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How can Europe and its industry transition to a more circular and sustainable society?
Mattias Lindahl from Linköping University and Carl Dalhammar from Lund University explore how Europe and its industry can transition to a more circular and sustainable society. Society today focuses on doing things more efficiently. However, the starting point should instead always be what is the right (effective) thing to do – and to do that efficiently. Related to this, an industrial transition is necessary to shift to a more circular and sustainable society. The current situation results from past ideas on effective markets, legal concepts and cultures, business models, and thoughts on ownership and consumer culture.

The European Union has initiated a number of initiatives to improve resource efficiency in Europe. The Ecodesign Directive is one of the policy instruments that could aid the transition towards a more resource efficient economy. This paper examines the potential benefits and disadvantages in applying the Directive for this purpose, and reflects on the potential to apply certain types of standards. The research builds on literature studies and interviews. A main conclusion is that some types of legal requirements are more feasible than others, and that the type of product and user patterns are of high importance when legal requirements are assessed.

In their roles as purchasers, users and dischargers of used products, consumers play an important role in the circular economy. In this article, we put forward a 'hierarchy of consumption behaviour' to support European Union policymaking. Among the priorities are avoiding the purchase of single-use and unnecessary products, prolonging the lifetime of products through maintenance and engaging in repair activities. Moreover, the hierarchy intends to privilege sharing and leasing to buying and second-hand products to new ones. Finally, consumption in the circular economy also requires allowing products to re-circulate. Changing consumption patterns is difficult insofar as they are largely determined by the paradigm upon which our economy is built and are enabled by the existing legal framework, most notably European Union consumer law. The article contains concrete recommendations to develop European Union law and promote the proposed hierarchy.

Longer product lifetimes are promoted by the EU's Circular Economy Action Plan, but incentivising longer lifetimes could also result in trade-offs between different environmental impacts for some product categories. LED lamps are still experiencing improvements in efficacy and material design, which raises questions about whether longer lifetimes are desirable from an overall environmental perspective. Applying a comprehensive life cycle assessment using actual product cases from 2012 to 2017, the research builds on previous product lifetime studies and lighting product research to determine the scenarios in which longer lifetimes are desirable from an overall environmental perspective. The factors explored in the scenarios included improving products in terms of efficiency and dematerialisation as well as decarbonised electricity contexts. The results indicate that product replacement with improved products resulted in environmental benefits compared to keeping longer life products in use, but there are sometrade-offs between environmental impacts. However, these trade-offs are minimised in the context of decarbonised electricity mixes and will further decrease as LED lamp technology matures and product development slows. The policy implications of the findings are also discussed. ; Peer reviewed

The transition to a resource efficient economy that makes effective use of raw materials and energy is a multi-level dynamic process requiring a wide systems perspective. To operationalize this transition in a holistic manner, the concept of Circular Economy (CE) has been championed by major economies around the world. The idea with CE is to strive towards maximizing the utilization of products, components and materials and their embedded material value throughout the economy, generating the lowest possible amount of loss and waste in relation to the obtained value. This contribution presents the main elements for a transition roadmap towards CE in the Swedish manufacturing sector. This paper presents (i) a baseline of resource efficiency operations in Sweden and existing strategies for CE transition in the EU; (ii) outlines major areas of opportunity for the Swedish manufacturing sector to innovate and create resource efficient and effective solutions; (iii) identifies a variety of stakeholders that are required to intervene in different levels (local/regional/national/international, as well as public/private), scales and timeframes; and (iv) presents a comprehensive set of actions and policies, including monitoring and evaluation, as a direct recommendation to political and business actors in Sweden. Finally, milestones are defined and a timeframe for the roadmap is proposed.

Extending the lifetime of products is seen as a key objective for realising the vision of a Circular Economy. One way to increase the lifespan of products is to enable more repair activities. However, consumers encounter a variety of barriers for repairs, prompting public authorities in Europe and the US to adopt or propose policies in support of consumer repairs. Sweden has recently adopted a circular economy action plan, where increasing the number of consumer repairs is a stated objective. However, Sweden has so far only adopted a few repair policies, most notably through the tax reliefs for the repair sector that were implemented in 2017. The aim of this contribution is to research how Sweden could develop a more comprehensive policy mix for promoting consumer repairs, also by taking into consideration initiatives from other countries and regions. The research is based on a literature review and semi-structured interviews with policymakers and other relevant actors in Sweden, Europe and the US. The study shows that a lot of interesting initiatives aiming at increasing repairs are currently being proposed. The new requirements related to repairs, developed within the European Union's (EU) Ecodesign Directive, have been positively received but the process is cumbersome and it will take time before their full effect becomes evident. Initiatives, such as the French repairability index and the French repair fund will create incentives for the producers to design more repairable products and make it easier for consumers to repair. On the same track, the Repair Network of Vienna with its repair vouchers makes repairs cheaper and more trustworthy. Also, the US policy proposals on right-to-repair laws would help to create an open market for repairs for a lot of products. Sweden has the possibility to gain knowledge through the implementation of similar policies, and by considering new policies suggested in literature and by the interviewees. Thus there is potential for Sweden to be a front-runner in creating a more resource efficient society through increased repair activity. Concluding, some preliminary proposals for a future policy mix are presented.

Prolonging the lifetime of products through repair is a key strategy of a circular economy. But several barriers impede the repair of consumer products. How can repair policies at different levels address these barriers?

The European Union has initiated a number of initiatives to improve resource efficiency in Europe. The Ecodesign Directive is one of the policy instruments that could aid the transition towards a more resource efficient economy. So far, the Directive has mainly been applied to set requirements related to energy efficiency, but there is potential for setting legal standards that increase product durability and promote the future re-use and recycling of components and materials. This paper examines the potential benefits and disadvantages in applying the Directive for this purpose, and analyzes the potential to apply certain types of legal standards. There is a need for continuous development of indicators and methods in order to allow for a broader range of legal standards in the future. The study provides some short and long term recommendations on the way forward.

Recommendations for Nordic policymakers:Resource related ecodesign obligations will be a necessary part of the future policy mix, though not all parts of the policy puzzle is yet in place. The Nordic policymakers can begin processes in order to realise strategic opportunities. Examples of such policies would be to continue the development of resource efficiency criteria in the Nordic eco-labelling and public procurement in order to pave the way for an uptake in EU eco-labelling and in the Ecodesign Directive. By continuously developing resource related criteria in voluntary policy instruments a platform for legal standard setting will be created that can be applied for ecodesign. See also the main report Addressing resource efficiency through the Ecodesign Directive - A review of opportunities and barriers at http://www.norden.org/sv/publikationer/publikationer/2014-511

This report explores what the Nordic countries can do to promote the use of recyclable plastic components in electrical and electronic products, with particular focus on minimising their hazardous chemical component. The report provides an overview of the hazardous additives currently used in the plastic components of EEE, drawing on information available from legislation and supporting studies, research and academia, NGOs and market actors. The results presented here build upon input collected though a literature study, a policy analysis of EU and Nordic legislation and initiatives, interviews with experts across the value chain and an expert workshop. Together these inputs were used to assess and qualify possible future actions in the Nordic countries to minimise hazardous chemicals in plastic components of EEE.

The transition to a Circular Economy (CE) aims for more efficient use of resources and reconsideration of how products are designed and used, including promoting longer lifetimes through design and repair. However, several factors influence whether it is an option for the consumer to repair the product. These range from legal and market impediments to factors of cost, convenience, and consumer preference. In this paper, we examine the current state of right to repair and different stakeholder perspectives. We outline the fundamental barriers to accessing repair services for consumer electronics as well as current and proposed policies in both the EU and U.S. promoting access to repair. Following a comparison of initiatives, we conclude by discussing the need to balance stakeholder interests in defining the desired scope of Right to Repair (R2R) - distinguished from a fully open access to repair - within the context of CE goals.

Many strategies have been proposed to support the transition to a Circular Economy (CE). In most cases, circular design and product life-extension practices specify repair as an essential element. In both the EU and the U.S., policymakers are attempting to increase the amount of repairs made, through the introduction of recent EU Ecodesign regulation changes and proposed US Right to Repair legislation. This review explores the current policy landscape for repair services by first outlining legal and market barriers to stakeholder participation in repair activities, and which stakeholders are affected. The review reveals a wide range of fundamental obstacles to both supply and demand of repair, including Intellectual Property, Consumer, Contract, Tax and Chemical laws, along with issues of design, consumer perceptions and markets. Subsequently, the current and proposed policy solutions to address barriers and increase repair activities are reviewed. A comparative assessment of the EU and the U.S. is followed by a discussion on the current repair market governance structure, which is found to be primarily centralized (i.e. repair services concentrated with manufacturers), with possible implications for upscaling repair. New policy proposals challenge this governance. Introducing the concept of a Repair Society Framework as a market transformation tool, we comprehensively discuss the current state of repair and provide an outlook for research and policy in this area. ; Peer reviewed