PUT TO ANOTHER USE

The "Put to another use" (P) component of the SCAMPER framework focuses on recontextualizing existing assets by identifying secondary applications for a product, resource, or process.

PUT TO ANOTHER USE


This cognitive lens is often described as the ultimate "recycling" or "repurposing" tool. It forces innovators to look past an object's original, intended function and ask guiding questions like,

"Who else could benefit from this?" or "How can this be used in a way it was never intended?".

By strategically repurposing assets, organizations can uncover entirely new, untapped market potential and extend the lifecycle of their solutions.

Here are some examples of Put to Another Use categorized by industry and application:

Technology & Digital Infrastructure

  • Amazon Web Services (AWS): Amazon repurposed its massive internal computing infrastructure into a public, commercial cloud computing platform.

  • Slack: Originally built as an internal communication tool for a video game company, it was repurposed into a globally dominant enterprise communication platform.

  • The Apple iPod: Apple repurposed existing hard drive technology specifically for portable digital music playback.

  • Nintendo Wii: Nintendo repurposed motion sensor technology for an interactive video game console.

  • Software Portals: Taking an online platform originally built as an internal tool and repurposing it as a customer-facing portal.

Business Models, Services, & Data Insights

  • Data Repurposing: Using internal financial data to create a brand-new analytics service. In banking, this looks like taking a customer's transaction data from their first 3 months and repurposing it to generate a personalized financial check-up.

  • Exit Interviews: Human Resources departments can repurpose exit interview data—traditionally used just for administrative record-keeping—to design mentorship programs that proactively strengthen the remaining employee base.

  • Food Trucks: Repurposing a mobile street kitchen to act as a dedicated catering unit for private events.

Materials, Waste, & Architectural Repurposing

  • Shipping Containers: Originally designed for maritime cargo transport, these sturdy steel structures are heavily repurposed into modular housing ("tiny homes"), office spaces, retail storefronts, trendy cafes, student housing, and even swimming pools.

  • Adidas Eco-Footwear: The brand put ocean plastic waste to another use by transforming it into a raw material for high-performance athletic footwear, creating a highly marketable product while addressing an environmental crisis.

  • Old Tires: Discarded tires are shredded into "crumb rubber" to create soft, bouncy safety surfaces for children's playgrounds.

  • Coffee Grounds: Repurposing beverage waste into nitrogen-rich garden fertilizer.

  • Airplane Wings: Structurally repurposing old airplane wings to serve as the roof of a modern house.

  • Glass Bottles: Reusing empty glass bottles aesthetically as decorative lamps.

Healthcare & Medicine

  • Botox: Originally developed to treat eye muscle disorders, it was massively repurposed for cosmetic wrinkle reduction and the treatment of chronic migraines.

  • Minoxidil: Initially created as a medication to treat high blood pressure, it was repurposed into a highly successful, mainstream treatment for hair loss.

Everyday Products, Household Hacks, & Ideation Exercises

  • Play-Doh: This famous product was originally invented as a pliable wallpaper cleaner to remove coal soot from homes. When coal heating declined, it was put to another use as a children's toy.

  • Post-it Notes: 3M repurposed a failed, incredibly weak adhesive formula to create the now-iconic temporary, removable sticky notes.

  • NASA Memory Foam: Originally engineered for shock absorption in spacecraft seating, it was successfully repurposed for consumer mattresses.

  • Baking Soda: Used beyond its primary purpose in baking to deodorize refrigerators or even clean teeth.

  • Heavy-duty Rubber Bands: Can be put to another use as gym resistance bands for exercise routines, or used in the kitchen to tightly seal bags into air-tight containers.

  • Tarpaulins (Tarps): Moving beyond covering equipment, tarps can be put to another use to collect rainwater or serve as a makeshift "Slip 'N Slide" on a grassy hill.

  • Vintage Ladders: Repurposed aesthetically as rustic bookshelves or towel racks in a bathroom.

  • Pencils: In an ideation exercise, two standard wooden pencils could be repurposed as emergency chopsticks at a noodle shop.

  • Textbooks: The classic, utilitarian hack of using a heavy textbook as a doorstop or a monitor stand.