Present time faces unprecedent sustainability challenges that need to be addressed using different approaches. Design, as a field of study and research is recent, however, it is increasingly being used to tackle a wide range of environmental problems created by a consumerist society. As stated back in 1987 in the commonly known Bruntland Report, “Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” (UN, 1987:15).

This reality is presently more pressing, and studies indicate that consumer needs reached a turning point, in which living beyond planetary boundaries will no longer be possible in a short period of time, endangering the nearest future generations.

With regards to sustainability, the relevance of the Oceans to Earth´s liveability is an undeniable fact, and their pollution by plastics that derive from land-based activities is a devastating reality. Dealing with marine litter, is a fast-growing problem that must be tackled urgently in order to preserve the life of marine species and to mitigate climate changes such as Oceans´ temperature rising and acidity, that ultimately will result in biodiversity loss and  lead to humanity extinction.

For the purpose of this study, the definition of marine litter expressed by the UNEP was adopted. It refers to marine litter as “any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment. Marine litter consists of items that have been made or used by people and deliberately discarded into the sea or rivers or on beaches; brought indirectly to the sea with rivers, sewage, storm water or winds; accidentally lost, including material lost at sea in bad weather (fishing gear, cargo); or deliberately left by people on beaches and shores.” (UNEP, 2005: 3).

In order to address this and other sustainability concerns, Design has now attained a far more important role in the development and creation of solutions that are viable to the planet´s ecosystems whilst maintaining consumers’ comfort levels. It is then conceivable to assess that Design has gained new competences. The definition of Design by the Montreal Design Declaration expresses this statement as it defines Design as “the application of intent: the process through which we create the material, spatial, visual and experiential environments in a world made ever more malleable by advances in technology and materials, and increasingly vulnerable to the effects of unleashed global development.”(WDS, 2017).

Designers then again, are “professionals, who, by education, outlook and experience, are capable of developing new, interdisciplinary solutions to improve quality of life.” (WDS, 2017). This statement reinforces that design processes are always evolving, and innovative and collaborative practices can be considered as examples of good disruptions.

Therefore, this exploratory study aims to look at Design as a catalyst for downstream solutions, that for the purpose of this research are considered to be solutions for plastics that have already been produced and were wrongly disposed in the environment. Thus, it will specifically overview processes that relate to marine plastic debris and their potential reuse in order to create new and sustainable products.

The methodology adopted is based on literature review and a selected number of case studies analysis. State of the art has been considered for literature review and circular economy principles and methods are also being investigated, as they seemed to have had an important role in the development of the products analysed in the case studies.

The preliminary findings indicate that Design as a field of knowledge and practice, can be a catalyst for the creation of new solutions that can help mitigate the negative impact of plastic that ended its life cycle as marine litter. Furthermore, these findings also suggest that Design is a key element in order to achieve sustainability, as it can redesign the life cycle of this new products so that they become viable to be reused or repurposed, maintaining the materials in a closed loop and avoiding the extraction of non-renewable resources.

This is an undergoing study, therefore more work needs to be contemplated in order to obtain more sustained conclusions.

Keywords

Design, Sustainability, Oceans, Plastics, Downstream Design, Circular Economy.

References

UN – United Nations (1987). Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. Retrieved from: https://www.are.admin.ch/are/en/home/sustainable-development/international-cooperation/2030agenda/un-_-milestones-in-sustainable-development/1987--brundtland-report.html.

UNEP – United Nations Environment Programme (2005). Marine Litter, an analytical overview. Nairobi, United Nations Environment Programme.

WDS – World Design Summit (2017). Montréal Design Declaration. Declaration issued by the World Design Summit Organisation.