Obsolescence Through Consumers’ Choice

🌱 What is the role of the consumer?

“The market for [electrical & electronic equipment] is ultimately shaped by the behavior of consumers. The choice to replace a functional device with a newer version lays with the consumer. Both changes in product design/appearance and changes in functionality prompt consumers to replace products, yet the relative impact of these two factors on replacement consumption is hard to determine. The choice to replace a product due to changes in fashion/design is often “motivated by the desire for social approval”.”[i]

🌱 Does durability influence purchasing choices?

“When purchasing a new product, the consumer must decide how important the durability and environmental impact of the product is. Durability, however, seems not to play a key role when it comes to consumers choosing between alternative products.”[ii] “Consumers are equally divided on whether appliance life spans are adequate; often do not consider durability to be a critical attribute; and see product life span as a quality issue – not an environmental issue”.[iii]

🌱 Why do consumers replace their products?

“Household discount rates – or the impatience of consumers to get new, upgraded products – can increase through the swift improvement or upgrading of products. Hence, “consumers value purchases made in the near term more than the savings from delayed purchase”. Similarly, the swift improvement can be seen as a form of “intergenerational improvement”. Hence, the continuous upgrading of products “creates a heightened sense among consumers that their existing durable is outmoded”. Consequently, it can be said that “rapid introductions appear to motivate faster replacement regardless of the actual level of quality enhancement”. In other words, consumption does not represent a “calculative cost-benefit tradeoff process”.”[iv]

🌱 What positive impacts can consumers’ decisions have?

“Getting consumers to use their “market votes” to make environmentally favorable decisions when choosing a product from the “variance among the alternatives offered on the environmental dimension” is key to tackling the environmental impact of consumption and therewith the ‘e-waste problem’. This, however, proves to be difficult due to the lack of knowledge on the “replacement decision-making processes” of consumers. The reasons for “why people are motivated to perform certain green behaviors (e.g. energy saving practices) [but why this] is not readily translated to other contexts such as durable purchasing behaviors” are currently not understood well.”[v]

This post is based on Christine Nikander’s research on e-waste and planned obsolescence at Leiden University College The Hague in 2015-2016. It entails extracts from her thesis titled “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”. This content is protected by Dutch copyright law (©2016 by Christine Nikander) and all rights are reserved.

[i] Neil Maycroft, “Consumption, planned obsolescence and waste”, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56229.pdf, 22; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 45-46.

[ii] Neil Maycroft, “Consumption, planned obsolescence and waste”, https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56229.pdf, 22; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 46.

[iii] Joseph Guiltinan, “Creative Destruction and Destructive Creations: Environmental Ethics and Planned Obsolescence”, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9907-9, 23; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 46.

[iv] Joseph Guiltinan, “Creative Destruction and Destructive Creations: Environmental Ethics and Planned Obsolescence”, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9907-9, 22; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 46-47.

[v] Joseph Guiltinan, “Creative Destruction and Destructive Creations: Environmental Ethics and Planned Obsolescence”, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9907-9, 22-23, 26-27; Christine Nikander, “E-Waste Trafficking as an Environmental Crime: Countering the Transboundary Movement of E-waste by Legally Limiting Planned Obsolescence”, https://hdl.handle.net/1887/60627, 47-48.