A report from industry representatives and academics has warned that the UK could miss out on £3 billion by “failing to 
fully embrace the commercial opportunities” of remanufacturing.
Click Green reported on the investigation undertaken by the Carbon Trust, Knowledge Transfer Network, High Speed Sustainable Manufacturing Institute, Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse and Coventry University, which warns that the UK “risks losing out” on around £3 billion ($4.6 billion/€4.1 billion) by “failing to fully embrace the commercial opportunities of the remanufacturing revolution”.
The report adds that the UK is “now lagging behind other advanced economies in harnessing the value” of the “rapidly growing remanufacturing industry”, with the industry currently contributing around £2.4 billion ($3.6 billion/€3.2 billion) to the British economy when it could, “with appropriate support”, contribute around £5.6 billion ($8.5 billion/€7.6 billion) as well as “create thousands of new skilled jobs”.
Other countries, including the USA, China, Japan and Germany, have “established centres of excellence or have strong policies specifically to support” the growth of the remanufacturing industry, but “no equivalent framework of support exists” in the UK, with the report’s writers “seeking to address” this after a “cross-industry” workshop hosted by three universities – Birmingham, Strathclyde and University College London (UCL).
The workshop concluded a number of new recommendations were needed, especially on “how the growth of remanufacturing can be supported”, as well as the “creation of new product quality standards, improving industrial design education and introducing smarter regulation”. The Carbon Trust’s Associate Director, Aleyn Smith-Gillespie, Associate Director at the Carbon Trust, said that “high value manufacturing is a real area of strength for the UK economy.
“It is also the area where the business case for remanufacturing is strongest. There are a number of opportunities for growth in British remanufacturing, particularly in sectors such as automotive, defence, aerospace, medical equipment, and electronics. Supporting remanufacturing and closed-loop resource use should be a no-brainer. Incorporating remanufacturing into business models and products not only provides economic and environmental benefits, it can also create new opportunities for business growth and employment”.
Ben Peace, Sustainability Lead at the Knowledge Transfer Network, added: “Recognising remanufacturing as a considerable innovation opportunity for the UK, the Knowledge Transfer Network set up an inquiry with the All-Party Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group early last year. This, and the second inquiry that followed, indicated major potential benefits for the UK along with some of the barriers and enablers.
“The event outlined in this report, together with the new online community we’ve set up, indicate how we’re building on this work and helping to bring expert institutions, academics and policy makers together with industry to explore the opportunity and realise the benefits that remanufacturing represents.”
One company participating in the report was MCT Reman, an automotive supplier producing remanufactured engines, and its Director of Engineering Technology Services Division, Ian Briggs, commented that “one of the biggest barriers to overcome is that new products are still not being designed with remanufacturing and sustainability in mind.
“OEMs are driving down the cost of their own manufactured components and putting in place specifications that can affect the profitability of remanufacturers, meaning that it can be cheaper to replace a component rather than apply remanufacturing processes.
“We would like to see the government challenge OEMs to consider in more detail the sustainability of their products at the end of their useful lives, putting in place incentives and obligations that will support the infrastructure needed for a circular supply chain”.
The latest UK remanufacturing reports were released in 2014, with The Recycler reporting on the findings. Cartridge remanufacturer Kleen-Strike and UK association UKCRA both contributed to the government-led report.