INDEED Innovation and Covestro Collaborated to Achieve Practical Circularity in Product Design and Material Selection

INDEED Innovation and Covestro showcased how sustainability principles can be applied in practical, impactful ways.

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, August 23, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The collaboration between INDEED Innovation (https://www.indeed-innovation.com) and Covestro highlights the important role of design in shaping the environmental impact of products. The careful consideration of materials, product longevity, repairability, and recyclability during the design phase enables companies to significantly reduce their ecological footprint.

Christopher Stillings, Head of Color and Design at Covestro’s Engineering Plastics Business Unit, emphasized, "The design phase determines a large part of a product’s environmental impact: from the choice of materials to repairability, from a long and useful product life to recyclability."

One of the achievements of this collaboration was the development of the Imagio^® Configurator, a digital material sampling tool created by Covestro. This tool allows customers to explore Covestro’s expanding range of bio-based, recycled, and high-performance materials. INDEED Innovation designed the physical and digital aspects of the Configurator, ensuring that it embodies circular design principles.

The Configurator integrates a physical rack of color, material, and finish (CMF) samples with digital renderings. It provides customers with a comprehensive experience of Covestro’s materials in industry-specific contexts.

The sample rack was designed to be modular and interchangeable, allowing it to evolve alongside Covestro’s growing material library. This modularity future-proofs the Configurator and extends its service lifespan by enabling easy assembly, disassembly, and repair.

Alex Dumler, Senior Expert at INDEED Innovation, noted, “We incorporate reuse, repairable, lightweight, and other circular design strategies into the Configurator design.”

In the next phase of the project, INDEED Innovation and Covestro explored the practical application of circular design principles by creating a table lamp.

This product was developed in collaboration with Polymaker, a manufacturer of 3D printing filaments, and was produced using post-consumer recycled polycarbonates (rPC) sourced from recycled 5-gallon water bottles.

The lamp’s design was inspired by the unique characteristics of the recycled material, with a Voronoi parametric design that highlights the material’s visual depth under light. The lamp was also engineered to be easily disassembled. Each component can be repaired or recycled, thus embodying the principles of circularity.

To further support Covestro’s Circular Economy Initiative, INDEED Innovation developed a system map that illustrates the life cycle of bio-based, mechanically recycled, and chemically recycled materials. This map provides customers with a clear understanding of these materials’ origins, processes, and applications. It also breaks down complex concepts such as mass balance and bio-circular feedstock, offering accessible insights into the benefits of circular materials.

For more information about the project, feel free to visit Practical Steps Towards Sustainability.

About Covestro

Covestro is a leading player in the polymer materials field. Their products are integral to modern life, from specialty films in your ID card to innovative materials used across key sectors. The company believes that polymers and plastics are essential to daily life and important for shaping a truly sustainable future.

About INDEED Innovation

INDEED Innovation is a global design and innovation firm dedicated to empowering businesses to transition and thrive in a Circular Economy. With a focus on sustainability, the company collaborates with forward-thinking organizations to design and deliver circular products, experiences, and systems that eliminate waste, regenerate natural resources.

Through a blend of design excellence and a get-things-done approach, INDEED Innovation drives measurable impact, helping companies reduce emissions, sustain finite resources, and enhance brand relevance.

Dominic Ma
Indeed Innovation
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