Single Use Goes Circular–An ICT Proto-Practice for a Sustainable Circular Economy Future

Abstract

Design research within information and communication technology and human-computer interaction is well poised to link relevant artefacts’ lifecycle phases, such as the end-of-life with design. From a lifecycle thinking perspective, this paper investigates aspects of product longevity, interrogating what sustainable product lifetimes in a sustainable Circular Economy mean. The potential of the latter concepts has not yet been fully exploited. Also, the power of stakeholders, e.g., of designers and consumers, has not been synergistically combined. However, fulfilling this potential might facilitate a transition towards more sustainable future societies. The present work draws inspiration from an extreme case of “single use” cameras. In particular, it uses the notion of “practices” as a basic unit of design to articulate the desired linkages in lifecycles. “Single use” practices then serve as an epitome of a “borrowed for use” scenario, which—transferred to the mobile phone—results in a proto-practice. As outlined and argued in this paper, the proposed proto-practice might exact a more profound change compared to previous concepts or lived practices. It is a specific example of designing for the Circular Economy using the mobile phone, which also epitomises how designers and consumers collectively can address temporalities, rebound-effects and design tradeoffs in general. Developing proto-practices and with them setting goals that might have been out of reach previously, is proposed as a central component for future design research. Proto-practices thus promote more provocative visions of transition towards sustainable societies.