Imagine a future in which you don't have to replace your smartphone every two years because it has become too slow. Because changing a broken screen could cost the same as buying a new phone. Or because never models have made your perfectly functioning phone feel prehistoric.
In a circular economy it is not only smartphones, but all products that are designed to last and be repaired. And true value ties in the product you already have.
In the SMART-project, we argue that the circular economy must contribute to sustainability in production and consumption. This requires in particular reforming Europe’s products regulation to create more durable and repairable products. And to ensure these are used much longer. We currently live in a linear economy. That operate on a take, make, dispose – model. We take natural resources, turn them into products, and sell them to consumers, who sooner or later discard them.
This system we have created requires repetitive and wasteful consumption to keep the economy going. And it operates as if it were endless supplies of natural resources. But there aren’t. In fact, most of the metals and minerals, that we use to make products are in limited supply.
In addition, they are extracted in countries where environment and human rights protection are weak. And where production often leads to major health problems for workers and the local population. We have begun a necessary transition, from a linear to a circular model. Where resources are used more efficiently. However, efficiency will not be enough as it does not guarantee, positive changes for the environment and the people. Take the example of you refrigerator. Thanks to eco-design requirements, it consumes today about half the energy it consumed just ten years ago. This means reduced energy consumption, which translates, for you as a consumer in money saved every month on your energy bill.
That’s efficiency. And that’s a good thing. But one downside of this, is that we may use that extra money, to buy an extra freezer, an espresso machine or a smoothie maker. Things we would not have bought otherwise.
And that’s raising our energy consumption right back up. Worse, it is raising the demand for products that are not produced on the basis of real circular sustainability . More products leads to additional environmental and social impacts from manufacturing, packaging and transport.
This is why, to make real improvement, we not only need to produce and consume better, we also need to produce and consume less.
In particular we must ensure that products that are placed on the European market, are made to last and be repaired. Low quality, short lived, single use products, must be removed from sale. Or at least be priced at their true environmental and social cost.
In addition, we must ensure that consumers can make better choices, and effectively use their products for a longer period. This requires access to proper and trustworthy information and legal guarantees that a product you buy is built to last and can be repaired easily, and at reasonable cost.
And finally, we must secure that Europe’s transition to a circular economy, and the well-being of Europe’s future generations, is not achieved at the expense of the rest of the world.
For all these reasons, we at the SMART-project, put forward the need to reform existing product regulation. To ensure that products are made to last and be repaired. Create the conditions for more enlightened and durable consumption. And minimize the impacts of production and consumption on the most vulnerable. It is now, that we can and must decide, to make a transition to a circular economy, that will contribute to achieve both ecological and human prosperity.
