Recycling is not the solution; Thinking differently about future products

A conversation with Dennis Wilman, editor at Business Insider and Matthew Cockerill

In a world where we all eagerly anticipate the latest smartphone, laptop or car, we can often become fixated on the reuse of materials to make the cycle of new products more environmentally friendly than the previous generation. Recycling can be more sustainable than using virgin materials, but there are drawbacks. It’s time to thinking differently about our future, says independent design consultant Matthew Cockerill.

Cockerill has worked for years for the biggest companies in the world, from Samsung to Ford. He is hired to break product teams out of their patterns of thinking and look unlock new perspectives on business challenges. But smaller manufacturers also seek his help. For instance, he helped Fairphone, bring the world’s first modular, repairable smartphone to market.

This phone is perhaps the best example of the world we should move towards, according to Cockerill. "Recycling is a good idea, but it still requires a lot of energy. A used device is smashed apart, the materials separated, and each must be reduced to raw material (if possible), after which they can be used again to produce a new product. It may be more efficient than extracting these raw materials, but it can be even better," he told Business Insider.

According to Cockerill, we should ideally move towards a regenerative world. One in which we perhaps look beyond new products that are written off after a few years. One in which we consider existing products and how much energy and resources it took to produce them, and how we can ensure that we get more out of this. We should think about products that can last for multiple generations.

Cockerill explains: "Do you really need a new car? Or can you upgrade your current one, not just maintain it so you can use it for many more years? I think there's a future in this. Car manufacturers should think about this while working on new models. I dare say that some forward-thinking teams are already exploring this idea."

Meanwhile, the designer also candidly admits that this is an ideal scenario. It's no coincidence that car brands like Ford, BMW and Volvo all introduced electric SUVs. These are not all built in a modular way, but thankfully, they increasingly use recycled materials. This makes the cars less harmful to the environment. However, we must prepare for a future where more needs to be done. Cockerill knows from experience that ideals hardly have a chance of success in the short term. But they can influence the way we make decisions for the future.

Still, it's this disconnect between the near future and distant future that's the problem we are actually facing. "Thinking too often comes from the product and too little from the human being. Also, we look at the perfect future that has no grounding in the present. And if you look at history, you can see that we humans are not easily changed while the image of the future is full of incomprehensible technology," says Cockerill.

To make his vision more tangible, he uses Amsterdam as an example. We could conjure up an image of the future with futuristic buildings, flying cars and all kinds of beautiful new technologies, but we know we will never get there. "Amsterdam probably has plenty of future plans for the city. If we take those as a basis and build on them steadily and, very importantly, incorporate the daily life of the residents, we end up with a very realistic and perhaps even achievable image," says Cockerill. "If we place a new product in this context, it instantly becomes more understandable, allowing organizations to better determine whether it has any chance of success."

From this perspective, it's perfectly conceivable that we're heading towards a truly circular future. Cockerill suggests that certain electronics have largely evolved. The smartphone has been a rectangular block with a screen for years (the foldable screens could change this), as has the TV, and the laptop also proves most convenient in its current form.

This is where manufacturers have an opportunity. Instead of starting design teams from scratch on a new product after launching the latest phone, they could also think about how new generations of products can be made from existing versions. "If you look at the latest iMac, you could argue that it is at the pinnacle of functionality and design. After 5 years, it is still written off and a new one has to come. But what if Apple takes back that computer after those 5 years and equips it with a new chip, faster memory and maybe new possibilities?" suggests Cockerill. "This would make the production of a new housing unnecessary and significantly reduce the amount of waste products and therefore the recycling of them."

Although this has mostly positive effects for the environment and the end-user, as less needs to be produced and upgrades should theoretically be cheaper than buying a completely new iMac, there is a bigger problem behind the scenes. "Now, Apple itself is already making good progress with the use of more and more sustainable and recycled materials, but even they would have to set up a completely new supply chain and devise a new revenue model that is interesting for them. Simply earning less from the same products is not an option for them."

But perhaps this is a necessary consideration that needs to be made to tackle climate change. Before we get there, it's perhaps most important at this moment that companies dare to look towards such a future. And where Cockerill contributes to this at the world's larger companies, he believes a significant opportunity might lie with startups. They are not yet locked into gigantic supply chains and fixed patterns of thinking, so they can pivot more quickly and implement sustainable changes on a smaller scale."

Whilst car companies are exploring augmented reality in their concept cars, they tend to augment your view with visualisations of screen based information. From BMW's i Vision DEE concept car that utilises the entire windscreen as a screen for different levels of augmented reality. To Audi's Activesphere Concept utilising Magic Leap's AR glasses to view the real environment whilst simultaneously displaying 3D content and interactive elements. These concepts are some way off making their way into production vehicles. And often more focused on create a wow factor as equity plays at trade shows and press briefings rather than focus on relatable day to day driving experiences.

Matthew and Carsten started with the driver not the tech. Understanding that since the birth of the motor car, drivers have used sunglasses to improve their vision. By reducing glare from the sun and reflected surfaces and enhancing contrast and depth perception to discern objects more easily in low light conditions. They have imagined dedicated smart glasses for the car. Stored within the central console and tightly integrated with its vision systems - from sensing, on board compute to perception, planning and control. To bring more immediate and relatable utility and benefits by enhancing drivers vision in three ways.