Product lifetime extension through design: Encouraging consumers to repair electronic products in a circular economy

Our production and consumption patterns of electronic products exceed the limits of what one planet can handle. Prolonging product lifetimes decreases the value losses caused by the destruction of existing products and lowers the amount of e-waste. Repair is an impactful strategy to tackle the issues associated with the production and...

Bio-Based Plastics in Product Design: The State of the Art and Challenges to Overcome

Replacing fossil-based feedstock with renewable alternatives is a crucial step towards a circular economy. The bio-based plastics currently on the market are predominantly used in single-use applications, with remarkably limited uptake in durable products. This study explores the current state of the art of bio-based plastic use in durable...

The extent to which circular economy principles have been applied in the design of medical devices for low-resource settings in Sub-Saharan Africa.: A systematic review

Healthcare facilities in low-resource settings in Sub-Saharan Africa are plagued<br/>with issues of non-functional and obsolete medical devices, which ultimately<br/>end up prematurely disposed of as waste. With increasing healthcare demands,<br/>stopping medical device disposal is imperative. One way to achieve this is<br/>to leverage circular...

Bio-based plastics in a circular economy: A review of recovery pathways and implications for product design

Bio-based plastics are attracting increasing attention due to their perceived sustainability and circularity. While enabling circularity by using renewable feedstocks, they still contribute to plastic pollution. Furthermore, their rapidly growing market will cause bio-based plastics to constitute significant fractions of plastic waste,...

Fault Diagnosis in Household Appliances: A Design Perspective

Today’s industrialized societies face the challenge of integrating economic activity with sustainable consumption. Prosperity has come hand in hand with environmental damage. Product lifetimes are decreasing and there is a rising demand for high-tech products for which no effective recycling is in place. Hence, the value from products is lost to...

Circular Composites by Design: Testing a Design Method in Industry

The design of composite products for a circular economy is challenging. Materials such as glass-fibre-reinforced plastics have long product lifetimes but are hard to recycle. For the effective reuse and recycling of products, parts, and materials, recovery strategies must be selected and implemented in the product design stage. This extends the...

Circular composites: A design guide for products containing composite materials in a circular economy

The circular composites design guide presents circular economy strategies, product design aspects and tools to (re-)design products containing composite materials for a circular economy.<br/>A circular economy closes the loop for products, parts and materials, through reuse and recycling. In this guide you will find 5 circular economy strategies...

Products and circular economy, Policy recommendations derived from Research & Innovation projects

This report presents the findings from a review of more than one hundred Research &amp; Innovation (R&amp;I) projects under EU Framework programmes FP6 and FP7, dealing with a range of circularity considerations related to product design, manufacturing, use and after-use. Nine independent experts analysed these projects, brought in their own...

Circular economy competencies for design

This study addresses what competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) designers need in order to successfully design products and services for a circular economy. Existing literature, though sparse, has identified a number of circular economy competencies for design. Yet, a coherent overview is lacking. To complement the competencies found...

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...