Developing product lifetimes information system: first results

While the planet is facing various environmental challenges associated with unsustainable levels of material consumption, governments and industries are more frequently considering policies and practices aimed at extending the lifetimes of manufactured products. Nevertheless, it is still quite challenging for eco-minded consumers to navigate across a variety of products looking for more long lasting brands and models. To meet such consumer needs, the first online platform of its kind has been developed as part of this research (https://lt-platform.web.app/). It collects and stores consumers’ reports on use and disposal patterns for various products they have owned. This allows analyzing the harvested data using Markov chains to estimate the durability (time until the first failure) and the total lifetimes (domestic service lifespan) of the different consumer products. Such results are updated live after every new contribution to the platform and are presented back in a user-friendly visual format ranking various products’ manufactures and models according to the estimated lifetimes. Additionally, the structure of the collected data allows evaluating the effects of the different circular behavioural approaches (repair, re-use, recycling, etc.) on the products’ longevity that could be of specific interest for researchers and policymakers. As a result, such a platform is the first attempt to collect and analyze products’ lifetime and durability data in an open, centralized, and accessible format supporting users in their more sustainable consumer