Product lifecycle analysis

On the 6th of August in our studio class myself and a group of other students set out to disassemble a domestic iron and assess its components with the intention to improve its lifetime and ability to be disassembled and recycled. In today's society consumers are constantly wanting the latest and greatest products and as a result they are prone to throwing away still functioning products. These products mostly end up in landfill as they are difficult to disassemble and reprocess. Throughout the process of dismantling the iron we discovered just how many parts go into a single appliance and the vast range of materials that are used. As designers we have an ethical responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of the products we design so it was very interesting to explore the ways in which other designers create products and to observe the material choices them make. After 30 minutes we had disassembled thee iron and grouped the materials. We were unable to separate one part due to the ultrasonic welding that had been used in the manufacturing process. After grouping the materials it was evident that we could significantly reduce the different types of plastics being used. Our focus was on the ability to redesign the iron with just 2 plastics (PP and Bakelite). Our group learnt a lot about the make up of domestic products and how easily these products could be converted into more environmentally friendly products allowing them to be disassembled with ease.