A Dive into Remanufacturing As the lighting industry begins to understand the importance of the circular economy, Tom Ruddell of EGG Lighting and Simon Fisher of The Regen Initiative break down the role of remanufacturing in reaching circular goals.
GREENLIGHT ALLIANCE TOM RUDDELL & SIMON FISHER
The circular economy is, bit by bit, coming to lighting. But what will it look like? Will it cost more? Will it be compliant? What about lighting quality? Will there be trade-offs? There is a growing consensus in the lighting industry that remanufacturing needs to play a part in the solution. Aligned with circular economy principles, remanufacturing seeks to return used products to an as-new condition. In many cases this costs less than equivalent new products and delivers significant carbon and waste reductions. Around 40,000 tonnes of commercial lighting equipment is sold per year in the UK, according to figures published by gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/ government/statistical-data-sets/waste-electricaland-electronic-equipment-weee-in-the-uk), but unfortunately only about 7% of the displaced WEEE equipment is properly collected and processed. It’s a wake-up call and an opportunity to do much better. • We want to see an industry where used luminaires can be collected and treated as assets with residual value, encouraging clients to specify high-quality luminaires that can be remanufactured. • We want to see new luminaires being designed to be remanufactured. • We want to help clients upgrade to modern LED technology for less cost and with less waste than buying new luminaires.
What is remanufacture?
Currently, most non-experts see “remanufacture”, “refurbishment”, “reconditioning”, “rebuilding” and to some extent “reuse” as more or less the same thing. Taking inspiration from established remanufacturing operations across the globe, a group of pioneering organisations have looked to standardisation to help build consensus on these terms and processes. Both authors are involved in a BSI (British Standards Institute) committee established in 2020 whose task is to build on the “process of remanufacture” standard (BS 8887-220) to develop an agreed process for the 124 / 125
remanufacture of lighting equipment. We want to ensure that remanufacture is a circular economy process that provides the compliance and commercial guarantees that clients require. “Remanufacture: return a used product to at least its original performance with a warranty that is equivalent or better than that of the newly manufactured product” – BS 8887-2:2009 In contrast, reconditioned or refurbished products may feature small aesthetic defects and/or come with a partial warranty.
Building Trust
When you buy a new product, you have an expectation and guarantee that the product will be safe, of good and consistent quality and compliant with relevant legislation and standards. Remanufacture must meet the same expectations and it has been for years in other industries. You can buy certified remanufactured laptops which have gone through hundreds of tests and inspections before being approved and issued with a warranty. Printers, machinery, phones, brake callipers – the list goes on. What does this mean for lighting? A customer should expect a remanufactured luminaire to be in as-new (or better) condition and performance - with a full warranty. Remanufactured luminaires should be thoroughly tested and documented to support a declaration of safety and compliance with relevant standards and legislation.
Embodied and operational carbon emissions
Embodied emissions are those that took place in the supply chain to manufacture, transport and install a product and all its components, as well as to dispose of it at the end of life. As businesses are now setting zero carbon targets, quantifying and publishing embodied carbon emissions will become an increasingly important practice. Operational emissions concern the energy used during a luminaire’s service life. These outweigh embodied emissions by an order of 90% to