DISEÑO PARA LA ECONOMÍA CIRCULAR: ORGANIZADORES DE ESCRITORIO CON POLÍMERO RECICLADO

The issue of sustainability is increasingly present in discussions about production and consumption. In this context, polymeric materials raise serious concerns, being considered one of the most harmful to the environment due to their slow degradation. However, as a highly versatile and relatively inexpensive material, polymers make up a large part of everyday objects. Due to the concern generated by the often incorrect disposal of their waste, efforts are being made to find ways to change this. One viable approach to mitigating environmental challenges is the adoption of the circular economy, which aims to reintegrate materials into the production cycle. Design, in this context, plays a key role by designing products in such a way as to minimize their disposal as much as possible. This paper presents the development of a line of desk organizers made from recycled polymer, based on circular design principles. For production, post-consumer polypropylene and polyethylene packaging was shredded and hot-pressed to form sheets. Subsequently, the sheets were laser-cut, resulting in interlocking modular pieces for assembling the organizers. Therefore, mechanical recycling was presented as a possible resource for recovering polymers and using them as raw materials for the production of new artifacts in the context of the circular economy.