One of the most renowned thinkers on the topic of lifecycle management is an architect called William McDonough, author of Cradle to Cradle. Mr McDonough argues that design needs a radical shake-up to give products extra lifecycles, which could be considered from their start.

For example, how many people know what a computer will be recycled into? It is an afterthought. In the cradle-to-cradle ethos, its designer would know what the computer will become after it stops being useful as it is.