Ellie Gabel details how extending the lifecycle of products can reduce waste, emissions and costs while helping businesses and consumers transition to a circular economy.
Innovators in every industry know that replacing parts and machinery is one of the most disruptive and economically draining endeavors. Consumers are feeling this too, as product quality declines and budgets tighten as they have to repurchase essentials.
Instead, organizations can use and produce items with longer lifecycles, leading to one of the biggest sustainability wins for the planet: the circular economy.
Reducing resource consumption
The effort required to create a single product or machine is enormous, from extracting raw materials to transporting them to facilities where they are processed at high temperatures.
One of the sectors most significantly affected by lifecycle extension strategies is manufacturing. Facility warehouses are filled with replacement parts for large equipment, which may rely on rare heavy metals and other resources that require significant environmental damage.
By default, the longer a part lasts, the less demand there is to make it and the fewer times it needs to be replaced.
In a net-zero emissions scenario, sectors such as renewable energy and electric vehicles could face the most significant supply chain and procurement challenges, as demand for essential materials such as nickel and cobalt is expected to double by 2040.
Reducing emissions and energy usage
Extending the life of a product also impacts emissions by reducing its associated energy consumption.
Processing and manufacturing new objects often requires high temperatures, resulting in significant waste heat losses and reliance on fossil fuels. When a company doubles the lifespan of a product, it cuts its energy use in half because it no longer needs to build large amounts of inventory.
This is essential for ground and air transport, especially for complex and niche components. Engineers are getting creative, using coatings and 3D-printed materials with low-carbon alternatives to slow or stop galvanic corrosion that can lead to failures and expensive repairs.
Creating engines using heavy rare metals facilitates the development of lighter and more durable options, making vehicles more sustainable. The longer each car or plane lives, the less pressure there is for manufacturers to invest energy and other resources into creating the parts.
Reduce product waste
Less than 9% of manufactured products go through the entire recycling process and end up in landfills as huge piles of waste. The longer the item lasts, the less likely this outcome will occur.
This advantage is especially noticeable in the electronics field. E-waste leaches toxins into the environment as broken screens and power lines contaminate habitat and wildlife. Electronic devices also contain rare metals, which are becoming increasingly scarce due to limited reserves.
Additionally, many products destined for landfill end up in incinerators, exacerbating greenhouse gas emissions and contributing to further pollution.
As the number of electronic devices per person increases, this problem will only get worse unless we eliminate planned obsolescence and enhance the quality of electronic devices.
In conjunction with eliminating planned obsolescence, increasing repair rights for these products will ease the burden on manufacturers while reducing emissions. Many technologies, such as laptops, have embedded hardware that makes repairing individual parts difficult or impossible.
Creating modular models allows customers to replace components without requiring the materials, energy, and other resources required to create an entirely new product. Approximately 62 million tons of electronics will be produced in 2022, highlighting the need for longer lifecycles.
Increased financial savings
Many companies make their products so cheaply that customers often have to throw them away and buy them again. Businesses do this to increase profits, but because the financial responsibility for replacing goods rests with the customer, it costs manufacturers a significant amount of money to produce more products faster.
Ultimately, following this framework will be less efficient and less profitable. This is most evident in industries such as urban infrastructure, where infrastructure failures such as bridges impose economic burdens on many citizens and governments.
Strategies such as data-driven preventive maintenance, resilience-based design, and self-healing materials are just a few examples of how infrastructure can survive despite climate stressors. Bridge and road maintenance costs are estimated to be at least $8.6 billion annually.
Building these structures more intentionally means using smarter, more durable elements to withstand the effects of aging.
Promoting a circular economy
By investing labor and resources into the quality of products and infrastructure, communities can adopt a circular economy mindset and identify opportunities to reuse everyday items. The ability to repair, disassemble, refurbish, and even compost is critical to moving away from a wasteful, throw-away culture.
The fashion industry is one of the most obvious culprits reinforcing a hyper-consumerist and wasteful economy. Fast fashion is a significant source of pollution, and the public is paying attention.
Therefore, the value of the second-hand market will reach approximately $370 billion by 2027, making the United States the largest exporter of used clothing and shoes. Every time used clothing is picked up, retailers are asked to slow down their release cycles and create higher quality clothing that lasts longer.
Paradigm shift towards durability
Planned obsolescence and low-quality production have become the norm to keep consumer goods cheap. But these items end up in pieces and heading to landfills.
Extending product lifecycles is one of the most effective ways to reduce carbon emissions while providing high-quality options to the public. As more companies prioritize end-of-life and circular economy principles, we will ultimately see less landfill.
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