. Electronic and electrical products account for four percent of Europe 's waste and the rate is growing at three times the speed of any other form of waste . What is sustainable design ? Sustainable design is a reaction to the global environmental crisis . It aims to produce products , buildings and services , which have a low impact on climate change and the depletion of the world 's resources . In industrial design this includes the use of recycled and recyclable materials ; reducing pollution through cutting down the need for transportation , such as by using locally-sourced materials ; making products which can be taken apart once they are discarded so that their parts that can be used again ; and designing goods which use as little energy as possible while they are being made . While many companies are beginning to think of ways in which they can reduce their environmental impact during the manufacture of their products , many sustainable design experts believe that these measures are not enough to reduce the damage the constant manufacture of products is doing to the world 's eco-system . A change in culture `` Daily life is
Remember the days when a washing machine lasted for decades ? If it broke down it could be fixed . But now it seems it is cheaper to discard our broken products and buy new ones . The side effects of our throwaway society are ever-larger waste mountains festering with toxic chemicals and the depletion of natural resources such as rare metals . Europe produced 8.3 to 9.1 millions tons of waste from electrical projects in 2005 . Product makers are responding by designing goods that have a reduced carbon footprint at their point of manufacture , but leading thinkers in the field of sustainable design believe that a radical re-think in the way we consume products is required if we want to halt the growing mountain of toxic waste piling up on the world 's rubbish dumps . Figures recently announced by the U.N. University suggest the production of electronic and electrical products is running neck-and-neck with their disposal : An estimated 10.3 million tons of electronic products were put on the market in the European Union in 2005 , while 8.3 to 9.1 million tons of waste from electrical products found their way into Europe 's rubbish bins