--- title: "The Whole Life of a Product" description: "A product's cost to the world runs from digging up the material to whatever happens after it is thrown away. Designers decide most of that at the drawing stage, including whether the thing can be open" canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/design-and-technology/the-whole-life-of-a-product-mt_hyBZiDvDoX source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/design-and-technology/the-whole-life-of-a-product-mt_hyBZiDvDoX.md retrieved: 2026-09-12 --- > **Agent view.** This is the Markdown twin of the page, for tools and assistants. > When to use this site, and the call that answers each job: https://lightmysky.com/agent-instructions.md > API description (OpenAPI 3.1): https://lightmysky.com/openapi.json · Authentication: https://lightmysky.com/auth.md > Pricing: https://lightmysky.com/pricing.md · Catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms.txt · Full catalog: https://lightmysky.com/llms-full.txt > Every machine-readable file on this domain: https://lightmysky.com/.well-known/ai-catalog.json > Ask for Markdown with `Accept: text/markdown`, a `.md` address, or `?mode=agent`. # The Whole Life of a Product A product's cost to the world runs from digging up the material to whatever happens after it is thrown away. Designers decide most of that at the drawing stage, including whether the thing can be opened and repaired. Subject: Design & Technology · Area: Designing & Making · Ages 15 to 16 Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/design-and-technology/the-whole-life-of-a-product-mt_hyBZiDvDoX ## Ready when they can - List the stages of a product's life from raw material to disposal - Name one design decision that decides whether a product can be repaired - Explain why recycling a mixed-material product is harder than recycling a single-material one - Give one argument that a product was designed to be replaced rather than fixed, and what evidence would settle it ## Lesson: From digging up to throwing away Every product lives four chapters: raw material, manufacture, use, and disposal. The biggest costs to the world often sit at the start, when materials are dug up and made, and at the end, when the thing is thrown away. Take a plastic straw. It starts as oil pumped from the ground, gets refined and molded into a tube you use for ten minutes, then lands in landfill, an incinerator, or the ocean. Plastic does not biodegrade, so it outlasts you by far. Whether a product can be repaired is fixed at the drawing stage, long before it breaks. Fixable things use standard screws, spare parts you can buy, and published repair guides. Throwaway things are glued shut with parts nobody sells. Every repair stretches the middle chapter: keeping a product ten years instead of two spreads the digging and dumping costs over a much longer life. So repairability is a design decision, not an accident. **Example.** Batteries show why mixed materials are trouble. Inside is a bundle of metals, acids, and toxic chemicals pressed together, which can leak into soil and water in landfill. Simple alkaline cells from toys may go in normal trash, though recycling beats that. Rechargeable and lithium cells from phones and laptops must go to a collection point, since they can even start fires in trucks. The metals are worth recovering only if someone can separate the mix safely. **Tip.** To argue a product was built to be replaced, gather maker's evidence. Can you open it with normal tools. Are spares priced and sold. Do repair guides exist. A glued case, a sealed battery, and missing spares point to a short life by design. And a straw too small and light for sorting machines shows the same logic: easy to sell, nearly impossible to recycle. **Recap.** Designers fix most of a lifetime cost at the drawing stage, including whether you can open it. ## Practice 8 questions on this page, each with its working shown. ## Needs first - [Finite Resources & Recycling](https://lightmysky.com/learn/science/finite-resources-and-recycling-mt_0e5rZxbAeR) - [Making One, Making Thousands](https://lightmysky.com/learn/design-and-technology/making-one-making-thousands-mt_0wbzsY10cQ) - [Systems: Input, Process, Output](https://lightmysky.com/learn/design-and-technology/systems-input-process-output-mt_bMNTQ-3a_u) - [Designing for the People Who Use It](https://lightmysky.com/learn/design-and-technology/designing-for-the-people-who-use-it-mt_QPznzhuBNI)