DEVELOP3D - Technology for the product lifecycle

Last weekend I took a trip to the local recycling centre following a month long attempt to get the garden in some sort of shape for the spring growing season ahead.

In between sorting the scrap metal from the endless amounts of flotsam and jetsam, I had a few broken plastic plant pots to recycle in the bulk plastics skip.

While the ever present council operatives hovered, looking to skim off the good stuff, I looked down and saw the above poking out from the railings that separate you from whatever they do with this stuff. This struck me as a curious thing when considered in the context of design, manufacturing and sustainability.

Consider this: Lego. Age old childhood favourite. One that brings back evocative memories for almost everyone who as a child was lucky enough to have any. My own collection came from my much older brother and was extended on birthdays and Christmases. Now that has passed onto my own 8 year old son.

The eternally pleasurable sound of small hands swirling through a bucket of bricks is something I would imagine most designers and engineers recognise.

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