Your challenge will be to design a new solution to address a need that eliminates or significantly reduces the problems associated with materials using the State of Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality Vision 2050 Materials Management plan as a framework. We will examine how 'upstream impacts' (raw material selection, design, and production actions made at the point of invention) can significantly minimize the environmental footprint of a product.

The solution should be economically viable, socially acceptable and have a net positive environmental impact compared to existing products/processes.

Color dramatically influences human behavior from how we communicate to how we make decisions and is a ubiquitous component of consumer products. The materials and processes used to generate color in consumer products have significant impacts on human health and the environment. In light of the economic, social and environmental impacts of color on society, you will be asked to invent a product or process that reduces the impacts of color (dyes, pigments, inks and structural color) on human health and the environment or invent a new way to use color as a tool to reduce the impacts of consumer products on human health and the environment. The strategy should be economically viable, socially acceptable and have a net positive environmental impact compared to existing products/processes.