From storage to circulation

Abstract

Many products are retained by households without being used. Instead, these products are kept in storage spaces without serving any direct purpose. When a product has fulfilled its intended purpose at its first owner, it is of essence that it gets back into circulation and not stuck in storage. This is important to make sure resources are used more efficiently, and in turn to create a more resource efficient way of living. As a complement to the research project “Mining garage gold”, this master thesis aims to investigate which factors trigger, motivate, and prevent households from engaging with, and recirculating, their unused, stored products as well as how these factors are manifested in the process of engagement and recirculation. In addition, the project aims to explore how design can aid and influence households to engage with and recirculate their unused, stored products. The thesis resulted in an extensive mapping of different triggers, motivators and barriers that exist in the process of engaging with and recirculating unused, stored products. A process flowchart, showcasing how the different factors are manifested in the households’ process of engagement and recirculation of unused, stored products, was also created. This process flowchart includes the choices households make where triggers, motivators and barriers have great influence over the decision-making process. To give examples of how design can influence and aid households in the process of engaging with and recirculating their unused, stored products, a design portfolio was created. This design portfolio consists of eight different high levelled design concepts, targeting different parts of the process. This thesis provides a new, more holistic perspective of what triggers, motivates, and prevents households from engaging with and recirculating their unused, stored products.