Does anyone know anything about products designed for disassembly? I read on another message board that Kodak’s disposable cameras are designed to be taken apart and reused. I’m doing some research on modularity in design and was curious if anyone knew of any other examples.
I believe that ross lovegrove designed a chair to be easily disassembled to facilitate recycling. I think it was the spin chair for driade but I’m not sure. The Mirra chair by Herman Miller and the Think chair by steelcase are also designed to be disassembled.
Is the disassembly the predominant aspect of your research or modularity?
While this thread probably belongs on the materials and processes board, this link might be useful:
It talks about BMW’s design for almost complete vehicle recycling. I have been to their facility and seen it. It is pretty impressive.
Toner cartridges are one of the few products that are widely reused on a massive scale. their complexity/cost make them an especially good fit for this use pattern. It’s fairly common in europe especially germany and some of the nordic nations that have particularly strict environmental regulations. most german auto makers have dramatically simplified the number of unique resins in their autos to make recycling at a large scale possible/cost effective.
other than a few specialized industries it is only done as a sort of green wash. like recycline tooth brushes that you can buy at trader joes. you can supposdly send the base of the brush back after youve used it and it will be recycled, but so few are sold and the external costs related to the collection and repurposing of the spent plastic makes it an economic and environmental non starter.