“
We aim to encourage ecodesign and sustainable
production and consumption in Wales.
“
Environment Strategy for Wales 2026, Welsh Assembly Government, 2006

Ecodesign Centre wales
established in September 2006
funded by Welsh Assembly Government
our role
build capacity and capabilities in industry, public
sector organisations and higher education so that
effective ecodesign can happen in Wales
facilitate open sharing of knowledge and
experience

what is ecodesign?

design for disassembly design for recycling
design for environment sustainable design
LCA, SLCA, LCI IPP / Producer Responsibility /
WEEE / RoHS (Chinese RoHS) /
Remanufacturing EuP / IPPC / REACH / Packaging
Regs....
what is ecodesign?
ECMA 341
ISO/TR 14062:2002
matrices ethnography
guidelines / handbooks
LiDS strategy wheel
Eco-labels
checklists
Ecomapping Eco-Indicator 99
concept demonstrators Life cycle accounting and costing

ecodesign is just good design

why ecodesign?
80%
of environmental
impacts
of a product or service
can be locked-in at
the design stage

designers interact
between industry and
consumers
industry
design
consumers

designers can influence
how people consume
products
industry
design
consumers

why isn’t every company doing ecodesign?
managerial, process and system barriers e.g.
• lack of managerial and operational resources
• lack of awareness, training, and motivation of employees
• failure of managers to harness the strategic considerations
• competing policy rationales (e.g. environment and innovation)
• actors “can’t or won’t act” - i.e. uncertainty / poor appropriability

what government needs to do
• identify of focus areas for intervention – from an innovation systems
perspective
• create of platforms for the open sharing of knowledge and experiences
• build capacity in existing business support infrastructure
• embed ecodesign and sustainability in higher/further, professional
training, etc
• build capacity in the indigenous design sector
• establishing a culture of policy learning
• facilitate horizontalisation throughout out policy domains

what business and design needs to do
• rethink your drivers
– internal/external
• assess your impacts
– benchmark, LCA, carbon footprint, anything!!
• design them out (or reduce)
• communicate
– brand, marketing, eco-labels, EPD, reports, safety data sheets

thank you