Insight into the real value of re-manufacturing

How significant is the environmental benefit of parts given a second or even third life? And how do you demonstrate that benefit honestly and convincingly? The Best ECO-op research team, consisting of the Smart Sustainable Manufacturing research group at The Hague University of Applied Sciences and various manufacturing companies, investigated this.

The result is a practical method and calculation tool that enables businesses to calculate the ecological footprint and costs of re-manufacturing. With this tool, businesses can make the value of circular production visible.

From ambition to proof

For years, several SME manufacturing companies have been working on sustainable, circular solutions. These are often accompanied by higher initial costs, and it is difficult to adequately substantiate the environmental benefits of reusable products. According to lecturer-researcher and project leader Hugo Makkink, that was precisely the reason for the Best ECO-op Project. “Our project partners, Botau Engineering, CS Staal, and HTC Speedgates, are becoming more sustainable in their own innovative way. They wanted to demonstrate how ‘green’ they are, but there was no clear standard for that yet”. 

Frustration

“Businesses that produce circularly have an intrinsic motivation”, says Hugo, “but get frustrated that their efforts are not always rewarded. In tenders or public procurement processes, the choice often falls on a new, cheap product, whereas a re-manufactured product can have a much lower environmental impact. These businesses want to demonstrate that what they do is really more sustainable than the alternative”.   

Complex puzzle

The environmental impact of a new product can be calculated with the use of a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). It becomes much more complicated when a product has multiple lives. The fact is that multiple factors come into play simultaneously in re-manufacturing: the material and energy required to produce a product, the energy consumption during the entire lifespan, and ultimately the processing at the end of the life cycle. “If a product has two or three lives and perhaps also different owners, how do you distribute that environmental impact fairly?  That was the core question of the research that I conducted together with Jenna Coward and Emiel Kaper”, explains Hugo.

Determining ecological impact

The research team wanted to develop a fair model and prevent, for example, all the environmental gains from ending up with a single party, while other parties actually enable the design or reuse. They investigated existing methods, analysed strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately developed their own approach. A method that distributes the ecological impact of a product fairly and transparently across multiple life cycles. To make the method practically feasible, the project team developed a calculation tool that allows businesses to calculate scenarios themselves.

Making better decisions

“The most important result is that businesses now gain insight into the benefits of re-manufacturing themselves”, according to Jenny Coenen, lector in Smart Sustainable Manufacturing. “Examples are illustrated with clear graphs. Based on those graphs, businesses can easily have a conversation with clients, suppliers, or municipalities”. With the developed method and calculation tool, businesses can, for example, calculate the ecological footprint of their re-manufactured products and fairly distribute the costs and environmental burdens across multiple life cycles. This makes circular products easier to justify in tenders and makes sustainable choices more attractive.  “Until now, the focus has mainly been on technical feasibility and costs”, adds Hugo. “But now we can also say something about the ecological impact, which helps in making better decisions”.

Bridging the gap between education and practice

The collaboration between The Hague University of Applied Sciences research team and various manufacturing companies and the trade association “Metaalunie” is a key strength of the project. “There are not many businesses that have the time or resources to develop such a methodology themselves”, says Jenny. “Practice-oriented research can bridge the gap between the academic world and daily practice”.

Broad standard for environmental impact

The project has now formally been completed. The method and calculation tool are publicly available, and businesses and organisations are able to use and further develop them. It is expected that the impact will grow and that a broad standard will eventually emerge for the calculation of the environmental impact of re-manufacturing.

Circular economy

The method can play an important role, especially in public procurement. Hugo: “Governments can now compare sustainability better, enabling them to choose circular products more quickly. Businesses that invest in this gain access to a larger market as a result, and the visibility of reused products increases”. With Best ECO-op, an important step has been taken to grow the circular economy: providing measurable proof of sustainable value.

More information

For more information about the Best ECO-op Project or about joining forces with the Smart Sustainable Manufacturing research group, visit the project page or contact Hugo Makkink [email protected].