This article closes out our series on this year's LDE Thesis Lab final events, with a look back at The Future of Repair.
Worldwide, growing volumes of products are discarded rather than repaired. E-waste is one of the fastest-growing waste streams globally, with an estimated 62 million tons generated in 2022, of which less than a quarter was officially collected. In Europe, an estimated 12 billion euros is spent each year replacing items that could have been repaired instead, a pattern that adds pressure to the environment and increases dependence on other countries for raw materials. Research by the European Commission (2024) estimates that promoting repair across the EU could bring substantial benefits: 261 million tons of CO2 reduction, 30 million tons of raw material savings, 35 million tons less waste, and 4.8 billion euros a year in growth and investment.
This lab, organized by the LDE Centre for Sustainability in collaboration with the Province of South Holland and the Province of Noord-Brabant, both of which aim to reduce their use of primary raw materials by 50 percent by 2030, examined how businesses, public and educational institutions, NGOs, and consumers can help promote repair. Over the past six months, ten master students from Leiden University, TU Delft, and Erasmus University worked on individual thesis assignments, either based on a challenge brought in by a knowledge partner or on a related question of their own. Alongside their thesis research, students took part in the lab's shared programme of eleven sessions, including lectures, workshops, and site visits, covering topics from repair-related business models and design to consumer behaviour, logistics, and the right to repair.
As part of the programme, students also joined five "Circular Safaris," visiting organizations including PostNL, Decathlon, the Remake Society, the Province of South Holland, and the circular workshops HER Rotterdam and Stichting Stunt, gaining first-hand insight into how repair is already taking shape in practice.
As their final product, students developed Re-Care-Connect, an app prototype designed to help people care for their belongings for longer, offering repair instructions, information on repair options, and an overview of nearby repairers and repair cafés.
Explore the students' research and read more about the lab here.
