abstract: Today, we use resources faster than they can be replaced. Construction consumes more resources than any other industry and has one of the largest waste streams. Resource consumption and waste generation are expected to grow as the global population increases. The circular economy (CE) is based on the concept of a closed-loop cycle (CLC) and proposes a solution that, in theory, can eliminate the environmental impacts caused by construction and demolition (C&D) waste and increase the efficiency of resources’ use. In a CLC, building materials are reused, remanufactured, recycled, and reintegrated into other buildings (or into other sectors) without creating any waste. Designing out waste is the core principle of the CE. Design for disassembly or design for deconstruction (DfD) is the practice of planning the future deconstruction of a building and the reuse of its materials. Concepts like DfD, CE, and product-service systems (PSS) can work together to promote CLC in the built environment. PSS are business models based on stewardship instead of ownership. CE combines DfD, PSS, materials’ durability, and materials’ reuse in multiple life cycles to promote a low-carbon, regenerative economy. CE prioritizes reuse over recycling. Dealing with resource scarcity demands us to think beyond the incremental changes from recycling waste; it demands an urgent, systemic, and radical change in the way we design, build, and procure construction materials. This dissertation aims to answer three research questions: 1) How can researchers estimate the environmental benefits of reusing building components, 2) What variables are susceptible to affect the environmental impact assessment of reuse, and 3) What are the barriers and opportunities for DfD and materials’ reuse in the current design practice in the United States. The first part of this study investigated how different life cycle assessment (LCA) methods (i.e., hybrid LCA and process-based LCA), assumptions (e.g., reuse rates, transportation distances, number of reuses), and LCA timelines can affect the results of a closed-loop LCA. The second part of this study built on interviews with architects in the United States to understand why DfD is not part of the current design practice in the country. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2018

A ubiquitous household appliance, the washing machine currently sees a fall in its usage life to a mere 7 years, with valuable and finite resources getting lost to the landfill faster than ever. The reason?  Mechanical obsolescence and barriers in repair that make helpless users as far removed from the process as possible. The goal of my degree project is to create long lasting product and service experiences through easier channels of repair and to design deeper partnerships between humans and the appliances that surround them. I want to be part of a rising sustainability movement that aims for a seismic shift in thinking by creating resilient product experiences.  Can the key to a sustainable future be appliances that last for generations?

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In designing products, Design-for-Assembly (DFA) has been successfully used for several decades to reduce lead times, processing times, and equipment overhead. Though the DFA approach results in products which are easy and efficient to assemble, such products may be difficult to disassemble and/or may adversely affect the environment. These environmental concerns resulted in the Design-for-Disassembly (DFD) approach, which stresses ease-of-disassembly and environmental compatibility. However, when applied independently of DFA, DFD underestimates the importance of assembly, and consequently can result in increased assembly time and cost. Design-for-Assembly may thus have negative repercussions on disassembly, and vice-versa. Consequently, in order to minimize assembly/disassembly time and cost and maximize component reusability, designers must implement DFA and DFD simultaneously when designing products. In this research, such an approach is developed. The approach, called Concurrent Assembly/Disassembly-Based Design (CAD²), consists of simultaneously selecting joint types and joining processes for products, based upon both assembly and disassembly requirements. Two objectives are considered: the minimization of total assembly/disassembly time or cost. In addition, a ‘penalty score’ measure is developed to quantify the environmental impact (recyclability) associated with any solution. Total enumeration is used to solve these minimization problems. The CAD² approach is demonstrated and evaluated by comparing it with both DFA and DFD for a limited number of cases. The results indicate that the CAD² approach can give better solutions (total time and total cost) than either DFA or DFD. / Master of Science

This report presents a master’s thesis in Industrial Design Engineering at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. The project was conducted on behalf of Silva Sweden AB during the spring of 2023, with the goal of modularizing Silva’s current assortment of land compasses. The objectives included reducing the number of components and improving repairability while contributing to Silva’s sustainability framework. Additional objectives were to redesign vital components in order to enable a modular system that is implementable in a circular business model, benefiting both customers and Silva. The methodology of this project included researching, collecting data, mapping, testing and evaluating, ideating, developing, finalizing and communicating. Moreover, the focuses of this project have been the development of baseplates, the compass housing assembly and the mirror attachment. The final design and new compass assortment resulted in a reduction of 40 % of the total components. The most influencing factors for the reduction, besides standardization, were an improved housing assembly and a solution that joins the regular baseplate with a detachable mirror through a snap fit. In relation to the purpose of this project, all objectives are concluded as fulfilled as well as the deliverables which are successfully achieved as well. In conclusion, the result of this project provides a new and modular compass design that minimizes the number of components while contributing to the development of a sustainable compass assortment. / Detta är en masteruppsats inom Teknisk Design vid KTH Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan i Stockholm. Projektet genomfördes under våren 2023 på uppdrag av Silva Sweden AB med målet att modularisera Silvas befintliga sortiment av landkompasser. Syftet med projektet inkluderade minskning av antalet komponenter samt att utöka möjligheten för reparation av kompasser, och således bidra till Silvas pågående hållbarhetsarbete. Lösningen bör även möjliggöra ett modulärt system som ska kunna implementeras i en cirkulär affärsmodell till förmån för både kunder och Silva som företag. Metodiken i detta projekt inkluderade forskning, datainsamling, kartläggning, testning och utvärdering, idégenerering, utveckling, avslutning och kommunikation. Fokus för detta projekt varit att utveckla basplattan, nålhuset och spegelfästet. Den slutliga designen och det nya kompass sortimentet resulterade i en minskning på 40% av det totala antalet komponenter. De mest avgörande faktorerna för minskningen var den modulära lösningen som kombinerade den vanliga basplattan med en avtagbar spegel, samt standardiseringen av komponenter i det nya nålhuset. Utifrån de syften och mål som definierades i projektet så påvisar den slutgiltiga designen att alla dessa är uppfyllda. Sammanfattningsvis visar projektets resultat en ny och modulär kompassdesign som minskar antalet komponenter samtidigt som den bidrar till utvecklingen av ett hållbart kompass sortiment.

In recent years, researchers have developed virtual environments, which allow more realistic human-computer interactions and have become increasingly popular for engineering applications such as computer-aided design and process evaluation. For instance, the demand for product service, remanufacture, and recycling has forced companies to consider ease of assembly and disassembly during the design phase of their products. Evaluating these processes in a virtual environment during the early stages of design not only increases the impact of design modifications on the final product, but also eliminates the time, cost, and material associated with the construction of physical prototypes. Although numerous virtual environments for assembly analysis exist or are under development, many provide only visual feedback. A real-time haptic simulation test bed for the analysis of assembly and disassembly operations has been developed, providing the designer with force and tactile feedback in addition to traditional visual feedback. The development such a simulation requires the modeling of collisions between virtual objects, which is a computationally expensive process. Also, the demands of a real-time simulation incorporating haptic feedback introduce additional complications for reliable collision detection. Therefore, the first objective of this work was to discover ways in which current collision detection libraries can be improved or supplemented to create more robust interaction between virtual objects. Using the simulation as a test bed, studies were then conducted to determine the potential usefulness of haptic feedback for analysis of assembly and disassembly operations. The following significant contributions were accomplished: (1) a simulation combining the strengths of an impulse-based simulation with a supplemental constraint maintenance scheme for modeling object interactions, (2) a toolkit of supplemental techniques to support object interactions in situations where collision detection algorithms commonly fail, (3) a haptic assembly and disassembly simulation useful for experimentation, and (4) results from a series of five experimental user studies with the focus of determining the effectiveness of haptic feedback in such a simulation. Additional contributions include knowledge of the usability and functionality of current collision detection libraries, the limitations of haptic feedback devices, and feedback from experimental subjects regarding their comfort and overall satisfaction with the simulation.

Denna kandidatuppsatts behandlar hur demonteringsbara byggnationer påverkar byggbranschen. Syftet är att ta reda på totalentreprenörernas syn på Design for Deconstruction (DfD), eller som det kallas på svenska projektering för demontering, i den svenska byggsektorn. Vidare undersöks utmaningar och problem som DfD ger upphov till och vad som krävs för att införa DfD i byggsektorn. Studien baseras på en kvalitativ metod då vi genomförde åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer med totalentreprenörer. Resultatet grundas på respondenternas svar som innehåller deras erfarenhet, uppfattningar, reflektioner om DfD. Studiens resultat visar att det råder fortfarande okunskap bland totalentreprenörer gällande ämnet men samtidigt ett växande intresse för ämnet. Det krävs större ambitioner från politiker och internationella myndigheter för att utveckla styrmedel som möjliggör projektering för demontering i byggsektorn. Respondenterna ansåg att fördelarna med DfD är möjlighet att förflytta en byggnad, flexibla planlösningar som förenklar renoveringsarbete/ombyggnation, kortare byggtider, återanvändning. Detta kan skapa en ny marknadsföringsstrategi och höja kostnadsvärde för fastighetsägare. Den ekonomiska aspekten visade sig vara det främsta hindret för införande av DfD eftersom respondenterna ansåg projektering för demontering som en icke prövad metod. Dagens byggmodell är inte lämplig för DfD och innovationer krävs. Andra utmaningar som framkom är skepticism till återanvändning av byggmaterial och svårigheter att se de ekonomiska möjligheterna som kommer efter 50–70 år. Anledningarna är bland annat estetik och lastupptagningsförmåga av element samt förvaring. Det behövs också ekonomisk vinning för att fastighetsägare ska välja DfD. De förutsättningar som behövs för att DfD ska införas är ett gemensamt standardiseringssystem, utveckling av BIM-verktyg som stödjer DfD, nya innovationer, öppna byggsystem. Informationsflöde och interaktion mellan entreprenörer och materialleverantörer behöver förbättras för att uppnå den tekniska utformningen med avseende på återanvändningen. Det krävs att staten genomför förmåner i form av subventioner och ekonomiskt stöd för att stimulera införandet av Design for Deconstruction i byggsektorn. Intervjustudien visade att totalentreprenörer utför DfD om efterfrågan och begäran finns hos beställaren. Däremot behöver entreprenörer visa engagemang visas valet av en byggmodell. / This bachelor thesis is about how deconstruction of buildings affect the Swedish construction industry. The purpose with study is to explore how turnkeys’ contractors view of Design for Deconstruction (DfD). This study examines the challenges and problems linked to DfD and what is needed to introduce DfD into the construction sector. The research approach chosen is a qualitative method with semi structured interviews where eight turnkey contractors were interviewed. The result is based on the respondents' experiences, perceptions, and reflections on DfD. The results show that there is a potential for further competence development among the turnkey contractors. More ambitions are required from the politicians and international authorities to develop instruments that enable development DfD in the construction sector. Respondents saw the possible benefits of DfD are opportunities for relocation of the buildings, flexibility that simplifies renovation work, shorter construction times, re-use. This can create a new marketing strategy and increase the value for property owners. Current building model is not suitable for DfD and new innovations are required. Other challenges that emerged is scepticism of turnkeys’ constructors for the recycling of building materials and difficulty to see financial possibilities that will be after 50-70 years. Subsidies and financial support coming from the state may be beneficial for establishment of DfD in the construction sector.

As the world becomes increasingly aware of the need to better care for the environment, innovative business models are helping to counter the damage of the fast fashion system - a phenomenon in the fashion industry whereby production processes are expedited in order to get new trends to the market as quickly and cheaply as possible. Designing products with a focus on their renewability can shift the product-consumer relationship. The closed loop concept of a “circular economy” is emerging as a viable and promising solution to the current linear business model. This study explores the possibilities of a more mindful approach to systems of production and consumption through material explorations using plastic from water bottles, paper from old newspaper and magazines, and fabric leftovers from pattern making within a circular economy. It considers the generative and renewable approaches in redefining how fashion engages with the components and raw materials of the industry. The research demonstrates a circular approach to the production of hospitality accessories in an effort to develop new intersections between products, materials, and consumers. The accessories are designed using discarded, reformulated denim–an abundant and underutilized byproduct of the fashion industry­–to reduce waste that currently occurs every time hotel chains and airlines produce disposable giveaway products from new materials.

Det här examensarbetet ifrågasätter och undersöker vår användning och återanvändning av plaster, och går sedan vidare med att gestalta en sittmöbel i återanvänd och återvunnen plast. Syftet är att lyfta materialen, problematiken, och påvisa att vi faktiskt kan ge materialen fler liv. Plaster har revolutionerat våra samhällen och gjorde det modena livet möjligt, men vår linjära och därför också bristfälliga hantering av dem har gjort att de nu kommit att göra otroligt stor skada. Plaster är material som tillhör den tekniska sfären, men på grund av att de inte hålls där gör de skada i den biologiska sfären och allt som lever i den. Vi behöver ta ansvar och angripa problemet från flera olika håll samtidigt. Återvinning och återanvändning är två av många sätt. Syftet med arbetet är att ge nytt liv till två typer av plastavfall. Dels återvunnen plast (kylskåp och tangentbord) i form av skivmaterial från The Good Plastic Company, och det andra är återanvänd täckplast (engångsalternativ till pressening) från Bullandö marina AB.