In the context of sustainable development and environmental protection, a number of companies are rightly thinking about the concept of planned obsolescence that has been in vogue ever since the Great Depression. This system allows the creation of products to be replaced after a certain time period, by substitutes. The manufacturer does not think of post usage as it would harm its own business. This has seen a lot of companies actually provide cheaper versions which last for the least amount of time possible before replacements are sought. A long based firm Agency of Design (AoD) has tried to break free from this vicious cycle by creating two models- Optimist and Pragmatic. In the former, the idea is to include emotional tags on seemingly mundane devices so people could celebrate their birthdays and the immense value they provided. This would allow graceful ageing and reduced wastage. Philips has started a system where instead of selling light bulbs, they will lease light as third party managers, thus reducing goods’ accumulation. The other systemic business innovation thought of is pragmatic where instead of replacing whole products, redundant parts need to get replaced. This modular approach has been successfully implemented by financial solutions provider DLL. A system of disassembly is also being put in place where products’ use could be changed after it has run out of its primary function.

Source:http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/designing-circular-economy/

Uploaded Date:27/06/2017