GEN – 1011.00. The European Commission initiated this study to analyse and develop a potential scoring system to rate the ability to repair and – where relevant – upgrade products. The Commissions’ Joint Research Centre in Seville executed this study during the past 12 months. The scoring system was tested for laptops, vacuum cleaners, and washing machines.
Background
The Communications from the European Commission COM (2015) 614 ‘Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the Circular Economy’ and COM (2016) 773 ‘Ecodesign Working Plan 2016-2019’ point out the increased importance of improving the resource efficiency of products to promote a transition towards a more circular economy in the EU.
This can be for instance supported through a series of measures aiming to make products more durable, easier to repair, reuse or recycle. Improving the reparability and upgradability of products can potentially benefit both the environment and the economy by limiting the early replacement of products and thus saving resources. However, the design of products needs to be aided by appropriate assessment methods.
The study is expected to fit into future legislative developments. Even though the concept was developed for three consumer goods provided an extension to installed products (e.g. boiler, heat pump, and air conditioning appliances) and with time to all products subject to Ecodesign could be likely.
Link with Ecodesign
The revision of the Methodology for the Evaluation of Energy-related Products (MEErP) will start in 2019 and will consider reparability and material efficiency. Ideas from the reparability study thus may find their way into MEErP.
Next steps – graphical reparability label
The study will be used as for the development of a graphical label that will be accompanied by a behavioural study carried out by specialised consultants.
Recommended Actions
The manufacturers subject to Ecodesign and Energy labelling may find it interesting and useful to consult the updated data and forecasts for their products. The related Product Groups may find it useful to refer to the data in this report.
Related documents and links
All related documents and articles can be found in the respective sections in the right sidebar.
- Reparability project website: http://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ScoringSystemOnReparability/index.html
- Circularity project website: http://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/E4C/index.html
- Circular Economy Action Pack http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm
- Commission Staff Working Document, 2019-03-04 Sustainable Products in a Circular Economy – Towards an EU Product Policy Framework contributing to the Circular Economy https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/10102/2019/EN/SWD-2019-91-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF
- GEN – 960.00 – Update on reparability
- GEN – 960.01 – DG Environment presentation 8 November 2018
- GEN – 930.00 – Initial information on reparability
