Holding on or letting go: Conflicting narratives of product longevity

Erlend Hua Lun Kok on 21. august 2024

Forfattere: Lisbeth Løvbak Berg, Marie Hebrok

Abstract

Increasing product longevity is seen as an effective way to reduce consumption within the circular economy. This paper explores narratives of product longevity, focusing on textiles, household appliances, and furniture as expressed by Norwegian business representatives and consumers. The study reveals dominant narratives of physical and emotional durability among businesses. Conversely, consumers emphasise managing consumption volumes and their relationship with products based on use contexts and life events. While both groups recognise the importance of physical durability, there’s a disconnect regarding how emotional attachment can be created between user and product, and the significance of production volumes. The study suggests that narratives of product longevity, shift focus from production to consumption, distancing from questions of volume and growth and that efforts should take ‘life durability’ of products into account when designing strategies and interventions aimed at extending product lifespans, including business models and policy directly targeting lower production volumes.

For å lese eller laste ned hele artikkelen, klikk her (sciencedirect.com).

Å forestille seg framtid(er): Utvinnelse av framstillinger av bærekraftig forbruk

Erlend Hua Lun Kok on 21. august 2024

Studien handler om å utvinne fortiden for bedre å forstå hvordan vi forestiller oss og former fremtiden. Prosjektnotatet er en leveranse fra arbeidspakke 1: «Mine» i forskningsprosjektet IMAGINE: Contested Futures of Sustainability. Arbeidspakkens formål er å konstruere et konseptuelt rammeverk basert på Paul Ricoeurs studie av forestillinger, og å samle data om fortidens imaginære forestillinger. For å identifisere dominerende fremtidsforestillinger fremhevet WP1 det diakrone aspektet til det imaginære som både hjelper å bedre forstå hvordan tidligere, nåværende og fremtidige tider henger sammen og samtidig begrenser eller muliggjør måter å tenke på fremtiden. Ricoeuriansk tilnærming til det imaginære er Ariadnes tråd i den konseptuelle delen, mens empirien følger den tredelte forbrukstilnærmingen til IMAGINE fokusert på å spise, kle seg og bevege seg. Ved å kombinere teoretiske og empiriske perspektiver utviklet vi et rammeverk for analyse av datamaterialet, der selvrefleksjon, gjensidighet, dialog og re-figurasjon spiller en sentral rolle.

Studien presenterer det imaginære funnet i minst 10 kjente filmer, 10 anerkjente romaner og tegneserier og 10 reklamer fra de siste 30 år, som eksplisitt omhandler den bærekraftige fremtiden (30 totalt). Videre gir notatet en analog analyse av policydokumenter (white papers, strategipapirer, policy-rapporter) og forretningsstrategidokumenter fra tre tidsperioder (1980-2000-2020) for hver av våre tre tilnærminger det vil si spising, påkledning og flytting (30 totalt).

The way forward for WOOLUME

Erlend Hua Lun Kok on 21. mai 2024

Summary

This note looks at knowledge transference between a country of high wool utilisation (Norway) and a country of low wool utilisation (Poland). The findings that are presented here, are collected through semi-structured interviews, via Zoom, in person and also with one written response. All interviewees were project partners. Economics and scale are important themes, especially for moving forward with better use of local wool. As identified in other projects, things need to happen in the right order and there must be an economic fundament that ensures a professionalism and not that what one does is done on a hobby basis. The skills gap is an important issue if there is to be a future for the wool industry in Europe, and this must be addressed at national and EU level, this is not something a project or industry can fix on their own.

Click here to read full report.

The Impact of Modes of Acquisition on Clothing Lifetimes

tobiasson on 14. februar 2024

Forfattere: Kirsi Laitala, Ingun Grimstad Klepp og Lisbeth Løvbak Berg

Abstract:

Reducing the environmental impact of clothing is dependent on a reduction of the produced volume. This chapter discusses how mode and volumes of acquisition impact the lifetimes of clothing. Based on our scoping review and reanalysis of international wardrobe audit data, we find that the number of
garments that are acquired has most impact, making clothing utilization an important concept. Secondhand garments are used fewer times than new items, and gifts less than self-chosen items. Self-made clothing was worn less than tailored garments, showing that product personalisation can both shorten
and increase lifetimes. Slowing down the rate of acquisition and increasing the lifetime with the first user should be the focus of policy development.

To read the full chapter, contact Kirsi Laitala kirsil@oslomet.no or the publisher of Recycling and Lifetime Management in the Textile and Fashion Sector.

Dypdykk i materialstrømmene for tekstiler fra husholdninger i Norge

Lisbeth Løvbak Berg on 21. desember 2023

Forfattere: Frode Syversen, Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Olav Skogesal, Kristiane Rabben, Anna Schytte Sigaard, Lisbeth Løvbak Berg og Kirsi Laitala

Sammendrag

Ved å analysere tre ulike materialstrømmer besvares FoU-prosjektet Wasted Textiles’ spørsmål «Hvor mye tekstiler, spesielt syntetiske, kvitter norske forbrukere seg med». I perioden 2021-2023 har prosjektet analysert prøver av tekstiler fra tekstil- og avfallsstrømmer fra Oslo, Vestfold og Romerike. Basert på resultater fra Wasted Textiles’ analyser, Mepex’ lukkanalysedatabase for husholdningsavfall, statistikk over mengder restavfall og tekstiler samlet inn av ideelle organisasjoner, er det beregnet nasjonale tall for mengde tekstiler, av tekstilprodukter, tilstand og andel syntetiske fibre i de tre strømmene.

Klikk her for å lese hele rapporten (mepex.no).

Why won’t you complain? Consumer rights and the unmet product lifespan requirements

Lisbeth Løvbak Berg on 10. september 2023

Authors: Kirsi Laitala, Lisbeth Løvbak Berg and Pål Strandbakken.

Abstract

The Consumer Purchases Act is one of the cornerstones for ensuring that businesses are liable for defective or faulty products that do not meet the minimum requirements for lifespans. However, this right is too seldom used by consumers. This paper discusses the reasons for not complaining based on six consumer focus groups, where in total 36 consumers described furniture, electronics, and textile products that they were dissatisfied with. Many complaints were not made due to consumers’ cost-benefit evaluations, where they considered the economic costs, time use, and the needed effort, as well as the probability of getting the complaint accepted. Many participants lacked the competencies required to make the judgment when the right is applicable and where and how to proceed. Further, the expectations based on price and brand, properties of the product such as materials, as well as the type of fault and its relation to use were important. Strengthening and extending consumer rights to complain are discussed as an important part of the strategy to increase the quality of goods and extend their lifetimes. The findings show barriers and opportunities to the efficacy of this strategy that is highly relevant for policy development. There is a need for clear guidelines on what the consumer rights are for the specific products, what is considered unacceptable abrasion and normal use, and differentiation between commercial warranties and legal rights. Complaints are an important avenue for businesses to gain information about the performance of their products, and for legal durability expectations to be enforced.

Click here to download and read the full article.

Click here to download and read the full conference proceedings (aalto.fi).

Narratives of product longevity: a business vs. consumer perspective

Lisbeth Løvbak Berg on 10. september 2023

Authors: Lisbeth Løvbak Berg and Marie Hebrok

Abstract

This paper explores narratives of product longevity expressed by businesses and consumers, with the aim of illuminating and comparing ways in which the two stakeholder groups express their engagement with products in the context of prolonging their lifespans. We base our analysis on consumer focus groups and interviews with company representatives. Our focus is on textiles (incl. clothing) and furniture. We find that technical and emotional durability are the two dominant ways of understanding product longevity by company representatives. Consumers, however, tell a different story, of living with their things, of use, of time passing, and of life events triggering change. This is a context in which social and systemic factors play a large role in determining the lifespan of a product – factors that are external to the product itself. Although all can agree on the importance of technical durability, problems connected to excessive production volumes and how products feature in everyday life are avoided in narratives produced by business actors. We argue that corporate narratives of product longevity are diverting our attention away from production toward consumption, keeping questions of volume and growth at arm’s length. These conflict with consumer narratives of product longevity that grapple with the materiality of the things within the context of lived lives in a consumer economy.

Click here to download and read the full article.

Click here to download and read the full conference proceedings (aalto.fi)

THE PLASTIC ELEPHANT: Overproduction and synthetic fibres in sustainable textile strategies

Lisbeth Løvbak Berg on 30. juni 2023

Forfattere: Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Lisbeth Løvbak Berg, Anna Schytte Sigaard, Tone Skårdal Tobiasson og Lea Gleisberg

Sammendrag

I denne rapporten undersøker vi nasjonale, internasjonale og bedriftsstrategier for bærekraftige tekstiler for å forstå om, og i så fall hvordan de inkluderer problemet med økte produksjonsvolumer basert på syntetiske materialer som kan bli omtalt som ‘plastelefanten i rommet’. Dette gjøres ved å stille fire spørsmål. Først ser vi etter om strategiene diskuterer vekst i produksjonsvolumer og mulige virkemidler for å stoppe denne veksten. Deretter undersøker vi om de adresserer plastifiseringen av tekstiler. Med plastifisering mener vi den økende andelen plastfibre som brukes i tekstilproduksjonen. For det tredje, om de diskuterer råmaterialene for plast, og for det fjerde, plastavfall. Resultatet viser at ingen av disse spørsmålene relatert til å få ned miljøbelastningene fra produksjon av klær står sentralt i strategiene.

Klikk her for å lese hele rapporten på engelsk.

The way forward for WOOLUME

Lisbeth Løvbak Berg on 9. mai 2023

Summary

This note looks at knowledge transference between a country of high wool utilisation (Norway) and a country of low wool utilisation (Poland). The findings that are presented here, are collected through semi-structured interviews, via Zoom, in person and also with one written response. All interviewees were project partners. Economics and scale are important themes, especially for moving forward with better use of local wool. As identified in other projects, things need to happen in the right order and there must be an economic fundament that ensures a professionalism and not that what one does is done on a hobby basis. The skills gap is an important issue if there is to be a future for the wool industry in Europe, and this must be addressed at national and EU level, this is not something a project or industry can fix on their own.

Click here to read the full report.

Reducing Plastic in Consumer Goods: Opportunities for Coarser Wool

Lisbeth Løvbak Berg on 28. januar 2023

Lisbeth Løvbak Berg, Ingun Grimstad Klepp, Anna Schytte Sigaard, Jan Broda, Monika Rom and Katarzyna Kobiela-Mendrek.

Abstract

Production and use of plastic products have drastically increased during the past decades and their environmental impacts are increasingly spotlighted. At the same time, coarse wool, a by-product of meat and dairy production, goes largely unexploited in the EU. This paper asks why more coarse wool is not used in consumer goods, such as acoustic and sound-absorbing products, garden products, and sanitary products. This is answered through a SWOT analysis of results from a desktop study and interviews with producers of these products made from wool, as well as policy documents relating to wool, waste, textiles, and plastic. Findings show that on a product level, the many inherent properties of wool create opportunities for product development and sustainability improvements and that using the coarser wool represents an opportunity for replacing plastics in many applications as well as for innovation. This is, however, dependent on local infrastructure and small-scale enterprises, but as such, it creates opportunities for local value chains, value creation, and safeguarding of local heritage. The shift to small-scale and local resource utilization requires systemic change on several levels: Here the findings show that policy can incentivize material usage transitions, but that these tools are little employed currently.

Click here to read the full paper (mdpi.com).