New attitudes towards consumption: best practices in the domain of built-in obsolescence and collaborative consumption

The study analyses the collaborative consumption and planned obsolescence in the context of circular economy, shared and the common good. The analysis is done from a holistic view of the interactions and interdependencies in the various economic, environmental and social spheres.

From the values of responsibility, efficiency and sustainability, it is proposed a new model that considers the emergence of issues such as the economy of the functionality and the servicing, the durability and the lifecycle extension of the products, the eco-design and the supra-recycling, the co-creation of value or disruptive technological innovation.

The framework of the study is developed in connection with the European policies, and more specifically with the Europe 2020 Strategy, and its operational programs, as well as in relation to the opinions of the Economic and Social Committee: 'Collaborative or participatory consumption: a model of sustainability for the XXI century', and 'For a sustainable consumption: the life span of industrial products and consumer information to restore confidence'.