Australian industry embraces sustainable design

Industry peak body, the Melbourne-based Plastics & Chemicals Industries Association (PACIA), has joined forces with the Victorian Government agency, Sustainability Victoria, to promote the concept of design for sustainability.

PACIA ceo Margaret Donnan said design for sustainability, shorthanded to D4S, recognized that the environmental benefits and impacts of any product are “locked in” at its design stage.

Donnan said a new program, D4S with Plastics, involves developing and publishing on the PACIA website 12 sustainability guides between now and March 2009.

She said the guides will be used as reference material by designers and manufacturers to ensure sustainability is taken into account over the full lifecycle of a product – from the materials used to make it, to its potential for recycling.

Topics covered by the guides will include the design of building products and furniture, plastics recycling, packaging design, degradable polymers and the implications of a carbon-constrained economy.

“This program is important because plastics and chemicals are at the hub of every production chain,” Donnan said.

“In addition, product design will increasingly become the biggest opportunity to deliver significant improvement in our response to pressing challenges like climate change and water scarcity.”

Manager of sustainable products and services with Sustainability Victoria, Diana Gibson, said because the D4S guides will be published on the internet, they will be accessible by designers and those in the plastics industry throughout Australia.

She said the D4S with Plastics program highlights the importance of collaboration across every stage of the product chain.

“Our research shows many groups are involved in making decisions about a product’s design, including manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, brand owners, recyclers, consumers and designers,” Gibson said.

“All these groups have the power to influence the design and therefore the sustainability of a product,” she said.

Gibson said the design guides will highlight the long-term environmental and economic benefits of D4S.

“Examples include products being wrapped in lighter packaging so they are more efficient to transport, products such as durable plastic water tanks that enable us to conserve water, and shorter-life products that have been assembled in such a way that they can be recovered and dismantled for recycling,” she said.

For information on D4S with Plastics, see www.pacia.org.au

* Kate Tilley is a correspondent for Plastics News, sister publication of PRW.

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