What if everyone becomes a sharer? A quantification of the environmental impact of access-based consumption for household laundry activities

Abstract

In order to meet the EU's climate and resource efficiency targets, changes in our daily-life behaviours, as well as business models, are urgently necessary. More insights are needed to make real changes based on research with a systems perspective. We developed a system dynamics model to analyse the environmental benefits of a transition from ownership-based to access-based household laundry activities. The model considers demographic, technological and behavioural aspects and thereby assesses the environmental impact of laundry activities. The model is applied to the Swedish as well as the European context and allows crosscountry comparisons. The results indicate a significant potential of the sharing economy. The higher utilisation of shared machines and extended lifespans of the machines can cut greenhouse gas emissions by a third and lower raw material usage overall and lower primary raw material in production due to higher recycling rates. The carbon intensity of the energy mix is a crucial factor for the environmental consequences that arise through changes in energy usage due to sharing economy practices. This case study shows the value of adopting policies that could promote sharing and extended life spans.

Conceptualising Design Fixation and Design Limitation and Quantifying Their Impacts on Resource Use and Carbon Emissions

“…The selected method is a based on System Dynamics [87]. The model stems from the authors' peer-reviewed publication [88] on a similar topic and was developed based on existing topical literature and interviews with industry experts. It adopts the data from public statistics sources (e.g., [89,90]) and interviews with industry experts, and is used to estimate the impact of design fixations on resource use and carbon emissions of the sociotechnical laundry system (STLS).…”

Interactions of governmental policies and business models for a circular economy: A systematic literature review

“…Antitrust rules, intellectual property rules, ownership definitions under insurance contracts and public procurement rules have the potential to be formulated in a way that allows for a variety of product/service provision -not only within the traditional "product ownership" model. Further ways of fulfilling a function or service can be explored, i.e., through product-service system offerings (Wasserbaur et al 2020).…”

Sharing economy rebound: The case of peer‐to‐peer sharing of food waste

“…Some suggest that sharing is better from an environmental standpoint compared to traditional consumption patterns. For example, Chen and Kockelman (2016) find that car sharing could reduce users' greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 51%; Wasserbaur et al (2020) suggest that sharing can lower emissions associated with laundry by 30%; Kerdlap et al (2021) reveal that stroller rentals can reduce environmental impacts by 29-46%; and Martin et al (2019) estimate that P2P ski rentals can reduce carbon emissions by as much as 80%.…”

“…For example, Chen and Kockelman (2016) find that car sharing could reduce users’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 51%; Wasserbaur et al. (2020) suggest that sharing can lower emissions associated with laundry by 30%; Kerdlap et al. (2021) reveal that stroller rentals can reduce environmental impacts by 29–46%; and Martin et al.…”