Reduce

Reducing the materials used on the product isn't possible due to its design and if anything was to be taken away it would ruin the speaker. In its design point of view and possibly sound quality. Reducing the use of adhesive especially Epoxy resin would benefit the enironment as it will mean there will be less toxins breaking down into the environment. Reducing this will mean that i will need to replace the epoxt resin with either another non toxix adhesive or use of knock down joints or screws, nails etc. A key in the manufacturing point of view in this speaker is the time that it took to make, in excess of 6 weeks this was to long so the time needs to be reduced. The use of possibly jigs and templates will reduce the time taken to make the wooden parts of the speaker. The possibility of using CAD machines such as a laser cutter will also speed up the manufacturing time majorly but these cost money for the equiptment but will save money.

 

Reuse

In the process of manufacturing i threw away lots of scrap material from wood, plastic and copper. Looking back at what i done it was possible to use some of this scrap to make some of the parts for my speaker. To do this i would make templates of each part from card then place them on a large board of MDF. i would then move them as close to each other as possible and also put a template in a template where a piece would be cut out to make a hole then that hole scrap would make something else. The spekaer components were reused from an old speaker that i have so that saved costs on buying all the relevent parts.

 

Refuse

Refusing the use of materials that i currently use is impossible as i wouldnt be able to create the design that i have made due to the use of flexi ply and MDF that is cheap. like i mentioned before reducing and refusing different adhesives will benefit the environment when the speaker is thrown away. 

 

Rethink

Rethinking the finishing process of the speaker i think is key especially when it comes to veneering. The possibility of buying pre vennered MDF will improve the look of the speaker majorly as it will eliminate the bumps and lumps of normal veneering. This board may be slightly more expensive than MDF But will save money on buying veneer. Also the overall look of the wood will be much greater than it would if it was veneered seperately. As said in the feedback i need to rethink the position of the wire ports at the back of the speaker moving these to the side like i said would eliminate the need for a box on the back so will save materials needed.

 

Recycle

All of the materials on my speaker that are used such as MDF, Veneer, Aluminum and cloth are all recyclable. Wood is widely recycled and this is good as a good majority of my speaker is made from this, This is good as when the speaker has come to the end of its life it can be recycled and used to make something eslse instead of new materials being needed. The aluminum of the buttons and variouse speaker components can be recycled and melted down where the cloth can be used to make new clothing or whatever but is also recyclable. I dont believe that there is anything on my speaker that cannot be recycled making it 100% recyclable.

 

Repair

Repairing this speaker is near on impossible without destroying it. If a component breaks inside the only way to fix it would be to cut a hole in the back of the speaker destroying the look of the speaker and possibly breaking it even more. I decided not to be able to access the inside of the speaker as i have never personally had a speaker break and if it did i wouldnt try and fix it anyways. If something on the outside gets damaged such as a chip in the wood there isnt really mush that can be done apart from possibly fillig in the chip with a dark wood filler that is of similar shade to the wood. Although making the speaker accessable to the inside would be good for repairing and making the speaker last longer making it more sustainable i feel that there isnt a need for this as it is unlikely to break.