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How a Product Design project at Cardiff Met turned into my career

Toby Edmunds
Toby Edmunds

Since graduating from Product Design at Cardiff School of Art and Design (CSAD) in 2020, I used the key industry links and opportunities presented to our course to kick-start my career.

What initially started as a 24-hour innovation challenge with an external company has now directly led to me working full-time at DS Smith, a leading provider of sustainable packaging solutions, paper products and recycling services worldwide. 

During my undergraduate course, we were presented with multiple live briefs.  One of these consisted of a mixed year-group cohort working together to present a concept to an external company that had contacted the course looking for innovations.

The specific brief set by DS Smith really interested me – the challenge was simple: “Turn the Last Mile of Delivery for E-commerce into the First Mile of Recycling,” with a strong emphasis on keeping recyclable packaging segregated from other household waste.

 

The concept my team derived involved setting up deposit points while encouraging a change in social practices. For this reason, school sites were chosen as a collection hub in local communities. This would ensure that material could be collected in a contained environment, while encouraging young children to be aware of their impact on the environment.

Our project was shortlisted, developed for a further 5 weeks and then presented to a panel from DS Smith. My project team, which included Izaak Horn, Ryan Higgins and myself, was voted the winner of the innovation challenge, which would then be taken forward to become a pilot/proof of concept. This project was also awarded the university’s CSAD Entrepreneurial Kite Marque.

I then registered my interest in continuing my work on this project alongside DS Smith to support the role out of the pilot. After a very tough year with many setbacks due to Covid, the ‘Young Recyclers’ Project started its trial in September 2021.

Partnering with five primary schools, a weekly collection is in place, with all the cardboard collected going straight to DS Smith’s flagship paper mill in Kemsley, Kent, ready to be turned back into packaging.

This project helps children between the ages of 3 and 11 to understand the circular economy, and how everyone, including children, can start making a difference to the environment around us.

With the ‘Young Recyclers’ project complete and launched it left me wondering what my next steps would be. I applied for a Graduate role within DS Smith and was successful, joining the team during September 2021. I now work within the project delivery section for the Strategic Projects team. It has been very clear to me that without the exposure to industry experience that our course provided, I may not have been in the career that I am now in.  

I’d urge anyone studying at CSAD to make the most of opportunities like this, as they can make a big difference to your career path.