Longer living clothing, electronics, and bikes: how a city can help its citizens learn to repair instead of discard.
For most of human history, we maintained and repaired our belongings. Yet for the last few decades, we discard things as if they have no value. A recent study by Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving (PBL) shows that only 30% of Dutch citizens engage in repairing devices, and less than 1% participate in sharing, borrowing, or renting products. This disparity, coupled with a reported lack of trust in sharing, especially with strangers, underscores the need for strategies to foster trust, acceptance, and broader adoption of Circular Consumption Practices (CCPs) throughout Dutch society.
Members introduced a consortium called ShaRepair, working to uncover strategies and tools that can help support the update of circular consumption practices in everyday urban life, in a way that ultimately reduces material consumption. With an interdisciplinary lens, speakers elaborated on an additional wider consortium that will be working together over the next five years in the Amsterdam and Gelderland metropolitan regions using scientific and sociological perspectives behind inclusive circularity at the local and regional levels.
At AMS Institute, the team is connecting research and practice when it comes to the repair and reuse of IT hardware and prematurely discarded solar panels within the existing circularity programme. This includes dynamic digital product passports that help organisations extend the lifetime of their equipment. ShaRepair will take a wider range of household appliances and products into account. Their research has shown a circular system for electronics would save as much CO2 as if two entire Amsterdam neighbourhoods were to go carbon neutral, simply because of the reduction of energy consumption.
Meanwhile the City of Amsterdam is exploring what is next after the energy transition, laying foundations for an integrated circular economy and grassroots initiatives like circular hubs. They help circular entrepreneurs with financing and space. The research and statistics department found that food, electronics, and the built environment have the biggest environmental impacts, and that is why the consortium focuses on bio-based insulation, reducing energy use, repurposing food waste, and creating several repair hubs through the city to bring citizens into the effort.
The session looked at the sociological perspective of the barriers to truly achieving circular practices, including finding the time to repair goods, the often lower cost of simply buying a new item, losing the skills of older generations to fix clothing, machines, bicycles, and other items. So sustainable living would involve easing those burdens with services, circular craftsmanship centres, making city recycling centres attractive and accessible.