Description:

The Cradle to Cradle Sustainable Redesign Challenge aims to challenge designers to redesign products that minimize the amount of waste they produce. We chose to redesign a toy blaster and created our impact statement: We seek to lead and inspire toy companies to consider making more sustainable design choices in order to drive down waste driven by this industry. Our team of five broke down into four teams focused on researching materials, completing the CAD design using Fusion 360, completing the business model and writing for the submission, and completing the layout and design for our submission. To eliminate the biggest problem we have seen using these products, we decided to use mycellium instead of foam for the darts. In addition, we found a plastic that is carbon sequestering, both compostable and recyclable, and designed for our needs. Each component designed was modular and the amount of material used was considered. We ensured that the main blaster component was easy to take apart for maintenance and separation of materials. We structured our business model to reduce waste by repairing and replacing broken parts either to be composted or recycled. The competition received 92 submissions from 151 designers in 17 different countries, competing in four categories, three of which we entered.