Washing as a Service - Quantifying the Environmental Impact of a pay-per-use washing machine through Life Cycle Assessment

In order to live more sustainably on this planet, the world’s population needs to transform the current take-make dispose society towards a society with more maintainable consumption patterns and more sustainable business models. A way to achieve this, is a circular economy in which value is maintained within the product cycle, by sharing,...

Improving the environmental impact of the washing machine product-service system by Coolblue

In 2019 over 670000 new washing machines(WMs) were purchased in the Netherlands (Statista, 2020). With a WM ownershiprate of 98%, the Dutch people have one of the highest WM ownership percentagesin the world (Laitala et al., 2018). In the traditional business model (BM)these WMs will be used, discarded and recycled. In order...

The Future of Washing as a Service in a Circular Economy

Bundles is a Dutch startup that is working on developing circular propositions by offering products on a subscription model. Bundles already offer high-quality Miele washing machines on a “pay per wash” model to consumers. However, high lifecycle costs hinder the competitiveness of the business. This high cost is a result of the product (washing...

Internet of Things for Circular Economy: Design of a Pay-per-Use smart PSS eco-system

This thesis explores how Internet of Things (IoT) can support Circular Economy in its goal of decoupling economic development from finite resources consumption. This is made specifically in the context of products as services, using as the case of study the Pay-per-Use washing-machine service by startup company HOMIE. The machine is connected to...