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Implementing Circular Design Education and Open Resources for Plastic Circularity in a Municipal Laboratory
Summary
This paper describes a Mexican municipal recycling laboratory program that combined circular design education with hands-on workshops for schools and community members. The initiative developed open educational resources on plastic circularity to support local entrepreneurship and sustainable plastic management.
This paper describes a project undertaken by a Mexican municipality to establish a recycling lab to create new plastic products for the local community. The Design Department at a local university proposed a program called “immersions in Circular Design”, which included an educational component to develop attitudes and skills for the circular economy. The program set the participation of the staff from the recycling lab, design professors and students, and lab technicians. The program included an intensive summer program for elementary and middle schools, which taught about circular economy and circular design through experiential learning workshops. Through the program, open resources for plastic material circularity and entrepreneurial opportunities were developed. The paper details the contents, activities, and resources used in the workshops and summarises the results of the project highlighting its feasibility and describes the innovation process.
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