Eco-design and the Circular Economy
AdvancedThe linear economy of take-make-dispose fills landfills and wastes resources; the circular economy builds reduce, reuse, repair and recycling into the design stage so materials keep circulating. Using design thinking to find waste problems at school and to design, test and improve solutions, anyone can practise the circular economy.
- The linear take-make-dispose economy fills landfills and wastes the energy inside materials.
- The circular economy plans a product's whole life at the design stage so materials keep circulating.
- 3R order: reduce first, reuse next, recycle last; repair also lengthens an item's life.
文體小知識：設計與科技說明文講解產品由設計到棄置的過程，並示範怎樣運用設計思維解決環境問題。
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1Imagine a disposable glue pen: oil is extracted and refined into plastic, a factory moulds it into a pen, it is packaged and shipped, used for a few months, thrown into the bin and buried in a landfill. This take-make-dispose model is the linear economy. Hong Kong's three strategic landfills are expected to fill up within the coming years, and the world generates about two billion tonnes of city waste annually. The linear economy uses a resource once and throws it away — wasting both the material and the energy inside it, while creating pollution.
2The circular economy proposes another path: materials should circulate like the water cycle in nature. The key is the design stage — before a product is made, its whole life is planned: which materials (renewable, recycled), how much of them (Reduce), whether it can be reused (Reuse), repaired when broken (Repair), and dismantled for recycling at the end (Recycle). Examples include modular phones with replaceable batteries and parts, appliances published with repairability scores, and clothes made of fibre from recycled bottles.
3Hong Kong practises the circular economy too: an organic resources recovery centre turns food waste into electricity and compost by anaerobic digestion; glass-bottle schemes reuse washed bottles or remake them into eco-bricks; community recycling points make it easy to hand in sorted waste. For students the closest action is cutting waste at source: carrying your own bottle and cutlery, donating outgrown clothes, joining second-hand markets — turning 'waste' back into 'resources'.
4We can also be designers. Design thinking has five steps: empathise (observe and interview who wastes what), define (state the problem clearly — 'the tuck shop throws away two hundred disposable utensils a day'), ideate (brainstorm solutions together), prototype (build a tryable version from simple materials), and test (trial it for a week, gather feedback and improve). Using this method at school and home, plus choosing durable, repairable products when shopping, is a real contribution to the circular economy.
1Summary 重點摘要
The linear economy of take-make-dispose fills landfills and wastes resources; the circular economy builds reduce, reuse, repair and recycling into the design stage so materials keep circulating. Using design thinking to find waste problems at school and to design, test and improve solutions, anyone can practise the circular economy.
2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary
The take-make-dispose model where materials are used once and discarded.
An economy where materials keep circulating and being reused, cutting extraction and disposal.
A place where waste is buried; Hong Kong's three strategic landfills are filling up.
A product's whole journey from raw material and making to use and disposal.
Using fewer resources and making less waste at the source.
Using an item again without reprocessing, such as refilling your own bottle.
Processing waste into new material, such as turning waste paper into recycled paper.
Fixing a broken product so it lives longer.
A five-step method of empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test for solving problems.
A rough, tryable first version used for testing and improving.
3Step by step Steps
- Step 1: Trace a product's life cycleA life cycle covers a product's whole journey from raw materials, production and transport, through use, to disposal, and every stage consumes energy and resources. Example: a juice carton runs from felling trees for paper, mining aluminium foil, making the carton, filling and shipping, to disposal after drinking; drawing the flow makes each step's environmental cost visible. Tracing the life cycle is the basis for judging whether a product is truly green.
- Step 2: Weigh the cost of the linear economyThe linear economy of take, make and dispose throws things away after one use, leaving waste to landfills and nature. Example: Hong Kong dumps over ten thousand tonnes of municipal solid waste a day and the three landfills will fill up within years; expanding them costs land and pollution. Resources are limited, so this model cannot last; the world generates about two billion tonnes of city waste a year — a problem of the whole planet.
- Step 3: Rank the 3R in orderThe 3R are ranked: reduce first, reuse second, recycle last, because recycling still uses energy. Example: facing disposable utensils, first reduce (bring your own), then reuse (wash and repeat), and recycle last (sort the plastic). Asking first 'can I simply not use this?' is the most effective way to cut waste at the source; the circular economy adds repair and dismantling, so materials keep flowing like nature's own cycles.
- Step 4: Learn eco-design principlesEco-design considers the whole life cycle before a product is even made, cutting later waste at the source. Example: a modular phone's battery and screen can be replaced one by one, so one broken part does not scrap the whole phone — 'easy to take apart, easy to repair' by design. Choosing durable, repairable goods is itself a vote for eco-design; appliances with published repairability scores and clothes of recycled-bottle fibre are real examples.
- Step 5: Know Hong Kong's circular practiceThe circular economy already has real examples in Hong Kong, where waste becomes a resource. Example: the organic resources recovery centre treats hundreds of tonnes of food waste daily, turning it into electricity and garden compost; washed glass bottles can be reused many times. Knowing these facilities shows that sorting waste is the start of the resource loop, not a pointless chore; community recycling points make handing in sorted waste easy.
- Step 6: Apply the five steps of design thinkingThe five steps of design thinking — empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test — are used to design solutions to real problems. Example: finding the class dumps about fifty bottles a day (empathise, define), proposing a water dispenser and bottle corner (ideate), building a cardboard model of the corner (prototype), then trialling a week and counting (test). After the five steps the plan rests on data and persuades the school far more easily.
- Step 7: Support circularity by spendingEvery purchase is a vote for a way of producing. Example: compare repairability scores and packaging when buying and pick durable goods; pass on old books and toys as gifts or second hand, keeping them valuable. When enough people choose durable, circular products, companies follow and change their designs too; carrying your own bottle and utensils and donating clothes are circular actions within easy reach.
4Diagrams Diagrams
5Worked example Example
Example: the school tuck shop throws away about two hundred disposable plastic utensils daily. Using circular-economy ideas, propose one measure each for Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and explain how to carry them out.
- Reduce: agree with the tuck shop to give a fifty-cent discount to pupils bringing their own utensils, cutting demand at the source.
- Reuse: set up a washing station by the tables with basins and racks, so reusable utensils are washed, dried and taken again.
- Recycle: partner with a recycler to place plastic bins, with eco-ambassadors sorting washed plastics after school each day.
- Carrying it out: count the present situation for a week (empathise, define), pass the plan at a student meeting (ideate), build a cardboard model of the station (prototype), trial two weeks and measure the waste change (test), then report to the school to make it permanent.
- Answer: The plan works on three lines — a discount for bringing utensils (Reduce), a washing station (Reuse), and sorting bins (Recycle) — carried out through the five steps of empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test, with statistics proving the effect.
6Common mistakes Mistakes
7Quick check Quick check
Q1What is the difference between the linear and the circular economy?
Q2What are the 3R, and in what order should they be considered?
Q3Give one example of eco-design.
Q4How does Hong Kong treat food waste?
Q5What are the five steps of design thinking?
8Recap Recap
- The linear take-make-dispose economy fills landfills and wastes the energy inside materials.
- The circular economy plans a product's whole life at the design stage so materials keep circulating.
- 3R order: reduce first, reuse next, recycle last; repair also lengthens an item's life.
- Hong Kong's practice: food waste to power and compost, glass-bottle reuse, community recycling points.
- Use design thinking (empathise, define, ideate, prototype, test) to solve waste problems at school.