Re-using a product simply means that the same or a different user uses a product by for its primary purpose after the end of its first life. Several products have a prominent second-use product market, such as various types of electrical and electronic products and components, vehicles (see Figure 1) and components, and others. Re-use results in product life extension; technology metals embedded in products stay in circulation and use for longer reducing the need for greater input of materials from primary resources.
Legal and regulatory considerations
Although product re-use should be prioritised to other reverse use options, it does not come without challenges.
- Product re-use could result in conflicts between re-use and recycling; for example, delays in recycling reduce stocks of critical metals for secondary sources and the availability of end-of-life products
- Recovered materials from end-of-life products that have extended their life (for example, through second and third lives) may become degraded in quality over prolonged use and less suitable for many technological applications
- Health and safety risks should be taken into account for repurposed products, for example second use batteries
- The waste hierarchy prioritises re-use over recycling, but we need to be cautious in applying it to all products without adequate consideration, for example the sustainable management of electric vehicle batteries may operate differently).
End-of-life management of products that undergo rapid technology development is not as straightforward. For example, the cobalt content of lithium-ion batteries has been decreasing over time; an old 'high-cobalt' battery that reaches the end of its life can either be re-used into a second-life application, which ties up the embedded cobalt in the product, or recycled immediately to provide feedstock material for a number of newer, 'low-cobalt' batteries. Even though recycling is lower in the waste management hierarchy, in this case it may prove more beneficial than re-use. Numerous factors should be considered in such cases for deciding the optimum end-of-life route, for example the environmental credentials of both options; supply issues; economic aspects, etc.