This report is a graduation thesis for the master Integrated Product Design at the Delft University of Technology. Carried out in collaboration with Philips Design in the Netherlands. The project is about how to engage consumers in the transition from a linear towards a circular economy in which we make more efficient use of materials and resources.

One of Philips’ objectives for 2020 (Philips.com, 2016) is that 15% of the turnover should come from solutions that meet Circular Economy principles. This was 8% in 2015 (Philips.be, 2016) which is a big change for a company.

Senseo has a large installed base. This is due to the huge success of the product since its launch in 2001. In 2012 a Senseo could be found in 60% of Dutch, and 27% of French households (Expatica.com, 2012). Besides, Senseo is the best sold product in the coffee business of Philips, mainly because its ease of use (Senseo.nl, 2018). Because of the high volumes and high distribution in the Netherlands and surrounding countries, an opportunity is found for creating much circular impact with the Senseo.

However, companies cannot shift to a circular economy alone: consumers are crucial in the success of the circular economy. Because even if a product is designed to circulate in a closed loop, its potential will only be realized if the consumer participates. Therefore, the goal of the project is to activate consumers to engage in the circular economy with a case study in Senseo coffee machines.

Senseo users can show circular behavior by taking good care of the product and by repairing it when it is malfunctioning, for extending the product’s lifetime. At the end-of-life of the product, the user can contribute by disposing the product at proper recycling points in order for the materials to be reused.

The outcome of the project is by integrating connectivity in the product (the internet of things, IoT), circular behavior among consumers can be stimulated and circular impact can be achieved.

Two main findings of the analysis are:
1. Need for support at the point of malfunctioning
2. After-sales data gaps

Connectivity (IoT) can contribute to these findings as follows. Connectivity can improve support because it facilitates easy access. The support stimulates circular behavior because users that receive support are encouraged and more likely to solve the problem instead of replacing it. By registering the product, users data can be gathered. This enables a virtuous circle because with the gathered data the support can be based on customer segmentation (e.g. demographics) and users can receive more customized support.

This corresponds to the Utopian vision that by means of a connected service, the Senseo has an unlimited lifetime and any of its parts can be replaced. Of course this is an ideal situation from an environmental perspective which cannot be achieved in the short term. By creating a roadmap, steps are proposed that contribute to getting closer to achieving this vision.

This report provides an analysis of the consumer experience at the end-of-use phase of a product. The study in this report focussed on the consumer-product relationship: how this plays a role in the process of product detachment, and what this means for products at the end-of-use, with a specific attention for products in a circular economy.
This end-of-use phase has been analysed with the goal of creating a design tool that enables industrial design students to design for the end-of-use consumer experience.

A theoretical framework of detachment is developed that shows the process of consumers when wanting to detach themselves from their possession. This framework is based on the works of Roster (2001) and Türe (2014). The detachment process consists of two parts: (1) dispossession, which is the mental process of distancing yourself from the product, and (2) separation, which is the physical act of removing the product from your life.
During the dispossession process, the consumer evaluates the product on what it is still worth to him and shows a dispossession behaviour to enable himself for physical separation.

To be able to design for the end-of-use experience, designers need to comprehend the detachment process, the consequences of the dispossession behaviours and need to be able to apply this knowledge into designing an end-of-use experience.

The developed design tool enables design students to analyse the detachment process with the use of consumer-product lifecycle, and recognize where opportunities lie for an end-of-use experience by reflecting on the lifecycle and defining a design goal, concluding the analysis. The tool will be used in a workshop context, where the students are introduced to the concept of detachment and the consumer experiences at the end-of-use. They are supported to find opportunities for which they could design a new end-of-use experience that stimulates their consumer to keep their product in the circular loop.

The aim of this project was to design an end-of-use experience in a circular economy for the Apple iPhone. The main challenge was to find out what the obstacles were at the end-of-use. During this research it became clear that many consumers don’t do anything with their old phone when they buy a new one. These old iPhones are left forgotten in drawers. For a circular economy to work, consumers need to bring back their old phones to the store. In this way, valuable material won’t go to waste. To understand the user’s perspective, in dept interviews have been performed. It showed from these interviews that many users keep an old phone as a spare phone for when their current phone dies. But that after some time, these spare phones get “replaced” by other old phones. In this way the drawer with old phones is being created. After a while, these phones are left forgotten. The users often don’t know what data is on these phones. They don’t know what to do with it but can’t take distance from it. After the consumer research, the design goal of this research was created: “Users should be able to comfortably and efficiently back-up their data and then delete their personal information, while feeling reassured and confident. The interaction should become a trustworthy and standard operation”. The focus of the project was backing-up data from the iPhone, so that the users could feel reassured and confident about deleting data from their old phones, because they had stored their data somewhere save. This resulted in the final design of this project: BackUps. BackUps is an app where all old iPhones a user has had, are stored. The iPhones stored in BackUps are looking the same as they were when they were in use. To have this overview of old phones, the user might become less attached to the physical device, because they now see that all data has been stored in the BackUps. The data stored is stored in the iCloud. An implementation plan is also given. When users return their phone to the store, they will get storage as an incentive. This storage can be used for the data of their old phones.