Take this test. Which of these two pie tins has the highest reuse potential, using less energy and labor? The one on the left can be used over and over for baking pies. If it ever is ruined, then it can always be recycled as aluminum. The one on the right is just a lump of aluminum. The only way to reuse it is to ship it a thousand miles away to an aluminum smelter, where a great deal of energy will be converted to heat to melt it, more energy used to cool and roll it into sheets, and form it once again into a pie tin.

Choose one.

Reuse for baking (Zero Waste)
Reuse by melting (recycling)

Did you choose the recycling path? In that case, maybe you made a big mistake coming to this website. But there's still hope. Look at our pages devoted to Principles, Mainstream Shenanigans, Projects and others and take the test again.

You probably could see the enhanced level of reuse for a functional pie tin and chose the lefthand picture. But that just brings us to the money question:

How could we design that pie tin to be even more reusable? Let's brainstorm:
Could we make it more robust i.e. thicker and heavier so it would last longer and be washable? - of course!
Could we put a removable steel bottom in it to guard against perforation by knives - possibly.
Should we create removable segmenters to eliminate cutting altogether? - maybe?
Should we coat it with teflon so it cleans up easily? - that needs further study.
Should we put ears on it to serve as handles and prevent dropping? - sounds good.
Should we rethink the whole concept of baking in a sloped pie tin? - what should replace that?
Thinking of the commercial environment and usage cycle, should pies be sold in plates that have serious deposits on them to be sure they are returned for reuse?
This is the kind of brainstorming that needs to take place for every product in use anywhere. Whether a hammer or a solvent, they can all be thought about using the new constraint of Zero Waste, which can be summed up thus - what if there was no such thing as throwing away at all and everything had to be reused endlessly? How would you redesign for that?

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You probably could see the enhanced level of reuse for a functional pie tin and chose the lefthand picture. But that just brings us to the money question:
	How could we design that pie tin to be even more reusable? Let's brainstorm: Could we make it more robust i.e. thicker and heavier so it would last longer and be washable? - of course! Could we put a removable steel bottom in it to guard against perforation by knives - possibly. Should we create removable segmenters to eliminate cutting altogether? - maybe? Should we coat it with teflon so it cleans up easily? - that needs further study. Should we put ears on it to serve as handles and prevent dropping? - sounds good. Should we rethink the whole concept of baking in a sloped pie tin? - what should replace that? Thinking of the commercial environment and usage cycle, should pies be sold in plates that have serious deposits on them to be sure they are returned for reuse?
This is the kind of brainstorming that needs to take place for every product in use anywhere. Whether a hammer or a solvent, they can all be thought about using the new constraint of Zero Waste, which can be summed up thus - what if there was no such thing as throwing away at all and everything had to be reused endlessly? How would you redesign for that?