A sustainable design challenge

Let’s start off with an example—something you can look at from all angles, at least virtually. We’ll also introduce a character to champion this example.

 

Our first protagonist is a producer of paper and plastic products for the public, whose name is Priscilla. Her story illustrates many of the concepts we’ll be up against.

 

Priscilla was tasked with a seemingly straightforward question:

 

How can we make our disposable drinking cups greener?

 

Priscilla’s first thought, especially given her background as a polymer engineer, was that this was going to be a game to find the least-impactful plastic polymer with the desired properties… but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

 

First, here’s a picture of the cup in question that Priscilla was starting with:

 

If you’re a SolidWorks user, you can download Priscilla’s model…

 

Now, let’s get down into the details of what environmental impact assessment looks like. We’ll see that examining the environmental impacts of this cup was anything but simple.

 

 

 

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