Senior Academic Leader Cris de Groot recently joined a panel discussion on Sustainable Design and the Circular Economy, hosted by New Zealand Education and the Emerging Futures Summit. The session explored the concepts of sustainable design theory and showcased some of New Zealand’s most exciting examples of waste-free, do no harm design.
The crux of the discussion was the question of How do we turn waste into value? The linear economy mode of consumption, take-make-use-dispose is now outdated and other more sustainable models are emerging such as the circular economy. Designers are critical for the success of the new model.
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Cris talked about sustainability as a focus in product design, and how his role is to stimulate the next generation of creative and sustainable thinkers and makers. “The circular economy makes a whole new world of new materials possible”, he said.
Joining Cris in the discussion were Jason Herbert, Mint Innovation, which develops innovative approaches to metal recovery using biometallurgy; and Anna Yallop, General Manager, BioResource Processing Alliance, a Government-funded R&D fund that takes biological waste and turns it into high-value products for export. The
discussion was hosted by Tim Hatherley
-Greene.