Eco-design for End-of-life

Back in 2000, I got married and moved into my first home.  My new husband’s aunt offered us her 25 year old washing machine.  It didn’t look very pretty or have the bells and whistles of the new models I was eyeing in the store, but given how much we needed to purchase for our house, we accepted her offer.  Though we never had a problem with the machine, a few years later we decided to get a new model.  That was in 2003.  Here we are in 2018, and we have bought four washing machines.  So 15 years, four machines…whereas the perfectly fine older model we had retired had given nearly three decades of service.   And it’s not that we just liked getting new machines every few years.  They broke down and the cost of repair was nearly the same cost as replacement, with no guarantee it wouldn’t break again soon.  So (along with dryers, dishwashers and dehumidifiers) we bought a large new appliance and felt guilty about adding to the landfills.

The founders of L’increvable saw many others dealing with very issue and had an idea: change the way we design and consume appliances to make them more sustainable.

Sticking with the washing machine example – they found a washing machine costs, on average, 350€. While the upfront cost of the product has decreased over time, repair costs have increased by 125% over the last 20 years.  So – like my situation – when faced with the need to repair a machine, many just purchase a new one both so they can access the latest technology and to avoid having to deal with a break for years.

L’increvable’s idea is to design products that anticipate repair and recycling, to make these activities less expensive and more efficient.  To do this, every piece of a machine is removable, changeable and recyclable.  They call this Eco-design for End-of-life.  It’s a key element of a circular economy.

At Dassault Systemes, our mission is to harmonize product, nature and life.  Helping our customers create attractive but reliable and sustainable products is right in line with our corporate goal.  We are proud to offer our 3DEXPERIENCE Lab program to companies like L’increvable – whose founders were just students when they launched – to have access to our cutting-edge solutions and network of experts to help bring their vision to market.  L’increvable has also joined us at events like CES 2018 to show their ideas, and have shared their story at some of our company’s events such as this year’s Design in the Age of Experience.  Watch their presentation to learn more about their vision and the tools they’re using to bring their vision to market.

Discover more about L’increvable’s products and vision, and their journey through the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab.