Developing a Ranking System for a Product’s Fitness in the Circular Economy - A Case Study in Modular Ski Poles

As the importance of designing sustainable products grows, the importance of developing in tandem with the Circular Economy also grows. This paper presents and demonstrates a multi criteria decision making method of ranking products in their fitness for the circular economy. This methodology uses an analytical hierarchy process and pairwise comparison matrices to evaluate the criteria and scores assigned to each. In doing so, this process compels the designer to evaluate their systems based on four major factors: repairability, reusability, recyclability, and sustainability. The method was applied to a case study of ski poles comparing a new design for the circular economy with three existing ski pole systems. It proved that if a system is designed with these factors from the beginning, it will better fit into the circular economy. The CE realizes benefits for the consumers, the company, and the environment.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Industrial Design

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Cunningham, Catherine Lucille

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Chow, George K.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Feng, Jeff F.
• McCormick, Kelly

• Circular Economy, Modular Design, Multi Criteria Decision Making Methods, Sustainable Design

Statement dc:rights

• The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s).

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/10192

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/10192