Kotaro Nomura
Lead Designer
UX Design Department
Design Center
Hitachi Global Life Solutions, Inc. (Hitachi GLS) promotes environmental management according to Hitachi Environmental Innovation 2050. As part of the initiative, the company focuses on manufacturing that is adaptable to a resource-circulating society, and works on eco-friendly product design and recycling technology development. Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner PV-BH900SK, launched in August 2022, is one example of products that are the quality result of such efforts. More than 40% of its body and accessories are made of recycled plastic, and the finish with minimum coating and printing ensures the recyclability of materials.
“Recycled plastic has been used for home appliance parts that are hidden inside, but in order to increase the ratio of recycled plastic, we had to consider using it for the exterior parts,” says designer Kotaro Nomura, who led the CMF design for the product. CMF stands for Color, Material, and Finish—characteristics that determine the exterior of products. In addition to designing physical shapes, Nomura designs those parts seen or touched by users to boost the appeal and add value to the product.
Nomura and members of the Product Design Department, together with a material research team within the same R&D Group, have been studying effective uses of recycled materials for products for the past few years. Vacuum cleaners are made of more plastic for the exterior than other home appliances. “Vacuum cleaners’ plastic parts also serve to enhance strength, and we wondered if recycled materials can replace them. It was also an interesting research subject for us,” says Nomura. The R&D Group made a proposal to Hitachi GLS, and the development of a vacuum cleaner with recycled plastic began.
Recycled material samples
The prototype originally leaned toward a trendy texture that emphasizes a recycled appearance.
Nomura and members of the Product Design Department, together with a material research team within the same R&D Group, have been studying effective uses of recycled materials for products for the past few years. Vacuum cleaners are made of more plastic for the exterior than other home appliances. “Vacuum cleaners’ plastic parts also serve to enhance strength, and we wondered if recycled materials can replace them. It was also an interesting research subject for us,” says Nomura. The R&D Group made a proposal to Hitachi GLS, and the development of a vacuum cleaner with recycled plastic began.
Samples of a handle. PC is used for this model, instead of ABS in other models.
A recent trend when using recycled plastic is mixing in additive materials to obtain a recycled-look, in order to emphasize the use of recycled materials. At the early stage of development, there were many opinions within the company preferring such an appearance because it might be more appealing as the first model of a home appliance made with recycled materials.
However, a different opinion emerged after repeated testing. For example, when additive materials are used with recycled polypropylene (PP), the strength is impaired and the material is no longer recyclable as PP. Experiments with various recycled plastic samples with additive materials revealed the downsides of pursuing a recycled-look. “So we changed our perspective. We’d make it recyclable without using additive materials, and propose a product from a new viewpoint by further improving the design,” Nomura explains.
What matters is whether the product is something consumers simply “want” or not, rather than if it has a typical recycled plastic-like appearance. The challenge in CMF design was balancing recycled materials with a high-quality feel. The goal was to achieve a quality comparable to, or even better than, a product made with virgin materials, despite the use of recycled materials.
The passion for the color black was a key element. “I always wanted to design a black vacuum cleaner,” Nomura recalls. “This product is also available in light gold, and I wondered which color plastic is able to materialize a higher-class feel than that color. After a thorough acceptance survey and color comparison, black was my conclusion. I decided to use the black color for the product,” he continues.
Tough and lightweight PP is an indispensable material for vacuum cleaners. However, achieving color consistency and a deep black color with recycled PP has proven to be challenging since it is made from already colored material and requires additional coloring. “At first, our designers wanted to use recycled PP extensively, but this material alone only gave the product a dull and boring look. So we opted to use recycled polycarbonate (PC) as well,” says Nomura.
PC is a tough material that has been used as an alternative to glass and acrylic, and a beautiful deep black color can be obtained with transparent recycled PC. While using the black color for the entire body, recycled PC was integrated for parts that require a sense of quality as a design element, sprucing up the overall impression. Even within the black color, intricate embossing in different parts gives a contrasting texture, resulting in an expressive design.
The Hitachi logo is also embossed, minimizing printing and other decorative parts.
“We wanted to reduce the time and burden of removing them as much as possible, considering the subsequent recycling.” (Nomura)
The PV-BH900SK went on the market in August 2022 and won the Good Design Gold Award (Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award) from the Japan Institute of Design Promotion in October 2022. It was also chosen as a finalist for the Good Design Grand Award and advanced to the public presentation in the final screening on the day of the award ceremony, which is a remarkable achievement for a home appliance in recent years. It was highly acclaimed for extensively using recycled plastic, while also integrating it into a sophisticated design. Recycled PP is used for the core parts of the vacuum cleaner that require strength and lightness, and recycled PC is used for the important design elements—the key to this product—taking advantage of its excellent color reproducibility and impact resistance. Against the backdrop of increasing opportunities to encounter recycled materials in our daily lives, the design was recognized for being among the first to have an aesthetic focus and embodying it after countless trials.
“I think this project has made it easier to commercialize products made with recycled materials in our company. It was particularly great that we gained insight into producing a beautiful black color with recycled plastic. As a designer, I believe it's important to design products readily workable for the factory and production engineering team, and we were able to find an answer,” says Nomura.
Hitachi will continue its endeavor to utilize recycled materials, including expanding the use to other products. What is important is that utilization of recycled materials is not a goal. “An ideal for us is a situation where a consumer wants a product, which happens to be made with recycled materials. Home appliances are now used in many different places in many different manners. I'd like to pursue an optimum CMF, taking into account manufacturing and the environment, by addressing each product, instead of just blindly following the preconceived ideas of home appliances or a vacuum cleaner,” says Nomura. For Nomura, who considers himself a material specialist, the quest will continue.
