Can we define sustainability simply as the retention of resources in use, to avoid the need for new resource consumption?

In retail we understand that retaining an existing customer (resource) in use is far cheaper (requires far less resources) than engaging a new one.

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Was the invention of the pencil the beginning of throwaway consumption? 3/4 or more (the timber) of the product is disposable packaging,thrown out without value as it is sharpened. Was there an earlier product where so much of the product was single use packaging?

What if a design company showcased waste in order to eliminate it? Making goods from hard to reuse or recycle materials and instead of calling them 'made from waste' they just called them 'waste'? What if the exposure generated pressured the companies making the waste in the first place to stop?

Re-Tuned Bluetooth speaker kits for acoustic guitars are available now! After months of work and many iterations we are now able to offer our Re-Tuned kits that allow you to convert your unplayed acoustic guitar into a beautiful sounding bluetooth speaker.

Available through retuned.au

My kid's birthday party was today. Yes, reuse takes a little more time than take-make-dispose, but it is worth it. These 34 cups are on their 6th birthday with us, so they represent 204 cups not wasted, but some of these cups are 40+ years old, seeing 100s of uses. That's a lot of waste avoided.

Do we need to reintroduce passion into product design in order to increase the longevity of products?

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Pretending it's not happening and pretending it is someone else's fault won't keep it away:

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03...

Since the industrial revolution we have been gradually trading labour effort energy. We have been finding ways to make products with less labour input by inserting more energy. To do so we have had to make our material inputs more homogeneous, breaking them down into smaller and smaller elements
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It is a privilege to live in a part of the world where there are constant reminders that it is not just for the sake of humanity that we need to pursue circularity and sustainability.

Circular economy is often misunderstood as landfill reduction - less landfill=less resource consumption or greater resource recovery, but this is not accurate. Recycling destroys embodied energy while consuming energy. Reuse, repair, repurposing retain embodied energy. They are the better solution.

How sustainable design should work. Making something that does everything a new product does, while using as few new materials as possible. This Bluetooth Speaker uses a worn out guitar as its acoustic chamber and installs into the guitar. Maximum function and sustainability, minimum waste.