From digging up to throwing away

Design & Technology · Designing & Making · ages 15-16

Name ______________________ Date ____________

A plastic straw starts life as what?
- Sand melted on a beach
- Oil pumped from the ground
- Paper pressed from trees
What are the four chapters of a product's life?
- Raw material, manufacture, use, disposal
- Design, advert, sale, refund
- Mine, post, stream, delete
Which design choice helps future repair?
- Glued-shut casing
- Standard screws and sold spares
- Parts nobody stocks
Where should a dead phone battery go?
- A battery collection point
- The normal kitchen bin
- Down the nearest drain
Why are dead batteries a real disposal problem?
- They are too heavy to carry
- Mixed toxic materials must be separated safely
- They dissolve in rain at once
Keeping a product ten years instead of two spreads its making and disposal costs thinner.
Circle one: True False
A maker claims its phone is repairable. Which evidence would settle it?
- Its advert music and colours
- Its price on launch day
- Openable case, priced spares, and published guides
A gadget is glued shut and no spares exist. What is the fair argument?
- It was designed to be replaced, not fixed
- Glue proves high quality
- Spares are never needed

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Oil pumped from the ground · It is refined oil molded into a tube.
Raw material, manufacture, use, disposal · The life runs from digging up to throwing away.
Standard screws and sold spares · Reachable parts plus guides keep the middle chapter long.
A battery collection point · Lithium cells can start fires in garbage trucks.
Mixed toxic materials must be separated safely · Metals and acids pressed together can leak and burn.
True · A longer middle chapter dilutes the start and end costs.
Openable case, priced spares, and published guides · Those three show the designer allowed repair.
It was designed to be replaced, not fixed · Sealed cases plus missing spares mean a short life by design.