Design for the Circular Economy

“Leave Tracks, No Traces” (Flipsen 2023)

Extending product lifetime and recovering materials at end-of-life is essential in a circular economy. When products cannot be opened, you cannot repair, refurbish, or remanufacture them. Also, the recycling process is hindered by products which are difficult to access or where components are inseparably connected.

[Spark Product Autopsy 2015]

Date
18-19 June 2025

Group size
8-16 participants

Location
Industrial Design Engineering,
TU Delft

Deadline
16 May 2025

To understand all aspects of repair & recycling this masterclass teaches you methods to find priority parts, assess the ease of disassembly of products from an engineering point of view, and addresses material recovery at end-of-life. Besides the deep-dive into product-related aspects and circular ready redesign, we will introduce you to current and future legislation within the EU context.

This masterclass is hands-on and focusses on consumer products (no packaging design). You will work on your own product case study which you will dismantle and analyze for improved fit in the circular economy.

Curriculum

Learning Objectives

During this master class, you will:

understand the different end-of-life value-capture strategies involved in the circular economy;
understand how design can contribute to a circular economy;
apply tools and techniques to assess the ease-of-disassembly, product circularity and potential value capture;
apply different principles and strategies for circular product design;
reflect on ways to overcome the barriers for going circular.

Content

Theory and practice of designing for a circular economy;
Circular product design tools and methods.

Speakers

Bas Flipsen

Bas Flipsen is senior lecturer at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft. His research focuses on sustainability from a pragmatic point of view. He analyses product-service systems with quantitative in-house developed tools and teaches several courses on repair and sustainability.

Ruud Balkenende

Ruud Balkenende is professor of Circular Product Design at the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at TU Delft. He received his PhD on a doctoral thesis about the use of copper as an automotive exhaust catalyst material. In 1990 he joined Philips Research, where he has been active at the interface of technological innovation and business applications.

Since 2009 he has been mainly involved in research and development related to materials scarcity and product recyclability. Linking product architecture and materials science to resource efficiency was the main driver. Since 2013 his activities extended from recyclability to circular economy, i.e. reusing products or parts at a functional level instead of recovering materials.

Programme

Practical Information

How to prepare
This is a highly practical course, in which we will use examples to guide you through the activities. You will apply what you learn to a product of your own. You will be asked to disassemble it and evaluate its circularity using the methods learned. Therefore we ask you to bring a product with you to the course (further details and tips for selecting a product will be shared with all participants).

Costs Master Class

€ 950	standard
€ 850	for members of BNO, KIVI IO, HumanFactorsNL
€ 750	for IDE alumni

Courses are VAT-free
Lunch, drinks, material and book are included

Reduction

€ 100	for each additional Master Class per organisation in 2025
€ 100	if you register before the 1st of March 2025