Circular Circular Economy Strategies for Small Domestic Appliance Design in China

Abstract

China is the global largest home appliance manufacturer, and the increased manufacturing of small domestic appliance (SDA) products is leading to high carbon emissions in the world. Therefore, there is a need to upcycling SDA due to this phenomenon in China. The purpose of this study is to identify the best circular economy (CE) strategies for SDA to reduce SDA carbon footprint. Unfortunately, circular product design (CPD), CE approaches, methodologies, and tools in SDA were not widely developed.  In this desktop study, it synthesizes the current SDA design characteristics, current SDA usage features, and recommending the CPD-SDA framework for China product design. The results found that when designers incorporate CPD framework in the early stages of SDA’s design, it could enhance product integrity hence lower carbon emission. The research will benefit manufacturers by enabling improved SDA circularity, as well as supporting the reduction of e-waste and carbon emissions in China and worldwide.