A circular economy approach for lifecycles of products and services
Design Challenge Description
More sustainable tomorrow - our common goal.
We invite design students, professionals and citizens EU - and worldwide to take part of designing a more sustainable way of living.
The competition seeks answers to the following questions:
How can we make sustainability information of a product visual and easy to understand?
What kind of sustainability visualisation would have an impact on consumers purchasing decision?
The competition will be open for submissions until the 29th September. The winner of the CIRC4Life Design Competition will receive an inclusive* invitation to a CIRC4Life Open Innovation Camp, which will be held in Spain in October 2020.
The CIRC4Life Innovation Camp 2018 held in Krakow was a success, and received more than 500 applications from top-specialists worldwide. Innovation Camp 2020 is a great opportunity to discuss and network with the leading experts of circular economy and several industries.
*Travel and accommodation costs are covered. All meals covered during the Open Innovation Camp working days.
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Would you like to know more?
Click to download the participant guidelines
What does this mean in practise, and what is the challenge?
Imagine yourself walking into your regular grocery store. You pick up all the regular stuff from the shelves, and finally reach the veggie section and prepare to select salad for the César salad. This proves to be a difficult task, as there are tens of options from several producers available. Which one should you choose?
They look all equally fresh, green and tasty, and contain approx. same amount of salad. You notice that some are, of course, more expensive than others. Some products have certifications: organic, Fair trade, vegan…
You think that all of these are useful, but you would like to compare the products based on their sustainability in general. You would like to know, what is the environmental impact of a product you are holding in your hand, especially when compared to the other similar products? So the question is: how can we solve this, how to make sustainability information of a product visual and easy to understand? In addition, how to draw attention to sustainability information of the product if the person buying is not usually looking for this kind of information?
CIRC4Life projects approach
Our project, CIRC4Life, develops an approach, where products’ environmental impact can be calculated and displayed as eco-points.
Eco-points are a way of showing the direct consequences of your consumption habits when buying, reusing or recycling products. By using an app on your smartphone, you will be able to scan a QR-code to see the environmental impact of an individual product, and to make a comparison between similar products.
However, there has been indications that many consumers would not be willing to download and app and use their phones for this purpose. To make the sustainability information easily available for all consumers, it should also be displayed directly on the packaging.
But how to make the sustainability information of a product visual and easy to understand?
And what kind of sustainability visualisation would have an impact on consumers purchasing decision?
Check Results !