Trend watch: Repair, reuse & refurbishment in 2026 — signals, winners, and red flags

The repair, reuse, and refurbishment sector crossed a critical inflection point in 2024-2025. Venture capital investment in circular economy startups surged 286% from 2022 to reach $14.3 billion in 2024, while the global refurbished electronics market alone grew to an estimated $86.5 billion (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2024). The EU's Right to Repair Directive, adopted in June 2024 with mandatory national transposition by July 2026, fundamentally altered the regulatory landscape. Meanwhile, consumer sentiment shifted decisively: 73% of global consumers now consider environmental impact when purchasing, and 58% express willingness to pay a premium for circular economy brands (Spherical Insights, 2025). This confluence of regulatory pressure, investment momentum, and consumer demand signals that 2026 will be the year repair-reuse-refurbishment moves from sustainability talking point to operational imperative.

Why It Matters

The economic and environmental stakes for repair, reuse, and refurbishment have never been higher. According to the European Commission, premature disposal of consumer goods generates 261 million tonnes of CO₂-equivalent emissions, consumes 30 million tonnes of resources, and creates 35 million tonnes of waste annually within the EU alone. Consumers currently forfeit an estimated €12 billion yearly by replacing products rather than repairing them—a staggering inefficiency that the circular economy directly addresses.

From a market perspective, the circular economy solutions sector was valued between $450 billion and $2.7 trillion in 2024, depending on methodological scope, with consistent growth projections of 7-14% CAGR across all major research reports (Future Data Stats, GM Insights, 2024). The remanufactured equipment market specifically reached $257 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $509 billion by 2034. Companies implementing circular economy strategies report average profit margin increases of 23% within three years, while those with strong circular credentials access capital at 1.2-1.8% lower interest rates (Research and Markets, 2025).

For UK sustainability leads, the regulatory trajectory demands immediate attention. While the EU Right to Repair Directive sets July 2026 as the transposition deadline for member states, UK organisations with EU market exposure must prepare for compliance regardless. The directive mandates that manufacturers repair products in Annex II categories (smartphones, tablets, washing machines, refrigerators, electronic displays, servers) at reasonable prices for up to 10 years after purchase, supply spare parts to independent repairers, and refrain from "anti-repair practices" such as software locks or contractual clauses preventing third-party repairs.

Key Concepts

Understanding the repair-reuse-refurbishment landscape requires precision on terminology, as these terms carry specific meanings within circular economy frameworks:

Repair involves restoring a product to working condition while maintaining its original identity. The EU directive distinguishes between warranty repairs (manufacturer-obligated) and post-warranty repairs (the directive's primary target), establishing that consumers may request manufacturer repairs even after warranty expiration—a significant extension of product lifecycle obligations.

Reuse encompasses practices where products or components are employed again for the same purpose without substantial modification. Product-as-a-Service (PaaS) models exemplify systematic reuse: IKEA's 2025 furniture-as-a-service subscription and the broader Heating-and-Cooling-as-a-Service (HaaS) transformation of the HVAC industry demonstrate reuse at scale.

Refurbishment involves returning a product to good working condition, potentially involving component replacement, cosmetic restoration, and rigorous testing to meet quality standards. The refurbished electronics sector has developed sophisticated grading systems—Back Market's "Verified Premium" category for devices with no visible use and original parts now represents approximately 20% of sales.

Remanufacturing represents the most intensive intervention: complete disassembly, cleaning, inspection, repair/replacement of worn components, and reassembly to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specifications. Automotive parts remanufacturing, valued at $61-78 billion in 2024, can reduce carbon emissions by 75% and non-circular resource consumption by 80% per mile by 2030 (Automotive Remanufacturers Association, 2024).

Sector-Specific KPI Benchmarks

Sector	Key Metric	Baseline (2024)	Leading Practice	Target (2028)
Electronics	Refurbishment rate	11% global resale	30% (France smartphones)	25% global
Automotive	Remanufactured parts adoption	15% aftermarket	35% (commercial fleets)	30% aftermarket
HVAC	Equipment refurbishment	75,000 units/year	150,000 units/year	200,000 units/year
Textiles	Textile-to-textile recycling	<1%	5% (Sweden pilots)	10%
Construction	Material reuse rate	8%	25% (Netherlands)	20%
Enterprise IT	Device refresh via refurbished	12%	60% (B2B leaders)	40%

What's Working

Regulatory Catalysis

The EU Right to Repair Directive's impact is already visible in pre-compliance behaviour. Belgium reduced VAT on small repairs to 6%, Ireland to 13.5%, and Luxembourg to 8%. France's repair index, mandating repairability scores on electronics packaging, has shifted consumer purchasing toward higher-scoring products. Germany's announced draft repair legislation includes spare parts delivery timelines and mandatory consumer information at purchase.

The directive's provision granting consumers a 12-month warranty extension when choosing repair over replacement during the warranty period effectively creates a 3-year warranty in most EU countries—a powerful incentive that manufacturers must incorporate into product design and service infrastructure.

Market Validation at Scale

Back Market's trajectory validates the refurbishment business model. The Paris-based marketplace achieved €3 billion GMV (30% year-over-year growth) in 2025, serving 17 million customers through 2,700 vetted refurbishers across 18 markets. The company's B2B division doubled in 2025, with enterprise clients including Kering, Vinci, Air France, and Le Point, demonstrating that refurbishment has penetrated corporate procurement.

Everphone's €270 million Series D round in January 2024—led by Citigroup with participation from Phoenix Insurance, KfW, and Cadence Growth Capital—demonstrated institutional confidence in device-as-a-service models. The Berlin-based company's €75 million revenue and €30 million EBITDA in 2023 established unit economics that attracted traditional finance players typically absent from circular economy investments.

Technology Integration

Digital circular platforms grew 40% in 2024 (World Economic Forum), enabled by AI-powered sorting, blockchain-based traceability, and IoT-enabled predictive maintenance. Digital product passports, piloted by Circularise and Samsonite in April 2025, create the infrastructure for lifetime tracking of product components, materials, and repair history—essential for scaling refurbishment and enabling true circularity.

What's Not Working

The "Reasonable Price" Ambiguity

The EU directive's mandate for spare parts and repairs at "reasonable prices" lacks precise definition, deferring to future Commission guidelines or court precedents. This ambiguity creates compliance uncertainty and potential loopholes. Right to Repair Europe notes that vague exemptions for "legitimate and objective factors" (including intellectual property protection) may enable manufacturers to sustain anti-repair practices through pricing rather than explicit restrictions.

Circular Material Use Stagnation

Despite investment growth, the global circularity rate is declining: 7.2% in 2024 versus 9.1% in 2018 (Circle Economy Foundation). Primary material extraction continues outpacing circular inputs, and only 6-9% of plastic waste is recycled globally. The repair-reuse-refurbishment sector addresses product-level circularity but cannot alone reverse material throughput at the systems level.

Consumer Scepticism and Supply Constraints

The refurbished electronics market reports a 30% consumer scepticism rate despite quality improvements, while a 25% supply-demand gap constrains growth. New low-cost devices exert 40% pricing pressure on refurbished alternatives, challenging the economic proposition in price-sensitive segments.

Financing Gaps

The European Environment Agency estimates a €29 billion shortfall in EU circular economy financing. Refurbishment and remanufacturing are labour-intensive relative to linear manufacturing, and complex, unproven business models increase perceived risk. Blended finance (public-private combinations) has become common precisely because conventional venture capital hesitates at circular economy return profiles.

Key Players

Established Leaders

Caterpillar operates the largest remanufacturing programme in heavy equipment, processing millions of components annually with quality guarantees equivalent to new parts. Bosch has embedded remanufacturing across automotive, power tools, and industrial equipment divisions. Philips pioneered circular design in healthcare equipment, building modular systems designed for component recovery and reuse. Apple launched Self Service Repair in 2022 and expanded to additional markets through 2024-2025 under regulatory and advocacy pressure.

Emerging Startups

Back Market (France, valued at €5.1 billion) dominates refurbished consumer electronics marketplaces. Everphone (Germany, €272 million valuation) leads device-as-a-service for enterprise. Circular Computing (UK) remanufactures laptops to BS 8887 standards, the first formal British Standard for remanufacturing. Circu Li-ion (Luxembourg) addresses battery second-life with technology to upcycle 3 billion batteries by 2035.

Key Investors and Funders

Circularity Capital (UK) operates Europe's largest dedicated circular economy fund. EIT InnoEnergy has completed 70+ deals spanning early-to-late stage circular investments. Speedinvest (Austria) has made 40 deals in circular marketplaces. KfW (Germany) and the European Investment Bank provide critical public finance through programmes like JICE (targeting €16 billion by 2025).

Examples

1. Philips Healthcare Equipment Lifecycle Management

Philips' Diamond Select programme refurbishes medical imaging equipment (CT scanners, MRI systems) to original specifications, extending asset life by 5-10 years while reducing customer capital expenditure by 30-50%. The programme recovers 95% of returned equipment by weight, with refurbished systems carrying full warranties. For NHS trusts facing capital constraints, Diamond Select has enabled imaging capacity expansion without new equipment procurement—a model increasingly relevant as healthcare systems manage infrastructure backlogs.

2. BorgWarner Hybrid-Drive Module Remanufacturing

In January 2025, BorgWarner launched a remanufacturing programme for hybrid-drive modules, extending the established automotive remanufacturing model to electrified powertrains. The initiative addresses an emerging bottleneck: as hybrid vehicles age, affordable component replacement will determine whether vehicles remain in service or face premature retirement. BorgWarner's programme positions the company to capture value across vehicle lifecycles while reducing manufacturing emissions by an estimated 60-75% per unit.

3. Restart Project Community Repair Network

The Restart Project, a London-based charity, has facilitated over 12,000 community repair events since 2012, preventing an estimated 100+ tonnes of e-waste. Their "Repair Café" model trains volunteer fixers while collecting repair data that informs product durability advocacy. In 2024-2025, Restart partnered with UK local authorities to integrate community repair into municipal waste reduction strategies, demonstrating how grassroots initiatives can scale through public sector partnerships.

Action Checklist

• Audit product portfolios against EU Directive Annex II categories to identify repair service obligations if selling into EU markets
• Map spare parts supply chains and establish 10-year availability commitments for covered product categories
• Review software and hardware design for anti-repair features (parts pairing, diagnostic tool restrictions) requiring remediation
• Calculate repair service economics including facility requirements, technician training, and warranty extension implications
• Evaluate refurbished procurement opportunities for enterprise IT, HVAC, and industrial equipment with 30-50% cost savings potential
• Establish KPI baselines for repair rates, refurbished content percentages, and material recovery metrics aligned with sector benchmarks
• Engage with emerging traceability infrastructure including digital product passports to future-proof compliance and supply chain visibility

FAQ

Q: Does the EU Right to Repair Directive apply to UK-based organisations?

A: The directive does not directly apply post-Brexit, but UK organisations selling into EU markets must comply. Products placed on the EU market after July 2026 must meet directive requirements regardless of manufacturer location. Additionally, UK regulatory alignment remains possible through future trade negotiations or domestic legislation following the EU precedent.

Q: What financial returns can organisations expect from repair-reuse-refurbishment initiatives?

A: Returns vary significantly by sector and implementation model. Refurbished equipment typically costs 30-50% less than new equivalents, with comparable warranty terms. Companies with circular business models report 23% average profit margin improvements within three years, driven by extended customer relationships, reduced material costs, and premium positioning. Back Market's path to 2026 profitability at €5.1 billion valuation demonstrates scale economics in refurbished electronics.

Q: How should organisations prioritise repair infrastructure investment?

A: Prioritisation should follow regulatory exposure (Annex II products first), volume (high-sales products offer repair service economics), and strategic value (products where repair extends customer relationships). For most organisations, partnership with authorised repair networks offers faster deployment than building internal capacity, though hybrid models retaining high-value repairs in-house may optimise margins.

Q: What technology investments are essential for repair-reuse-refurbishment scale?

A: Three capabilities are foundational: diagnostic software enabling rapid fault identification, inventory management systems for spare parts availability (10-year commitments require sophisticated demand forecasting), and traceability infrastructure linking products to repair histories. Digital product passports, mandated under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, will become essential infrastructure by 2027-2028.

Q: How do repair-reuse-refurbishment initiatives impact Scope 3 emissions reporting?

A: Extended product lifecycles through repair and refurbishment directly reduce Scope 3 (Category 11: Use of Sold Products and Category 12: End-of-Life Treatment) emissions. Organisations should update product carbon footprint calculations to reflect actual versus assumed lifespans, quantify avoided emissions from repair versus replacement scenarios, and incorporate refurbished content into supply chain emissions factors.

Sources

• European Commission. "Directive on repair of goods." Directive 2024/1799, adopted June 2024. https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/consumer-protection-law/directive-repair-goods_en

• Future Data Stats. "Circular Economy Market Size & Industry Growth 2030." January 2025.

• Spherical Insights. "Top 25 Industries in Circular Economy Market (2025-2035)." 2025.

• Ellen MacArthur Foundation. "Circular Economy Overview." 2024.

• Right to Repair Europe. "Analysis of the adopted Directive on Common Rules Promoting the Repair of Goods." 2024. https://repair.eu/

• Research and Markets. "Refurbished Electronics Industry Report 2024: Market to Reach $168.76 Billion by 2029." October 2024.

• Circle Economy Foundation. "Circularity Gap Report 2024." 2024.

• iFixit. "Right to Repair Now on Every Continent Except Antarctica." October 2024. https://www.ifixit.com/News/102018/

• Back Market. "Back Market Enters New Phase of Growth." 2025 Business Update. https://www.backmarket.com/en-us/c/press-release/2025-business-growth

• Net Zero Insights. "The Investors Accelerating the Shift to a Circular Economy." 2025. https://netzeroinsights.com/