ewald neuhofer

Reuse / Reduce / Recycle … Regrind ?

Circularity is not binary.
It comes in layers and certain cases have to be compared. In this research project the thesis
“Are products of the early 70´s and 80´s made for a circular economy? If they are, why?” had to be tested.

Analysis

For every scenario possible in circular economy a good soil has to be set up. In this case analysis is used to create knowledge of materials, assembly trees and internal function of parts. All this can be used in designing new products ready for circular evonomy later.

Conclusions can be made with certain tools. If a product needs maintanence or is set up for remanufacturing or refurbishing it is very important to create a accsessible and easy architecure.
This means to kick out “standard´s” of linear economy like snatches or the unapproachability of parts.

Life Cycle Assessment is part of the circular game.

By comparing different circular scenarios it´s possible to learn what would have been better if this product hast to be set up for circular economy. In a research project it is possible to model these scenarios by setting up numbers. This creates knowledge for future projects.
The outcome was interesting and promising for questioning the initial theory. There is a high potential of value capturing possible by refrubishing or remanufacturing the grinder.

The theory was partly correct. As people had to assemble most of the products this leads to a easy architecture. In these decades it was also a broad agreement to set up a product which is accessible and easy to maintain. This seems to be the opposite nowadays.

so, reGrind ?

In the renderings the product was updated by using regrinded material. If the mould´s would still exist, this is waht the product looks like with state of the art materials.

Another outcome – as the formal approach is very minimalistic and reduced the grinder would still look timeless an ready for a infinite circle.