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Master of Product Design targets industrial waste solutions

05 December 2022

Gemma Burnside is looking forward to graduating with a Master of Product Design from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | سԹ this week.

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Gemma chose to study industrial design due to the ability to make an impact through sustainable product development.

“The industrial product design degree incorporates all the important aspects of design alongside science, business and engineering courses. It gives you the tools to develop innovative solutions in a real-world context, and a great foundation of knowledge you can take in any direction career-wise,” she says.

“My area of interest is developing solutions for industrial waste streams – whether that’s diverting waste from landfill through value creation, recycling or reducing the use of raw materials in the first place. I feel industrial waste can sometimes get overlooked, as businesses are great at putting the environmental impact guilt on the consumer, but I’m keen to reverse this.”

SDG 4 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 - Quality Education

A highlight of Gemma’s study was working on a project using dag wool to develop fertiliser seedling covers – a design selected as a finalist in the 2019 Wool-ovation Competition. Another highlight was working with mechanical engineering and science students to pioneer a new concept of “blue carbon credits” – a floating structure to grow seaweed and store carbon at the bottom of the ocean.

However, she is proudest of her master’s thesis project – the development of a long-life lure dispenser for Department of Conservation traps.

“The long-life lure dispenser is designed to contain and release a highly attractive substance over an extended period of time, which would drastically reduce the labour required for conservation efforts. My final design is a simple concept which is compatible with nearly all existing traps and is extremely low-cost, simple to manufacture and uses off-the-shelf materials. The project is looking to be continued with another student to test and refine before the lure can be taken to market.”

Currently, Gemma is working as a teaching assistant at theUC School of Product Designbefore starting an environmental internship at furniture design company Resero in Hawkes Bay in January.

“The internship is perfect for me, because I will be helping to develop more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to current packaging and logistics methods. Long-term I would like to start my own company, as I believe product designers have the knowledge and tools to innovate solutions to reduce a product’s impact on the environment – we just need to show that the most sustainable solutions are often the most economical in the long run.”


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