Designing out waste: toasters for a circular economy - in pictures

An electronics recycling plant. Electrical products are stockpiled before being smashed apart to have their materials recovered for reprocessing. Steel and aluminium come through this process well, plastics and circuit boards come out mixed and degraded. Photograph: The Agency of Design

The Optimist toaster. Designed meticulously for a long and happy life, from its matte sand cast finish that will grow old gracefully, to its radial anti­crumpet­ jamming grills. The toast counter on its front clicks for every slice of toast, a detail designed to engage the user long after the new product excitement wore off. Photograph: Agency of Design

Super durable. The Optimist is easily user repairable, undo four bolts to open the housing, then simply unclip the element and slide in a new one. Photograph: The Agency of Design

Casting the Optimist. It started with a simple design rule, wanting our product to be a step in the materials infinite life­cycle rather than a shortcut to its grave. Sourced from 100% recycled aluminium, the Optimist had already enjoyed a life as aeroplane pumps, bike frames and car wheels. Once its done with toasting, it can go on to be something else without any loss in material quality. Photograph: The Agency of Design

The Pragmatist toaster. A modular re­think of toasting to allow a closed loop relationship with the manufacturer. Broken slots can specifically be returned for repair, never leaving the user without a functioning toaster. Photograph: The Agency of Design

Toasting slots. Each slot is wired in parallel to the next using standard electrical connectors. This makes it very easy for a user to remove a slot that has broken and means the remaining slots can carry on toasting. Photograph: Agency of Design

A postable toaster. Most toasters end up in the household bin because it requires too much effort to take them to a recycling centre. The modular design makes it is as easy as possible to return a slot, simply through the post. Photograph: The Agency of Design

Designed for reprocessing. If you take your own products back you make sure it is as easy as possible to disassemble and reprocess to retain the value of the materials they are made from. Photograph: The Agency of Design

The Realist toaster. A budget toaster fitted with the simplest disassembly technology possible. In a vacuum chamber the snap fit joints pop apart allowing the materials to be non­destructively separated and reprocessed. Photograph: The Agency of Design

Plastic recycling centre. A potential future route for the Realist toaster, these factories optically recognise different polymers and use air jets to automatically sort them. Photograph: The Agency of Design