ECOLOGICAL LIFESTYLES: BENEFITS OF SECOND-HAND PRODUCTS SOLD THROUGH INTERNET PLATFORMS

Environment-friendly lifestyles are becoming more and more popular throughout society. Part of this trend is also connected to the second-hand articles being resold over various Internet platforms. In order to figure out what this could mean in terms of reductions in CO2e-emissions, tutti.ch asked myclimate to perform a study on the environmental benefits of purchasing second-hand products compared to the production of new goods. On the basis of the assessment of 41 products in the 8 product categories furniture, toys, sport articles, small household appliances, large household appliances, electronics, baby/child and clothes/accessories, the total CO2e-emissions saved by the reuse of all the sold products over one year are calculated. The data inventory includes the raw materials, the production processes, as well as the packaging and transport of new products. The Swiss database ecoinvent was applied for background data. In most cases, producer information, end-of-life studies and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) served as primary data source. The received total GHG- emissions for the 5 most sold products in each category were extrapolated to the overall emissions of each category, with a safety margin of 33%. In order to cover the rest of the product categories of the tutti platform (like game consoles, gardening equipment or books), an average of all the assessed categories was extrapolated to the total GHG-emissions of all the re-sold products by tutti over the period of one year – again with a safety margin of 33%. The results show that more than 50% of the CO2e-emissions are caused by the category furniture, followed by electronics. The entire GHG-emissions saved by the tutti platform in a year add up to approximately 47’600 t CO2e. The study concludes that the saved CO2e-emissions by the tutti Internet platform are remarkable. The avoided purchase of new products not only helps climate protection, but also resource and energy efficiency, as less natural resources and energy carriers are being consumed for the production and transport. A lifestyle that fosters the use of a product up to its functional end-of-life therefore makes a lot of sense and does not affect the standard of living.