Durability is the ability of a product to stay working properly without needing too much repair during its normal use over time. Ways to measure durability include how many years it lasts, how many hours it is used, and how many times it can be used. In economics, items that last a long time are called durable goods.
The right to repair is a law that allows people who own devices and equipment, such as cars, electronics, and farming tools, to fix, maintain, or change them as they see fit. Common problems that make repairs difficult include rules that require using only the company’s repair services, limits on getting tools or parts, and software that stops people from fixing the product themselves. These problems create a situation where a single company controls who can repair their products, which is called a repair monopoly.
The Ecodesign Directive (Directive 2009/125/EC) is a rule created by the European Union to set required environmental standards for products that use energy or are connected to energy use in all 27 member states. It currently applies to more than 40 types of products, such as boilers, lightbulbs, televisions, and refrigerators. These products are responsible for about 40% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union.
Industrial symbiosis is a part of industrial ecology. It explains how groups of different organizations can work together to help create eco-friendly innovations, change long-term habits, share benefits that help all involved, and improve business and technical processes. Even though industrial symbiosis often happens in areas where organizations are close together, being near each other is not required or enough.
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur, DBE, was born on July 8, 1976. She is an English sailor who has retired and started a charity. On February 7, 2005, she set a world record by sailing around the world alone faster than anyone else.
Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur DBE (born July 8, 1976) is an English sailor who no longer competes professionally and is also the founder of a charity. On February 7, 2005, she set a world record by completing the fastest solo journey around the world. This accomplishment earned her worldwide recognition.
A circular economy, also called circularity, is a way of making and using things that focuses on sharing, renting, reusing, fixing, restoring, and recycling materials and products. This method helps keep products useful for as long as possible. The goal is to solve big problems like climate change, loss of wildlife, waste, and pollution by using design-based ideas that follow three main principles.
The European Green Deal, approved in 2020, is a group of policies created by the European Commission. Its main goal is to make the European Union (EU) climate neutral by 2050. The plan includes reviewing current laws to see how well they help the environment and creating new laws about the circular economy, building repairs, biodiversity, farming, and innovation.
In 2017, the government of China started a policy called Operation National Sword (ONS) to check more closely the recyclable waste that was being imported. Beginning on January 1, 2018, China banned 24 types of solid waste and stopped accepting plastic waste that had more than 0.05% contamination, which was much lower than the 10% allowed before. For many years before this policy, China imported most of its recyclable materials from North America and Europe.
The global waste trade is the movement of waste between countries for treatment, disposal, or recycling. Often, developing countries receive toxic or hazardous waste from developed countries. The World Bank Report What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management explains how much solid waste is produced in different countries.