Reduction of Household Chemical Wastage Conceptual Device Design

By: MD Rakibur Rahman, Simon De Vuyst, Yiming Kang, Bryan Wan, Michael Lim

Central objective (as specified by original design brief):

To increase personal sustainability, design a product which encourages lower levels of toxicity in wastewater by reducing the amount of excess household chemical products used by consumers
From the obje ctives stated in the design b rief, metrics and crite ria we re formulated to help develop solutions. The objectives from the brief that a re focused on in this rep ort are as follows : The product must conform to a sustainable business model

The product reduces the a mount of household che micals used in the home The product must be usable by any person capable of using the household product itself The product enhances usability of che mical p rodu cts

We decided to focus on these objectives in order to develop user friendly solutions which would p resent itself in everyday life, as opposed to choos ing a design which has background roles, making the user unaware of the devices impact. In addition, we did not choose to focus on a ll the obje ctives, as the omitted few were unrealistic and attemp ting to fulfill them could not be achieved without unfeasible solutions. An example of this is seen in the noted objective: The product should divert household chemica ls from the wastewater stream Diverting chemicals from the wastewater strea m would be difficult and costly for non-s olids, as it is the most widely implemented method of liquid disposal. Instead, we decided to focus on aspects such as reducing chemical waste from widely conducted actions, which is also in a ccordance with the above-specified objectives (such a s reducing the amount of household chemicals used) Graphically: Reducing che mical outflow Reduced che micals wastage

Referring to the list of obje ctives we decided to focus on, we can redefine a more suitable criteria. Thus, reframing the original objectives, we obta in the following crite ria: 1. Products impact on Chemical waste reduction within a given time span User-friendliness of the product Ease of manipulation of the p rodu ct

2. 3. 4. 5.

The extent to which the product enhances the intended use of the original cleaning p roducts Marketability of the product to the general public

group of household che micals to focus up on, we categorized the targeted chemicals into two cate gories:

In order to bette r formulate how household chemica l wastes can be reduced, we found it appropriate to classify different types of household chemical waste. Since the brief did not adequately specify which

Chemical p roducts used for personal hy giene and household cleaning products. We focused on these products because are they a re imple mented by the average indiv idual on a daily basis. Based on these two categories of hygiene-enhancing and household-cleaning che micals, three conceptual designs for s olutions were drafted: two for the hygiene category, and one which imple ments both. CLEANING CHEMICALS We classified the category for cleaning chemicals to include any chemical compounds that are used for the cleaning and maintenance of mate rials, furniture and living space and are then released into water v ia toilets, s inks and soils. Due to the broad nature of this classification is, and s ince it includes many different forms and types of chemicals, a validated assumption is that there a re many diffe rent compounds involved, as well as varying appropriate disposal methods for these chemicals. These groups of chemicals include, but are not limited to, detergent, dishwasher fluid, paint, disinfectants, and pesticides. It seems impractica l to find a general s olution that reduces the release of all mentioned cleaning chemicals into the water supply.

Therefore , rather than directly reducing the waste of these che micals, we extrapolated that it would be far more effective to model our conceptual solution in a way that alerts consumers what chemica l they a re releasing into the environment when they dispose cleaning products and p romote awareness of the ha rmful effects of those che micals.

PERSONAL HYGIENE Assuming the average North A merican utilizes personal hygiene produ cts daily, and using our experiences to extrapolate that consume rs unintentionally waste hygienic products by either using a surplus amount or fa iling to effectively use thus product before it is washed down the dra in, a solution is required to better utilize maxima of the cleaning p rodu ct. In other words, the hu man interaction with the hygiene chemicals must be redesigned in a way as to optimize efficiency , while the result itself re mains constant (e .g. being able to shower using less che micals, while the quality of the showe r remains sa me). A hygiene product which is commonly lost or wasted during usage is toothpaste. Since toothpaste is relatively inexpensive (the average tube of C olgate toothpaste is around $5 [10]) the loss of a squirt of toothpaste is p robably not that important to the average consu mer. In addition, it is very likely that when a tube of toothpaste is discarded, there is still a small a mount of toothpaste left in the tube, which along with the wasted squirts, accu mulates to a la rge a mount conside ring the daily usage from millions of consumers worldwide. Therefore , our second s olution was focused around reducing the amount of toothpaste wasted. Usually, a squirt that is too large is applied on the toothbrush, which is then lost if the toothbrush is moved around too quickly or is flipped downwards. Design #1 imple ments a possib le solution to this che mical waste proble m.

Evaluation of the Original Design Brief

The design brief Reduction of Household Chemical Wastage will be evaluated on how well the brief enables divergent conceptual design. Divergent design and quality of the engineering framing: The quality of engineering fra ming of this design brief is satisfactory as p rofessional engineering language was used throu ghout the design b rief. For examp le, in the first para graph, the s ources of chemica l

waste and pollution were stated and cited. In addition, most claims were made with qualifie rs. References were given at the end of the design brief and parenthetica l statements were present in the first pa ragraph. from. Stakeholder identification, prioritization, and understanding:

Appendix I listed the pre cise definitions of concepts used in the brief which cla rified any possib le misunderstanding of the language used. It is not clearly indicated which of the s ources the statistics were refe renced

also given with consumer being the most imp ortant and primary stakeholde r.

The brief successfully identified and p rioritized major and minor stakeholders . A figu re was shown to illustrate the relationship s between stakeholders and their relative p riorities, and relative imp ortance was

Refinement and appropriateness of objectives: Good attempts were made in identifying the objectives of each sta keholder and higher-level objectives were als o cons idered (e.g. for che mical manufacture rs, a higher-level objective is to mainta in a p ositive

image in the minds of consumers ). D iagrams were presented, which not only showed the obje ctives of each stakeholder, but als o the common objectives between some sta keholders. However, the ir needs were neithe r stated nor explained (e.g. governments needs whats the minimu m standard that consume r p roducts must meet?) More details to the objectives, if added, wou ld refine this brief fu rther. Metrics: The retail market for shamp oo is approximately $7.6 b illion[11]. Assuming the average bottle of shampoo/body wash is 1 litre, a nd that during the use of the entire bottle at least 10 mL is wasted (1%) either

during application, or discarded with the b ottle, this results in minimu m waste of 76 million dolla rs ( 1% of the $7.6 billion industry) which only includes shampoo, not body wash or any othe r bathroom products.

Design #1 The Integrated Toothpaste and Toothbrush

Design Goals Primary focus: Optimizing the existing b rushing mechanis m in orde r to minimize unused toothpaste. In this context, unused toothpaste is defined as the v olume of toothpaste still remaining in gel dentrifice [1] form while disposed of, i.e. the surfactants re main intact and the paste is not reduced to foa m format. According to EPA, the s ingle largest contributor to environmental flu oride [2] contamination is unconstrained toothpaste disposal. Therefore, by optimizing the brushing mechanism, we effectively minimize the amount of toothpaste directed into the environment within a specified time period, thereby directly minimiz ing the fluoride excretion rate. Focusing s olely on the brushing mechanism, we identified one of the most p rominent methods of wasting toothpaste is when toothpaste is dropped into the basin, or when excess amount of toothpaste is initially released into the toothbrush (and is therefore used even though it is not required for thorough oral cleaning). Thus, a user-respons ive mechanism must be imple mented, whe re the user de cides in Realtime how much paste is dis charged, at the precise moment it is required.

Side view

Front view

Top view

Wireframe Top view

Wireframe side view Fig. 1) The integrated toothpaste and brush

Design Description (refer to Figure 1) The toothpaste is inserted into the Elastic cylindrical shaft of the Toothbrush. The prop osed design is that the toothbrush will be imp lemented by major toothpaste manufacturing companies, and thus the limiting fa ctor depends upon the diameter of the toothb rush shaft itself. I.e. s ince the shaft diameter is directly proportional to the toothpaste diameter, if each toothpaste manufactu rer e ither: o o Reaches a consensus on a standard toothpaste tube prototype Manufactures the toothbrush based on their current tube dia meter.

A series of paralle l tubes (capilla ry tubing) runs from the mouth of the toothpaste to the end of the B rush palettes. This allows the following design accomplishments: Minimal pressure needs to applied by the user to raise the paste from the toothpaste mouth to the brush mouth, as the pressure difference in the capillary causes the viscous paste to slowly rise. When the user applies the threshold force , the paste needs to travel a relatively short distance from the capilla ries to the mouth of the b rush, which means nearinstantaneous paste release from the brush, which increases user satisfaction. The threshold force is defined as to overcome the elastic force of the outer tube, which translates into the squeezing mechanis m of the paste tube.

The toothpaste mouth, which uses a helical screw plings model, will have a reciprocal pling system on the toothbrush mouth itself (refe r to diagra m). The dia meter of the re cip rocal pling (on the toothbrush) is dete rmined by the manufactu rer to match their toothpaste mouth design.

The shaft of the tube will be a se mi-flattened cy linde r, making it easier to hold (as opp osed to a regular uniform cylinder) The brush bristles are made from synthetic fib res, preferably nylon (inert to most chemical reactions in the absence of p oly mer catalysts) The body of the toothbrush is made from MDPE p lastic, which meets the recyclable constraints , as well as a relatively low elastic deformation force

Design #2 The Shower tool

Design Goals Primary focus: To minimize the amount of unused shampoo wasted during showe ring. In the context of this report, unused shampoo is defined as the volu me of sha mpoo that re mains in its liqu id format; i.e. the surface foaming re main inta ct, and the liquid is not reduced into foam format. According to CICADS[4], two of the p rimary NDMA environmenta l pollutants is household shampoo and bodywash. Thus, by optimizing the showering mechanism (by minimiz ing the amount of shamp oo and bodywash wasted), we not only optimize showering efficiency, but also minimiz ing the amount of NDMA excreted into the environment. We identified the current showering process to be relatively inefficient, with potential room for improvement. According to our survey, 94%[5] of EngSci student who use Bodywash use their hands to apply the cleaning p rodu cts. Not only is this a very static p rocess (as opp osed to a dynamic showering p rocess, where the liquid is applied to the indiv iduals b ody portion when needed), this also results in more chemical wasted then the bare minimum for a complete shower. Our designed object minimizes shower product wastes by implementing a user specified p rocess to release the products when required (thereby only releasing the shampoo/body wash when the user requires it). To design the obje ct to be aesthetic, feasible and imple mentable to a regular lifestyle.

Back view

Side view

Front view

Top view

Wireframe Top

Wireframe front

Fig. 2) The shower chemical reduction tool

Design Description (refer to fig. 2) The central infrastructu re consists of an elastic housing, in orde r to serve as a rigid, yet temporarily deformable stru cture. The deformation in question is due to the lateral pressure applied by the user when excreting the shamp oo/body wash from the internal containe rs. The structure is internally div ided into two equal portions. The upper p ortion serves to conta in the body wash, whilst the lower conta ins the sha mpoo. o The two internal conta iners are internally coated using with Plastisol[5] dip mechanis m. This ensures that the surface of the container does not chemica lly b ond with the shamp oo when exp osed to elongated periods of idle time. o The two internal conta iners are made from a Hookean material, with a lower Hookes modulus than the external infrastru cture (increases ease of internal liquid discharge when squeezed as energy from the first surface is sufficient enough to deform the latter). o The internal containers are perforated such that the brush linings match up with the perforations. This will be imp lemented v ia a extrusion based locking mechanism to the external housing (i.e. a small s ingle hemispherical p lastic extrusion lines up with a concave hemisphere intrusion on the infrastru cture, ensuring the re is only one correct orientation when attaching the inte rnal containers). o The internal containers are aligned inside the structure.

The top conta iner perforations line up with a Fabric-based body-washing brush. The bottom perforations line up with a Nylon-based perforated ha ir-b rush. o The Fabric-based brush ensures optimal cleansing, whilst being contact-compatible with the hu man skin The surface of the brush is cu rved in the form of a parabola, thus comple menting the curved shape of hu man body parts o The Nylon-based perforated brush, which most[6] hairb rushes imp lement The brush surface is evenly spaced (similar to a comb/hairb rush), which allows a thorough shamp ooing experience (as opposed to us ing ones hands to apply the shamp oo, which is non-systematic and uneven)

The top of the infrastructure uses a flip lock (with a s mall hemispherical extrusion and intrus ion; allows for easy refill of the b ody wash, which depletes relatively faster than the shampoo) o In order to a ccess the sha mpoo, the top can be entirely dislodged. The top internal conta iner (for bodywash) is then re moved, thus allowing access to the shampoo conta iner

When using the bodywash p ortion, the user holds the portion directly adjacent to the fabric brush, and applies a steady compressive force to the surfa ce of the externa l housing to release the bodywash throu gh the brush perforation. Thus, the user chooses when to release the liquid held inside, thereby minimizing unintentionally wasted product. A parallel me chanis m is used for the sha mpoo section.

Design #3 The Outflow monitor

Design Goals Primary focus: To raise awareness in the user about the direct impact of the chemicals released into the environment. The eventual goal of the p rodu ct is to mitigate the overall household chemica l re leased by the user into the environment. According to EPA, common household cleaning/hygiene p roducts post a significant
[7]

Top view

Side view

Toxin threat. The majority of these identified toxins contain Carcinogens,

Corros ive agents and Irritants. The goal of this design is to imple ment a p rodu ct that provides realtime feedback to the user about the constituents of their daily outflow, the quantity of toxin outflow, as well as the direct impact of the toxins released on the environment and mankind. Each individual device must have a broadcasted connection with a constantly updated information sou rce, updating the device user on newly released effects of the released chemicals. To design the product in a way that it integrates itself into the average users lifestyle without added imple mentation.

Front view

Top wireframe Fig. 3)The outflow monitor

Side wireframe

Design Description (refer to figure 3) The device utilizes a four button sche me o o The capsule shaped button turns the product on or off The top-left button toggles sleep, whilst the sy mmetrically placed button on the right hand s ide toggles the wire less card o The smallest button between the two larger buttons serves to reset the device to factory calibration settings The device is shipped with an Elastic Poly Vinyl Chloride pipe, which attaches to the houses ma in drainage system and accesses scan samples from the excretion outflow. This sample is then redirected to the s canner. o The scanner[8] utilizes a dihydrophobic membrane to only allow nondihydrogenoxide compounds; i.e. not water, into the ECS sensor, which then uses a reference electrode to identify the toxins based on electric current flow (by comparing the ampere rating to a pre-determined list of known values). o o The che micals in the sample are then excreted through the hydrophob ic membrane by applying e lectric voltage to create an artificial diffusion gradient, the reby effectively cleaning itself by using an external s ource of energy. These tests are triggered by an outflow of liquid, and the p ipe is installed in an orientation such that the kinetic energy of the liqu id is sufficient enough to cause it to travel through the scanne r, and then redire ct itself back into the origina l strea m. The scanner sends the colle cted data to the central server, which then based on the outflow Monitors M.A .C address identifies the owner, and updates their excretion information onto their account. The user is then updated with a da ily excretion and chemical effect report at a default time (or whenever the user specifies) The liquid crystal display[9] utilizes a simple Twisted Nematic orientation display to display the cu rrent status of the device. E.g. Idle, Scanning, Uploading to Server, Shutting D own.

JUSTIFICA TION FOR CHOOSING DESIGN #2 The brush itself is a simple p lastic container with

Based on our surveys, which was given to 996 people, 64.9% of peop le voted that they waste more shamp oo and body wash than any othe r household che mical on a daily basis. 16.5% voted that toothpaste was the most wasted product for them. Based on this survey, it is apparent that reducing the waste of shower p rodu cts will divert more chemicals away from the wate r system than will reducing the waste of toothpaste. 43.2% of voters agreed that wate r p ollution was the most concerning impact of chemical pollution. Therefore this product seems more favou rable since it reduces the a mount of shampoo and body wash wasted, which results in less che mical p ollution within the water system. For verification:

perforated holes and two added brushes. Assuming a b ottle of shampoo lasts a pers on on average a month, and that a bottle of per year on shamp oo. G iven that our product will replace other shower b rushes (which can cost between 20-30 dollars ), and is compatible with both b ody wash and shampoo/conditione r, our product will be more effe ctive s ince it carries an eco-friendly function in addition to the conventional use for shower b rushes. shampoo costs 5 dollars, then a pers on spends at least 60 dollars

Survey site: www.surveymonkey.com Login ID: Engine_v12 Password: engineer

Finally, we even asked vote rs what p rodu ct would benefit their lifestyle the most, and 55.6% of vote rs chose that an All in one shower b rush for b ody washing and ha ir scrubbing was favoured. Our other two conceptual designs re ceived the same a mount of the re maining v otes (22.2%).

Out of the three conceptual designs, the shower shaft was awareness in consumers, is not feasible since it would be complicated to create a machine that detects all chemica ls person showers and uses toothpaste daily, the amount of

chosen to be our ma in design. The first design, which creates

Furthermore, looking through showe r brushes on A mazon, it was noted that almost a ll of them have similar designs and functions . On the other hand, there is a wide variety of toothbrushes, which included functions from a spinning brush, to playing music through the brush while turned on. Therefore it would seem that a new model of a brush that carries an innovative function and look will be more effective in the bath and shower market, rather than the toothbrush industry.

within each household p roduct. Also, assuming the average shampoo combined with the a mount of body wash used is

much more significant compared to the a mount of toothpaste used. Since b oth of these products a re disposed through the water system, it wou ld be more effective to reduce the amount of bath and showe r products wasted than toothpaste wasted.

References 1) http://www.ada.org/1322.aspx 2) http://www.nteu280.org/Issues/Fluoride/NTEU280-Fluoride.htm 3) http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/toothpaste-tube.html 4) http://www.inchem.org/documents/cicads/cicads/cicad38.htm 5) http://www.experts4additives.com/imperia/md/content/pma/service/weichmacher_e.pdf 6) http://manufacturers.ttnet.net/taiwan-products/Hair-Brush-Materials.html 7) http://www.pollutionissues.com/Ho-Li/Household-Pollutants.html 8) http://www.intlsensor.com/pdf/electrochemical.pdf 9) http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/physics/liquid_crystals/history/ 10) http://www.nextag.com/crest-toothpaste/stores-html 11) http://www.packagedfacts.com/household-products-market-c118/ 12) http://www.plastisol.ca/greencore_natural_fibre