Summer school 2024

Single use products may feel like a thing of the past, but more and more they’re creeping back into our daily lives. From take-away coffee cups and food containers to disposable vapes and electric toothbrushes, these products are not only difficult to dispose of, but also contain valuable resources such as batteries. The current design of the products and waste management techniques makes material recovery or reuse of these products extremely difficult. In the UK alone we are currently throwing into landfill 5 million single use vapes every week, along with 156,000 tonnes of medical waste each year – including single use medical masks and syringes.

Although some solutions to this problem are already being developed, there is still a long way to go and the challenges of achieving sustainable circular economy are multifaceted. We believe that this challenge requires a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together product development, waste management, governmental and legislation, and public education to achieve a meaningful outcome.

During summer school 2024, you’ll work with our extensive design community to help mitigate the use of single use products, either by designing and producing new products entirely, or enabling greater material reuse from disposable or single use products.