The 5th international PLATE conference: Product Lifetimes and the Environment is being organized from 31 May until 2 June in Helsinki. It addresses product lifetimes in the context of sustainability. The PLATE conference, which has been running since 2015, has successfully been able to establish a solid network of researchers around its core theme. The topic has come to the forefront of current (political, scientific & societal) debates due to its interconnectedness with a number of recent prominent movements, such as the circular economy, eco-design and collaborative consumption.

Contribution of Partners for Innovation

On May 31, Tim de Ruiter presents the paper ‘Designing valuable GOODbyes: a review of state-of-the-art ‘Design for divestment’ literature and its implementation in practice’. His presentation is part of session 2, track 1.5  ‘Design methods and theories for Product Lifetimes and the Environment’ from 13.00-14.30 in the main hall Kaleva. This session is chaired by Conny Bakker, professor Circular Product Design at the TU Delft.

The paper explores the current situation of Design for Divestment in theory and practice and identifies knowledge gaps. The research first examines the state-of-the-art in the literature and then analyzes divestment in practice. Interviews with, among others, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and producer responsibility organizations explore how the collection of e-waste is structured and how divestment/the consumer perspective is understood and integrated.

Click here for more information about the PLATE 2023 conference or contact Flora Poppelaars or Tim de Ruiter.