Circular kitchen appliances

Abstract

The Dutch government wants to be circular in 2050. The industry of kitchens and kitchen appliances needs new innovative models of practice to reduce its environmental footprint. As kitchen appliance manufacturer, ATAG Benelux is investing in innovation to create more sustainable and circular business propositions. In a circular economy products and materials have to ‘loop’ back into the system after they lost value, but ATAG’s current system is linear, bringing the appliances to the customer and not returning them. The aim of this thesis is to explore how ATAG can use design to contribute to a circular economy. It is a collaboration between ATAG Benelux and Delft University of Technology. This thesis focuses on the user, their behavior, and their attitudes towards Product Service Systems (PSS's) and Refurbishment as they play a big role in business models. As a case study, the combi-steam oven is used to explore PSS's. The user’s attitude towards refurbishment and circular PSS’s is explored through in-depth interviews. The results reveal several challenges in acceptance for different types of ownership of ovens and show that for the target group of ATAG a system of buy-back is most suitable. The context of retaining value for refurbishment was researched through literature, interviews, and creative sessions. This shows different directions for design to benefit the refurbishment process. The recommended circular business proposition is for ATAG to take back appliances after a use cycle. ATAG Benelux can refurbish its products to save materials and resources. For refurbishment it is important that products retain their value as long as possible. The final design consists of return incentives for users and the Care Assistant. This human centered design stimulates product care, which is a type of sustainable use and handling. The design will influence the user’s behavior in a sustainable way to retain more value, enable efficient refurbishment and a second life cycle. The product care is needed to have a longer product life, or to take back an appliance that is in a better state (than it would be if product care had not been stimulated). With a buy-back system, users are stimulated to return the appliances, rather than let the appliance end up in recycling or worse.