Planned Obsolescence of Products EcoNetwork event

Planned Obsolescence
Life Cycle Thinking
EcoNetwork 23rd July 2009
Ecodesign Centre Wales
LeylaAcaroglu
Director, Eco Innovators
Melbourne, Australia
www.ecoinnovators.com.au
Leyla Acaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au

Planned Obsolescence

What is planned obsolescence?

The intentional failings of a product
The shortening of a products life
Manipulation of a market through product lifespans

“the deliberate policy of making a product become rapidly out of date or unserviceable, as by changing minor characteristics of a model, in order to ensure continual sale of new goods”.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)
Definition of Planned Obsolescence

“Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence”
- Bernard London 1932
“Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary.”
- Industrial Designers, Brooks Stevens 1954
Descriptions

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

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

Does it really exist?

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”.

“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

Types of Planned Obsolescence

Technical

Technical: an existing product becomes dated when a new product is introduced that improves the function of the product in some way.

Aesthetic

Aesthetic (style): a product that is still functional becomes unfashionable in our minds because styling changes make it less desirable.

Functional

Functional: when a product is intended to break down or wear out within a given time.

Service / system

When the service of system that supports the product is changed or altered to encourage the consumption of a newer product

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

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’
Advantages

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
Disadvantages

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
LeylaAcaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
Why is PO a problem?

Product Life Cycles

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

LeylaAcaroglu :: www.EcoInnovators.com.au
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

Manufacturing
Inputs includes: materials, energy, water etc
Outputs include carbon emissions, waste water, toxic substances, waste materials etc
Equity issues with current manufacturing practices

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
Packaging & Transportation

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
Use

End of Life
Loss of resources to landfill
Limited recycling systems and capacity in different countries
Recycling is often ‘down cycling’

Ramifications of PO

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

Final Thoughts

Thanks for your timeQuestions:ecoinnovators@gmail.com