Practice IB Design Technology (DT) Topic 2.2 Waste Mitigation Strategies with authentic exam-style questions for both SL and HL students. This question bank focuses on the exact syllabus content for 2.2 Waste Mitigation Strategies and mirrors Paper 1, 2, 3 style where relevant.
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The 'cradle-to-cradle' (C2C) design framework categorizes materials into two distinct 'nutrient' types to ensure they can be returned to productive use. Which row correctly identifies the intended end-of-life path for these material categories?
A company that produces heavy-duty aircraft engines implements the following workflow for engines that have reached their flight-hour limit:
| Phase | Action |
|---|
| Biological Nutrients | Technical Nutrients |
|---|
| A | Incineration for energy recovery | Disposal in managed landfills |
| B | Return to the natural biosphere | Circulation in industrial cycles |
| C | Processing via open-loop recycling | Breakdown via anaerobic digestion |
| D | Storage in specialized facilities | Conversion into organic compost |
| I | The engine is completely broken down into its smallest individual parts. |
| II | Every part is chemical-cleaned and inspected using high-precision sensors. |
| III | Degraded parts are substituted with upgraded components that meet current standards. |
| IV | The engine is reassembled and certified to perform with a full new-product warranty. |
Identify the strategy for waste mitigation presented in this workflow.
A manufacturing team is analyzing three different end-of-life pathways for their consumer electronics line. The table below describes the specific processes applied to each product category.
| Product Category | End-of-Life Process Description |
|---|---|
| Category 1 | The product is completely disassembled, and all components are inspected; it is then rebuilt using new and original parts to meet the same quality and performance standards as a new product. |
| Category 2 | The product is cleaned and serviced to return it to a good, functional working order, though it may not meet its original factory performance specifications. |
| Category 3 | The product is broken down so that its constituent materials can be processed and used as raw material for the manufacturing of new, different products. |
Which row correctly identifies the waste mitigation strategies for these three categories?
The table below describes two different approaches to managing products and materials at the end of a specific life stage.
| Strategy | Action taken |
|---|---|
| X | A technician replaces a broken charging port on a smartphone so the device can be used again by its owner. |
| Y | Used aluminium beverage cans are collected, melted down, and the recovered metal is used to manufacture new automotive parts. |
Which strategies do X and Y represent?
A company that produces aluminium beverage cans reduces the thickness of the can walls by 0.05 mm while maintaining the required pressure resistance. This change significantly decreases the total volume of raw material required for the same production output.
Which waste mitigation strategy is best described by this design improvement?
A
B
C
D
Reuse
Recycling
Remanufacturing
Reconditioning
