Seacourt

Notes on Seacourt lecture

5 dec 1995 they were visited by the Paint Research Association - wanted to do an environmental audit on their business. They did well but there is always room for improvement. They produced lots of waste. Emmisions were audited etc.

306 bins per anum waste created that went straight to landfill.

1997 - Decision to go waterless offset. Installation of first waterless offset printing machine.

1998 - registration to ISO 14001 environmental accreditation. (14001 means ----)

1999- 2nd printer worldwide to be EMAS environmentally accredited. (EMAS is to show ongoing improvement year on) Installation of large 5 colour waterless offset machine, has better results then litho printing.

2001- became carbon neutral. decision to go to recycled paper route, decision to use vegetable oil.  mineral based inks create VOC's. Saved emmisions by 0.5%.

When they went waterless they saved 96%.

2003-switched to 100% renewable energy. cost 20,000 a year more to go to renewable power.

2004- started winning awards. 2008- Emas Uk award.

2009- platemaking water recycled (99.5% water reduction) saves 140,000 litres per year.

As a business their water usage is less then the average family home. 

First printer in the world to become Zero Waste to landfill

2009-Digital printing machines installed. Citri toner (organic based, used far less power then conventional toner).

Had the Queens award for Sustainable Development twice.

2012 - large format production commenced. printing onto bamboo fibre, avoid pvc.

Multi Use Idea

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/06/salad-dressing-bottle-recipe.html

Packaging for Lea & Perrins

http://www.greenbottle.com/

Packaging waste is a huge and growing problem for modern society, with efficient 'green' disposal of plastic waste a particular issue.

Every day the UK throws away an estimated 15 million plastic bottles. While recycling rates are increasing they are still a long way away from 100%, and if plastic is not recycled it will soon find its way to landfill. Once there, because plastic does not biodegrade, it will persist for hundreds of years. Disposal of laminated cartons, the other predominant form of packaging for liquid consumer products, faces similar problems.

GreenBottle is a new type of liquid packaging designed as an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic bottles and laminated cartons. The bottle is made from a paper outer shell with a thin plastic liner inside to hold the liquid. After use, the bottle is easily separable, so that the paper outer can be composted or recycled, and the inner liner recycled where facilities exist. The bottle performs the same in distribution, in the store, and in the home as a regular plastic bottle, but with the advantage of being much better for the environment as it uses much less plastic.

Greenbottle has a much lower carbon footprint than a regular plastic bottle, and has a third of the plastic of a comparable plastic bottle.

The product benefits of GreenBottle in a nutshell are:

• Excellent shelf standout and strong visual and tactile appeal
• GreenBottle is recyclable and the outer shell is biodegradable/compostable
• The outer shell will be largely made of recycled material
• Carbon footprint is significantly less than an equivalent plastic bottle
• Uses less than one third of the plastic of a comparable plastic bottle
• Easy for consumers to understand/use, and preferred over plastic bottles

Research and in-market testing has consistently shown that consumers 'get' GreenBottle, find it easy to use and, given the choice, prefer GreenBottle over equivalent plastic bottles.

GreenBottle has consistently been preferred by consumers to conventional plastic bottles in research in the milk, detergent and juice categories. In a test market in Asda stores, sales of local milk increased significantly, selling at a rate of three bottles to one when sold in GreenBottle versus plastic.

In the milk category, research indicated a positive intention to try of over 90%

Our wine bottles weigh just 55g versus 400g for a glass 750ml bottle and therefore will yield a considerable fuel and carbon footprint saving in distribution, and are lighter for the customer to carry home.

Wine chilled in GreenBottles will stay cooler for longer on the table. Recycling is easier for the consumer and more effective; glass bottles are mostly ground for road aggregate (Recycle-direct.com). Glass production is very energy intensive, and haulage costs are likely to be considerably lower when using GreenBottle in place of glass.

Much of the UK wine market is bottled in the UK; of the 1.2 billion litres sold in the UK, 30% are bottled in the UK.

GreenBottles are designed so that after use they can easily be opened, the paper and plastic elements separated, and each disposed of appropriately:

	GreenBottle is ripped in two by pressing finger under the flap at the top, and pushing all the way down under the flap to open out the bottle.
	The plastic inner can then easily be separated all in one from the paper outer.
	The two separate parts of the bottle can then be disposed of; the paper outer onto a compost heap or into paper recycling, and the plastic inner into plastic recycling where facilities are available.

Guerilla Gardening

Seedbombs might be the coolest new way to combine your aggression with your desire to make things more beautiful.

Earlier this week, I talked about how design is awesome when it makes everyday things like making espresso easier and better for the environment. Seedbombs are better for the environment too, but they’re fun in a different way from the Presso machine. They’re fun in the way that you never thought you’d be able to take a slingshot and a set of small balls and grow wildflowers or ingredients for salsa.

In addition, the seedbombs are made by employees of Chrysalis, a nonprofit in Los Angeles that employs homeless and economically disadvantaged men and women. Seedbombs are not just a story about design and urban ecology, but a story about using sustainable materials and giving jobs and opportunity to people within the community.



FURNITURE
http://there-ply.com/

Task 3 Shoebox

Material/Structure

Inner box - Folded together, no glue follow this link to see how its assembled. Cardboard will be made from 100% recycled material. The rough texture will help the folded box stay together as it creates a natural friction.

Hessian Cover - The open topped inner box will be covered by a natural hessian canvas bag which will be tied at the end with rope. The material is cheap and can easily be printed on with vegetable inks. As well as this It is biodegradable so will not add to landfill. 

Material Sample

Artwork printed on canvas bag

Inside box

Multi Function

Mail icons are printed on the canvas bag to demonstrate to the customer that its intention is to be mailed. An Insert which is placed inside the shoe box gives instructions on placing old shoes in the new shoes place, then giving it back to the store which can then send it to a developing nation. This is to promote and recycle for aid. 

The canvas bag can be used recreationally for the receiver of the shoe box, to carry food or other items. 

Print And Production Finishes for Sustainable Design

TREE FREE PAPER

The base product of paper has always been plant fiber, a raw material that is renewable, environmentally sound, and sustainable, but meeting the demands of mass production can cause serious environmental damage. Deforestation and harmful production processes ensure that many forms of paper are very damaging, both to the ecosystems where it is sourced and where it is processed. The effects of deforestation are well documented but less attention is paid to th ephysical and chemical processing of organic fibers to turn them into paper, such as chlorine bleaching which can pollute the water supply and air.

A new generation of paper is produced from mineral powder to provide a tree-free alternative that requires no chemical bleaching and uses much less water during processing. Bound by non toxic agent, this mineral powder produces a smooth and non fibrous finish. It also offers a surface finish that requires 20-30% less ink due it its lower absorbtion rate. When disposed the paper degrades harmlessly back to its original form. Terraskin is available in different thicknesses and finishes.
Check out website HERE


SEED PAPER

Rough texture and speckled appearence adds to the charms of seed paper. This can actually still germinate and flowers if planted. This is a strong visual display of environmentaly freindly packaging.
Check it HERE


MULTI USE PACKAGING

Lemnis Lighting
Designer: Celery Design

Innovative LED lightbulb packaging. It is manufactured from 100% post consumer waste, but the structural design of the packaging has been devised so that it requires no glue or other potentially harmful chemicals or materials in its construction. This is even harder when packaging a fragile lightbulb, sing breakable items are prone to being over packaged, often a way of compensating for poor design. As th elightbulb is a common commoditity the packaging required a special point of sale to assure the consumer they are buying something of quality. The box neatly unfolds into a modern lampshade that can be reassembled on light fixtures.

WATER, SOY AND VEGETABLE BASED INKS

ECO DESIGN-ECOPRINT

A Crude Awakening

Notes on the film A Crude Awakening

1 barrel of oil's energy is equal to a years work of one man. 

1 cal of food eaten takes the equivalent of 10 cal to make.

The Caspian Sea shows the earliest signs of oil depletion. In 1900, 95% of Russia's oil came from Baku.

In 1914 Venezuela discovered oil.

Oil was mined out of texas by the 1950's.

Producing oil from tar pits takes more energy then what is released. 

The only region today that has not knowingly peaked in oil is the middle east. Saudia Arabia produces around 12 million barrels a day. 

China is now the 2nd largest importer of oil to the USA.

Stock markets are predicted to crash when oil runs low, a depression is then predicted to follow.

TASK 2

The Eco-Design Manifesto
From 'The Eco-Design Handbook' - Alistair Faud-Luke



Design to use locally available materials and resources wherever possible (thinking 
globally but acting locally).

Design to maximise a product/material/service product's benefits to communities.

 Design to encourage modularity in design to permit sequential purchases, as needs require 
and funds permit, to facilitate repair/reuse and to improve functionality. 


Design to create more sustainable products/materials/service products for a more 
sustainable future.


Design to satisfy real needs as opposed to transient, fashionable or market-driven needs.

Design to minimise the ecological footprint of the product/material/service product, i.e. 
reduce resource consumption, including energy and water.

Uses sustainable material such as straw, clay soils, sands, sticks. Each have their own attributes such as wall thickness, thermal properties, speed and ease of materials. Clay Waddle, instead of weaving with sticks they are weaving with straw and clay, which is strong and quick to put up. Straw bale goes into wooden frames, you can curve it, useful if you don’t have a lot of openings. Near doors you change to light straw clay which frames openings. Within the same building you can have a variety of material. Cob is sculpting by hand the shape of the wall with mud so buildings can take on a variety of shapes. You can heat it so it becomes a radiotar for the whole house , it absorbs heat from sunlight which will insulate and keep the house heated and cooled respectively.