Raising consumer demand for longer lasting products: challenges and opportunities

This briefing outlines the benefits of increasing consumer demand for longer lasting products and details the challenges to and opportunities for them to contribute to environmentally-sound, sustainable economic development

Practical hope for a warming world: a reflective essay

This essay takes a reflective approach to the question of whether or not Scotland would be able to meet the climate change targets it has set itself and how they would feel if the world was unable to avert dangerous climate change. The importance of maintaining 'practical hope' in the face of current environmental circumstances stregnthens the arguement for the Scottish Government's ability to meet its targets and the consideration of Scotland's role in the global goals in tackling climate change

Community repair: enabling repair as part of the movement towards a circular economy

Executive summary： Repair in the context of the circular economy. The growth in sales of household electrical and electronic equipment in recent years, combined with faster product obsolescence, has resulted in waste electrical and electronic equipment becoming the fastest growing waste stream globally (Baldé, Wang, Kuehr, & Huisman, 2015). Many products develop simple faults which are challenging for the amateur to repair; this quite often results in replacement products being purchased and equipment with small faults being disposed of, or hoarded (Green Alliance, 2015; WRAP, 2011a). It is within this context that innovative approaches to repair are emerging in the UK, with communitybased organisations focused on enabling consumers to attempt to repair a variety of products including clothing and electrical equipment. Access to information, spare parts and tools is being made available by companies like iFixit, providing consumers with the resources they need to attempt their own repairs. Some consumers, however, lack the skills, knowledge or confidence to attempt repairs, even when the resources are available. This report focuses on the work of the London-based Restart Project, who organise community-based events to assist these consumers. Volunteers acting as "Repair Coaches" at Restart Project repair events offer support and guidance to participants, enabling them to attempt to repair items that they may not have had the knowledge, skills or confidence to undertake previously. This report presents the findings from a survey with 99 participants undertaken at Restart Project events in late 2016. Key points to emerge are: - Many people (45%) cannot name a commercial repairer that they trust. The lack of knowledge of existing repair ventures and lack of trust in commercial repairers is a key issue to address. - Very few respondents were "extremely" confident in undertaking repairs at home (8%), many more were "somewhat" or "moderately" confident (33%) and 47% were only "slightly" or "not at all" confident. - Many of the respondents reported that they have previously attempted some kind of repairs at home (56%). However, they report varying levels of success with previous repairs and cite knowledge, skills and confidence as major barriers to further attempts at repair. It is these very barriers that The Restart Project addresses. - Respondents report that they are avid seekers of reuse options for their products when they no longer require them, with 82% reporting they looked for people to reuse items they no longer had a use for. - Small electrical and electronic items were not recycled by as many of the respondents as other types of household items. The Restart Project appears to have a role to play as 'environmental educator' in inspiring additional recycling within the community. Throughout the research, participants said they particularly valued the social aspect of the repair events. Feedback shows that there are high satisfaction levels with the events, even when repairs to the objects participants have brought along have been unsuccessful. Working in a social environment, meeting others with shared interests and learning or passing on repair skills in this way appears to offer considerable potential to empower communities to attempt repairs and thereby extend the lifetime of products. The repair network is complex and fragmented. Availability, location and consumer confidence in local repair networks, together with knowledge and skills are key issues that have emerged from this study. Informal community-based enterprises such as The Restart Project appear ideally placed to develop local responses to the gap in trust of existing networks revealed by this research, and that they have an important role to play in contributing to the circular economy

Extending product lifetimes through WEEE reuse and repair: opportunities and challenges in the UK

Discarded electrical and electronic equipment is a rapidly growing waste stream which has increased in part be-cause advances in technology have contributed to shorter product lifetimes [1],[2]. As such, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has received increasing attention from policy makers. Previous research has re-vealed the large proportion of end-of-life consumer electronics disposed of through residual waste collections and destined for landfill disposal or incineration [3],[4]. This represents a missed opportunity for extending their lifetime by facilitating recovery for repair or reuse, which would be preferable in the context of their high levels of embodied carbon [5] and the valuable materials they contain. This paper outlines the current policy context following recently updated WEEE Regulations and explores the current routes for end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment in the UK and opportunities for product life ex-tension through reuse of discarded items. Following a literature review, a series of semi-structured interviews were undertaken with policy makers, producer responsibility organisations, third sector organisations, waste collection authorities and waste management companies. The paper reports the findings from this research, which aimed to determine whether the current collection sys-tem for end-of-life equipment in the UK adequately encourages increased repair and reuse in line with the UK Government’s waste reduction programme [6], or whether there is an excessive focus on recycling. An analysis of the findings is used to discuss whether the UK policy framework is adequate to embed legislative require-ments and improve current practices and whether the current system promotes awareness and understanding by householders sufficient to encourage behaviour change

Towards a circular economy: exploring routes to reuse for discarded electrical and electronic equipment

Waste reduction should be an integral strategy for meeting European Union commitments on the circular economy. The reuse of household goods, thereby increasing their life-spans, is thus not only part of the waste reduction agenda but necessary for progression towards a circular economy. Reuse does take place through many different routes and involves many actors. This complexity makes monitoring and increasing reuse particularly challenging. Previous research has concentrated on reuse through local government collections and there has been with limited enquiry into other routes. This paper characterises and analyses operations of two UK organisations that facilitate the resale of used electrical and electronic equipment in order to establish how levels of reuse may be increased. It discusses findings from semi-structured interviews with senior representatives from the organisations and makes recommendations for reuse networks that could manage waste streams more effectively. The paper illustrates how different business approaches can make a significant contribution to tackling waste and implementing the circular economy

Consumer expectations of product lifetimes around the world: a review of global research findings and methods

This paper presents the findings of research to identify and evaluate current studies into consumer expectations of product lifetimes across durable goods. Following a literature review, studies were classified using a product categorisation scheme formulated at Nottingham Trent University and a product lifetime expectations typology adapted from Oguchi et al. (2016a) was developed. The results would appear to suggest that consumer expectations of product lifetimes are in decline, and that those in the United Kingdom appear to be lower than those in other parts of the world. However, identifying differences in consumer expectations of product lifetimes is hindered by the different methods employed in studies, as face-to-face interviews, and online, telephone and postal studies all have the potential to produce different results. Three key challenges to furthering research into consumer expectations of product lifetimes were identified: Product coverage, definitions of consumer expectations and sampling strategies. Only if these challenges can be addressed will researchers be able to draw meaningful conclusions on both personal and cultural trends in expected product lifetimes and make a positive contribution to addressing both material and social aspects of the circular economy

Community repair: how does attending pop-up repair events impact on individuals' understanding and behaviour toward repair?

The Restart Project is a community-based repair initiative which seeks to extend the lifetime of, and reduce the waste from, electrical and electronic devices, thus reducing carbon emissions and enabling sustainable resource consumption. It does so by various means of community engagement. Research reported here focuses on their pop-up repair events, or ‘Restart Parties’. An initial survey was conducted with 99 of 316 individuals who attended Restart Parties across London between September and November 2016. This research explored environmental and repair-related topics and sought to establish the reasons why people attend Restart Parties. It was presented in a report published in March 2017. The current report presents the findings of a follow-up survey which sought to establish if Restart Party attendance had: ● Increased engagement in repair activities ● Fostered new knowledge and skills ● Changed respondents’ attitudes and/or behaviour towards repair and obtaining electrical and electronic devices. The research also examined respondents’ understanding of the broader issues around repair and how The Restart Project contributes to tackling them. The survey approached 74 of the previous 99 respondents and obtained 25 responses. Whilst this small sample size should be noted, the results show that: ● The majority of respondents (60%) had taken environmentally-responsible action with their device since the events, such as continued use of the device or recycling it, but some stored it (16%) or “threw it away” (8%) ● Three-quarters (75%) of respondents were more likely to “attend a community repair event” ● A small majority (56%) of respondents were more likely to attempt repairs at home ● Nearly a third of respondents were more likely to ‘‘volunteer at a community repair event’’ (30%), a higher proportion than those less likely to do so (22%) ● A small proportion of respondents (12%) had volunteered at a subsequent repair event ● Equal proportions of respondents were more likely to use a commercial repairer (39%) as those less likely to do so (39%) ● Respondents gained a variety of knowledge and skills, including laptop servicing skills, device disassembly, how to locate repair manuals, and how to recycle devices ● Some respondents also reported that attendance at Restart Parties improved their confidence to undertake repairs on their own ● Priorities when buying items have changed, although the average importance placed on environmentally-responsible considerations has not ● There was little change in the order of actions taken by respondents when a device breaks ● Respondents did not have a full understanding of The Restart Project’s aims. In summary, the results showed that respondents were more able to repair items and to dispose of those beyond repair responsibly. However, this ability is not consistently put into action. The priorities when buying items, the order of actions taken when a device breaks and recycling rates could be improved, whilst the rate at which items are stored could be decreased. Future work could focus on achieving sustained behaviour change

Consumer perspectives on longevity and reliability: a national study of purchasing factors across eighteen product categories

Increasing global demand for durable goods prevents the decoupling of economic growth from natural resource use required to achieve sustainable consumption and production. Presently, most consumers in the United Kingdom (UK) exhibit a strong preference for purchasing new durable goods. Therefore, short-to-medium term strategies that seek to engender sustainable consumption of durable goods should focus on encouraging consumers to choose longer-lasting, reliable products. This paper outlines the importance consumers place on six purchasing factors (appearance, brand, guarantee length, longevity, price and reliability) across eighteen categories of durable goods. Data was collected from a UK national survey of consumer satisfaction with product lifetimes (n=2207). The research identified that most consumers consistently emphasise the importance of longevity and reliability when purchasing new products. If consumer preference for longer-lasting, reliable products can be translated into purchasing behaviour, progress can be made towards engendering sustainable consumption, enacting the circular economy and reducing national ecological footprints

Consumer perspectives on product lifetimes: a national study of lifetime satisfaction and purchasing factors

The extension of product lifetimes of consumer goods has the potential to encourage sustainable consumption, reduce carbon emissions and facilitate a transition to a circular economy. However, current understandings of consumer perspectives on product lifetimes are limited. This paper presents the findings of the first national study of consumer satisfaction with product lifetimes across an exhaustive range of consumer durables. The research was undertaken in the United Kingdom where consumer satisfaction and purchasing factors were studied across eighteen product categories. These product categories were devised from academic and market research undertaken at Nottingham Trent University. In total, 2,207 participants completed the survey and the sample profile was similar to the United Kingdom's population with respect to age and gender. The results indicate that consumers appear generally satisfied with the lifetimes of their products and suggest that efforts to extend product lifetimes should focus on developing business and policy options. However, participants also emphasised that longevity, reliability and guarantee length were important factors in their purchasing decisions. Consumer interest in these factors could indicate that lifetime labelling and the promotion of longer guarantees by manufacturers and retailers may offer pathways to reduce energy and material consumption associated with short-lived products, facilitating movement towards a low carbon circular economy

Comparative Oncologic and Toxicity Outcomes of Salvage Radical Prostatectomy Versus Nonsurgical Therapies for Radiorecurrent Prostate Cancer: A Meta-Regression Analysis.

CONTEXT: In the absence of randomised controlled trials comparing the oncologic, toxicity, and functional outcomes of salvage radical prostatectomy (SRP), salvage high-intensity focused ultrasound (SHIFU), salvage brachytherapy (SBT), and salvage cryotherapy (SCT), controversy exists as to the optimal salvage modality in radiorecurrent prostate cancer. OBJECTIVE: We carried out a meta-regression analysis to determine whether there is a difference in oncologic, toxicity, and functional outcomes using data from original publications of salvage modalities in the postradiation setting. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We performed a systematic review of PubMed/Medline citations according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. We included 63 articles in the analysis (25 on SRP, 8 on SHIFU, 16 on SCT, 14 on SBT). EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Median values of the following variables were extracted from each study: patient age, length of follow-up, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) before radiotherapy (RT), PSA before salvage therapy, Gleason score before RT, and time interval between RT and salvage therapy. Functional, toxicity, and oncologic outcomes were measured according to rates of impotence, incontinence, fistula formation, urethral strictures, and biochemical recurrence. Meta-regression adjusting for confounders found no significant difference in oncologic outcomes between SRP and nonsurgical salvage modalities. SBT, SCT, and SHIFU appeared to have better continence outcomes than SRP. No significant difference in toxicity outcomes between modalities was found, although limitations such as reporting, selection, and publication bias and between-study heterogeneity must also be considered with these conclusions. CONCLUSIONS: Oncologic outcomes are comparable for SRP and all three nonsurgical salvage modalities. We found no significant differences in toxicity outcomes among modalities; however, SRP appears to be associated with worse rates of urinary incontinence than SBT, SCT, and SHIFU. PATIENT SUMMARY: We performed a meta-regression analysis to compare oncologic, functional, and toxicity outcomes between salvage radical prostatectomy and nonsurgical salvage modalities. Oncologic and toxicity outcomes appear to be similar; however, all nonsurgical salvage modalities may be associated with better continence outcomes.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.euf.2015.09.00