Jocelise de Jacques

Sustainable Product Development Initiatives in the Footwear Industry Based on the Cradle to Cradle Concept

Following organic processes in nature, the “cradle to cradle” concept sees the waste of a given process as raw material for another. According to this concept, products must be designed in such a way that, in the end of their service life, they can be reused without loss of quality (as technical nutrients) or returned to the environment as biological nutrients and safely decomposed. The main issues, however, are how to move away from the traditional linear system of production (“cradle to grave”) into a cyclic “cradle to cradle” concept, and the identification of parameters that should be considered during the design process in order to achieve real sustainable characteristics through sustainable design and development. The paper provides a review of research and data collection associated with the footwear industry, whose products satisfy a basic human need and are ubiquitous worldwide. After going through a dramatic change in its business model over the last few decades with the advent of outsourcing, today this industry has large economic and environmental impact, highly centralized manufacturing and a complex supply chain, in addition to early but notable efforts on green product development — characteristics that make it a compelling industry to study.Copyright

A study of material composition disclosure practices in green footwear products.

This work is based on the study of pioneering sustainable product development initiatives, and the analysis was guided by the cradle-to-cradle concept, which sees the waste of a given process as raw material for another, just like it happens in nature. Several studies on human factors have focused on factory conditions and workers dealing with product assembly. This research, however, relates more to consumer behavior, product use and end-of-life. The purchase of more environmentally- friendly products, in particular, is heavily influenced by the information made available by the companies. In this scenario, this article discusses three early but notable efforts on green product development, focusing on the disclosure practices adopted by the companies regarding the composition of their products. Research and data collection has focused on the footwear industry, whose products satisfy a basic human need and are ubiquitous worldwide. The use of hazardous materials and chemicals in shoe manufacturing, particularly the use of chromium - a highly toxic element - in addition to toxic solvents and adhesives and non-recyclable synthetic materials can pose serious risks to human health and the environment, even though the consumer usually is not aware of all the relevant characteristics of this kind of product.

A study of the use of the laptop XO in Brazilian pilot schools

This article presents a study on the perception of 63 students and 15 teachers of two Brazilian public school, which took part in the pilot test of the OLPC educational laptop XO. For the students, the XO turned classes more attractive mainly because they changed from individual learning to collective research. The internet, the games and the learning aid are the most important XOs functionalities but gender and age impacted the results. Boys value the laptop for its recreation attribute while girls use the computer for interaction with people and to improve learning at school. Younger students like mostly the games while the older ones value the social interaction and research. The XO design is suitable for students under 6 years old but considered too toyful by the older ones. Rather than an educational tool, the students recognize the XO as a means of communication/entertainment. Despite an initial resistance to the OLPC project, the teachers understand that the introduction of a laptop as a pedagogical tool was worthy, because it enhanced learning, communication and social skills. Technical problems should be override and a sustainability plan should be promoted before the educational project is implemented countrywide.

Occurrence and recovery of small-sized plastic debris from a Brazilian beach: characterization, recycling, and mechanical analysis

Small-sized plastic debris are an increasing global concern, particularly in environmental protected areas. Consequently, tourism-based economy of poor coastal regions is also impaired. Nevertheless, little interest has been shown about recycling approaches of such materials, mostly because of the natural degradation of polymers on these conditions. This research presents the report of the occurrence of plastic debris nearby Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, on the northeast Brazilian coast, aiming to provide a feasible method for recycling. We collected more than 80 samples from the sediment and classified them via FT-IR. Degraded polypropylene samples were selected for blending with virgin material using different concentration rates, and were mechanically tested. Tensile testing results suggest that 5% recycled material concentration mixture has suitable mechanical properties on the elastic regime for applications on new parts. Our findings show that particular interest should be addressed on the recovery of commodity plastic debris from environmental protected areas.