Designing Plastics That Never Reach the Sea
— Vol.14 Designing Out Waste: Rethinking How Things Begin —
Every time I go out into the ocean, I find small plastic bottles drifting between the waves.
When I pick one up, I always wonder:
How could we design things so that they never end up here in the first place?
Recycling and cleanup efforts matter, of course.
But they deal with what has already happened.
The real question lies much earlier —
can we design products and systems that do not leak into nature at all?
1｜A Society Built to Leak
Plastic reaches the ocean through many routes:
runoff from streets, losses during transport, litter left at beaches.
But underneath these individual pathways lies something deeper —
a society designed to leak by default.
Products have been optimized for convenience and low cost,
with little thought given to what happens after use.
Responsibility for the “end” has been left undefined.
In reality, whether something becomes waste is determined not at disposal,
but at the moment it is designed.
2｜The Idea of “Designing Out Waste”
Across Europe, the concept of Designing Out Waste has gained momentum —
eliminating waste through design itself.
Making materials easy to disassemble.
Designing products that can be repaired or reused.
Reducing or removing packaging altogether.
These are not just technical innovations;
they represent a culture of responsibility embedded in design.
In the Netherlands, some furniture makers now offer “re-designable tables”:
legs and tabletops can be replaced individually, and old parts are collected for reuse.
Instead of “selling and forgetting,” they design a continuing relationship.
This is more than sustainability.
It is a shift in who decides where a product’s story ends.
3｜Opening Design to Society
Designing out waste is not only a task for companies or engineers.
It influences our everyday choices.
Before using something, asking
“Where will this go next?”
can subtly change what we choose.
Refillable containers.
Products that can be repaired.
Objects made to last.
These small decisions send signals upstream,
encouraging designers and companies to rethink their assumptions.
In Japan, refill culture and repair-friendly design are quietly spreading.
These shifts reflect a society beginning to reconsider
where things end — and how they should begin again.
4｜Designing the End to Rethink the Beginning
Eliminating waste is not just about reducing trash.
It means redesigning our relationship with things
by reconsidering how we handle their “end.”
Plastics that never reach the sea
are not just a matter of technology or management —
they require imagination.
Makers, users, and communities each play a role
in envisioning the “next life” of what they create and use.
And that work always begins in a place we rarely see:
the quiet, early moment of design.
From Vision to Action
At Circular E, we support this transition from vision to action.
Whenever a company, municipality, or region begins to redesign its circular model,
the starting point is always the same — design.
Not just product design, but the redesign of entire systems.
That, we believe, is the foundation of “plastics that never reach the sea.”