In 1924, a secret meeting was held in Switzerland between Philips, International General Electric, TEPCO, OSRAM, and AEI. These members formed what came to be known as the Phoebus Cartel, and the meeting was held to help ensure the members of the meeting would start making lightbulbs that lasted no longer than 1000 hours. In the event that a company broke this agreement, they would be fined.
Of course, limiting a product's lifespan purposefully in this way is not typically illegal in the United States and elsewhere yet, however we often see this practice employed in bad faith, which leads to lawsuits. From Apple's so-called "Batterygate" to printers that are cheaper to replace than to refill with ink, we see this much too often, with devastating affects on our home planet.
At present, Recursive Dynamics is making daily strides to reduce the number of parts in our designs and products, while increasing usability, durability, longevity, and reduce our various footprints. The beauty of these improvements is they're typically cost-effective, too! Take a look below at one example, a veritable spot-the-difference with the image on the right being a more modern design of the same product!
Recursive Dynamics is committed to every stage of research and development when designing a new product or improving on an old one, not just profitability. In actuality, the easiest way to cut costs and flaws is simply to design them out of your product, which is what we try to do in each case. Unfortunately, the most environmentally friendly approach will not always be achievable, for technological, chronological, or even financial reasons; However, Recursive Dynamics does and will continue to build products in as balanced and environmentally impactless ways as possible.