Design Skills for Embedding Circularity: Putting Designers Closer to the Realities of Waste
What if designers spent more time seeing what happens to products after we throw them away?
Circular products cannot be designed in isolation.
A new nine-month pilot led by CIWM and URGE Collective, with support from Design Council, WRAP, CEI, Biffa and Decathlon, is bringing designers directly into the world of waste and resource management.
As part of the programme, 15 designers visited recycling, waste treatment, manufacturing and remanufacturing facilities before taking part in a six-week design sprint.
The goal was simple but important: to understand what really happens at the end of a product’s life — from material flows and contamination to sorting difficulties, disassembly and recovery.
Real industry challenges
The participants worked on real challenges, including:
- reducing fire risks from discarded vapes;
- recovering lithium batteries from small electronics;
- dealing with festival tent and tennis ball waste;
- improving packaging for buy-back and resale schemes.
From design to practical solutions
The result? A range of practical ideas, from better battery detection and decentralised waste systems to 3D-printed products designed around local waste streams.
One example is “Mobius”, a proposed digital platform designed to improve data exchange between designers and waste professionals and provide a clearer picture of material flows.
Why does it matter?
💡 The bigger message is clear:
Designing for circularity means understanding what happens after the product leaves the consumer.
The programme will culminate in a symposium on 12 November 2026 at the Design Museum in London.
Programme Details & Updates
Programme Directors
Sophie Thomas
+44 7951 015252
Alexie Sommer
+44 7813 216842
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