then on, she kept buying bottled water for me every day till this very day. We have a monthly supply of inexpensive bottled water at home. We take one every time we go out and bring it home unfinished and are thrown away straight away. My family and I am the biggest contributor to plastic bottle wastes seriously. I wish I had seen this video earlier! I did some research and apparently you can re-use a water bottle for a maximum of 28 days before it starts to mould/grow bacteria.

I personally do not care about if its tap water, spring water or even ‘purified water’ from bottles. I’m now more concerned about the waste now. I’m not sure if restaurants are serving tap water to customers because of the environmental issue or they just don’t want to pay extra money.

 Our university also turned ‘green’ by using tap water bubblers for people to refill their water bottles and for quick refreshment. I am not sure if the design department decided to add this to the campus but this is a very simple and effective little instalment. Every time I walk past it, there is always a person using the bubblers. Designers should really come up with something similar by producing one product that could be shared by thousands of people.


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Throw away your bottled waters and start drinking tap water!

Alicia has mentioned in the comment below that there is a major health issue with children drinking from bottled water and not tap water which already has fluoride in it. The United Press International reported that bottled water isn't causing tooth decay, fluoride is added to our tap water system to slow down the rate of tooth decay. When we drink tap water, the element binds to other minerals in the tooth enamel to prevent the demineralization and promote remineralization of the enamel. However only some countries have adopted the fluoride tap water system.

Picture above:Tooth Decay Trends (12 year olds) in Fluoridated vs. Unfluoridated Countries

TASK 3 ECOREDESIGN

Shan Shan's Blog - Images of Sandwich Press


Danielle Taouk's Blog - Greenfly Online

TASK 2 VIDEO REFLECTIONS

Recycling Aluminium

Yellow recycling bins/bags in Germany are very similar to our yellow Autralian recycling bins. I’ve always imagined there would be many workers picking out the rubbish on a conveyor belt and sorting them into categories. This video proved I was terribly wrong.  I guess technology never asks for sick pay nor pay rises.

Recycling glass

After watching the video, I wish Australia would also introduce these bottle banks. As consumers, we tend to think we have done our part of recycling glass bottles by throwing it into the recycling bin and public glass recycling bins. By using the bottle banks, we could lessen the energy consumption and pollution produced by glass recycling factories.

Recycling Plastic

The Autosort machine that sorts out different plastics was incredible. It really does save a lot of money for the recycling company.  If technology never advanced, it would cost the company a fortune to train workers in sorting different plastics among gallons of rubbish.

Recycling Paper

“Tissues and toilet paper also contain a high proportion of waste paper between 60-70%” That is a very interesting fact! My mum never buys recycled tissues or toilet paper because she has that constant thought that recycled paper is unhygienic. I wonder what her response would be when I show her this video. 

The video also mentioned that most paper manufacturers are recyclers. Designing a product that could be collected, recycled and reproduced would save a lot on new material costs.

Recycling Tetrapak

The process where the glue is dissolved and separates the aluminium and paper reminds me of when I try to get sticky stubborn labels off products. I would always soak it till the paper swell up and erode away while the glue disintegrates, leaving no residue behind on the product. I wonder if the inventor invented the machine had the idea when they were trying to get rid of a label.

Recycling Tinplate

There wasn’t much information in this video, but there was one thing I learnt. Engineers made use of the magnetic properties of steel and incorporated it into machines that can perform efficiently in picking out tin cans.  As a designer, it is beneficial to make use of a material’s properties to make effective products.

Sorting Innovations

I haven’t seen a single worker in this video. Due to technological machine advancement, I really do think there would be much unemployment and the earth being closer to invasion of robots. However, these machines aren’t all bad; they do reap in large sum of money to companies and there would be faster production, more accuracy and fewer errors.


Conclusion
A sustainable designer isn't just one who designs a 'green' product, he/she is the one that understands and corresponds to the entire production process. 


Recycling is one of the important processes in keeping products sustainable, if the designer does not consider the life after death of their product, there would be no flow in the life cycle of the product. Products that are given a second purpose in life after death not only brings the company a good reputation, but it also benefits the Earth by not adding more to the landfills. 


Every sustainable designer must make use of the materials natural properties if they want to shorten the steps in the production cycle, and they must design a product that would be given an infinite value in life. In doing so the designer would be helping the company and consumers to contribute in the making of a sustainable Earth.

Task 1: ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

The estimated size of my ecological footprint is 5.06 Earths. When comparing my results with fellow classmates, I was somewhat proud of my efforts in saving natural resources, however not until I read the part where it said: 

“ To sustain present levels of consumption, we would need 1.50 Earths!"

I was very surprised at how low the number was. It meant I would either have to start using organic candles at home, or switch off the hot water system when my sister is showering. 

I have always been the one that took 20-30 minute showers, turned on all the lights in my room and never thought twice when buying unnecessary products that don’t end up being used much. It was not until this year that I started to become more aware about my future in this world. I wanted to live in a future where there would be ultimately no water shortage or other man-made disasters.  So I have been changing my lifestyle in which I won’t regret even if the world ends during my lifetime, because at least I have done my part in extending the Earth’s existence by a millisecond.