Product Lifetimes: The Current Research Landscape

In recent decades, the average lifespan of consumer goods has declined. This accelerating turnover of material goods is environmentally unsustainable. As researchers, we are uniquely positioned to build knowledge, interrogate and reshape the systems that drive shorter product lifetimes and premature obsolescence. As the Circularity Gap Report 2024 starkly reminds us, the urgency of this work cannot be overstated. Between 2016-2021 – in just six years – we have consumed 78% of the resources consumed in the entire 20th century (Fraser et al., 2024). At the same time, secondary material consumption has decreased from 9,1% in 2018 to 7,2% in 2023, which represents a 21% drop (Fraser et al., 2024). The environmental cost of this trajectory is staggering, and the circularity of material-use cannot keep up with the increase in global consumption. The Product Lifetimes and the Environment (PLATE) conference brings together some of the leading researchers trying to address ways for us to align our consumption more realistically within our planetary means. Within the PLATE community, there is a shared recognition that the current patterns of production and consumption are unsustainable and that extending product lifetimes is a critical, though complex, strategy for reducing environmental impact. However, the mechanisms behind product lifetime extension may also come into question. Therefore, it is crucial to approach the topic of environmental impact caused by product consumption from different angles. The tracks of the 6th Product Lifetimes for the Environment conference (PLATE2025), summarised herein this editorial, is indeed an effort to reflect the needed breadth and depth of this research agenda. Rather than isolated domains, these tracks form a dynamic and interconnected landscape of inquiry, each contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of how we can design, use, and govern products within planetary boundaries. In this editorial, we summarise publications from 12 thematic tracks.The contributions to PLATE2025 contribute to the broader trajectory of the field, it is both a reflection of the state of the art and a call to action. As we move forward, the PLATE community must continue to challenge assumptions, bridge disciplines, and imagine alternatives. Only then can we create and sustain products and societies that last.