Quick questions on Sustainable design and life cycle: O-Level Design Studies

Life-cycle thinking means considering the environmental impact of a product across its entire life, not just one stage. The life cycle runs from raw material extraction, through manufacture, transport, use, and finally disposal at end of life (sometimes summarised as "cradle to grave"). A designer should ask at each stage: what does this cost the environment, and how can it be reduced? A product that seems green in one stage may be harmful in another, so the whole life must be considered.

The 6 Rs are practical principles for reducing impact, often listed from most to least preferable:

A design's impact comes mainly from materials (extracting and processing them, and whether they are renewable or finite), energy (used in manufacture, transport and use), and waste (what is thrown away in making, using and disposing of the product). Designers reduce impact by choosing sustainable or recycled materials, designing for efficiency and durability, cutting unnecessary material and packaging, reducing weight to lower transport energy, and planning for an end of life that avoids landfill.

Sustainable design is about making better choices at every decision, balanced against the product's other requirements. It might mean designing a product to last and be repaired rather than replaced, using recycled and recyclable materials, removing excess packaging, or rethinking whether a physical product is needed at all. As with all design, there are trade-offs (sustainable choices can affect cost, protection or appearance), so the designer weighs sustainability alongside the other functions, but increasingly treats it as essential rather than optional.