Design Atlas
한국어
⚙ Product & industrial design

Sustainable materials

지속가능 소재

Choosing recycled, renewable, or low-carbon materials — and designing with a single material so the product is easy to separate and recycle at end of life.

Also known as: Eco materials친환경 소재재생 소재
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html
<div class="sm-wrap">
  <div class="sm-swatches">
    <div class="sm-chip sm-recycled"></div>
    <div class="sm-chip sm-bio"></div>
    <div class="sm-chip sm-alu"></div>
  </div>
  <div class="sm-compare">
    <div class="sm-col"><svg viewBox="0 0 60 40" class="sm-svg"><rect class="sm-piece sm-piece-a" x="6" y="10" width="20" height="20"/><rect class="sm-piece sm-piece-b" x="34" y="10" width="20" height="20"/><circle class="sm-screw" cx="30" cy="12" r="1.6"/><circle class="sm-screw" cx="30" cy="28" r="1.6"/></svg><span>mixed — needs sorting</span></div>
    <div class="sm-col"><svg viewBox="0 0 60 40" class="sm-svg"><rect class="sm-piece sm-piece-mono" x="8" y="10" width="46" height="20" rx="3"/></svg><span>mono-material — shred &amp; recycle</span></div>
  </div>
</div>
css
.sm-wrap{display:flex;flex-direction:column;gap:clamp(8px,3vmin,16px);align-items:center;justify-content:center;width:100%;height:100%;padding:clamp(8px,3vmin,14px)}
.sm-swatches{display:flex;gap:clamp(6px,2.5vmin,14px)}
.sm-chip{width:clamp(20px,6vmin,34px);height:clamp(20px,6vmin,34px);border-radius:6px;border:1px solid var(--line);animation:sm-glow 3s ease-in-out infinite}
.sm-recycled{background:radial-gradient(circle at 30% 30%,var(--accent-3) 0 2px,transparent 2px) 0 0/8px 8px,var(--surface)}
.sm-bio{background:repeating-linear-gradient(45deg,var(--accent) 0 3px,var(--surface) 3px 7px)}
.sm-alu{background:repeating-linear-gradient(90deg,var(--muted) 0 1px,var(--surface) 1px 4px)}
.sm-compare{display:flex;gap:clamp(10px,4vmin,24px)}
.sm-col{text-align:center;font-size:clamp(7px,2vmin,10px);color:var(--muted)}
.sm-svg{width:clamp(80px,22vmin,140px);height:auto}
.sm-piece{stroke:var(--fg);stroke-width:1}
.sm-piece-a{fill:var(--accent)}
.sm-piece-b{fill:var(--accent-2)}
.sm-piece-mono{fill:var(--accent-3)}
.sm-screw{fill:var(--fg)}
@keyframes sm-glow{0%,100%{opacity:.7}50%{opacity:1}}

Sustainable materials split into two separate problems: which raw materials to pick, and how those materials get combined. On the raw-material side, the common choices are recycled plastics (rPET, recycled ABS), plant-based bioplastics (PLA and similar), and recycled aluminum — remelting scrap aluminum takes a fraction of the energy that smelting fresh ore does. Recycled feedstock does vary slightly in color and strength lot to lot, though, so CMF (color, finish) design has to account for that variance separately.

On the combination side, the biggest principle is mono-material design. Mixing an aluminum case, silicone buttons, and stainless screws makes a product perform better — more durable, better feel — but at end of life those materials have to be separated by a person or a machine, and if separation costs more than the recovered material is worth, the whole thing gets incinerated or landfilled anyway. Build the same case from one plastic throughout, and assemble it with snap-fits instead of screws (overlapping directly with design-for-assembly), and it can be shredded and recycled with no separation step at all.

Recent electronics regulation (the EU's Ecodesign rules, for one) has started requiring not just a minimum recycled-material percentage but demonstrated ease of disassembly and repair — choosing the right materials is only half of sustainability; designing so those materials can actually be pulled back apart later is the other half.

When to use

When end-of-life recycling needs to be considered from the material selection stage, or when deciding whether to mix materials or stay mono-material.