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Global environmental issues such as loss of biodiversity, water and air pollution, depletion of natural resources jeopardize the Earth’s life-maintaining and supporting functions (United Nations Global Issues Overview, 2019). Conventional linear economic model is argued to be the main contributor to these global problems (Andrews, 2015; Sariatli, 2017). Linear economy or so-called “take-make-waste” approach of consumption takes roots from First Industrial Revolution and proliferated throughout 20th century by generating unprecedented material wealth in industrial nations (Sariatli, 2017). The epitome of linear economic model is the concept of planned obsolescence which was initially introduced during Great Depression of 1930s to stimulate stagnating economy (Andrews, 2015). The aim of planned obsolescence is to produce consumer goods that are easily replaced as they rapidly become obsolete (Andrews, 2015). This, in turn, creates a vicious cycle of continuous consumption stimulating the production and generation of more waste (Andres, 2015). Some view this concept as “the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful…permanently discontented individuals” (Packard, 1960, cited in Andrews, 2015: 307). In sum, linear economy benefits many industries from extractive to manufacturing to retail, while its consequences are indisputably devastating for the environment and society (Andrews, 2015; Sariatli, 2017).
Hence, as conventional linear economic approach leads to the deterioration of the Earth, there is an ever-growing pressure from global community to shift to more sustainable alternatives (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019). Rising focus on sustainability in all aspects of human activities urges the academia and practitioners across all fields to continuously research and propose effective solutions to this global problem (Abidin and Pasquire, 2007). An alternative to linear industrial model is the so-called circular or closed loop economy where waste can become a new resource at the end of a product life cycle (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019; Andrews, 2015). One of the ways to ensure this is to design a product that can be disassembled at the end of its life cycle and its parts can be re-used. This is the thinking behind the Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy, that views waste as “food” and suggests using it for manufacturing new products either through biological or technical cycle (Bakker, Wever, Teoh, and De Clercq 2010; Bjorn and Strandesen, 2011).
And although the implementation of Cradle-to-Cradle concept mainly focuses on the product development, shifting to sustainable product design is not possible without changes in the “…product development process from the overall business strategy, and product lines, through operations practices” (Waage, 2007:648). Therefore, companies opting for sustainable product design employ more sustainable management practices.