Q4-Trends-Networks-Module-3.pdfqquater days sheets123456789
Eco Network Po
1. Planned Obsolescence
Life Cycle Thinking
EcoNetwork 23rd July 2009
Ecodesign Centre Wales
Leyla Acaroglu
Director, Eco Innovators
Melbourne, Australia
www.ecoinnovators.com.au
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
3. What is planned obsolescence?
• The intentional failings of a product
• The shortening of a products life
• Manipulation of a market through product
lifespans
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
4. Definition of Planned Obsolescence
“the deliberate policy of making a product
become rapidly out of date or unserviceable, as
by changing minor characteristics of a model, in
order to ensure continual sale of new goods”.
- The Macquarie Dictionary (2005, p1459)
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
6. When did it start and why?
• Great Depression and post World War economy
• Used to stimulate economic growth and generate
employment and combat ‘frugality’
• Wanted to facilitate growth by making people have to
consume more frequently
• Corporations realised they could make more profits
from continual consumption
• Create long term sales volumes by reducing the time
between repeat purchases
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
7. Does it really exist?
• Count how many mobile phones you have owned
and list the reasons that you had to purchase a
new one
• Consider how often your have had to replace
household electrical items such as kettles and
toasters
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
8. Vance Packard and the Waste Makers
• The Waste Makers was published in the 1960s and
set out to expose the social and environmental
degradation resulting from wasteful society and
planned obsolescence in products
• “the systematic attempt of business to make us
wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented
individuals”.
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
9. • “our enormously productive economy…
demands that we make consumption our way
of life, that we convert the buying and use of
goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual
satisfaction, our ego satisfactions, in
consumption… We need things consumed,
burned up, worn out, replaced, and discarded
at an ever increasing rate”
‐ George Nelson, Industrial Designer
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
11. Technical
• Technical: an existing
product becomes dated
when a new product is
introduced that improves
the function of the
product in some way.
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
12. Aesthetic
• Aesthetic (style): a
product that is still
functional becomes
unfashionable in our
minds because styling
changes make it less
desirable.
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
13. Functional
• Functional: when a
product is intended to
break down or wear out
within a given time.
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
14. Service / system
• When the service of
system that supports the
product is changed or
altered to encourage the
consumption of a newer
product
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
15. Notification
• Lights or parts that
change colour to inform
consumers that they need
to purchase a
replacement product
even through the product
will still function
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
17. Advantages
Manufacturers
• Increased revenue from sales
• Repeat customers
• Seen as a technological leader, rapid innovation
Consumers
• Cheaper upfront purchasing costs
• Satisfaction of buying the latest,, safest or ‘best’
products
• Being a ‘trend setter’ or fashionable
• Being able to afford to have ‘everything’
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
18. Disadvantages
Manufacturers
• Increased dissatisfaction from customers
• Legal ramifications
• Bad reputation / media coverage
Consumers
• Competitive consumption ‐ "keeping up with the Jones"
• Forced into continual consumption cycles
• Ongoing replacement or upgrading costs
• Pressure to consume from advertising, peers and media
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
19. Why is PO a problem?
• Environmental impacts
• Because everything created
comes from nature
• All resources are finite, some
more then others
• Creates inequity as consumers
are not in control or aware of
the lifespan of the products
that they purchase
• Promotes wasteful society
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
21. Designer influences
• Over 80% of a products social and environmental
implications are decided and ‘locked in’ at the
design stage (USA EPA)
• Designer’s are the agents that have some of the
greatest capacity to dictate the social and
environmental implications of consumer goods
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
22. Resource extraction
• All resources come from
nature at some stage
• Resources are finite and
should be used
conservatively
• Equity issues around the
use and waste of
resources
• Generates huge amounts
of waste
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
23. Manufacturing
• Inputs includes: materials,
energy, water etc
• Outputs include carbon
emissions, waste water,
toxic substances, waste
materials etc
• Equity issues with current
manufacturing practices
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
24. Packaging & Transportation
• Transport and
packaging happens at
EVERY stage of a
products life
• Greater impacts from
air and road
transportation
• Over packaging is a
waste of resources
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
25. Use
• Resource use during
life such as energy or
water etc
• Continual consumables
such as cartridges or
cleaning products
creates impacts
• Equity issues over
safety, toxicity etc
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
26. End of Life
• Loss of resources to
landfill
• Limited recycling
systems and capacity
in different countries
• Recycling is often
‘down cycling’
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
30. Final Thoughts
• Its not someone else responsibility to solve
social and environmental problems – its
everyone's responsibility
• Designer’s are in a unique position to
influence change over corporations and
consumers alike
• Don’t wait to be asked – just do it
• Be a subversive designer
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
31. Thanks for your time
Questions:
ecoinnovators@gmail.com
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au