Authors: Kirsi Immonen (VTT), Jukka Niskanen, Kirsi Kukko, Jessica Nieminen, and Jouni Partanen (Aalto University)
Extending the lifetime of consumer goods through repair and technological upgrades is an essential practice for promoting sustainability and reducing waste. Modern consumer goods such as phones and appliances pose significant challenges due to their complexity and multimaterial nature. Many devices are designed to be difficult to repair or require specialist intervention, leading to their replacement after just a few years of use. This results in substantial waste, often including hazardous waste, which is environmentally unsustainable. In addition, the materials in devices are difficult to separate from each other, which limits their recyclability.
Design
The rapid advancement of technology contributes to the shorter lifespan of consumer goods. A potential solution is to mandate modular designs that allow for upgrades, enabling consumers to replace only the upgraded components rather than entire devices. Such designs can ensure that products with rapidly evolving components, like microchips, can be easily updated to current standards. This approach not only extends the lifespan of the devices but also reduces the environmental impact associated with manufacturing and disposing of entire products.
Repair
Extending the lifetime of consumer goods through repair often faces difficulties, such as the need for additional components like spare parts. Acquiring the exact spare part can be logistically challenging and may lead to overproduction, causing further environmental issues. However, some of these logistical challenges can be addressed through digitally delivered spare parts and localized production. Projects like DIVA1,2 and ValueBioMat have explored solutions such as 3D-printed spare parts, which solve logistical challenges with virtual digital inventories. Instead of storing excess parts in physical warehouses, spare parts can be produced on-demand by a nearby commercial printing service from a digitally delivered file provided by the product’s original manufacturer, thus eliminating the need for massive overproduction.
3D-printing and a modular approach to devices can also make it easier to recycle or reuse parts of the device. A modular approach limits the number of materials fused together in a way that they become impossible to recycle with current methods. For comparison, a multilayered plastic film cannot be recycled, as the layers of different plastics are difficult, energy intensive, and costly to separate.
Regulation
New EU regulations such as EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) 3 entered into force on July 18th 2024. The ESPR establishes a framework for setting eco-design requirements for specific products such as energy related products. ESPR contains requirements that improve the energy efficiency of products or reduce their other environmental impacts (e.g. material efficiency, circular economy, sustainability, repairability, use of recycled materials). For example, EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles 4, linked with ESPR, will require all garments to be repairable, necessitating the creation of new design guidelines. For modern consumer goods, upgrading and repair actions could become more economical through legislation and incentives. Stakeholders, particularly manufacturers, need to be made aware that positive environmental solutions can lead to long-term business benefits. This is a global issue, requiring international efforts in educating businesses and consumers. Developing attitudes among consumers toward seeing modular and environmentally friendly solutions as attractive and competitive options in the market is crucial.
Business models
For sustainable and economically viable repair actions, it is crucial to develop business models that support these practices. Innovative companies, such as Swappie, have business models that are emerging to address these issues by promoting the refurbishment and resale of used electronics. Additionally, promoting consumer awareness and changing attitudes towards seeing modular and environmentally friendly solutions as attractive and competitive alternatives in the market is important.
Labelling, identification, education
Proper labelling and identification of materials is needed to ensure repairing to happen with right materials and in the end-of-life (EOL) the product to enter into the right recycling system. This will be enabled through EU’s Digital Product Passport (DPP) that is part of the ESPR. DPP aims to enhance transparency across product value chains by providing comprehensive information about each product’s origin, materials, environmental impact, and disposal recommendations. It concerns nearly all products sold in the EU. By integrating open data principles, the DPP will enhance both the visibility and integrity of product information, benefiting companies, consumers, and the environment alike. 5
Because DPP is designed to collect and share data about a product and its supply chain across the entire value chain, it can be one or even the main solution to increase recyclability and implement recycling methods and repair potential even for biocomposite products containing various raw materials.
Proper labelling and identification of plastic products together with consumer education for repair and recycling are the key aspects to reduce, not only consumption, but also the increasing environmental challenges related to microplastic pollution.
Simplicity
However, these processes should be made as simple as possible for consumers. Simplicity is needed to ensure the motivation for consumers to recycle. The contribution of consumers could be a very crude separation of recycling feeds as it is today, e.g. separate metal, glass, paper, and plastics. DPP and other sensor-based systems could then be utilized in an industrial separation process where the plastics are separated into different types for recycling.
Conclusions
In conclusion, four conceptual solutions to extend the lifetime of consumer goods and curb excessive consumption involve: 1) locally manufactured digital spare parts, 2) product modularity, 3) designing for future recycling, and 4) identification and labelling through DPP of the incorporated materials. Implementing these measures can significantly reduce waste and promote sustainability in the consumer goods sector.
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ValueBioMat Final Seminar 6.6.2025: Survey Powered by Webropol
References
- Holmstrom, J., Partanen, J., Tuomi, J. and Walter, M. “Rapid manufacturing in the spare parts supply chain: alternative approaches to capacity deployment,” J. Manuf. Tech. Managment, vol. 21, pp. 687 – 697 (2010).
- Salmi, M., Partanen, J., Tuomi, J., Chekurov, S., Björkstrand, R., Huotilainen, E., Kukko, K., Kretzschmar, N., Akmal, J., Jalava, K., Koivisto, S., Vartiainen, M., Metsä-Kortelainen, S., Puukko, P., Jussila, A., Riipinen, T., Reijonen, J., Tanner, H. & Mikkola, M., ”Digitaaliset varaosat,” 2018, Aalto University, 64 pp.
- https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-environment/standards-tools-and-labels/products-labelling-rules-and-requirements/ecodesign-sustainable-products-regulation_en
- https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/textiles-strategy_en
- https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/14382-Digital-product-passport-rules-for-service-providers_en