A 4R-supported circular product-service system for luxury branded events
This addresses the issue of material churn in luxury branded events for event organizers and contractors, offering an incremental improvement by applying existing circular economy principles to a specific domain.
The paper tackles the problem of material waste in temporary luxury branded events by developing a circular product-service system that integrates physical and digital components to enable reuse and recycling, resulting in a replicable framework that advances responsible retail while maintaining speed and aesthetic standards.
Temporary luxury branded events run on short cycles and bespoke builds that accelerate material churn. We present a circular phygital product-service system that operationalises the circular economy (CE) through a 4R frame (Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycling) across warehouse-to-event journeys. Developed via a multi-method design inquiry with a tier-1 contractor, the system couples physical touchpoints (reusable fold-flat transit boxes, adjustable racking, standard labels) with digital orchestration (a live digital warehouse, list-based outbound/inbound workflow, and a sustainable materials library). The architecture aligns roles and decisions, protects and identifies assets, and makes reuse the default under luxury brand constraints. By embedding traceable actions and CE-aligned rules into everyday handoffs, the PSS shifts procurement, storage, dispatch, return, and redeployment toward value retention. The contribution is a replicable, practice-ready route from circular intent to operational change in branded environments, advancing responsible retail without compromising speed or aesthetic standards.