How to Design a Recyclable Razor That Actually Performs: The Engineering Behind LORD's Circular System
Every morning, millions of people face an invisible choice at the bathroom sink.
Option A: Reach for that smooth, comfortable multi-blade cartridge razor. Get a great shave. Toss the worn cartridge in the bin, where it joins billions of others in landfill—plastics and metals fused together in a way that makes recycling nearly impossible.
Option B: Go old school with a single-blade safety razor. Feel good about the minimal waste. Accept the learning curve, the occasional nicks, and the extra time it takes.
For most people, it’s not really a choice at all. Comfort wins. Convenience wins. And the waste just … happens.
But what if you didn’t have to choose?
When “Eco-Friendly” Means “Less Good”
Here’s the uncomfortable truth about sustainable products: we’ve been conditioned to expect them to be slightly worse.
The eco version costs more, performs less well, requires more effort, or demands we change our habits. We accept this trade-off because we care. But that acceptance has a ceiling. Most people won’t switch to a product that makes their daily routine harder, no matter how much they care about the planet.
Single-blade safety razors are a perfect example. They’re genuinely sustainable, durable metal, minimal waste, fully recyclable. But they’ve remained niche for a reason. There’s a real performance gap. There’s a learning curve. And for most people, that’s where the conversation ends.
Meanwhile, modern 5-blade cartridge razors deliver everything users want: comfort, convenience, that smooth glide, the pivoting head that follows your face. They’re engineered for performance. Just not for what happens after you’re done with them.
The materials are inseparable. Plastics, metals, rubber, lubricating strips, all bonded together. Resource-intensive to make. Impossible to recycle properly. Designed for performance in use, designed for obsolescence after.
Rethinking the Entire System
LORD is a leading manufacturer of shaving products with decades of experience in blade technology. When they approached INDEED Innovation to explore circular design possibilities, the question wasn’t “How do we make a razor more sustainable?” but “What if we designed for end-of-life from the beginning?”
The Circular Comfort Razor emerged from this collaboration, a product that required rethinking everything from materials to manufacturing to how components fit together. The result is a razor that genuinely competes with premium multi-blade systems on comfort and convenience, while being fully recyclable through existing infrastructure.
No new recycling programs. No mail-back schemes. No asking users to do anything different.
Here’s how it works.
Steel Changes Everything
The cartridge is 100% plastic-free. Not steel and plastic. Not steel encased in plastic. Just steel.
That single material decision unlocks everything else. The steel is magnetic. Recycling facilities worldwide already use magnetic separation to pull ferrous metals from waste streams. It’s established technology, running in thousands of plants globally.
Which means these cartridges slot directly into existing recycling systems. Drop them in the recycling bin, or the residual waste. The infrastructure is already there.
At 1.45 grams per cartridge, they’re also 35-60% lighter than market-leading competitors. Less material, same performance. Better, actually, because of what comes next.
Open Architecture: The Performance Advantage
Here’s where it gets interesting. The blades aren’t enclosed in plastic housing. They’re open.
Hair and shaving cream rinse straight through. No buildup between blades. No clogging. The cartridge stays cleaner and sharper, which means it will be used longer. You get more shaves per cartridge than you would with a conventional enclosed design.
It’s one of those cases where the sustainable choice actually performs better.
Only Replace What Wears Out
Look at a conventional razor cartridge. It contains the blades, yes. But often also the pivoting joint, the skin tensioner, the lubrication strip, the plastic housing, the connection mechanism. All of it gets tossed when the blades dull or clog up.
The Circular Comfort Razor separates durable from consumable.
The metal handle houses the pivot joint and skin tensioner. These components are built to last years. When the blades wear out, you replace only the blades—the 1.45-gram steel cartridge. Everything else stays in use.
Fewer parts in the cartridge means less material, simpler recycling, and lower waste. It’s the obvious solution, but it required redesigning the entire system around longevity rather than disposability.
The Microplastic Problem
Most razor lubricating strips contain plastics that degrade with every use, releasing microplastic particles during shaving. These tiny fragments wash down the drain and eventually reach waterways.
It’s invisible pollution. You don’t see it happening. But it’s happening every time someone shaves.
Since wastewater treatment plants can’t entirely filter out microplastics, these particles end up in rivers, lakes, and oceans. The scale of the problem is staggering: a 2022 study found microplastics in 83% of global tap water samples, and a 2021 study found microplastics in 100% of sea salt samples tested globally.
In the United States alone, the EPA estimates that 2 billion disposable razors are thrown away annually. Each one of those razors likely released microplastic particles from its lubricating strip during use—particles that are now in water systems, in food chains, and increasingly, in human bodies. A recent study found microplastics in 80% of human blood samples tested.
The Circular Comfort Razor uses a completely plastic-free lubricating strip formula. Zero microplastic release. The performance is the same. The environmental impact is not.
Built to Be Fixed, Not Replaced
The metal handle is modular. If the swivel spring wears out, you can replace it. If the blade connector needs swapping, you can swap it. Individual components, individual fixes.
No proprietary tools. No sending it back to the manufacturer. Just straightforward mechanical connections designed to be taken apart and put back together.
This is the opposite of planned obsolescence. It’s planned longevity.
Why This Hasn’t Existed Before
The technology isn’t new. Magnetic separation has been around for decades. Steel cartridges are manufacturable. Open blade architecture isn’t revolutionary.
So why are we only seeing this now?
Because most product design starts with manufacturing and works forward. How do we make this cheaply? How do we make it perform well? What materials are easiest to work with?
End-of-life is an afterthought. If it’s considered at all.
Circular design flips this. You start with: what happens when this product is done being used? Can it be recycled? Can components be reused? Can it be repaired? Then you work backward, designing a product that performs well while fitting into circular material flows.
It’s harder. It requires rethinking established manufacturing processes. It means saying no to material combinations that would be easier or cheaper but impossible to separate later.
But when you commit to it fully, you get products that compete on performance without compromise.
What This Means for Other Products
Razors are just razors. But the principles apply across categories.
Separate durable from consumable. Design for the recycling infrastructure that exists today. Choose materials that can actually be recovered. Build for repair. Extend the use phase through better design, not planned obsolescence.
None of this requires asking users to compromise. It requires designers and manufacturers to think differently about what happens after the sale.
The Circular Comfort Razor proves it’s possible. Premium multi-blade comfort. 100% recyclable through existing systems. 35-60% less material per cartridge. Extended lifespan. Zero microplastics. No trade-offs.
Maybe the invisible choice at the bathroom sink doesn’t have to be a choice after all.
Let’s Explore Circular Design for Your Products
The engineering principles behind the LORD Circular Comfort Razor, innovative use of material for recyclability, design for longevity, modular architecture for repair, can be applied across product categories.
Want to explore what circular design could mean for your products?
Book a call with our circular design experts. We’ll discuss your product challenges, manufacturing constraints, and market requirements to identify opportunities for circular innovation that doesn’t compromise on performance.
Larissa Scherrer
Marketing Strategy
Brand Positioning
Social Media Strategy
