Life Cycle's Product ·bringing sustainability·

So, this is pretty much the cycle in which all products live in. It all starts from nature, the place we get our materials from since a long long time ago (think about stone, clay, water, wood, even animals in products like leather). This extracted material passes though a series of transformations and processes where it gets all the specs that nowadays we "need" for the following step; production, here the different materials are deformed, reshaped, transformed into individual pieces that most often are assembled with other pieces (very often of different sources of materials) then packed in individuals, then in groups, sometimes even packed with a third or fourth packaging to travel long distances.
The next step is transportation. This is a key process in the view of the ecological impact of a product. It's always important to have in mind that most of the CO2 emissions come from intercontinental transportations. We'll talk more about this in a bit.
This product could travel either to a shop or to a distribution center where is then taken to the buyer directly or where the user will go there to buy it. Either ways, this transportation has to be taken in mind.
The product is then bought, in any type of exchange of goods. Could be money, the most likely option but could also be some other type of transaction.
Finally, the step which is more familiar to us all; a thing I call the "user experience" it means everything that occurs between the object (most likely a tangible product, though could be a service, a system, etc.) and the multiple people that interacts with it. (including, use, maintenance, repairing, etc).
What seems to be the final stage for most of the products in the market (and I say apear because of something that I'll explain after) is the wasting process. It is true though, that many countries and companies have a plan on how to behave towards this "waste" such as recycling.
There are other process in the way that can avoid or retard the product to arrive to this terminate state of becoming a waste. In Australia, for example, as well as in many other countries, there is the culture of trading, re using, re purposing, re loving, etc. This would all enter in the "reuse" category, which means passing directly from one user to another.
Like this, are other processes such as re purpose. This consists in taking pieces or parts of the product back to the production process. Like happens with many electronics because of the value of the inner components.
And of course and most popular; recycle, which means bringing back the materials to the transformation of matter process to have principal matter to re transform and start the process of creation of the pieces and so on.
It's very interesting, in terms of materials, to have in mind the energy and resources of EVERY step on the cycle. Most of the times we think on maybe where it comes from or what's the material (if we question something while we buy).
There are a couple of very interesting books talking about the impact of various materials in both, the initial extraction point and also the recycling process. For example, aluminium is extremely expensive (ecologically speaking) to extract from mines in other to have the primal matter. However, is one of the cleanest (ecologically speaking) to recycle mainly because it melts at a lower temperature compared to other metals and it can be 100% recycled. So...having this things in mind can give us an idea of the impacts of everything that is involved in the process of a product.
Kind of mind-blowing to think about this while buying (or pondering if to buy) an aluminium double wall insulated bottle in Switzerland that has been manufactured in Taiwan with african aluminium which's retailer distribution center is located in Canada. It really means that this bottle is costing the planet waaaaaaay more that you'll pay for it (and I bet is one of the expensive ones).

Talking again about the transportation. It really becomes important to think about all of the places that "a thing" has been in. We might not be aware of all of the transportation that is involved in giving you the chance to find things anywhere and everywhere you're in (assuming that you should be near any civilization to access to this blog) but the truth is that the ocean and the sky are constantly moving thins around to allow us to have so many privileges. Being in Western Australia this last couple of months has made all of that very much tangible and true. (Cause Perth is a very isolated place surrounded by desert pretty much all around and the ocean on the other, more than 10 hours away from any other big city, which means that everything that is here has been days traveling by see, mostly, to be here. This expresses in the cost of living and products more specifically but also, means that there is a high cost environmentally speaking that permits to have tropical fruits around such as other veggies) Also there are many efforts and encouragements to consume and produce local products for the same reason.

My main purpose of writing this post down is just to share my vision of the importance of having an idea of all what is involved in consumption, beyond marketing or even use.

So far, being in seek for a more sustainable way of living, my conclusions are:
1.- Avoid buying new things (bummer) as much as possible.
BUT, buying and exchanging in local markets and flea markets can be a whole experience in it's own. Flea markets are a whole theme on it's own and you've got to be careful of not being asked for more of what you're buying.
There's this global movement called Buy nothing, which beside from saving you some money, creates community with your neighbours which can never be bad considering you share a lot with them, why not get to know each other as well?
2.- Consume locally wherever I'm at (just to reduce the CO2 emission of the product I'm consuming)
This also means expending a bit more sometimes but allows you to have a better suited experience while traveling and usually means get to know the local culture better.
3.- If you're about to buy something, try for this thing to be as high quality as possible.
In terms of fashion, the industry is one of the most polluted ones they're out there. This trend system and season thing makes nowadays clothing to be worn just a couple of times. If you're willing to buy slightly more expensive things, think that they'll last longer with you (creating also an emotional bond that embeds history to the product) and will replace other pieces that would end up faster in the "waste" stage.

This got longer than expected...
Hope it can help anyone with some doubts.
Also, a greener product will have all of this in mind while being design even thought before.
An ever greener one, will close the cycle! That's what today's designer are or should be seeking to do.