Cooper, Tim

Longer Lasting Products.

Alternatives to the Throwaway Society.

Burlington

2010

9780566088087

The present economic system requires us to consume and throw away more and more goods. Yet often it's our desire, and the best interests of the environment, for these goods to last. The contributors to this book, who comprise many of the most significant international thinkers in the field, explore how longer lasting products could offer enhanced value while reducing environmental impacts. If we created fewer but better quality products, looked after them carefully and invested more in repair, renovation and upgrading, would this direct our economy onto a more sustainable course? The solution sounds simple, yet it requires a seismic shift in how we think, whether as producers or consumers, and our voracious appetite for novelty. The complex range of issues associated with product life-spans demands a multidisciplinary approach. The book covers historical context, design, engineering, marketing, law, government policy, consumer behaviour and systems of provision. It addresses the whole range of consumer durables - vehicles, kitchen appliances, audio-visual equipment and other domestic products, furniture and floor coverings, hardware, garden tools, clothing, household textiles, recreational goods and DIY goods - as well as the re-use of packaging. Longer Lasting Products provides policy makers, those involved in product design, manufacturing and marketing, and all of us as consumers, with clear and compelling guidance as to how we can move away from a throwaway culture towards an economy sustained by more durable goods.

List of Figures

List of Tables

The Significance of Product Longevity

Reevaluating Obsolescence and Planning for It

1 Aesthetic obsolescence new wornin and wornout fashion

SubjectObject Relationships and Emotionally Durable

Defying Obsolescence

Lighting Bugs batteryilluminated

1 Potential policy measures

Rethinking Marketing

1 Contrasting the sustainability and conventional marketing

Marketing Durability

1 Advertisement promoting longevity with specific reference

1 Recommended information on product lifespans

Can Durability Provide a Strong Marketing Platform?

1 Marketing platforms for durability

8 Car boot sale

Understanding Replacement Behaviour and Exploring

1 The replacement decision as a deterioration of the actual

1 Product characteristics affecting the replacement decision

5 Comparison of design strategies from workshop with lists

5 Telecommunication device Teletangram

Slowness and Nourishing

1 Expressions of slow activism

1 Model for design and wellbeing

2 Rebotijo summer jug

user

Durability Function and Performance

1 Evolution of shares in life cycle costs for a car over a 50year

1 Advantages in manufacturing aftersales services

Durability and the Law

The Law on Guarantees and Repair Work

Policies for Longevity

Consumer Influences on Product LifeSpans

1 Taxonomy of consumer influences on product lifespans

1 Simplified conceptual framework

5 Key factors affecting consumer influence on product lifespans

6 Examples of inconsistent consumer behaviour

Product Life Cycle Management Through IT

1 The ELIMA system

Systems and Practices in

1 Cardboard nappy box used as toy box

10 First design test

Household Furniture

1 Methods of discarding bulky items typically resulting

1 Source of household bulky items by discard route

3 Consumers opinions of the reuse potential of bulky waste

6 A typical reuse organization

Index

Urheberrecht