The big idea: Datchefski's five principles: a product should be cyclic (create no waste), solar (use clean energy), safe (cause no harm), efficient (use the least energy and material possible) and social (support basic human rights).
They are useful as a checklist: run a real product past all five and one will fail.
All five applied to one folding chair, each with its test question, the verdict, and what would have to change.
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| Principle | It means | The question to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Cyclic | Creates no waste — made from recycled or renewable material and recyclable or compostable at the end | Where does every part of it go when it is finished with? |
| Solar | Uses clean, renewable energy in manufacture and in use | What energy does it take to make, and what does it consume in use? |
| Safe | Causes no harm — non-toxic in making, use and disposal, and safe to use | What is released, to whom, at each stage of its life? |
| Efficient | Uses the least material and energy possible for the job it does | How much mass and how many processes, per year of service? |
| Social | Supports basic human rights and fair conditions along the supply chain | Who made every part of it, and under what conditions? |
Efficient is per YEAR OF SERVICE: A chair that weighs 2.8 kg where rivals weigh 4.5 kg is efficient — unless it lasts half as long, in which case it is not.
Mass and energy are always divided by the service the product delivers. That is the sentence that rescues this principle from being a weight comparison.
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The statement asks students to analyse sustainable products to show how they meet the principles. In practice a real product meets three or four, and the two it fails are where the design work is — which is exactly what a Paper 2 answer should say.
| On an aluminium folding chair | Verdict | What would change it |
|---|---|---|
| Cyclic: recycled aluminium frame, but a foam-and-fabric seat pad that cannot be separated | Not met | Make the pad removable and single-material, so both streams stay clean |
| Solar: nothing consumed in use, and the aluminium smelted on a hydro-powered grid | Met | Ask the supplier for the grid mix — aluminium is where this is decided |
| Safe: anodised rather than painted, so no solvent and nothing flakes off | Met | Check the fabric treatment; flame retardants are the usual hidden failure |
| Efficient: 2.8 kg against 4.5 kg, and it flat-packs so more ship per pallet | Met | Only if the life holds up — efficiency is per year of service |
| Social: the frame factory is audited; the fabric supplier is two tiers down and untraced | Not met | Map the supply chain past tier one, where most claims quietly fail |
Five out of five is a warning sign: A product that scores on every principle has usually not been looked at hard enough — most often at cyclic (a laminate somewhere) or social (a supplier nobody has traced).
Naming the failures and the fix is what the analysis is for.
How this is tested — analysing sustainable products against Datchefski's five principles. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — multiple choice
- Match a stated feature to the principle it satisfies.
- Identify which principle a described failure breaks.
Paper 2 — analysing a product
- Analyse a named product against the five principles.
- Explain what would have to change for a product to meet one.
The trap: Scoring a product five out of five. Look hard at cyclic and social — a laminate or an untraced supplier is almost always there.
Analyse an aluminium folding chair against Datchefski's five principles, and state what would have to change.
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