Extending product lifetimes is central to advancing the Circular Economy (CE), as it enables the retention of value for both first and successive users (Geissdoerfer et al. (2017). Yet in many consumer markets, products are still prematurely replaced—whether due to loss of functional value or other, often subjective, perceptions of diminished worth (Magnier and Mugge, 2022). Many of these discarded products fail to enter reuse markets, leading to significant value loss and exacerbating environmental pressures such as CO2 emissions, material depletion, and e-waste (Bakker et al., 2014).

The fifth Product Lifetimes and the Environment Conference (PLATE 2023) brought together researchers and practitioners to deepen understanding of how extending product lifetimes can contribute to a CE . This special issue, a direct outcome of PLATE 2023, compiles new insights and empirical research that underscore the importance of retaining product value throughout the product life cycle. A key theme across the contributions is the shift away from merely improving recycling systems toward prioritizing inner-loop strategies—reuse, repair, refurbishment—and systemic lifetime extension.

This special issue covers diverse product categories—ranging from ICT and fashion to children’s goods and electric vehicle batteries—and examines value retention from multiple disciplinary and stakeholder perspectives, including design, business, policy, and environmental assessment. The 24 included articles are organized under six thematic sections: 1) Organisational perspective to circular value retention; 2) Longevity in fashion; 3) Changing consumer behaviors for longevity; 4) Design for longevity tools; 5) Policies and eco-systems for longevity; and 6) Environmental impact assessment of longevity. Together, these contributions reflect the state of the art in product lifetime research and provide valuable guidance for academia and practice in navigating the transition to a more circular economy. ... Read more

Companies are pivotal in transitioning from a linear economy to a sufficiency-based circular economy. However, circular research lacks the necessary tools and processes to engage companies, customers, and downstream suppliers in preserving the value of their products post-launch. Effective value preservation requires close collaboration among producing companies and their ecosystem stakeholders to identify when value is decreased or destroyed over the product’s lifetime and to develop shared strategies to preserve or increase this value. This paper contributes to the development and empirical evaluation of the Circular Value toolkit. Based on demonstration with 15 SMEs and 24 PhD students, we found that the Circular Value toolkit supports companies in 1) identifying the points in the product lifetime where value is currently decreased or destroyed; 2) developing ideas and concepts to prevent value destruction; and 3) identifying barriers and opportunities for initiating collaboration with ecosystem stakeholders to ensure the efficient preservation of product value throughout the product’s lifetime. A valuable next step will be to validate the toolkit’s long‑term effects and examine its implementation within large organisations. ... Read more

This paper introduces the Fundamental User Needs (FUN) Scales, tailored to measure need satisfaction and frustration in design-mediated interactions. The development and initial validation process included a preparation phase and four studies. Adopting a deductive approach, we generated a pool of 780 items and distilled them into the first version of the FUN Scales: a 52-item Need Satisfaction Scale and a 52-item Need Frustration Scale. Content validity was assessed by nine experts, leading to a refined second version. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with 502 participants examined the scales’ factorial structure, reliability, and validity, resulting in a finalized version with 39 items per scale. Finally, we proposed two scoring approaches to facilitate scale application. The FUN Scales can serve as a robust diagnostic tool for quantifying the psychological impact of design and technology through the lens of need fulfillment, offering structure and inspiration for human-centered design research and practice. ... Read more

A substantial number of electric appliances are replaced while still functional, contributing to environmental challenges. Despite retaining utility, consumers may perceive that such appliances have delivered sufficient value, leading to their replacement. ’Time for a new product’ is frequently observed as a primary motivator for such decisions. Replacement decisions consist of two interconnected processes: acquiring a new appliance and retiring the old one. This study draws on the concept of mental book value to examine how consumers’ lifetime estimations influence when consumers determine that it is ’time for a new product’. Preliminary analysis of 20 interviews participants revealed that electric appliances’ mental book value are fully written off once these have met consumers’ lifetime estimations. Moreover, this research enhanced the understanding of the mental book value depreciation and lifetime estimations, providing a deeper understanding of how these factors influence replacement decisions. By addressing these dynamics, strategies can be developed to extend appliance lifetimes, reduce waste, and promote more sustainable consumer behaviour. ... Read more

Fogg’s model of behavior change says: motivation is whether people want to change, ability is whether people can change, and prompts are stimuli that provoke actual change.

Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior says: attitude is what a person thinks and feels, subjective norms are what that person thinks others believe, and perceived behavioral control is how easy or hard they think it is to change their behavior.

Lockton’s “Design with Intent” tool includes these and many more theories of change with 101 persuasion tactics grouped into eight theoretical “lenses.”

To encourage better behavior with your design, focus on the user experience, make it easy and compelling for the user to act better.
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Replacement decisions for consumer electronics involve trade-offs between product values, including emotional value (Van den Berge et al., 2021). Emotional value emerges when a product evokes positive emotions and affective states (Sheth et al., 1991). It can be acquired through diverse mechanisms, including sensory appeal and symbolic associations (Desmet et al., 2001; Orth et al., 2018). Design strategies support designers on how to translate these mechanisms into concrete product features that foster emotional value (Haines-Gadd et al., 2018; Wu et al., 2021). However, design strategies for emotional value are rarely implemented in consumer electronics. One reason may be that emotional value is shaped by individual consumer experiences (Kato, 2021). Thus, design strategies for emotional value may fail if they do not resonate with the user. This makes emotional value less predictable and harder to design for. Additionally, shifting emotions over time may undermine a product’s relevance (Chapman, 2009). This may cause products that initially establish emotional value to lose this value gradually. We define these shortcomings that prevent design strategies from creating or retaining emotional value during ownership as vulnerabilities. ... Read more

Consumers often replace electronic products prematurely due to performance issues (Van den Berge et al., 2021). Repair is a promising strategy to extend product lifetime by correcting faults to restore functionality (Pamminger et al., 2017) or realigning the product performance with users’ functional expectations via upgrades (Godfrey et al., 2022). However, repair activities declined over the past decades with 60% consumers disregarding repair when products malfunction (Magnier & Mugge, 2022). Recent consumer studies have revealed the barriers to repair. Consumers often struggle to diagnose product failures (Ackermann et al., 2018; Pozo Arcos et al., 2021), causing uncertainty about repair paths. Previous negative repair experiences further demotivate repair (Sonego et al., 2022), making consumers doubt its value (Svensson-Hoglund et al., 2022). The uncertainty about the availability of spare parts, clear repair instructions, and trustworthy repair services increase concerns about repair (Jaeger-Erben et al., 2021; Sonego et al., 2022). These lead to a lack of consumers’ trust, acceptance and adoption of repair practices. […] ... Read more

Contemporary communication platforms, ranging from social media to traditional news outlets, frequently present static norms, reflecting established behaviours (e.g., eating meat, drinking alcohol at parties) in combination with dynamic norms that signal evolving societal trends (e.g., adopting more plant-based diets, attending alcohol-free events). Despite the widespread exposure to such combined static-and-dynamic-norm communications, its influence on consumer behaviour remains unexplored. This research addresses this gap by conducting two laboratory experiments to investigate the impact of static-and-dynamic-norm communications on sustainable behaviour towards reduction of fast fashion consumption.

The results demonstrate that participants exposed to the combination of unsustainable static and unsustainable dynamic norms purchased significantly fewer fashion items than those in other experimental conditions. This behavioural change is affected by a process of social moral cleansing, wherein participants, upon confronting with the widespread unsustainable behaviour of others, experienced a highlighted motivation to counteract these behaviours by acting more sustainably themselves. These findings contribute to the growing literature on social normative influence in sustainable consumption contexts. By identifying a novel and effective normative communication strategy for reducing consumption, this research offers valuable insights for researchers, designers and policy makers seeking to promote sufficiency-oriented behaviour and foster long-term sustainable behavioural change. ... Read more

Laptops in the current economy most often fall short of their potential useful lifetimes, regularly being replaced before their true end-of-life. Increasing laptop lifetimes can play an important role in improving circularity for high-impact ICT equipment. We expand on existing literature about consumer behavior toward laptop lifetimes by examining the role of individuals who use laptops that are instead owned by their company. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews with company-owned laptop users revealed distinct differences in laptop lifetime perspectives when the user is not the owner of the laptop relating to prioritization of performance over circularity, limited feelings of attachment, ownership, and responsibility for company-owned laptops, influences of company culture on circularity, influences of personal habits and perspectives, and limited consideration of circularity without prompts from the employer. Organizations and legislators can use these results to develop tools such as digital product passports that increase organizational circularity for ICT. ... Read more

This study explores the motivations and barriers influencing consumer decisions to purchase second-hand products across three key categories: fashion (sweaters, jeans, and shoes), furniture (dinner tables, armchairs, and bookcases), and electronics (smartphones, microwaves, and washing machines). While prior research has examined second-hand consumption broadly, this study identifies significant variations in consumer attitudes across product types. Using survey data from 864 participants, we analyse 18 motivations and barriers using ANOVA. Findings reveal that motivations such as economy and sustainability are prominent across all categories, while barriers vary by product type. Hygiene concerns are particularly relevant for shoes and microwaves, while issues of cluttered shopping environments primarily deter fashion purchases. Second-hand furniture emerges as the most positively perceived category, whereas electronics face the greatest scepticism due to concerns about obsolescence and warranties. This underscores the need for product-specific strategies in second-hand markets, informing policymakers, retailers, and designers seeking to promote sustainable consumption. ... Read more

Despite the ever-changing wishes and desires accompanying today’s rapid pace of technological innovation, basic psychological needs remain enduring sources for human functioning, development, and well-being. A shared language of needs, further with design-oriented measurement tools, can inform and inspire initiatives in user-centred and/or human-centred design research and practice. [...] ... Read more

The consumer electronics waste has become a serious environmental concern (World Health Organization, 2024). A significant factor driving this issue is “premature obsolescence,” which refers to the premature discontinuation of a product use or the premature replacement of a functioning product with a new one (Magnier & Mugge, 2022; Ylä-Mella et al., 2022). Current consumer replacement theory attributes this phenomenon to psychological value trade-offs, where consumers prematurely value new products over their current ones(Van den Berge et al., 2021). This shift is often driven by an attraction to novel features, updated designs, and the overall sense of novelty offered by new products on the market, while their owned devices increasingly lose appeal due to familiarity and boredom (Echegaray, 2016; Van den Berge et al., 2021). Although existing research highlights the importance of preserving the perceived value of owned products to combat premature obsolescence (Magnier & Mugge, 2022; Van Nes, 2016), effective design strategies are underexplored. This study aims to explore design strategies to preserve value of owned consumer electronics, focusing on strengthening their epistemic value to prolong product lifetime and reduce waste. [...] ... Read more

With growing awareness of packaging waste and pollution, reusable packaging systems (RPSs) appear to be a solution to mitigate the environmental impact of single-use packaging. Nevertheless, RPSs only become less environmentally harmful than single-use after each packaging is reused a minimum number of times, which is defined as the environmental break-even point (e-BEP). A lack of knowledge regarding this critical threshold may lead consumers to be overly optimistic about their reuse behaviour, resulting in insufficient reuse. Communicating e-BEPs can motivate conscious reuse but may also have drawbacks. We used a mixed-method approach consisting of an experiment (N = 276) with four e-BEP conditions (absent, low, medium and high) followed by open-ended questions. The quantitative findings showed that regardless of the e-BEP level, consumers neglected the efforts it implied and consistently exhibited positive perceptions. Nevertheless, the qualitative findings revealed several misperceptions of e-BEPs due to limited understanding. In a subsequent post-test (N = 208), we uncovered the role of consumers’ prior experience with reusable packaging on their evaluations and behavioural intentions. Experienced consumers who have used reusable packaging seem to be more aware of specific challenges in reuse. They exhibited heightened green scepticism and reduced perceived consumer effectiveness in response to high (versus low) e-BEPs. Conversely, inexperienced consumers appeared unaffected by e-BEP conditions. Based on these results, we proposed the potential effect of e-BEPs on consumer evaluations and derived theoretical and practical implications to encourage sustained reuse behaviour in the long run. ... Read more

Despite their environmental benefits, products made from recycled materials are not readily adopted. Prior studies focused on improving consumer adoption via product attributes and marketing elements, but the impact of product appearance remains a gap in the literature. This research contributes by investigating how observability of the recycled content, as a product appearance intervention, influences consumer adoption of products made from recycled materials. Building on the integrated conceptual framework for consumer response to the visual domain in product design, the findings from three experiments (n1=162, n2=219, n3=320) demonstrate that observability of the recycled content leads to higher purchase intentions (Studies 1, 2 and 3). The underlying process for this effect is that these observable appearance cues trigger identity signaling (Studies 2 and 3). This effect is stronger when the consumption context is public (Study 3). These findings enable practitioners to enhance adoption of these products through altering their appearance. ... Read more

Reusable packaging systems are emerging as a promising solution to combat the growing issue of packaging waste. While consumers generally recognise the environmental advantages of reuse, their actual reuse behaviours may result in insufficient reuse and an unintentional undermining of sustainability efforts. We conducted two creative workshops, created a large number of potential design interventions and further developed them into 16 design strategies for consumers' continued usage of RPSs through thematic analysis. These findings can inspire future research and the development of RPSs. ... Read more

Refurbishment can extend the lifetime of an electronic product and reduce its environmental footprint. However, consumers often perceive refurbished electronics as less attractive than new ones, resulting in lower purchase intentions. While prior research has identified several factors that influence consumer choices regarding refurbished electronics, we lack understanding of the interrelations between the different factors related to the consumer, product and context. To model the complex interplay of the factors involved in the intention to purchase refurbished speakers and earbuds, we conducted a survey with 1801 participants. A network encompassing both product categories revealed that the most central factors influencing the intention to purchase refurbished electronics were the product category, the perceived risk and the perception that refurbished electronics are uncomfortable to use because they remind the consumer of their prior user (territorial contamination). For refurbished earbuds, participants' concerns about territorial and hygienic contamination had the strongest negative relations to purchase intentions. For refurbished speakers, the purchase intentions were most negatively related to their perceived risk and positively related to their financial attractiveness. Hence, strategies aiming to enhance the consumer acceptance of refurbished electronics should aim at reducing risks and contamination concerns. Potential strategies to reduce the risks associated with refurbished electronics are discussed. ... Read more

Writer of one of the future vision essays on a Circular Economy, implemented in the Nationaal Programma Circulaire Economie 2023-2030 of the Ministery of Infrastructure and Watermanagement ... Read more

Value preservation is key for the transition from a linear economy to a sufficiency-based circular economy. However, to keep the value of products and materials at the highest level possible over time, different actors such as businesses, designers, consumers, and policymakers must know when value is reduced during a product's lifetime, and how to capture and preserve this value. This study results in a comprehensive mapping of factors with a negative impact on the perceived value of products from a consumer's perspective and suggests new routes to value preservation, as a way of turning the negative factors into positive changes. Next, the paper presents a conceptual model for value preservation. The model identifies new key actors: value transformers (product developers), value co-operators (consumers), value gatekeepers (businesses), and value accountants (policymakers) and suggests important changes to their linear practices, which are needed for the sufficiency-based circular economy paradigm to flourish. ... Read more