Long Lasting and Easy to Repair Products are Key to the Circular Economy @EUEnvironment The evolution of the circular economy vision arose as a solution to growing mountains of waste. Because of this, current business models and tools have focused on waste reduction and source materials. But with current production and consumption patterns using the earth’s annual resources within the first seven months of the year, we need to look beyond waste reduction. What hasn’t garnered as much attention are reuse, repair, redistribution, remanufacture and refurbishment. This is changing, and ideas such as heirloom products and designing for disassembly are gaining traction. This perspective looks at preserving the value of products for as long as possible and puts products centre-stage in the transition process. Designing products so that they are lasting long and easier to repair is critical to achieving a circular economy. Well-tailored governance and finance mechanisms, including innovation incentives, are needed to turn niche activities into mainstream economic models. The transition to a circular economy requires better knowledge about the links between products, their underlying business models, and the societal infrastructure and governance determining their life‑cycle. Dedicated monitoring and analysis to identify key mechanisms and trends are crucial. Through a series of circular economy reports, the European Environment Agency (EEA) with the support of the European Topic Centre on Waste and Materials in a Green Economy (ETC/WMGE) – of which the CSCP is partner – is providing a repository of knowledge to tackle existing challenges and to bridge gaps. Launched at the World Circular Economy Forum in Helsinki in June, this is the second circular economy EEA report ‘Circular by design — products in the circular economy,’ which looks specifically at what drives product design and how emerging production and consumption trends can enhance or hamper more circular — and more efficient material use. Download the full report here. Please contact Francesca Grossi if you have any questions. Photo by: Cover EEA Report / Image © Ybele Hoogeveen