Methodology

This study is based on attributional life cycle assessment (LCA-A) as defined by ISO 14040:2006¹ and ISO 14044:2006².

In accordance with these standards, a critical review has been carried out. Find out more here.

Important

The results are valid only for the situation defined by the assumptions described in this study. The conclusions may change if these conditions differ. The relevance and reliability of use by third parties or for purposes other than those mentioned in this report cannot therefore be guaranteed by LCA practitioners. It is therefore the sole responsibility of the client.

Study perimeter

The aim is to provide an assessment of the environmental impacts of refurbished electronic products and to enable a comparison of these with new products. The study focuses primarily on the direct impacts of refurbishment. Consideration of certain indirect impacts has begun (particularly regarding the tendency towards over-performance) but could be extended (impact of the development of the refurbishment sector on the end-of-life sector, on the labour market in France, on the relocation of certain impacts, etc.).

Functional Unit

The functional unit is the reference unit used to link the inputs and outputs, as well as the environmental performance, of one or more product systems. We have considered the following functional unit:

Owning and using equipment for one year

All the impacts considered will be scaled down to one year of use. We will therefore divide the environmental impacts by the number of years of use associated with the life cycle:

\[ {Reported Annual Environmental Impacts} = \frac{\text{Environmental impacts calculated over the duration of the life cycle under consideration}}{\text{Duration of use associated with the life cycle under consideration}} \]

System boundaries

In this study, we consider the stages of production, distribution, use and end-of-life.

The production stage comprises:

• for new equipment: the extraction of raw materials, upstream transport, and manufacturing processes;
• for reconditioned equipment: the collection of end-of-life equipment, the sourcing of equipment to be reconditioned, the reconditioning process, the production of spare parts, and the disposal of used parts.

The distribution stage comprises:

• the manufacture of packaging and accessories;
• distribution between the producer (manufacturer or reconditioner) and the distributor (first logistics hub);
• transport to the end user, or the distribution scenario to the place of use.

The use stage comprises:

• electricity consumption resulting from use in France.

The end-of-life stage (modelled only for new products) comprises:

• the collection of end-of-life equipment;
• the pre-treatment of the equipment;
• the disposal of the non-recovered fraction: incineration, landfill.

For the purposes of our study, for reasons of comparability and relevance, the following stages are excluded:

• after-sales service and customer service;
• in-store display;
• end-of-life of equipment that has not been refurbished: to avoid double counting, the end-of-life of equipment supplied by refurbishers but not processed is excluded from the system as it is associated with the placing on the market of new equipment.

For new products, configurable generic data from the NegaOctet project was taken into account. The choice of reference models was made in consultation with the refurbishers and based on their 2020 sales statistics.

Temporal representativeness

The data collected from refurbishers was gathered in 2021 for the whole of 2020. It should be noted that the health crisis may have had a significant impact on the business of some of these companies. Where this was the case, data was collected for the year 2019. To ensure the data collected was representative, the data collection covered a period of one year.

Geographical scope

This study focuses on the refurbishment of consumer digital equipment in France or abroad, and placed on the market in France.

Exclusions

Generally, environmental modelling must cover a defined percentage (greater than or equal to 95%) of the equipment or systems:

• the mass of intermediate flows not taken into account must be less than or equal to 5% of the mass of the reference product components corresponding to the functional unit;
• the energy flows not taken into account must be less than or equal to 5% of the total primary energy used during the life cycle of the reference product corresponding to the functional unit.

When collecting data, the following flows were excluded from the study:

• lighting, heating, sanitation and cleaning of the facilities producing the equipment (in some cases, this data could not be separated and was therefore included);
• employee transport, considered outside the scope of the study;
• the manufacture and maintenance of production tools;
• the construction and maintenance of infrastructure;
• flows relating to administrative, management and R&D services;
• product marketing;
• staff catering.

More specifically for this study, we have excluded:

• impacts associated with sourcing controls;
• impacts associated with points of sale and storage facilities;
• consumption of data and resources associated with the use phase;
• the production of protective equipment: casing, protective screen, carrying case, etc.;
• the production of ancillary accessories such as video game controllers, etc.

Methodology for comparing new and refurbished products

The comparison was carried out using two approaches:

• a substitution approach (reference approach) – No environmental impact is attributed to the refurbished product relative to its first life, and it is assumed that purchasing it completely replaces the production of new equipment;
• a depreciation approach (alternative approach) – If refurbishment takes place before the end of the equipment’s theoretical first life, part of the impact of producing the new equipment is reallocated to the refurbished equipment.

In addition, various consumption profiles have been modelled to guide long-term consumption choices.

Substitution approach (reference approach)

We started from the basic premise that placing refurbished equipment on the market avoids the production of new equipment. Furthermore, it was considered that the impacts associated with the end-of-life treatment of the equipment should be attributed to the production of new equipment, as refurbishment does not prevent the end of life but merely postpones it.

\[ \text{Environmental impact of the refurbished product (per year)} = \frac{\text{Imp}_{\text{prodrefurb}} + \text{Imp}_{\text{distribrefurb}} + \text{Imp}_{\text{userefurb}}}{D_{\text{userefurb}}} \]

Where:

• Imp_prodrefurb: Production impact of the refurbished product
• Imp_{distribrefurb}: Distribution impact of the refurbished product
• Imp_userefurb: Impact of use of the refurbished product
• D_userefurb: Duration of use of the refurbished equipment

Depreciation approach (alternative approach)

As the first model may encourage consumers to replace their equipment more frequently and does not necessarily promote an increase in the overall lifespan of a device, a second approach has been proposed.

This approach involves deferring and amortising part of the production and end-of-life impacts of the new equipment onto the refurbished product, provided that refurbishment takes place before the end of the theoretical service life of the first cycle. This approach makes it possible to:

• distinguish between operators who refurbish older products with lower economic value and those who favour products with high monetary value but a shorter first life;
• guide consumers towards products and practices with the least possible impact and thus avoid the rebound effect and over-consumption.

The use of this approach addresses a point highlighted by ARCEP in its report and evident from the data collected as part of this study, namely:

• today, a significant proportion of equipment is not collected in France. The source of equipment for refurbishment comes mainly from abroad, which limits local circularity;
• the markets supplying the refurbished market are the US and Asian markets, which are characterised by overconsumption of devices combined with an aggressive policy of annual replacement (particularly regarding smartphones). At this stage, refurbishment is therefore based on the logic of overproduction.

The impact of refurbishment within the context of a first-life depreciation approach is calculated as follows:

\[ \text{Refurbished Impact UF} = \frac{\text{Remaining Impact of new first life} + \text{Refurbishment Impact}}{\text{Refurbished usage duration}} + \text{Annual usage impact} \]

Where:

\[ \text{Impact}_{\text{remaining first life new}} = \frac{\text{Impact}_{\text{manufacture + end of life new}}}{D_{\text{1 theoretical}}} \times \left(D_{\text{1 theoretical}} - D_{\text{1 actual}}\right) \]

Where:

• D_1theoretical = theoretical first-life service life observed in the market = Service life beyond which it can be considered that refurbishment systematically extends the service life
• D_1actual = Actual first-life service life = Service life prior to collection and change of ownership

Calculation of avoided impacts

A calculation of avoided impacts has also been carried out. This calculation assumes that the purchase of reconditioned equipment avoids the production of new equipment or delays it (if the service lives of new and reconditioned equipment are not entirely equivalent).

This calculation considers that the purchase of refurbished equipment defers or avoids the production of new equipment. This total or partial non-production of new equipment is accounted for in order to highlight the benefits associated with this avoidance or deferral.

\[ \text{Annualised avoided impacts} = \frac{\text{Impact of refurbished equipment}}{\text{Second-life service life}} - \frac{\text{Impact of new equipment}}{\text{First-life service life}} \]

Scenario analysis of usage patterns

To illustrate the impact of different approaches and usage patterns, various replacement behaviours have been simulated to identify more or less sustainable practices. These simulations were adapted to the equipment category.

For smartphones and tablets, we identified six main consumer types and modelled their impacts over a six-year period:

• the compulsive buyer of refurbished but recent smartphones/tablets: purchasing every two years a smartphone/tablet that is one year old;
• the sensible buyer of refurbished smartphones/tablets: purchasing a smartphone/tablet that is two years old every two years;
• the responsible buyer of refurbished smartphones/tablets: purchasing a smartphone/tablet that is more than three years old every three years;
• the compulsive buyer of new smartphones/tablets: purchase every year;
• the sensible buyer of new smartphones/tablets: purchase every 3 years;
• the virtuous buyer of new smartphones/tablets: purchase every 6 years.

For laptops and desktop computers, we modelled six purchasing behaviours over a 10-year period:

• the regular buyer of refurbished but recent computers: purchasing a computer that is two years old every three years.
• the sensible buyer of refurbished computers: purchase every 4 years of a computer that is 3 years old.
• the virtuous buyer of refurbished computers: purchase every 5 years of a computer that is more than 5 years old.
• the sensible buyer of new computers: purchase every 5 years.
• The virtuous buyer of new computers: buys one every 8 years.
• The compulsive buyer of new computers: buys one every 3 years.

1. ISO 14040:2006 Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework ↩

2. ISO 14044:2006 Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Requirements and guidelines ↩