To see or not to see: The effect of observability of the recycled content on consumer adoption of products made from recycled materials

Despite their environmental benefits, products made from recycled materials are not readily adopted. Prior studies focused on improving consumer adoption via product attributes and marketing elements, but the impact of product appearance remains a gap in the literature. This research contributes by investigating how observability of the recycled...

Stimulating waste separation in the Intensive Care Unit: Exploring opportunities for Circular waste streams

This design thesis explored the possibilities of recycling medical waste from the Intensive Care Unit of the Erasmus MC Hospital in the transition towards Circular ICUs. Through a combination of qualitative research methods, such as observations, interviews and waste audit, the medical context and the waste composition were explored. By...

From garbage patch to Ocean Product: A strategy for value creation using ocean plastic, for The Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup is an NGO founded in 2013, with the aim to rid the world’s oceans of plastic by 2040. Collecting this plastic however begs the question: ‘What to do with this waste after it has left the ocean?’To answer this question, first, it is important to look at the material. In my research, I defined the following tiers of ocean plastic...

A Circular Healthcare Economy; a feasibility study to reduce surgical stainless steel waste

The Circular Economy faces a growing interest. The aim of this study is to determine the feasibility of a circular approach towards reusing discarded hospital instruments and stainless steel waste. Secondary, this study aims to identify if any cost savings can be realized by following a circular instrument repair and recycling approach....

Validation of a Risk Application Matrix and Adding Recycling of Scrap Steel to the CERA Raw Materials Certification Scheme

The aim of this master thesis is to improve a raw materials certification scheme by checking and validating the application matrix and the coherent hazards developed for the Certification of Raw materials (CERA) project. The scope of the original application matrix included exploration, mining, physical processing, chemical processing, smelting...

The road to sustainable load bearing glass designs: possibilities and limitations of current glass design with focus on the connections

Despite the increased popularity of the application of load bearing glass in the built environment, its design does rarely address sustainable or circular aspects. This Master’s Thesis analyses what the influence of connections is on the sustainable performance of structural glass and informs about the limitations and possibilities of sustainable...

Recycled Glass Mixtures as Cast Glass Components for Structural Applications, Towards Sustainability

The problem of sustainability represents one of the most important issues that the world has to face nowadays, not only in terms of energy consumption and of the consequent CO2 emissions, but also in terms of material waste streams that end in landfill. 38 million tons of glass waste are produced every year in the European Union and new targets...

Developments and challenges in design for sustainability of electronics

Sustainability of electronic products until recently mainly focused on improving the energy efficiency. Recently, resource efficiency has become of growing importance. Due to the use of relatively small amounts of many valuable and scarce materials, often intimately mixed, the design of electronic products deserves specific attention. From a...

Textiles4Life: Design of disaster relief equipment with discarded textiles

The thesis explores the potential of recycling textiles to be used as a solution for disaster relief in winter areas. The followed process is a systematic method where the required areas are researched, to finally achieve three potential solutions. The firs solution is a scarf with a hood sewed into it. It can be wrapped around the neck, and it...

To Recycle or Not to Recycle? An Intergenerational Approach to Nuclear Fuel Cycles

AbstractThis paper approaches the choice between the open and closed nuclear fuel cycles as a matter of intergenerational justice, by revealing the value conflicts in the production of nuclear energy. The closed fuel cycle improve sustainability in terms of the supply certainty of uranium and involves less long-term radiological risks and...