A Holistic Sustainability Framework for Waste Management in European Cities: Concept Development

Waste management represents a challenge for public authorities due to many reasons such as increased waste generation following urban population growth, economic burdens imposed on the municipal budget, and nuisances inevitably caused to the environment and local inhabitants. To optimize the system from a sustainability perspective, moving the...

‘If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Explain It’: The Influence of Visual and Verbal Information about Prior Use on Consumers’ Evaluations of Refurbished Electronics

Refurbishment presents opportunities for designers to improve the sustainability of new and old products via an experiment and post hoc interviews, this research investigates and explores how information about prior use – offered in a visual (signs of wear and tear) or verbal (textual description) form – influences consumers’ evaluations of...

Does Access Trump Ownership?: Exploring Consumer Acceptance of Access-Based Consumption in the Case of Smartphones

Value creation in a circular economy is based on products being returned after use. In the case of smartphones, most are never returned and tend to be kept in drawers. Smartphone access services (e.g., leasing or upgrade) have been experimented with in the Netherlands but have been largely unsuccessful. This study explores the reasons why...

The Role of Product Design in Creating Circular Business Models:: A Case Study on the Lease and Refurbishment of Baby Strollers

In the transition to a circular economy companies are exploring new business models, implying a shift from selling products to offering products in circular business models, such as leasing.<br/>Product design is thought to play a crucial role in enabling this. Having a robust overview of relevant design roles and competencies is of foundational...

Converting Waste Toilet Paper into Electricity: A First-Stage Technoeconomic Feasibility Study

We studied the possibility of converting waste toilet paper (WTP) into electricity. WTP is a waste stream with continuous availability and negative cost, but it is difficult to handle, as it contains fecal matter. The process we explored had two stages: WTP gasification followed by direct conversion into electricity in a high-temperature...

Product design and business model strategies for a circular economy

The transition within business from a linear to a circular economy brings with it a range of practical challenges for companies. The following question is addressed: What are the product design and business model strategies for<br/>companies that want to move to a circular economy model? This paper develops a framework of strategies to guide...