The sustainable toaster Radical

Project work by Isabelle Kjellström, Adam Dahlberg, Erik Halldin och Wilhelm Wessblad

Radical is the name of the concept of a sustainable toaster. The aim of our project was to develop a sustainable appliance leaving a minimal ecological footprint while also contributing to a circular economy. Our vision for the concept was “A single toaster for life”. In other words, our aim was to design a toaster that the user would hold onto throughout their whole life.

“A single toaster for life”

Radical is made out of recycled aluminum sheet metal with very few parts in order to make it easier to repair. Emphasis has been put on designing a timeless toaster that does not go out of style as time goes. In addition, two toasters can be joined together so that a growing family ican toast more bread slices at a time, Each bread compartment has its own on/off button so that the user can choose to only toast one slice of bread at a time, making the toaster more energy efficient. The compartments are enclosed in order to also save energy.

In addition to the concept a business model was designed in order to simplify reparation as well as recycling the toaster at the end of its life.

For a list of the Methods, tools & PC programs used, please scroll down.

Methods, tools & PC programs

This was a highly collaborative project, meaning that every project group member was present throughout the entire product development process. The methods, tools and programmes used in this project are the following:

• Moodboard & inspiration board

• User personas & scenarios

• Function analysis

• Listing requirements & guidelines

• EcoDesign checklist

• Life cycle analysis (LCA)

• Eco-costs value ratio (EVR)

• The Ecodesign Strategy Wheel

• Morphological matrix

• Pugh matrix

• Brainstorming (braindrawing & brainwriting)

• Eco-audit

• The Natural Step (TNS) framework

• Prototyping (digital & physical)

• Blender (PC program)

• Granta EduPack (PC program)

• Use2use design toolkit