NWO-KIC grant awarded to ENP

A vision towards circularity 

The Dutch government aims to achieve a fully circular economy by 2050. At the heart of this vision are sharing and repairing practices. We, as users and consumers, are all expected to take up a range of sharing and repairing activities in our daily lives as a means to bring about essential reductions in resource consumption and environmental impact. Yet, despite their signifance, these practices remain on the fringes of Dutch society.  Trust and participation remain low and share and repair intiaitives face challenges in engaging diverse citizens and scaling up these practices across society. This is complicated by the fact that little is known about the true environmental and economic impacts of taking up sharing and repairing in society, especially in relation to possible unintended consequences, such as rebound effects. 

Transforming practices and systems

The ShaRepair project aims to bridge these gaps. It recognises that the transition to a circular economy is not just about changing individual behaviors but transforming social practices and systems. Adopting a combined material science and sociological approach, the project will explore how sharing and repairing can be integrated into diverse daily life settings, identifying ways to support these practices across different societal contexts, including workplaces, neighbourhoods and community initiatives. Furthermore, it addresses key knowledge gaps in understanding how rebound effects manifest in daily life and complicate circular change efforts. Through a co-creative Living Lab methodology, the project will bring together diverse stakeholders, including policymakers, businesses, municapalities and citizens, to co-design and test new product and service arrangements that encourage circular practices and mitigate negative rebound effects. 

Consortium partners 

ShaRepair is led by Dr. Mary Greene and is a collaboration between Wageningen University, TU Delft and Groningen University. Co-funders are Gemeente Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, The Circular IT Group, and Milieu Centraal, and additional support as collaborating partners is provided by Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving (PBL), Ministry for Environment and Water, Nijmegen-Arnhen Hoogschool, Gemeente Arnhem, Circulair Netwerk Wageningen, Natuur en Milieu Gelderland (NMG), Wuppertal Institute, Cambridge University and Cardiff University. Supporting the emergence and scaling up of sharing and repairing practices across society requires involvement from citizen, societal, policy, research and industry actors. ShaRepair’s experimental living lab approach and broad consortium is expected to deliver social impact.