J. Bolanos Arriola
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Safe Circular Design
Design approaches for safe cycling of resources in a Circular Economy
Today, products are purchased, used, and discarded when they become obsolete, damaged, or no longer desirable. This pattern continues to tie economic growth to environmental losses, leading to increased waste, resource scarcity, and other environmental and societal impacts. Transitioning to a circular economy could in- stead support the preservation of the value of resources and products, eliminating waste and pollution. Achieving this transition requires products to be intention- ally designed to fulfill these requirements. For instance, by extending the useful life to maintain the value of products and materials, by making them suitable for reuse, repair, refurbishment, or recycling. While numerous ongoing efforts focus on achieving this, a significant challenge in circular product design has received limited attention: safety.
By overlooking safety in circular transitions, we risk encountering aggravated or unforeseen risks and limitations when implementing circular strategies. Safety should be explicitly addressed in circular product design throughout all stages of the product lifecycle, enabling materials, products, and their components to be safely cycled. However, awareness, information, and methods for designers to address safety in circular product design are currently limited and absent from the literature. This dissertation addresses this gap by developing methods to support designers in developing products that can safely cycle in a circular economy.
This work is a first exploration of safety aspects in the circular economy from a product design perspective. It examines two angles: first, how product design can influence risks associated with product lifetime extension; and second, how it can influence risks arising throughout the product’s lifecycle from the materi- als it contains. We explored these angles through research on designing for safe non-professional repairs and on mitigating the risks posed by Substances of Con- cern (SoC) throughout product lifecycles. We studied non-professional repairs be- cause safety is often cited as the reason for restricting this group from performing them, thereby limiting the potential of this circular strategy. We studied SoC risks across product lifecycles, as SoC can harm human health and the environment, prevent materials from cycling if contaminated, and, if recirculated, reintroduce contaminants, amplifying existing risks. Both topics take the product as the unit of analysis, but the SoC topic also applies a broader lifecycle perspective. Together, they provide complementary perspectives on safety in circular product design.
This dissertation presents five studies that 1) examine how design influences the safety of circular products and 2) present the development of methods to support designers in addressing safety in circular product design. Chapter 2 focuses on design for safe repairs, while Chapters 3 to 6 are dedicated to SoC risks. At the start of this PhD research, the topic of SoC risks in products was largely unexplored. In contrast, safe repairs had been investigated in two previous projects within our research group, which provided a foundation for this work. For this reason, four chapters focus on SoC, and one addresses safe repair... ...
By overlooking safety in circular transitions, we risk encountering aggravated or unforeseen risks and limitations when implementing circular strategies. Safety should be explicitly addressed in circular product design throughout all stages of the product lifecycle, enabling materials, products, and their components to be safely cycled. However, awareness, information, and methods for designers to address safety in circular product design are currently limited and absent from the literature. This dissertation addresses this gap by developing methods to support designers in developing products that can safely cycle in a circular economy.
This work is a first exploration of safety aspects in the circular economy from a product design perspective. It examines two angles: first, how product design can influence risks associated with product lifetime extension; and second, how it can influence risks arising throughout the product’s lifecycle from the materi- als it contains. We explored these angles through research on designing for safe non-professional repairs and on mitigating the risks posed by Substances of Con- cern (SoC) throughout product lifecycles. We studied non-professional repairs be- cause safety is often cited as the reason for restricting this group from performing them, thereby limiting the potential of this circular strategy. We studied SoC risks across product lifecycles, as SoC can harm human health and the environment, prevent materials from cycling if contaminated, and, if recirculated, reintroduce contaminants, amplifying existing risks. Both topics take the product as the unit of analysis, but the SoC topic also applies a broader lifecycle perspective. Together, they provide complementary perspectives on safety in circular product design.
This dissertation presents five studies that 1) examine how design influences the safety of circular products and 2) present the development of methods to support designers in addressing safety in circular product design. Chapter 2 focuses on design for safe repairs, while Chapters 3 to 6 are dedicated to SoC risks. At the start of this PhD research, the topic of SoC risks in products was largely unexplored. In contrast, safe repairs had been investigated in two previous projects within our research group, which provided a foundation for this work. For this reason, four chapters focus on SoC, and one addresses safe repair... ...
Today, products are purchased, used, and discarded when they become obsolete, damaged, or no longer desirable. This pattern continues to tie economic growth to environmental losses, leading to increased waste, resource scarcity, and other environmental and societal impacts. Transitioning to a circular economy could in- stead support the preservation of the value of resources and products, eliminating waste and pollution. Achieving this transition requires products to be intention- ally designed to fulfill these requirements. For instance, by extending the useful life to maintain the value of products and materials, by making them suitable for reuse, repair, refurbishment, or recycling. While numerous ongoing efforts focus on achieving this, a significant challenge in circular product design has received limited attention: safety.
By overlooking safety in circular transitions, we risk encountering aggravated or unforeseen risks and limitations when implementing circular strategies. Safety should be explicitly addressed in circular product design throughout all stages of the product lifecycle, enabling materials, products, and their components to be safely cycled. However, awareness, information, and methods for designers to address safety in circular product design are currently limited and absent from the literature. This dissertation addresses this gap by developing methods to support designers in developing products that can safely cycle in a circular economy.
This work is a first exploration of safety aspects in the circular economy from a product design perspective. It examines two angles: first, how product design can influence risks associated with product lifetime extension; and second, how it can influence risks arising throughout the product’s lifecycle from the materi- als it contains. We explored these angles through research on designing for safe non-professional repairs and on mitigating the risks posed by Substances of Con- cern (SoC) throughout product lifecycles. We studied non-professional repairs be- cause safety is often cited as the reason for restricting this group from performing them, thereby limiting the potential of this circular strategy. We studied SoC risks across product lifecycles, as SoC can harm human health and the environment, prevent materials from cycling if contaminated, and, if recirculated, reintroduce contaminants, amplifying existing risks. Both topics take the product as the unit of analysis, but the SoC topic also applies a broader lifecycle perspective. Together, they provide complementary perspectives on safety in circular product design.
This dissertation presents five studies that 1) examine how design influences the safety of circular products and 2) present the development of methods to support designers in addressing safety in circular product design. Chapter 2 focuses on design for safe repairs, while Chapters 3 to 6 are dedicated to SoC risks. At the start of this PhD research, the topic of SoC risks in products was largely unexplored. In contrast, safe repairs had been investigated in two previous projects within our research group, which provided a foundation for this work. For this reason, four chapters focus on SoC, and one addresses safe repair...
By overlooking safety in circular transitions, we risk encountering aggravated or unforeseen risks and limitations when implementing circular strategies. Safety should be explicitly addressed in circular product design throughout all stages of the product lifecycle, enabling materials, products, and their components to be safely cycled. However, awareness, information, and methods for designers to address safety in circular product design are currently limited and absent from the literature. This dissertation addresses this gap by developing methods to support designers in developing products that can safely cycle in a circular economy.
This work is a first exploration of safety aspects in the circular economy from a product design perspective. It examines two angles: first, how product design can influence risks associated with product lifetime extension; and second, how it can influence risks arising throughout the product’s lifecycle from the materi- als it contains. We explored these angles through research on designing for safe non-professional repairs and on mitigating the risks posed by Substances of Con- cern (SoC) throughout product lifecycles. We studied non-professional repairs be- cause safety is often cited as the reason for restricting this group from performing them, thereby limiting the potential of this circular strategy. We studied SoC risks across product lifecycles, as SoC can harm human health and the environment, prevent materials from cycling if contaminated, and, if recirculated, reintroduce contaminants, amplifying existing risks. Both topics take the product as the unit of analysis, but the SoC topic also applies a broader lifecycle perspective. Together, they provide complementary perspectives on safety in circular product design.
This dissertation presents five studies that 1) examine how design influences the safety of circular products and 2) present the development of methods to support designers in addressing safety in circular product design. Chapter 2 focuses on design for safe repairs, while Chapters 3 to 6 are dedicated to SoC risks. At the start of this PhD research, the topic of SoC risks in products was largely unexplored. In contrast, safe repairs had been investigated in two previous projects within our research group, which provided a foundation for this work. For this reason, four chapters focus on SoC, and one addresses safe repair...
Journal article
(2025)
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Sagar Dangal, Sonia Sandez, Julieta Bolaños Arriola, Jeremy Faludi, Ruud Balkenende
The validity and reliability of four prevalent reparability scoring systems has been investigated by comparing scores of ten smart phones and six vacuum cleaners versus empirically measured repair times, as well as comparing hypothetical ideal and problematic scenarios. Ease of disassembly methods was also assessed for five smart TVs, four washing machines and six vacuum cleaners. The scoring systems studied were the French Reparability Index (FRI), Joint Research Centre Scoring System (RSS/JRC), iFixit, and ONR19202. Overall scores of products across scoring systems were relatively well correlated, indicating a fair amount of overall reliability. However, the variability in scores for the best and worst case of the same product was often larger than the differences between products. Validity was good for products that are easily repairable, but scorecards often failed to score low when repair is infeasible or too expensive. Repair scores greatly depend on disassembly; since some scorecards count numbers of disassembly steps and other scorecards use proxy times, these two methods were compared against empirical disassembly times for five vacuum cleaners, five televisions, and four washing machines. The proxy time method was found to be highly accurate for all three product categories; the steps method was less so. It indicated the relative ease of disassembly well for washing machines, but not for televisions or vacuum cleaners. Finally, this study proposes improvements to scoring methods, including a limiting factor approach and the development of clearer protocols, to ensure the scoring systems are robust, reliable, and can effectively guide sustainable product design.
...
The validity and reliability of four prevalent reparability scoring systems has been investigated by comparing scores of ten smart phones and six vacuum cleaners versus empirically measured repair times, as well as comparing hypothetical ideal and problematic scenarios. Ease of disassembly methods was also assessed for five smart TVs, four washing machines and six vacuum cleaners. The scoring systems studied were the French Reparability Index (FRI), Joint Research Centre Scoring System (RSS/JRC), iFixit, and ONR19202. Overall scores of products across scoring systems were relatively well correlated, indicating a fair amount of overall reliability. However, the variability in scores for the best and worst case of the same product was often larger than the differences between products. Validity was good for products that are easily repairable, but scorecards often failed to score low when repair is infeasible or too expensive. Repair scores greatly depend on disassembly; since some scorecards count numbers of disassembly steps and other scorecards use proxy times, these two methods were compared against empirical disassembly times for five vacuum cleaners, five televisions, and four washing machines. The proxy time method was found to be highly accurate for all three product categories; the steps method was less so. It indicated the relative ease of disassembly well for washing machines, but not for televisions or vacuum cleaners. Finally, this study proposes improvements to scoring methods, including a limiting factor approach and the development of clearer protocols, to ensure the scoring systems are robust, reliable, and can effectively guide sustainable product design.
Strategies for Dealing with Substances of Concern in Product Design –
A Review of Five Cases
Hazardous substances, or substances of concern (SoC), are present in numerous products and may be the source of significant risks to human health and the environment. In addition, the presence of SoC in products challenges the transition towards a circular economy. By implementing strategies such as reuse or recycling, SoC can be reintroduced in subsequent lifecycles, generating new forms of risk. Addressing SoC in the early stages of the product development process is necessary to mitigate the hazards and risks they may present throughout multiple lifecycles. Product designers hence need appropriate tools and methods to address SoC in products. However, we have observed that current research primarily focuses on the development of non-toxic chemical alternatives and approaches that mitigate the risks of SoC at a chemical and material level (i.e., substitution), lacking the necessary holistic approach to avoid trade-offs or unforeseen consequences. Available design specific methods, tools, and information to address SoC in products are extremely limited and have too a material focus. To address this, we investigated five cases to understand how SoC were dealt with across the product lifecycle and identify mitigation interventions used. We then analyzed the interventions and classified them into five levels of influence, i.e., chemical, material, component, product, and system, and evaluated their respective implications for design, advantages, and drawbacks. Our analysis results in three groups of mitigation strategies that are specifically relevant to product design: Avoid, which entails any modification to the product that eliminates the SoC, Control, in which the SoC remains in use, but its emissions are prevented, and Reduce, which includes any modification that results in the reduction of the volume of the SoC or its emissions. Our findings establish the potential contribution of designers in the mitigation SoC in products and constitute a basis for the development of methods or guidelines to address SoC from a product design perspective.
...
Hazardous substances, or substances of concern (SoC), are present in numerous products and may be the source of significant risks to human health and the environment. In addition, the presence of SoC in products challenges the transition towards a circular economy. By implementing strategies such as reuse or recycling, SoC can be reintroduced in subsequent lifecycles, generating new forms of risk. Addressing SoC in the early stages of the product development process is necessary to mitigate the hazards and risks they may present throughout multiple lifecycles. Product designers hence need appropriate tools and methods to address SoC in products. However, we have observed that current research primarily focuses on the development of non-toxic chemical alternatives and approaches that mitigate the risks of SoC at a chemical and material level (i.e., substitution), lacking the necessary holistic approach to avoid trade-offs or unforeseen consequences. Available design specific methods, tools, and information to address SoC in products are extremely limited and have too a material focus. To address this, we investigated five cases to understand how SoC were dealt with across the product lifecycle and identify mitigation interventions used. We then analyzed the interventions and classified them into five levels of influence, i.e., chemical, material, component, product, and system, and evaluated their respective implications for design, advantages, and drawbacks. Our analysis results in three groups of mitigation strategies that are specifically relevant to product design: Avoid, which entails any modification to the product that eliminates the SoC, Control, in which the SoC remains in use, but its emissions are prevented, and Reduce, which includes any modification that results in the reduction of the volume of the SoC or its emissions. Our findings establish the potential contribution of designers in the mitigation SoC in products and constitute a basis for the development of methods or guidelines to address SoC from a product design perspective.
The transition to a circular economy (CE) is challenged by the presence of hazardous substances, also known as substances of concern (SoC), in products. SoC are used in various applications such as electronics, textiles, and toys, and can cause harmful effects on human health and the environment. The topic of SoC in products has been predominantly studied in the fields of chemical engineering and material sciences to develop alternative chemicals and materials. However, methods to safely deal with SoC from the product design perspective are currently limited. This paper aims to address this issue and presents a first version of a Safe and Circular by Design Method. This method supports designers when (re)developing products containing SoC by mitigating or managing the associated risks, resulting in products that last and are safe for the circular economy. The method is based on the results obtained in a previous study on five historical cases of product-substance combinations (IenW, 2022), which identified and classified design strategies to deal with SoC in products. The method involves guiding designers through a comprehensive analysis of the productSoC combination and its context, considering all stages of the lifecycle(s). The results of the analysis help designers identify action points, informing their decision when selecting and developing mitigation strategies. The method also recommends a list of possible strategies to deal with the SoC. The selected strategies can be qualitatively assessed by the designer to identify their benefits, drawbacks, and tradeoffs.
...
The transition to a circular economy (CE) is challenged by the presence of hazardous substances, also known as substances of concern (SoC), in products. SoC are used in various applications such as electronics, textiles, and toys, and can cause harmful effects on human health and the environment. The topic of SoC in products has been predominantly studied in the fields of chemical engineering and material sciences to develop alternative chemicals and materials. However, methods to safely deal with SoC from the product design perspective are currently limited. This paper aims to address this issue and presents a first version of a Safe and Circular by Design Method. This method supports designers when (re)developing products containing SoC by mitigating or managing the associated risks, resulting in products that last and are safe for the circular economy. The method is based on the results obtained in a previous study on five historical cases of product-substance combinations (IenW, 2022), which identified and classified design strategies to deal with SoC in products. The method involves guiding designers through a comprehensive analysis of the productSoC combination and its context, considering all stages of the lifecycle(s). The results of the analysis help designers identify action points, informing their decision when selecting and developing mitigation strategies. The method also recommends a list of possible strategies to deal with the SoC. The selected strategies can be qualitatively assessed by the designer to identify their benefits, drawbacks, and tradeoffs.
3D Printing for Repair
An Approach for Enhancing Repair
Journal article
(2023)
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A.A. van Oudheusden, J. Bolanos Arriola, Jeremy Faludi, Bas Flipsen, A.R. Balkenende
The availability and storage of spare parts are the main barriers to product repair. One possibility would be to 3D print spare parts, which would also enable the repair of products not intended to be repaired. Besides manufacturers, 3D printing spare parts is an interesting option for self-repair by consumers. However, the digitisation of spare parts for 3D printing is a challenge. There is little guidance on how to make a 3D-printed version of the original part. This paper establishes a framework through a literature review and experimental study to describe how to use 3D printing to produce spare parts for repair. Additionally, qualitative data coding was used to find the influence of previous experience, process implementation, and part complexity on the overall success of the 3D printing for repair (3DPfR) process. Our study showed that the 3DPfR process can be described as an iterative design for an additive manufacturing process that is integrated into a repair process. Additionally, it was found that the incorrect implementation of process steps was the most important predictor of the repair result. The steps that were performed incorrectly the most were synthesising design concepts (64%) and validating print quality (also 64%).
...
The availability and storage of spare parts are the main barriers to product repair. One possibility would be to 3D print spare parts, which would also enable the repair of products not intended to be repaired. Besides manufacturers, 3D printing spare parts is an interesting option for self-repair by consumers. However, the digitisation of spare parts for 3D printing is a challenge. There is little guidance on how to make a 3D-printed version of the original part. This paper establishes a framework through a literature review and experimental study to describe how to use 3D printing to produce spare parts for repair. Additionally, qualitative data coding was used to find the influence of previous experience, process implementation, and part complexity on the overall success of the 3D printing for repair (3DPfR) process. Our study showed that the 3DPfR process can be described as an iterative design for an additive manufacturing process that is integrated into a repair process. Additionally, it was found that the incorrect implementation of process steps was the most important predictor of the repair result. The steps that were performed incorrectly the most were synthesising design concepts (64%) and validating print quality (also 64%).
Opportunities For 3D-printable Spare Parts
Estimations From Historical Data
Conference paper
(2022)
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Karl Samenjo, Alma van Oudheusden, Julieta Bolanos Arriola, Bas Flipsen, Jeremy Faludi
The Sharepair project aims to decrease the waste of electronic and electric consumer products and increase their useful life, by supporting repair communities and scaling up citizen repairs through digital tools. One of the focus areas of this project is to support the discovery or manufacturing of spare parts. With a 3D CAD model of a part and a 3D printer, repair communities could manufacture spare parts. This paper discusses the possibilities of identifying repairs, within repair communities, that can be met through 3D printed spare parts. To understand and identify these possibilities, the repair entries expressed in the Open Repair Database (ORD) from the Open Repair Alliance were examined. The analysis aimed to identify documented examples of repairs that have broken or missing parts, and estimate how many may be suitable for replacement by 3D printed versions. The ORD includes 41,874 repair data entries from 229 repair communities (Repair Café, Restart Project, Fixit Clinic, and Anstiftung) in eighteen countries. Repair entries include information such as product category, brand, model, repair status and notes regarding the repair process and result, all in different languages.
The analysis identified a list of the most commonly repaired product categories, brands, and models, as well as an estimate that between 7.5% and 29% of products in repair cafes that are not repaired today could be repaired with 3D printed spare parts. The analysis also showed that the data and information about the repairs is inconsistent, open to interpretation and often too limited to precisely pinpoint opportunities for 3D printed spare parts. Specifying the product parts that need repair or replacement and their functional requirements would be key to a successful identification. Thus, the study proposes recommendations to improve the process of capturing repair information that specifies the repair needs that can be met by the use of 3D printing.
...
The Sharepair project aims to decrease the waste of electronic and electric consumer products and increase their useful life, by supporting repair communities and scaling up citizen repairs through digital tools. One of the focus areas of this project is to support the discovery or manufacturing of spare parts. With a 3D CAD model of a part and a 3D printer, repair communities could manufacture spare parts. This paper discusses the possibilities of identifying repairs, within repair communities, that can be met through 3D printed spare parts. To understand and identify these possibilities, the repair entries expressed in the Open Repair Database (ORD) from the Open Repair Alliance were examined. The analysis aimed to identify documented examples of repairs that have broken or missing parts, and estimate how many may be suitable for replacement by 3D printed versions. The ORD includes 41,874 repair data entries from 229 repair communities (Repair Café, Restart Project, Fixit Clinic, and Anstiftung) in eighteen countries. Repair entries include information such as product category, brand, model, repair status and notes regarding the repair process and result, all in different languages.
The analysis identified a list of the most commonly repaired product categories, brands, and models, as well as an estimate that between 7.5% and 29% of products in repair cafes that are not repaired today could be repaired with 3D printed spare parts. The analysis also showed that the data and information about the repairs is inconsistent, open to interpretation and often too limited to precisely pinpoint opportunities for 3D printed spare parts. Specifying the product parts that need repair or replacement and their functional requirements would be key to a successful identification. Thus, the study proposes recommendations to improve the process of capturing repair information that specifies the repair needs that can be met by the use of 3D printing.
This guide takes the reader through the 3D Printing for Repair (3DP4R) process. It consists of guidelines and tools to create a 3D printable version of spare parts needed for a product repair. 3D printing a spare part is more than just printing the original part. Instead, it is an iterative process in which the part is analysed, redesigned, manufactured, and tested, in order to come to a final part. This guide will describe these four phases in detail. The guide is meant for anybody who is interested in trying to manufacture spare parts with 3D printing technologies, remakers, tinkerers, volunteer repairers, professional repairers, and everyone who is interested in repair initiatives.
...
This guide takes the reader through the 3D Printing for Repair (3DP4R) process. It consists of guidelines and tools to create a 3D printable version of spare parts needed for a product repair. 3D printing a spare part is more than just printing the original part. Instead, it is an iterative process in which the part is analysed, redesigned, manufactured, and tested, in order to come to a final part. This guide will describe these four phases in detail. The guide is meant for anybody who is interested in trying to manufacture spare parts with 3D printing technologies, remakers, tinkerers, volunteer repairers, professional repairers, and everyone who is interested in repair initiatives.
Conference paper
(2020)
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Francesco De Fazio, Juleta Bolanos Arriola, Sagar Dangal, Bas Flipsen, Ruud Balkenende
The Disassembly Map is a modelling method which allows to visually represent the architecture of a product, describing disassembly precedence and dependencies of components and operations necessary for their complete non-destructive removal. It introduced new standard visual elements to communicate the influence of specific design features on disassembly tools, sequences and time. A first iteration of this method was created during a study focused on a single product group, vacuum cleaners [1]. This paper presents a further development, meant to improve its versatility for application in diverse product groups. This was developed and tested by analysing four products (pressurized steam generator, coffee maker, child car seat and washing machine). This study shows the versatility of the Disassembly Map and introduces a new coding of action blocks, that allows the representation of a more extensive range of disassembly actions.
...
The Disassembly Map is a modelling method which allows to visually represent the architecture of a product, describing disassembly precedence and dependencies of components and operations necessary for their complete non-destructive removal. It introduced new standard visual elements to communicate the influence of specific design features on disassembly tools, sequences and time. A first iteration of this method was created during a study focused on a single product group, vacuum cleaners [1]. This paper presents a further development, meant to improve its versatility for application in diverse product groups. This was developed and tested by analysing four products (pressurized steam generator, coffee maker, child car seat and washing machine). This study shows the versatility of the Disassembly Map and introduces a new coding of action blocks, that allows the representation of a more extensive range of disassembly actions.