Edexcel A-Level Product Design Sustainability and ethics overview quiz quiz

Recycle into lower-grade material

Rethink and reduce

Recover energy by incineration

Repair when something breaks

Take, make and then dispose of materials just once in a single straight line

Recycle absolutely everything and do nothing else to keep materials in use

Make products as cheaply as possible, with no thought at all given to their disposal

Keep materials in use through reuse, repair and recycling, designing out waste

Raw material extraction, manufacture, distribution, use, end of life

Use, then manufacture, then raw material extraction, distribution and end of life

Distribution, use, manufacture, raw material extraction and final disposal at the end

Manufacture, use, raw material extraction, end of life and distribution at the very end

The energy a product draws while it is running in everyday use by the consumer

The energy used to extract, process and manufacture the materials and product

The total greenhouse gas emissions produced across the whole of the life cycle

The energy recovered when the product is recycled at the end of its working life

Raw material extraction

Manufacture

Use

Distribution

$300$ kg

$1800$ kg

$12000$ kg

$3000$ kg

A sealed, non-replaceable battery that forces replacement of the whole product

A product whose software stops being supported purely by accident, not by design

A part that happens to wear out unexpectedly despite being built to last for years

A product deliberately designed to be repaired easily and to last as long as possible

Permanent adhesive bonds between many different dissimilar materials

Accessible standard fastenings and few, separable, labelled materials

Many different materials all permanently glued firmly together as one

Plastic welded directly onto metal to form a single inseparable joint

The lowest possible price for consumers, whatever it costs the producers

Products are made entirely by machines rather than by people in a workforce

Producers receive a fair, stable price and decent working conditions

The materials in the product are always fully recycled at end of life

It is illegal in most countries and so cannot be relied upon at all

It is exactly the same thing as sending the material straight to landfill

It actively prevents materials from ever being reused in any other way

It still uses energy to reprocess and often downgrades the material

Ensuring safe, fair working conditions and ethical sourcing throughout the chain

Maximising profit regardless of the social or environmental impact it has on others

Hiding where products are actually made so consumers cannot ask questions

Designing products to break quickly so customers have to buy replacements