Sustainability starts very early in the product development process, at the concept stage. This means that industrial designers have an outsize role to play in determining any given product’s carbon footprint, recyclability, reusability, and more. They can help guide brand owners in making optimal material choices, while ensuring a product has aesthetic qualities that encourage a user to keep it longer, rather than use it and pitch it in the trash.

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) understands this very well. To that end, the Dulles, VA–based group is organizing its second annual virtual Sustainability Deep Dive next week, on June 9 and 10. The program will run for roughly four hours each day, and features 14 expert presenters from firms as diverse as BMW Group Design and Estée Lauder Companies.

The sessions will cover a variety of topics ranging from circular design/economy, sustainable material innovations, and manufacturing processes to zero-waste strategies, changing consumer behavior, closed-loop product development, biomimicry, product packaging, and more. IDSA plans to record all the sessions and make them available after the event, but for ticket holders only.

The group is taking a novel approach to pricing, offering a deeply discounted "choose-your-own-rate" fee structure that includes options of $25, $50, $75, or $100 per ticket. Each option provides full and equal access to the event, so you can choose your price based on what you feel comfortable spending.

Learn more on the IDSA website.