Browsing by Author "Dalhammar, Carl"
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- Barriers, enablers and market governance: A review of the policy landscape for repair of consumer electronics in the EU and the U.S.Svensson-Hoglund, Sahra; Richter, Jessika Luth; Maitre-Ekern, Eleonore; Russell, Jennifer D.; Pihlajarinne, Taina; Dalhammar, Carl (2021-03-15)Many strategies have been proposed to support the transition to a Circular Economy (CE). In most cases, circular design and product life-extension practices specify repair as an essential element. In both the EU and the U.S., policymakers are attempting to increase the amount of repairs made, through the introduction of recent EU Ecodesign regulation changes and proposed US Right to Repair legislation. This review explores the current policy landscape for repair services by first outlining legal and market barriers to stakeholder participation in repair activities, and which stakeholders are affected. The review reveals a wide range of fundamental obstacles to both supply and demand of repair, including Intellectual Property, Consumer, Contract, Tax and Chemical laws, along with issues of design, consumer perceptions and markets. Subsequently, the current and proposed policy solutions to address barriers and increase repair activities are reviewed. A comparative assessment of the EU and the U.S. is followed by a discussion on the current repair market governance structure, which is found to be primarily centralized (i.e. repair services concentrated with manufacturers), with possible implications for upscaling repair. New policy proposals challenge this governance. Introducing the concept of a Repair Society Framework as a market transformation tool, we comprehensively discuss the current state of repair and provide an outlook for research and policy in this area. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
- A Matter of Timing: System Requirements for Repair and Their Temporal DimensionsRussell, Jennifer D.; Svensson, Sahra; Richter, Jessika; Milios, Leonidas; Dalhammar, Carl (2022-03)Research into repair within the circular economy (CE) typically focuses on technical aspects of design, policy, and markets, and often assumes simplified conditions for the user/owner and the product-system to explain the barriers to scaling repair activities. However, factors occurring at pre-use stages of the product’s life cycle can significantly influence whether, and to what extent, repair is viable or possible, i.e., warranty duration, after-sale service provision, and access to necessities. The passing of time can directly and indirectly affect the ability, difficulty, and thus, the likelihood of repair activities being performed at each stage of the product’s life-cycle. Drawing from the literature and applying inductive systems-thinking tools, we propose a framework for considering the “System of Repairability”. We delineate how the passing of time (temporal dimensions) affects one's ‘ability to repair’, as a product progresses through different life-cycle phases (i.e., breakdown vs. repair vs. disposal), and the point(s) at which the repair is considered or attempted (i.e., year of usage). By integrating life cycle and temporal (time-based) dimensions into a broad System of Repairability framework, we clarify relevant interconnections, iterations, sequences, and timing of decision-points, stakeholders, and necessary conditions to facilitate an outcome of successful repair at the individual level, and thus intervention strategies for scaling repair within CE. We discuss how a policy mix that can address the life cycle of products and the repair system more holistically. We conclude with a future outlook on how temporal dimensions can inform policy strategies and future research.