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CIWM (Chartered Institution of Wastes Management) and URGE Collective, a creative industries collective dedicated to system change, have announced many of the UK’s leading waste management companies, including Biffa, SUEZ and DS Smith, will be supporting their Design Skills for Embedding Circularity initiative.
Launched in partnership with Design Council CEI and WRAP, the pilot programme looks to strengthen links and secure positive sustained communication and collaboration between the design and waste sectors. It aims to identify practical ways to design out waste, and design-in circularity in specific products and services, developing methodology for hands-on professional development in product, packaging and systems design focused on practical, systems-based circular processes.
A core element is field experience across a range of industrial facilities, including MRFs, energy-from-waste plants, specialised treatment sites, manufacturers and regenerative businesses, where designers will work alongside waste and resources experts to see first-hand how materials are processed and where design can improve circular outcomes.
These immersive visits will include many of the waste sector’s leading names with BIFFA, DS Smith, Sherbourne Recycling, SUEZ, SWEEEP, Tech Takeback and others opening their doors. To understand current approaches to both technical and biological cycles the programme will also visit Elvis & Kresse, the circular luxury product company that recovers disused fire hoses, at their workshop and regenerative farm in Kent.
Sophie Thomas OBE FCIWM – Co-Director, Design Skills for Embedding Circularity said: “Waste is a design flaw and it’s really obvious when you see your product in the waste pile in front of you. Designers need and want to understand how their product ends up in waste streams and what changes they can make to ensure circularity through repair, reuse or material recovery. This programme is built around seeing is believing – uncovering processes and knowledge otherwise hidden that we hope will open up opportunities for innovation, redesign and collaboration between the waste and design sectors.”
The programme will also include expert-led sessions, action-based learning, an innovation design sprint, and symposium to give the participating designers direct, practical insight into material flows, recovery constraints and opportunities for design intervention. Workshops and expert sessions will cover circular design principles and tools, carbon science, material impacts, reuse and repair strategies, product-service systems, packaging challenges, waste-sorting technologies, and evolving policy and regulation both in the UK and Europe.
The Design cohort has been selected through a process of application and interviews and represents the diverse design community in the UK. Learning is practice-led and participants will apply new insights in a focused design sprint addressing end-of-life challenges with the outcomes will be presented at a final symposium.
A key output of the scheme will be to build a case for government for circularity collaboration and green skills education and findings will be presented back to the sectors and government in Autumn.
The programme is actively searching for interested partners and supporters to find out more on the CIWM website: Design Skills for Embedding Circularity or visit www.urgecollective.com/design-skills-for-embedding-circularity/
