Thinking December 6th, 2023

Re-thinking e-waste: A speculative futures approach

Alex Dodl
By
Alex Dodl Design Consultant

Inspired by the recent right to repair legislation, our Sustainability Lab team create a two-part, speculative futures workshop series that explores the impact of e-waste. Using explorative workshop tools and methodology, the team set out with an aim to identify solutions for our clients, and provide legitimate, environmentally healthy ways of using electronic devices and reducing e-waste.

This collaborative workshop series immersed our team into the topic of e-waste and equipped them with a broad understanding of how to approach this unique challenge. In order to uncover future solutions, they explore the positive and negative consequences of present trends.

Future proofing

The team kicked-off the workshops by exploring present day trends and mapping out the potential future consequences of them in relation to e-waste. This was achieved through a range of adapted activities inspired by the ‘Future Ripples’ approach developed by Tim Moesgen. By taking events that are happening today, and considering where they might lead in the future, we can better predict the world in which we want to design goods and services for. This is a technique we utilise with many of our existing clients when exploring the “what”, especially within our research and strategy teams, understanding current trends to identify future opportunities. The workshop is built on the analogy of finding pebbles on the shore and throwing them into a sea of the unknown – creating ripples that might help us to understand more about the depth and dynamics of the future.

Split into smaller groups, the team explored pre-prepared key focus areas, which illustrated present-day trends and developments across three core areas: consumer behaviour, business & technology, and legislation. These three areas have been established as key drivers and enablers for transition, especially towards a more circular economy. This approach has also been established and further applied on client projects. The teams then identified one or two overarching trends and explored the direct and indirect consequences of these – both positive and/ or negative. This resulted in a powerful, collaborative session where alternative futures, based on how the decisions that we make today may cause these fundamental impacts, were identified. Some even stretching as far as the end of humanity. This collobarative approach is representative of how we work with our clients; our integrated range of capabilities and services are applied coherently to client projects, allowing us to support projects from concept to manufacture.

Speculative futures are design approaches that help us visualize new and potential worlds – moving us beyond what currently exists into what could one day be.

- Johanna Hoffman

Speculative thinking: How do we reduce e-waste?

The team mapped out three hypothetical futures along three diverging timelines, from the present day, to year 2035 – each shaped by different societal reactions to various landmark events. These informed the second part of the workshop series, which focused on encouraging speculative thinking and creating solutions by exploring the possibility of responding to reducing e-waste within each future. Each team focused on one of the three futures and were tasked to explore opportunities using the hypothetical evidence provided across the same three core areas: consumer behaviour, business & technology, and legislation.

By enabling our team to think about current trends and establishing possible future scenarios, we can better design now for the future. This is something we’re very engaged with at Ensera Design – understanding current trends to create the best possible solution.

Future 1: The year is 2035, ownership models have shifted from owning tech outright

This future encouraged the team to think about moving away from owning appliances, using the dependency on washing machines as a starting point; what might the future of washing your clothes look like? The team identified partnerships as a core theme, enabling an opportunity to tackle both fast fashion and e-waste simultaneously. What if brand and appliance suppliers collaborated to reinvent the laundrette to fit a circular world in 2035? Clothes and appliances are no longer purchased as standalone products, but bought into as a service, with centralised hubs offering a range of services to maintain, upgrade, re-use, and repair fashion for planet-conscious consumers.

A photo of a man with brown hair drawing on a post it note on a table, a man in a shirt sits next to him.

Future 2: The year is 2035, citizen-led circular economy is thriving

This future encouraged the team to think about citizens driving change and what this means for digital healthcare devices; what might the future of healthcare look like?

The team were inspired by the diabetes campaign #WeAreNotWaiting*. With a society frustrated by the lack of progress – what if citizen-led initiatives were able to generate change in the environments which influence their health? Medical devices are re-imagined away from linear, wasteful models, into reusable, modular smart technology, engaging citizens to track, understand and manage their health. Citizens are transformed from passive recipients of healthcare, into active participants in intervention and prevention.

Two men at a table in discussion with pens and post it notes, one has brown hair and another is blonde.

Future 3: The year is 2035, localised (re)manufacture is driving economic growth

This future encouraged the team to think about what this meant with regards to office electronics; what might the future of our office electronics and environments be like? The team were inspired by the widely adopted trend of remote working. With a work from anywhere attitude being a global norm, what if permanent office spaces were no longer a necessity for employers and employees? Cafes are adapting their environment and opening their doors as more flexible and functional workspaces, and refurb and service centres are now more accessible for anyone, anywhere. This is encouraging brands to innovate modular and adaptable devices for improved flexibility and personalisation creating a more circular way of working.

Two women at a table one is smiling and one is writing notes as they sit at a table.

It’s fascinating to see the breadth of what can be explored in just a few hours, and to see variety of ideas that can be created when thinking more speculatively about our future, rather than restricting what’s possible by only looking at the now. Although each group explored entirely different futures, one similarity across the three future solutions was the power of shifting ownership; could an ownership shift be the solution to solving some of our e-waste challenges? If similar trends are emerging across three hypothetical futures, could the same challenges be faced by you, and is this something Ensera Design could help you explore and dissect?

We can never know for sure what the future might hold, and speculative futures thinking isn’t about predicting the future, but exploring the trends of today and thinking more broadly about how this influences our future will better equip and enable us to solve solutions today, for tomorrow.

*We Are Not Waiting movement

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