Collaborative work on sustainable innovation: case Life cycle analysis of garden tables

Abstract

Introduction. This case study emphasizes the importance of collaborative work between teachers, students and institutions. The idea arose in response to the environmental problems generated by car tires when they are discarded at the end of their useful life, recycling their use in the design of environmentally friendly products. Objective. To design and manufacture a product based on ecodesign methodologies to evaluate and compare environmental damages and impacts by performing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Case study, ecological garden table versus conventional garden table. Development. In the subject of Design Engineering and Innovation in Impact Assessment and with collaborative work with students from the Industrial Engineering program of the Technological Institute of Ocotlán, the manufacturing process was designed to obtain the prototype of the ecological garden table, considering one of the Ecodesign methodologies. Applying the LCA methodology of the ISO 14040 standard and using the SimaPro software, it was possible to evaluate the damage and environmental impact of the tables and thus determine which of them had the greatest impact on the environment. Conclusions. The ecological garden table is 57 % better environmentally than the conventional garden table. Mainly reducing the environmental damage of climate change and the environmental impact of global warming by 64 % each. As well as resource damage by 65 %.