Greengaged

It is estimated that over 90% of production materials do not end up in saleable products and 80% of products are discarded after a single use. This is causing us to rapidly consume the planet’s resources including metals, minerals, clean water and fossil fuels. Sustainable chemistry technologies are being used to reduce the impact of our lifestyles.

On Friday 19th September, in a disciplinary twist to the Greengaged events schedule, we welcomed Dr Mike Pitts (Manager of the Sustainable Technologies Priority for Chemistry Innovation Knowledge Transfer Network), who held a masterclass that discussed how chemists and designers can work together to reduce the impact of the products we design (and buy).

Opening his talk, Dr Pitts showed us some shocking figures that make up our consumer goods,

• 5g gold ring = 2 tonnes raw materials
• 2g diamond – 106kg raw materials
• 12 wine glasses = 2kg raw materials
• Toothbrush = 1.5kg raw materials
• 1pair shoes = 8000 litres of water
• 1 hamburger = 2400 litres of water (equivilant to that which a dishwasher will use in 1 year)
• 1 coffee = 140 litres of water

In order to gain a greater understanding of materials and product life-cycles, Dr Pitts explained how the next generation of chemists and designers should begin to work more closely with one another. In a summary of his talk, Dr Pitts advised;

• Think about whole life cycle of products.
• Chemists and designers should work and come up with ideas together.
• Practice the three R’s – Reduce, Recycle, Reuse.
• Consider the conservation of resources.

The impressed audience were then given the opportunity to ask questions. The main query raised was how designers can work with chemists? “How can a chemist be so in touch and approachable? How many of ‘them’ are you?” asked one male attendee. “A lot” Dr Pitts responded. “Chemists and Designers are a lot more joined up than we think, but we just don’t normally talk to one another”, he continued.

In his closing statement Dr Pitts left us with a quotation from Albert Einstein, “Today’s problems cannot be solved if we still think the way we thought when we create them.”

You can see more photographs of the masterclass here.