Co-creating circular product-service systems for long-lasting washing machines

This paper presents the result of a co-creation and context mapping study amongst seventeen washing machines users. The users had widely varying experiences with products offered through alternative ownership models, including three who were active users of a washing machine with pay-per-use or monthly subscription model. Through the co-creation process, user’s needs, concerns and desires were identified and translated into potential opportunities and barriers concerning the acceptance of circular product-service-systems for washing machines. The paper details the method used in the co-creation process and consecutively highlights six key benefits of using co-creation in the development of circular product-service systems and exemplify them with citations from users. Examples of these benefits are the added value that the product-service systems can give over classic ownership models, the value propositions that can form an entry point for users to be interested in the service, as well as how pricing and feedback schemes could accommodate different users and their needs and desires. In closing, the paper addresses the implications of these benefits, relate them to past literature, but also raise a number of questions and considerations in the application of co-creation for the development of circular product-service propositions.