No, the customer doesn’t care–I do! (And so does Mother Nature.) I see what you’re saying, though. Ultimately those workarounds add complexity and reduce overall product performance.
Very interesting, I never thought about that. This could be a good option if it’s feasible. I’m going to dive deeper into this.
New material technologies are always going to be more expensive at first, though… I’m willing to at least investigate the cost for the sake of comparison. As for the other issues, those are certainly a deterrent. Biotech has made huge strides in the last 7 years though, so let’s hope things have changed!
None of those problems are insurmountable, though, are they? And the solutions need to start somewhere. Lawmakers need to do their part to improve recycling programs, and designers need to do their part to design for recycling and educate users. It feels like sort of a cop-out to blame the existing systems and users; we’re all guilty of doing it.