Reshaping the Washing Machine Industry through Circular Economy and Product-Service System Business Models

Abstract

Although circular economy is usually indicated as a way to reconcile economic growth and sustainability, circular business models and related product-service systems are not implemented on a large scale yet. Providing information about how to develop circular business models and methods to evaluate their expected impacts, can support stakeholders to embrace this transition. To this regard, the aim of this paper is to propose and discuss the actions required for reshaping the washing machine industry towards a circular economy scenario. The paper, based on a recently launched research project, describes a set of actions and develops very preliminary computations of their expected impact. Results show that customers could benefit from an average yearly saving of almost 30% of the current washing cost, while country total electricity generation and water consumption could be reduced of about 0.6% and 1% respectively. Albeit they are only preliminary estimates and further research and empirical validation are certainly needed, these outcomes gives an idea about the order of magnitude of benefits gathered by a circular economy transition for a mass durable consumer goods industry such as washing machines.