Sustainability Atlas
Circular Economy·13 min read··...

Deep dive: Repair, reuse & refurbishment — what's working, what's not, and what's next

What's working, what isn't, and what's next — with the trade-offs made explicit. Focus on unit economics, adoption blockers, and what decision-makers should watch next.

Despite growing awareness of circular economy principles, the global circularity rate has dropped to just 6.9% in 2025—down from 9.1% a decade earlier—according to the Circularity Gap Report. This means over 93% of the 106 billion tonnes of materials entering the global economy each year are either wasted or lost to permanent degradation. Yet within this sobering reality lies an extraordinary opportunity: the refurbished electronics market alone reached $124.61 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow at 13.2% annually through 2035. Meanwhile, EU consumers lose approximately €12 billion per year by replacing products instead of repairing them. These figures illustrate both the urgency and the economic potential of scaling repair, reuse, and refurbishment strategies within a circular economy framework.

Why It Matters

Repair, reuse, and refurbishment represent the highest-value retention strategies in the circular economy hierarchy—far surpassing recycling in terms of embedded energy, material, and labor preservation. When a smartphone is refurbished rather than shredded for metals, approximately 80% of its embodied carbon footprint is retained. When an industrial pump is remanufactured, the manufacturer captures value from components that would otherwise require virgin material extraction, processing, and transportation.

The environmental arithmetic is compelling. The EU estimates that comprehensive right-to-repair implementation could eliminate 261 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions annually, reduce raw material consumption by 30 million tonnes, and prevent 35 million tonnes of waste generation. These numbers become even more significant when considering that manufacturing typically accounts for 70-90% of a product's lifetime carbon footprint for electronics and appliances.

From a market perspective, reverse logistics—the infrastructure backbone of repair and refurbishment operations—now represents an $841 billion global market growing at 7.2% CAGR through 2034. Consumer behavior has shifted decisively: 85% of shoppers in mature markets now buy or sell secondhand goods, and 82% report willingness to pay premium prices for products with sustainable packaging and extended lifecycle characteristics.

The policy environment has fundamentally transformed the operating landscape. The EU Right to Repair Directive, adopted in June 2024, mandates manufacturer repair obligations for up to ten years beyond warranty periods and requires spare parts availability at "reasonable prices." In the United States, all 50 states have introduced right-to-repair legislation as of January 2025, with six states—New York, California, Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, and a dedicated California wheelchair repair law—having enacted binding requirements.

Key Concepts

Understanding the repair-reuse-refurbishment spectrum requires clarity on the distinct value propositions and operational requirements of each approach.

Repair restores a product to its original functional state by fixing specific defects or replacing worn components. The product maintains its identity and warranty status (where applicable). Repair is typically performed by manufacturers, authorized service providers, independent repair shops, or end users themselves. The economic calculus centers on whether repair cost plus inconvenience cost falls below replacement cost plus disposal burden.

Reuse extends product life through secondary markets without modification. A smartphone resold through peer-to-peer platforms, a shipping container repurposed as modular housing, or an industrial machine transferred from a closing facility to a growing operation all exemplify reuse. The critical infrastructure requirement is matching supply with demand across time and geography—a coordination problem that digital platforms have dramatically improved.

Refurbishment involves systematic restoration to meet defined quality standards, often including cosmetic improvements, component replacement, software updates, and rigorous testing. Refurbished products typically carry warranties and grading systems (e.g., "like new," "very good," "good") that communicate condition to buyers. Refurbishment requires specialized facilities, trained technicians, parts inventory management, and quality assurance protocols.

Remanufacturing represents the most intensive form of refurbishment, where products are disassembled to component level, inspected, restored or replaced as needed, reassembled, and tested to original equipment manufacturer specifications. Remanufactured products should perform equivalently to new products and often carry comparable warranties.

Sector-Specific KPIs for Repair, Reuse & Refurbishment

SectorPrimary KPIBenchmark RangeLeading Practice
Consumer ElectronicsRefurbishment yield rate65-85%>90% (Back Market verified)
Medical EquipmentComponent reuse rate50-70%90% (Philips Healthcare)
Industrial MachineryMean time between failures (post-refurb)80-95% of new100%+ (Caterpillar Reman)
Fashion/TextilesResale capture rate2-8% of units sold>15% (Patagonia Worn Wear)
AutomotiveParts remanufacturing rate15-30%45%+ (European OEMs)
IT/Data CenterServer refresh extension1-2 years3-4 years (hyperscaler programs)

What's Working

Right-to-Repair Legislative Momentum

The policy shift toward repair rights represents the most significant structural change in product lifecycle governance in decades. Oregon's 2025 law became the first in the United States to ban "parts pairing"—the practice of using software to disable components not obtained through manufacturer channels. Colorado's 2026 implementation will extend similar protections. These provisions directly address the technical barriers that manufacturers previously used to channel repairs through authorized networks.

The EU Right to Repair Directive creates enforceable consumer rights including a 12-month warranty extension when consumers choose repair over replacement, mandatory access to spare parts and repair tools at reasonable prices, and prohibition of contractual or technical blocks on independent repairs. A European repair platform launching in January 2028 will connect consumers with verified repair providers, refurbished goods sellers, and community repair initiatives.

Refurbished Electronics Market Maturation

The refurbished electronics sector has achieved mainstream legitimacy. Back Market, the sector leader, processed $2.8 billion in GMV during 2024 with 25% year-over-year revenue growth to $415 million. The company now serves 17 million customers across 18 markets and expects to reach profitability in 2026. Critically, its "Verified Premium" category—representing 20% of sales—demonstrates consumer willingness to pay for quality assurance in secondary markets.

Consumer adoption patterns reveal generational shifts. In France, 30% of smartphone sales now involve refurbished devices. The cost differential remains compelling: refurbished electronics typically price 20-50% below new equivalents while offering manufacturer-equivalent functionality and warranty coverage.

Industrial Remanufacturing Economics

Philips Healthcare demonstrates the industrial-scale potential of refurbishment. The company achieves 50-90% material reuse through its Diamond Select refurbishment program, recovering 940 tonnes of medical imaging equipment annually. Circular activities now generate 9% of company revenue, with a stated target of reaching 15%. The economic logic is straightforward: refurbished CT scanners and MRI machines retain high-value precision components that would be prohibitively expensive to manufacture from scratch.

Caterpillar's remanufacturing division processes over 2 million components annually, with remanufactured parts costing 40-70% less than new while meeting identical performance specifications. The company has built dedicated remanufacturing facilities and developed logistics systems optimized for core collection—the recovery of used components from the field for refurbishment.

What's Not Working

Economic Barriers at Consumer Scale

Despite policy progress, the fundamental economics of consumer-level repair remain challenging. The "Big Repair Project" study analyzing 5,958 UK consumers and 473 repair logs (January 2022 to September 2024) identified persistent barriers: repair service costs frequently approach or exceed replacement costs, local repair infrastructure remains sparse in many regions, and diagnostic information necessary for efficient repair is often unavailable or proprietary.

Labor costs in developed economies make many repairs economically unviable. Replacing a smartphone screen through authorized channels in Western Europe or North America often costs 40-60% of a new device purchase. Independent repair shops face compressed margins when competing against manufacturer pricing strategies designed to encourage replacement.

Material Consumption Outpacing Recovery

The Circularity Gap Report's most sobering finding is that global material consumption continues to outpace recovery efforts. Between 2018 and 2021, recycled materials increased by 200 million tonnes—a significant achievement—but overall consumption rose faster, driving the circularity rate downward. Repair and refurbishment, while growing, cannot offset the fundamental mismatch between extraction rates and recovery rates.

The theoretical maximum circularity rate, even if all recyclable materials were processed, remains approximately 25%. This ceiling reflects the thermodynamic realities of material degradation and the continuous growth of material stocks in buildings, infrastructure, and long-lived products.

Infrastructure and Logistics Gaps

Reverse logistics—the systems required to collect, sort, process, and redistribute used products—remain underdeveloped relative to forward supply chains. The EU identified a €29 billion funding gap for circular economy transition infrastructure in 2024. Repair facilities, refurbishment centers, parts warehouses, and testing equipment require capital investment that has historically trailed demand.

The coordination problem is particularly acute for products with distributed ownership. Collecting used products from millions of individual consumers, assessing their condition, routing them to appropriate processing, and matching refurbished output to buyer demand requires information systems and logistics networks that are still maturing.

Key Players

Established Leaders

Apple operates one of the largest electronics refurbishment programs globally, offering certified refurbished products with full warranties through its official channels. The company's endorsement of California's right-to-repair legislation in 2024 signaled potential industry-wide acceptance of repair access requirements.

Philips leads in medical equipment refurbishment through its Diamond Select program, demonstrating that high-value industrial equipment can maintain performance standards through multiple refurbishment cycles.

Caterpillar pioneered industrial remanufacturing at scale, with dedicated facilities processing components from mining equipment, generators, and industrial engines.

Patagonia operates Worn Wear, a resale and repair program that has processed over 130,000 garments and demonstrates viability of circular business models in fashion.

Emerging Startups

Back Market has emerged as the dominant refurbished electronics marketplace, with $5.5 billion valuation and expansion into physical retail (New York SoHo store opening October 2025) and B2B sales (6,000 French corporate customers).

Rheaply provides asset reuse software enabling organizations to redistribute surplus equipment internally and externally, addressing the coordination problem at enterprise scale.

Grover offers technology-as-a-service subscriptions for electronics, retaining ownership and cycling devices through multiple users with refurbishment between use periods.

Refurbed operates in European markets with a carbon-neutral refurbishment guarantee and tree-planting offset program.

Key Investors & Funders

Generation Investment Management (co-founded by Al Gore) led Back Market's $335 million Series E, signaling institutional capital allocation to circular economy infrastructure.

Circularity Capital focuses exclusively on circular economy investments across Europe, providing growth capital to refurbishment and remanufacturing businesses.

Closed Loop Partners operates venture and growth equity funds targeting circular economy innovations, with portfolio companies spanning packaging, electronics, and textiles.

Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Bill Gates) has invested in materials recovery and sustainable manufacturing technologies that enable repair and refurbishment at scale.

Examples

Back Market: Scaling Consumer Electronics Refurbishment

Back Market's marketplace model connects certified refurbishers with consumers across 18 countries, creating quality standards and buyer protections that address trust barriers in secondary markets. The company's 2025 expansion includes physical retail presence to enable device trade-ins and in-person quality verification. B2B adoption—now serving Air France, Kering, and Vinci—demonstrates enterprise demand for sustainable IT procurement. The Verified Premium tier, using only original parts and achieving like-new condition, captures price premiums while maintaining sustainability benefits.

Philips Healthcare Diamond Select

Philips Diamond Select demonstrates how high-value capital equipment can sustain multiple use cycles without performance degradation. The program processes CT scanners, MRI machines, and X-ray systems through comprehensive refurbishment including component replacement, software updates, and clinical testing. Refurbished systems cost 30-50% less than new equivalents while meeting identical performance specifications. The 940-tonne annual material recovery represents significant avoided extraction and manufacturing emissions.

Patagonia Worn Wear

Patagonia's Worn Wear program integrates repair services, trade-in programs, and resale channels within a single circular system. Customers can trade in used garments for store credit, receive repairs (often free or low-cost), or purchase pre-owned products at reduced prices. The program extends garment lifecycles by an estimated 2-3 years on average, directly reducing the environmental impact of one of manufacturing's most resource-intensive sectors.

Action Checklist

  • Audit current product portfolio for refurbishment potential, assessing component replaceability, diagnostic accessibility, and secondary market demand
  • Establish spare parts availability commitments aligned with EU Right to Repair timelines (10-year horizons for covered products)
  • Develop or partner for reverse logistics infrastructure, including collection points, condition assessment protocols, and refurbishment capacity
  • Implement design-for-repair principles in new product development, including modular architecture, standardized fasteners, and accessible service documentation
  • Create take-back and trade-in programs that capture products before end-of-life disposal, maintaining material quality for refurbishment
  • Build pricing strategies that reflect total cost of ownership including repair and resale value, competing with disposable alternatives on economic terms
  • Monitor right-to-repair legislation in key markets (EU member state transposition by July 2026, US state implementations through 2026)

FAQ

Q: How does refurbishment compare to recycling in terms of environmental impact? A: Refurbishment preserves 70-90% of a product's embodied energy and materials, while recycling typically recovers only raw materials—often at significant energy cost and with quality degradation. For electronics, the energy required to manufacture a new smartphone from recycled materials exceeds the energy required to refurbish an existing device by a factor of 10-20. Refurbishment also preserves the labor and precision manufacturing embedded in complex assemblies.

Q: What are the main barriers preventing broader adoption of repair and refurbishment? A: Three barriers dominate: economic (labor costs in developed economies often make repair more expensive than replacement), informational (proprietary diagnostics and repair procedures limit independent service capability), and logistical (collecting used products from distributed consumers for centralized refurbishment requires infrastructure that remains underdeveloped). Policy interventions like the EU Right to Repair Directive address informational barriers directly but cannot fully resolve economic and logistical constraints.

Q: How do right-to-repair laws affect manufacturer liability and warranty obligations? A: Most right-to-repair legislation explicitly preserves manufacturer rights to void warranties for damage caused by improper repairs while prohibiting warranty voidance simply because independent repair occurred. The EU directive extends warranties by 12 months when consumers choose repair over replacement, creating positive incentives for repair. Oregon and Colorado ban "parts pairing" software that would disable components from independent suppliers, limiting manufacturer ability to enforce parts exclusivity through technical means.

Q: What sectors show the highest potential for repair and refurbishment scaling? A: Medical equipment, industrial machinery, and enterprise IT demonstrate the strongest unit economics due to high original value and specialized component content. Consumer electronics represent the largest addressable market but require platform-based aggregation (like Back Market) to achieve scale economics. Fashion and textiles show rapid growth but face quality perception challenges. Construction equipment and automotive parts represent mature remanufacturing sectors with established infrastructure.

Q: How should organizations measure success in repair and refurbishment programs? A: Key metrics include: refurbishment yield rate (percentage of collected products successfully refurbished), component reuse rate (percentage of materials retained versus recycled or disposed), warranty claim rates (parity with new products indicates quality achievement), customer satisfaction scores (secondary market buyers compared to new purchasers), and program contribution margin (revenue minus direct costs, excluding allocated overhead). Leading programs also track environmental metrics including avoided carbon emissions and virgin material displacement.

Sources

Topics

repairreusereverse logisticscapexsortingtransition planrecycled content

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