E-nvironmentally friendly

Abstract

An essential step on the way to a circular economy is utilizing recycled materials for new products. Even though the use of recycled plastic has been increasing for the past decades, electronic products have been largely overlooked in this context. Currently, there are no design strategies on how to use recycled plastic in electronic products. Therefore, this master thesis aims at investigating consumers’ perception of recycled plastic, and based on the findings, create recommendations for designers on how to implement the material in their products. According to the aim, the following research question was developed: How can a designer stimulate a consumer to opt for an electronic device made from recycled plastic? In a first step, the available literature on sustainable behaviour, the factors influencing the behaviour-intention gap as well as existing findings on the overall perception of recycled plastic were reviewed. Additionally, consumers of Generation Z, who have been deemed to have strong, pre-existing environmental values, were determined as the focus group of this study. An analysis of e-products on the market provided information on how the share of recycled plastic is currently communicated. These different communication strategies were subsequently investigated through qualitative interviews. Seven participants were interviewed as to how different product aesthetics and communication strategies influence their perception of the product in question. Insights from these interviews yielded four clusters: aesthetics, trust, sustainability, and quality. Together with the findings from literature, these research outcomes provided 20 insights into the consumer perception of recycled plastic in electronic products, thus concluding the research phase of this project. The ideation phase commenced with brainstorming sessions on the detected insights. Eight design students participated and generated over 300 as to how the underlying research insights could be applied in practice. The majority regarded the product directly, but other ideas were related to a product’s “surrounding”, such as promotion of the product, its price or place of purchase. In an iterative process, these ideas were transformed into 10 product-related design recommendations and 8 additional, price-, place-, promotion-related recommendations. The total framework of insights generated throughout the research process can support designers in creating well-perceived e-products from recycled plastic. The three distinct types of information are relevant in different phases of the design process: • The 20 key insights may be seen as an enriching source of background information for designers, who are getting started on a project and are yet to build their knowledge on the overall topic. • The 10 recommendations provided may be used in the case, where a designer needs concrete tips and action points for developing a product’s design. • The 8 additional recommendations can be valuable when the design of a device is already finalized, yet it should still be enhanced in terms of consumer perception. To transfer this study’s research findings and make them readily available for product designers, a website was deemed to be most suitable means of presentation. This format allows for a structured displaying of the previously mentioned findings and recommendation categories.