Object Redesign: Swim Goggles
Objectives:
- Assess the ecological, social, temporal, and cost implications of a personal object
- Conduct design research on my object, from investigating what’s involved at each life cycle phase to explore way to reduce its negative impacts
- Propose design improvements for the object that are regenerative, responsible, holistic, and deliberate
Project Duration: October – December 2023
Designed For: Sustainable Processes and Materials course, Pratt Institute
Role: Student, Sustainable Design Programme
Overview: An in-depth investigation of my Aqua Sphere Vista swim goggles to better understand the activities, inputs, outputs and impacts across its life cycle. From there I proposed opportunities for redesign: a better system for repair, replacement of problematic materials (e.g. BPA and PU) with alternative materials or with nano-texturing.
The goggles are difficult to repair because the individual parts cannot be disassembled and replaced. Once one part of the goggles breaks or is no longer functional, they are thrown away and bound for the landfill. Since the goggles cannot be easily disassembled, the individual materials are also difficult to put in recycling streams. However, another challenge is that materials such as silicone and polycarbonate are not widely recycled. Given this, there are opportunities to redesign for product life extension and the extended producer responsibility of materials.
Concentrations of BPA have been found in effluent discharges, surface waters, sewage sludge, biosolids, sediments, soils, air, wildlife, and humans. BPA has been studied for over 25 years and is considered an endocrine disrupting chemical for humans and other organisms. Even low dose exposure can alter hormone-sensitive organs. “Safe” doses emphasised by regulatory agencies are being called into question by researchers in recent years, as more studies are showing the negative effects of BPA as a monomer and its persistence as a chemical component of materials that do not easily biodegrade.
Given the climate crisis that we are currently in, we need to cut our reliance on fossil fuels. In the field of design, it will be paramount for people to rethink their material decisions and choose alternatives to materials derived from crude oil and natural gas. Materials, such as plastics, have negative impacts on species and ecosystems across their life cycle, in addition to fossil fuel depletion and greenhouse gas emissions. New materials and methods are now widely available and are worth investigating when designing and redesigning objects.