Glucose monitor and insulin pump concept is a sustainable way to keep tabs on diabetes

Posted on 02/05/2024 by JC Torres

Of the many disorders that afflict people today, diabetes is perhaps the literally most painful one to monitor and maintain. Even with advancements in medical technology, pricking your finger is still the most accurate way to measure blood sugar levels. At the same time, taking in insulin often involves painful and tedious injections. And it isn’t just humans who are hurting from these, but the environment also suffers from all the waste these life-saving tools produce. It’s probably high time to have a glucose monitor and insulin delivery system that is not only painless and convenient but also sustainable, which is exactly what this minimalist-looking device concept is proposing.

Designer: Maxwell Stevens

CGMs or Continuous Glucose Monitors are one of the less invasive methods of keeping tabs on your blood sugar levels, though most do require inserting a sensor under the skin that is read by a device that sticks to your body over that site. When it comes to injecting insulin, on the other hand, insulin pumps remove the need to always pierce your skin for every injection, as a needle stays in its position for a day or two before needing to be replaced, unless the pump is one that actually stays on your body and above your skin. If these two devices sound almost related, it’s because they really are, and the Ingo CGM and insulin pump concept actually combines these two functions into a single, reusable, and sustainable device.

This oval-shaped device combines two critical functions in a single compact design that diabetes patients can discreetly wear on their bodies. Ingo can even have different colors to match skin tones so they won’t stand out as much as more obvious medical devices. There’s also the element of convenience as the device can be easily recharged on a wireless base, while the CGM sensor and pump needle are integrated into the sensor patches that stick over your skin.

Ingo also differs from existing CGMs and insulin pumps in the way that it tries to reduce the amount of waste as much as possible. Instead of disposable parts, it uses reusable components and recyclable patches, lessening the burden on the environment that these solutions often place on the planet. The rechargeable device and refillable insulin tank also prolong the life of the product or at least those parts that shouldn’t have to be thrown away frequently. Ingo is definitely an interesting proposal for a more humane and more environment-friendly way to keep diabetes patients living healthy and meaningful lives while also taking care of the planet they’re living on.

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3D-Printed from food-grade silicone, Reusable is a collapsable, pocket-friendly cup you can carry anywhere

Posted on 24/04/2024 by Gaurav Sood

Recycle and Reuse have become the buzzwords today. Most materials – single-use plastic excluded – are being recycled, and some plastic items such as bottles are reused to restrict them from reaching the landfills. Plastic pollution is therefore a big menace globally that designers are trying to solve with potentially innovative ideas. In that league we came across the Reusable: a collapsable, reusable cup that is made from food-grade material and fits right in your pocket so you can carry it wherever your routine takes you.

Disposable paper cups have been around for a long time now. Not essentially made with the purpose of being reused, such cups have to reach the landfills after one time use. All right, some of these to-go cups are recyclable, but some paper cups contain a plastic or wax coating – to prevent leaks – rending their unrecyclable. This is where a solution like the Reusable makes a lot of sense, not essentially because it can be recycled at the end of life, but since it can be reused a multitude of times before it can be retired from the lifecycle.

Designer: Kalina Gotseva

The brainchild of British-designed Kalina Gotseva, the Reusable has been 3D printed from durable, food-grade silicone. Made in a unique twisted design, after thousands of iterations on paper and other materials, the Reusable is made collapsable, transforming the cup from a full-sized option to a compact form factor that allows it to fit in the pocket.

Making a silicone cup with all the intricacies to make it reusable, the cup is a direct benefit product for millions of tea and coffee drinkers around the world, whose day wouldn’t start with the pipping hot beverage picked from the driveway in a throwaway one time use cup. This scenario could change with the benefit of Reusable which you can flip out of your pocket and have your drink served to you in it.

With the foldable and reusable design, the question of safety and convenience does arise in the mind. Gotseva has taken care of every detail, starting with making the entire foldable design self-contained. For that, the designer ensured that the body of the cup folds down flat and it can then fit securely in its cap to remain intact and dust-free in your pocket/bag. The protective cap is not just the Reusable’s case, in fact it has a tested push-and-pull slider on the drinking hole, which offers leak-proof convenience, so you can carry and drink your beverage safely, at your convenience.

The Reusable despite all the nifty features has sleek aesthetics paired with an ergonomic grip and three interesting color choices to pick a cup that matches your style. Created from BPA-free silicone, the cups are colored – with food-safe options – during the injection molding process. These are available in dark blue, light aquamarine, and vibrant orange colors to choose from. I don’t know about you, but I’m waiting for the Reusable to hit the market. My pick is orange, what’s yours?

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Cardboard water bottle concept shows a more sustainable way to stay hydrated

Posted on 04/01/2024 by JC Torres

We’re often advised to drink lots of water every day, but that isn’t always feasible unless we have a bottle of water with us all the time. It’s for this reason that water bottles have become quite popular these days, but many of these containers are large, heavy, and sometimes unsustainable. The latter is especially true for PET bottles, the most overused kind of water container there is. Its small, lightweight size makes it easy to carry around and its plastic material might make it seem like a good idea to reuse the bottle over and over again. Whatever the context, plastic is a harmful material in the long run, so this reusable and sustainable water bottle looks elsewhere for inspiration, one that’s easily overlooked and taken for granted because we simply throw away milk and juice boxes the moment they’ve been emptied.

Designer: Rishikesh Sonawane

It might have different names in different countries, but “TetraPak” is a common sight in groceries and refrigerators, holding liquids like milk, juice, and sometimes even soup. These cardboard containers are indeed designed to be thrown away, but there’s no reason one can’t design a variant that can hang around for quite a while before you have to part ways, primarily by recycling its parts. It lets you keep yourself healthy by drinking lots of water while also keeping the planet healthy by reducing the number of PET bottles out in the wild.

reU is the design concept that puts those ideas together, utilizing a layer of cardboard, aluminum, and polyethylene to provide form and structure to the water bottle shaped like an overgrown flask. These three materials were specifically chosen after much consideration because of their long-term benefits and ease of production, despite there being more sustainable alternatives available. Cardboard is better than paper mache when it comes to integrity and finish, aluminum is cheap and easily stretched into extremely thin sheets, and polyethylene, which is used in only 5% of the total design, is easy to produce.

The design, however, goes beyond just using sustainable materials. The shape of the “bottle”, for example, was chosen for space efficiency and easier grip. The dotted bottle cap made from bioplastic offers not just texture for turning the cap but also a visual contrast to the vertical lines running down the side of the bottle. The rubber tab keeps the cap in place and functions as a strap to hold or hang the bottle, but it can also be retracted to keep the cap from swinging around while you’re drinking or pouring out its contents.

Despite being a reusable bottle, reU isn’t meant to last forever. In fact, it’s designed to wear out to the point that you’ll have to properly dispose of it by recycling each distinct component separately and properly. This ensures that the water you drink will always be clean and safe, something that PET bottles can guarantee after repeated use. And given how cheap it is to produce and how easy it is to recycle, there’s little harm in replacing the reU with another reU, over and over again.

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McDonald’s France teams up with Elium Studio to create a range of reusable tableware to reduce waste

Posted on 24/03/2023 by Srishti Mitra

Packaging is a major component of the food industry, and the fact that hundreds of millions of container boxes, cups, trays, cutlery, and cans are being discarded away, creating ginormous amounts of waste, and hurting the environment is an alarming concern. Single-use packaging is lethal to the environment, and it’s a sad reality that most fast-food chains serve their food in single-use containers and cups. And, McDonald’s is no exception to this! However, McDonald’s France has decided to take a step in the right direction, which is the more eco-friendly and sustainable route. Let’s find out more.

Designer: Elium Studio

The French global design studio Elium Studio collaborated with McDonald’s France to create reusable tableware that can be utilized in the iconic fast-food chain’s restaurants. Most of the containers used by McDonald’s today cannot be reused, whether they’re plates or cups, they need to be thrown away after a single use. France, as a country, has been taking holistic steps to reduce waste. For example, in January 2023, France announced that restaurants with more than 20 seats need to offer their customers reusable and washable serving container alternatives. So, this step by McDonald’s France is truly a move of solidarity in the right direction.

Elium Studio designed a range of rather colorful and cute tableware that will be made using ‘Tritan’. Now, what is Tritan? Tritan is a plastic resin that is similar to glass and ceramic in its hardness and transparency and preserves the organoleptic qualities of food, which basically means it successfully retains the taste and smell of the food. The tableware was integrated with vents, graining, and striations to impart it with improved functionality and elevate the customer’s dining experience. Elium Studio and McDonald’s France have been working on this project for the past two years, and the result is truly commendable.

The tableware products retain McDonald’s original essence and design philosophy. The container for the french fries is still the iconic red we are so accustomed to, however, it is a much more eco-friendly option, as compared to its predecessor. I do believe this initiative by McDonald’s France could encourage other fast-food chains to make greener and more sustainable choices.

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Rocketbook Pro is a modular notebook you can wipe clean to use over and over again

Posted on 15/11/2022 by JC Torres

Pen and paper never really went out of fashion, even in this day of computers and smartphones. They did, however, experience a resurgence in popularity, thanks to some relatively new paper-centric productivity systems like The Bullet Journal. While there are plenty of advantages to this “analog” experience, there are also some drawbacks in our modern digital age. Fortunately, technology and intelligent design have made it possible to bridge the two worlds in a way that’s simple, unique, and, more importantly, sustainable. That’s the kind of modern experience that the reusable Rocketbook Pro notebook is offering, now with a few more features designed to make a notetaker’s life more convenient and more stylish.

Designer: Rocketbook

Rocketbook isn’t entirely new to this “reusable notebook” market and is, in fact, one of the pioneers. It started with a notebook that you had to microwave in order to use but quickly evolved to using an advanced type of paper that behaved almost like a dry-erase board. Using Pilot’s line of FriXion pens, you could simply wipe any markings off a page with a damp cloth and start anew, preferably after you’ve snapped a photo of that page. It’s a technology that helps save paper and trees while also offering the convenience of searchable notes stored on the cloud.

As its name suggests, the new Rocketbook Pro takes that experience to the next level, building upon the wins of the first Pro model from two years back. Unlike the standard Rocketbook, the Rocketbook Pro has Page Packs designed with different templates, ranging from to-do lists to meeting notes to plain pages. These packs attach to the Rocketbook Pro via magnets, making it trivial to add, remove, and rearrange them as desired. As before, the Rocketbook mobile app allows you to take photos of those pages that can then be uploaded to cloud storage and analyzed with OCR (Optical Character Recognition) so that they can be easily searched, even if they contain handwritten notes. Rocketbook Pro makes that process even more convenient with an NFC tag that immediately launches the app the moment you tap your phone on it.

This new version of the Pro notebook also refines the appearance and design of the reusable notebook, making it look more professional and improving its usability. Its hardcover vegan leather cover is more scratch-resistant, and it ditches the awkward pen holder so that it can now lie or fold back completely flat. You can, instead, clip the pen on the spine, which has a small curve at the top to indicate that purpose.

Like many reusable notebooks, the Rocketbook Pro tries to offer the best of both analog and digital worlds, combining the familiarity and benefits of handwriting with the convenience of digital storage, search, and retrieval. It also saves a significant amount of paper, though it’s not exactly clear how sustainable the patented materials and processors really are. For professionals, creatives, and avid notetakers that love the act of writing by hand, the Rocketbook Pro offers the flexibility and freedom of a modern analog experience, now with a lot more convenience and a handsome appearance to boot.

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This rewritable notebook lets you write over and over again like a whiteboard

Posted on 05/09/2022 by Aki Ukita

Many aspects of our lives have become digitized, and writing and drawing are no exception. Many of us use some sort of digital tools for keeping up our schedule, taking notes, brainstorming new ideas, or sketching. Even though digital tools offer great convenience, there is something about old-fashioned writing with pen and paper that inspires creativity in us. The designer behind notesX believes writing down your thoughts and ideas with pen and paper is the best outlet. However, traditional pen and paper may not necessarily be economical or ecological since the traditional paper cannot be reused. notesX is like a combination of a whiteboard and a notebook, providing great reusability and customizability with the familiarity of a paper notebook.

Designer: Hidehiko Fukushima

Click Here to Buy Now: $59.25 ~~$79~~ (25% off at checkout). Hurry, sale ends Sept 6th.

This innovative notebook utilizes small magnets to bind the pages, the front cover, and the back cover. Since the papers are not glued or sewn together like traditional notebooks, you can easily add, remove, or move pages around as much as you like.

You can even take a page out from the bundle and stick it to metallic surfaces like a fridge door or a magnetic whiteboard. The front cover also has pockets to hold cards and small pieces of paper, things you’d usually stash inside a normal paper notebook.

The notebook’s special papers aren’t actually made with paper. Instead, they use synthetic resins and natural minerals. While the material offers a high-quality surface for writing from the get-go, its special property is that it can erase marks easier than you could when using a pencil. You can write with erasable pens like Pilot’s FriXioin series and then erase what you wrote by rubbing a plastic eraser that usually comes with these pens. You can also use wet wipes to erase a larger area or simply rinse the page down with water when you want to erase everything on it.

The pages themselves are minimal and bare, but there is a faint blue grid on the paper that acts as a guide without distracting you from what you’re writing. The synthetic paper also prevents glaring when taking photos of a page, making it easy to detect the edges of the page when you want to digitize it. This way, you can keep a digital copy of the page before you erase its contents. With this, you have an immortal and infinite notebook, allowing you to rearrange and reuse pages as much as you need.

The notebook has an elastic pen holder that can accommodate any pen with a diameter of 9mm to 15mm, regardless of whether it has a clip or not. A rubber band also keeps the notebook from opening accidentally, similar to those on notebooks like Moleskine. Beyond offering this basic function, this rubber band brings a philosophical aspect to the notebook. Almost like a ritual, the act of removing the rubber band to open the notebook commences your creative activity and putting it back to close it gives you great satisfaction by marking the completion of writing your idea down before it flies away.

Click Here to Buy Now: $59.25 ~~$79~~ (25% off at checkout). Hurry, sale ends Sept 6th.

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nuka is a tree-free and unbreakable notebook you can use over and over again

Posted on 21/06/2022 by JC Torres

It feels like paper and works like paper, so you won’t believe it’s not really paper.

Paper notebooks haven’t really gone out of fashion despite the prevalence of smartphones, tablets, and computers. In fact, one could even notice that they have become even more popular these days, especially with the popularity of paper-based productivity systems like the Bullet Journal. Paper is ubiquitous, doesn’t require learning to use, and is biodegradable, but it doesn’t mean it has no impact on the environment, especially when there’s too much of them wasted or even unused. There is clearly a need and the market for a more sustainable option, and this innovative twist on the paper notebook, one that you can reuse infinitely and is almost as eternal as the ideas and experiences you will write on it.

Designers: Nikolay Lozinskiy (3D animation & Product Design), O0 design (Branding, 3D animation & Product Design), Evgenija Medvedeva (Product Design), vennndii (Product Shootings)

Click Here to Buy Now: $59 ~~$89~~ ($30 off for YD readers). Hurry, sale ends June 25th!

There have been a few attempts at a reusable notebook, but they have all had their critical flaws. One requires a microwave to literally nuke the notebook and can only be reused up to five times or so. Another requires a special kind of ink, putting users at the mercy of manufacturers’ whims and bottom lines. nuka resolves all those problems with a very simple design that belies the creativity, imagination, and technology that make this notebook a true marvel.

There are three parts to what makes the nuka notebook tick, and the most important is arguably the notebook itself. Using a special material made of polypropylene, the notebook removes the need to cut down trees to fill up the pages. Thanks to its matte finish and smooth surface, the pages feel just like high-quality paper. Unlike paper, though, it is virtually indestructible. It is tear-resistant and waterproof, which means you can use it in almost any situation where you need to write something down, including in the rain. Those dreams of being able to jot ideas inside the shower can now become a reality.

Completely Rewritable

Cofee-proof

Water-proof

Tear-resistant

Of course, a blank sheet of paper, no matter how beautiful, remains blank until you write something on it. With nuka, you don’t have to use any special ink to leave a mark, and you can even use other kinds of ordinary pens and pencils (with some exceptions). The magic, however, really happens with the Eternal Pencil, a fitting name for a writing tool that doesn’t run out of ink and doesn’t need to be sharpened. Almost like an all-metal version of the Apple Pencil, the Eternal Pencil is a solid and ergonomic rod with a unique metal alloy tip that oxidizes the surface of the Eternal Notebook, creating marks that look like they were made by a regular pencil. You can even press harder to create darker marks, just like a regular pencil.

Last but not least, the Magic Eraser is true to its name and wipes off all traces on the page like magic. It can even erase marks made by other pencils and pens, with gel pens and permanent markers being the lone exceptions. Of course, you’ll want to save your pages first before wiping them down, and the nuka mobile app is the perfect way to capture and store your scribbles and sketches for reference and posterity. The app automatically straightens and cleans up the image to put your content front and center. It can even recognize tasks and schedules on specially-marked pages and add them to the app’s built-in to-do list and calendar app.

Reusable, sustainable, and eternal, the nuka notebook promises stationery that might even outlive you. Best of all, the $59 price tag on an Eternal Notebook, Eternal Pencil, and a bottle of Magic Eraser bundle quickly pays for itself with all the savings from new notebooks, refills, and pencils. Better be quick on those fingers, though, as this $30 discount for Yanko Design readers won’t last long, definitely not as long as the nuka notebook.

Click Here to Buy Now: $59 ~~$89~~ ($30 off for YD readers). Hurry, sale ends June 25th!

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This modular product system reuses parts of a product to create new devices

Posted on 08/04/2022 by JC Torres

We’ve seen our fair share of modular designs, both in practice and in theory, and almost all of them have one common goal. Modular systems are primarily intended to allow people to customize the product, whether by expanding its scope or even just rearranging parts. In some cases, that modularity has the beneficial side effect of making it easier to replace broken parts to prolong a product’s lifetime, but the very parts themselves don’t actually have any other purpose beyond being a part of that whole. It would be great for sustainability if you could actually repurpose parts for other products, which is exactly what this circular modular system is trying to propose.

Designer: Seungheon Baek, Soohyun Kim

A modular desk that lets you add or remove parts as you need is pretty neat, but most of the time, those parts become useless when the desk itself gets broken beyond repair or is no longer usable. This kind of waste is even more pronounced in electronics, even the modular ones, when parts have to be thrown away because the whole can no longer be used anyway. You could recycle those parts, of course, but recycling also consumes energy and water in the long run. It would be better, instead, if you could reuse those parts for something else.

“Circulab” is a portmanteau of “circular” and “laboratory” and is a system that was conceptualized to reduce electronic and material waste. In a nutshell, it means that a part of one product can be used as a part of a completely different product that requires a related functionality. For example, the fan of a hairdryer could become the fan of an air circulator by simply changing the chassis and removing the heating components.

This creates a virtuous cycle where other parts are passed on to new products. The air circulator’s battery hub, for example, can be used as the base for a lint remover or a styler. The styler’s water pot, on the other hand, can become the container for an oral irrigator or a humidifier. The humidifier’s top can then be the nozzle of the hairdryer, creating a nearly endless loop, as long as those parts are still in good working condition.

This creates something almost like a LEGO for products, where people can mix and match parts depending on what they need. A product doesn’t have to be irreparably broken before you can put this system into action, but at least there’s a safety net when it does happen. And, of course, each part can even be “smart,” allowing you to check its status through a connected smartphone.

Unfortunately, current business trends and market practices go against such a reusable modular system. It is in a company’s best interests to just keep churning out products that are often thrown away at the end of their life, forcing people to buy whole new devices even when only a single part is broken. Fortunately, many companies are also getting smarter and are building their businesses around selling parts and offering services, so this kind of modular system might not be that distant a dream.

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This reusable alternative to single-use packaging foresees a green future for the e-commerce sector

Posted on 22/01/2022 by Gaurav Sood

What do you do with the packaging material your favorite dress has just arrived in from Amazon? Once you have received the online order, the packaging material is thrown in the trash, right? It’s a story with each one of us, especially because most of the packaging is not designed with reuse or sustainability in mind. This is why the idea of creating home delivery packaging reusable sticks with us more keenly than anything else.

Ecommerce portals have grown exponentially over the last two years, during the pandemic, because they provide consumers unparalleled options and accessibility. With the increase in online shopping, the pileup of shipping cartons and plastic packaging material is also piling up in landfills. In such a scenario, if we watch closely, packaging has a single purpose – to deliver the item safely to the consumer – and when this purpose is over, packaging has no further usage and landfill is the ultimate destination.

Designer: Simon Chantrel

Considering over 100 billion deliveries happen each year, it’s a huge pile of packaging waste that we are discussing here. Through the INFLATE – a flexible and reusable delivery package – designer Simon Chantrel presents a very viable solution to this problem. The alternative to single-purpose packaging, INFLATE is made to be reused a number of times so it doesn’t have to retire after its single journey from an eCommerce store’s warehouse to your doorstep. It can, in fact, be returned and reused for another delivery… and then another… and another!

INFLATE we presume is made from recyclable canvas or polyethylene because of its tarpaulin-like material. The renders also depict, the packaging material is flexible and it can be inflated to the size of the item it’s going to carry. The inflatable packaging can adapt to its content and once delivered, it can be deflated and rolled back. The INFLATE can then be dropped at an external collection point or a deposit location so it can be reused to limit packaging waste accumulated because of deliveries in traditional packaging.

INFLATE intends to bypass the linear economy, where packaging material is used once in the delivery process and then disposed of. It takes delivery services toward a circular packaging economy where resources are reusable and can reduce the packaging waste to ultimately make the e-commerce sector greener.

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Joseph Joseph’s reusable water bottle focuses on making the lid as important as the bottle itself

Posted on 25/09/2021 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

Loop is a reusable water bottle with an innovative lid design and shapely build, allowing users to slide Loop’s lid over its spout for easy drinking even when your hands are full.

Reusable water bottles have become the modern handbag. Everywhere you go, you’ll find someone clutching one by its lid strap. When a product becomes so popular, innovative design becomes a rarity. Following research periods spent observing the ways people interact with their own reusable and single-use water bottles, London-based design studio Blond Ltd. collaborated with Joseph Joseph to create Loop, a reusable EDC water bottle designed to simplify carrying the lid while taking a drink.

In central London, the designers at Blond Ltd. and Joseph Joseph observed the different ways that people used and handled their water bottles to design an ergonomic and shapely reusable water bottle. When we’re carrying all of our stuff in addition to our water bottle, drinking from it can feel like juggling. Noticing that people have a harder time removing the water bottle’s lid and holding it while they drink, the designers made Loop so that users can slide the lid over the bottle’s neck when taking a drink.

The shape of Loop’s neck was specially designed to double as a storage method for the water bottle’s lid, providing a convenient and sanitary place to carry the cap. Expanding on the design of the Loop, the designers note, “The inside of the loop is gently curved and is an identical match to the bottle’s contours; allowing a tight friction-fit that prevents it from sliding while the user is drinking. Further, the lid doubles up as a convenient carry handle and attachment-point for hanging from bags.”

Double-walled with insulation and made from vacuum-sealed steel, Loop will keep your drinks at your preferred temperature in a durable, long-lasting bottle. An internal screw thread located on Loop’s spout ensures a clean and hygienic drinking surface near the outer face. Additionally, Loop was designed with a wide enough neck to allow room for ice cubes.

Designers: Blond Ltd. x Joseph Joseph