Repair initiatives in Europe: innovations, business models, recommendations. Experiences from the PREPARE network

Extending the lifespan of products and the associated reduction in resource and energy consumption in production is an important pillar of the circular economy. The transition to this sustainable, future-proof form of economy is essential to limit the effects of the climate crisis.

One of the first points to tackle is that products are not being repaired enough. In Austria, for example, 80,000 tons of electronic scrap accumulates every year. The majority of devices is no longer repaired because, according to those surveyed, a repair is no longer worth it, either due to the high repair costs or because of the high age of the product. Repairs also seem expensive because of the comparably cheap availability of new devices (reasons for this in Chapter 6.2., "Conclusions") and new devices are connected to a positive image. But unlike many older devices, they are often difficult or even impossible to repair, which is one of the reasons for the widespread assumption that repairs are generally not worth it. And still repairability is not something many people usually consider before making a purchase. In reality, investing in repairable devices can be cheaper than constantly buying new devices in the long run. Repair skills save money, can have mental health benefits like boosting your self-confidence and your feeling of self-effectiveness and reduce your dependence on the goodwill of others if you cannot or do not want to afford a repair or a new device.

The European Union and many countries in Europe have begun to take individual measures towards "increasing the repair rate" here and there. With the help of surveys and interviews, which were carried out with the support of contacts provided by the "PREPARE" network, which has existed for almost 30 years, this work collects information about such measures in other European countries - especially regarding "best practice examples" and "lessons learned" – and analyzes their transferability to Austria.

Ideally, repairing should rarely be necessary, as an appliance or machine should be able to be used for as long as you like if it is handled properly and maintained regularly due to sustainable product design. This also applies to objects and activities that most people probably don't think of when they think of service/maintenance (e.g. washing mattresses, sharpening blunt knives, recoating pans).

In addition to material, technical and economic obsolescence, "psychological obsolescence" also influences the product lifespan. The desire to "own the latest" but also high aesthetic demands sometimes lead people to disposing of a whole item for a small reason if the replacement purchase is not too expensive. For example, if one of four "plastic feet" of an ironing board is missing and a replacement part is probably not available in the same colour and type most people wouldn't try to look for a replacement part and some would even buy a new ironing board. So - to stay with this example - on the one hand we need ironing boards where the "plastic feet" ideally never come off, and a standardisation of spare parts so that the necessary quantity of spare parts is reduced and they are (or can be) made available for a sufficient length of time, at fair prices and accessible, for example, via the manufacturer's website. On the other hand, we also need consumers who buy spare parts rather than a new(er) and therefore prettier product instead. Especially in the case of products that, even with the best care, will probably no longer look like new after a while (e.g. grill plate, shower curtain). While in these cases you rely on people to voluntarily change their behaviour, which is a complex psychological process with many variables and the simple sharing of knowledge might not be sufficient for that, the changes mentioned above regarding product quality and spare parts would probably only be implemented if there were corresponding laws.

Another reason why functional items become unnecessary is that people often buy them without thinking twice about whether they really need them or whether they absolutely have to own them individually (instead of borrowing or sharing them). If you don't yet know whether you want to own something, borrowing it would be an alternative to "buying it and giving it away, throwing it away or leaving it lying around unused." Here, a lack of demand for rental business models leads to a low supply of the same, as well as the other way around. Yet, items can possibly be borrowed privately.

The desire to always have the latest thing is strongly induced by advertising and comparisons (especially within one's own social group) and, relatedly, through social norms. More on this (e.g. the idea that influencers could help to improve the image of repair and the acceptance of obviously repaired products, or that advertising could emphasise the long-term cost advantage of repairable products) in chapter 5.3.6. (summary in chapter 6.4.).

Bad repair experiences severely damage the image of repair and can stem from the fact that there are indeed "black sheep" among repair businesses or that something has gone wrong, but also from the fact that customers understand too little about repair to consider a price justified. Repair networks with self-imposed quality criteria or guarantees on repairs can help to increase the trust in repair companies (see chapter 5.3.7.). Among many other interesting ideas (see chapter 5.3.7.) DECATHLON is offering online support while you repair yourself, which can also increase trust.

Another psychological factor as to why adults do not have things repaired is the "power of habit". Children's attitudes and habits towards repair can be formed more easily compared to adults, which is why they should learn to repair things early on, for example, at school (see chapter 6.4.). In the course of the project, the following approaches were found effective as to how adults could be brought to break their habit of not having things repaired:

1. The repair is free/cheap (e.g. Repair Café, repair bonus) or you receive vouchers from a repair company/repair network (e.g. as a company Christmas present)
2. You have an emotional connection to the item
3. You don't want to have to familiarize yourself with the operation of a new appliance
4. You are influenced to have things repaired by advertising or social norms
5. Positive repair experiences you had or heard about: Someone has told you about a positive repair experience or you try to trust certain repair companies because of a seal of approval. In both cases, a positive repair experience can lead to the formation of a new habit.
6. The high price of a new appliance makes a repair more attractive

Experiencing the amount of garbage and the amount of repairable equipment in resource parks could also motivate new behavior (more on this in chapter 5.3.6.).

The "power of habit" could be utilised against the buying of new products, for example, through business models in which a loyalty pass for maintenance or upgrades promises discounts.

Providing second-hand shops or shops that sell durable appliances next to re-use parks might get people who want to buy a new item after disposing of an item to make the "replacement purchase" right there. As long as the image of buying a second-hand item is more positive than the image of repairing, items that are still usable and repairable should be sorted out in waste management centers and sold. This would compensate for two disadvantages of repairs: That you have to live without the appliance during the repair period and that dropping an item off and picking it up are two trips, whereas disposal and buying a new one can be done in one trip. More on this and best practice examples in chapter 5.3.8. (summary 6.3.).

In addition to a substantial reduction of the financial disadvantage of repairs compared to new purchases and an improvement of the image of repairs (e.g. also through the role model effect of public procurement and companies), repairs should also become more accessible, ideally as easy as a purchase or even an online purchase. If an item can be repaired or "made prettier again", a hotline could, for example, provide information on where to take it (e.g. some people will probably not know that some bags can be sewn by a shoemaker), or connect people to the responsible repairers, who may be able to describe possible causes of faults (and what options the owners of the broken item have). The hotline could also offer support in finding spare parts and maintenance and cleaning tips. This, of course, needs to be professional and serious advice, not like many of the "life hacks" on YouTube. Another idea is that this information and links to online instructions of various manufacturers could be collected on a reputable website to which all repair networks link.

Financial support would be extremely helpful in many areas: from financing such a hotline (and/or website), to money for lobbying and advertising, to financing product tests to assess reparability and the corresponding labelling of products (reparability index, see Chapter 6.1.), money for monitoring compliance with laws and collecting fines (which can then finance further product tests), financing staff hours for repair networks (e.g. for meeting and evaluating new members or for networking, advertising and administrative activities), supporting repair cafés, financing a repair bonus or a maintenance bonus (see Chapter 5.2.) and enabling repairs that companies cannot carry out cost-effectively. More on this in chapter 5.3.2. (summary in chapter 6.2.).

Further findings and recommendations can be found in Chapter 6 "Conclusions".

Appropriate proposals how to avoid repairs, how to make them easier and how to improve repair logistics and infrastructure and to define general social approaches to increasing the repair rate have been developed. A list of proposals for detailed future research projects has been drawn up (see Chapter 7 "Outlook and recommendations"). It includes:

• Development of a lobbying strategy for measures that make repairs both less necessary and possible
• Improving the image of repair as an effect of the repair bonus?
• Teaching repair expertise to young people and adults
• Development of a concept to create incentives for durable products
• Survey on which products customers prefer to be long-lasting and which products they would want to replace with newer models, analysing the underlying motives
• Survey on framework conditions for the acceptance of sharing
• Developing approaches for financing repairs which are currently financially unprofitable, e.g. by partially diverting the ERA levy (EPR fee, which is also paid when certain products are purchased), e.g. enforcing taxes on non-durable products
• Exploring approaches to reducing the costs of repairs, e.g. by digitalising individual process steps
• Concept for increasing the willingness to buy "pre-loved" items (="second-hand" items)
• Concept for cooperation between waste management centres, socio-economic repair companies and (second-hand) shops
• Exploratory project to identify niches for new business models for repair, maintenance and servicing and survey on factors for greater acceptance of business models for maintenance and servicing, product-as-a-service (e.g. through nudging)
• Concept for improving the training of repair specialists
• Study tours to successful implementation projects in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and Sweden
• Exploring possibilities to improve the availability of spare parts
• Anchoring repair and "pre-loved" in public procurement
• Concept for quality assurance of repair through repair networks
• Evaluation of experiences from repair cafés and survey among visitors (e.g. why the desire for new things)