LEBENSLÄNGER

Working Together in a Scientific and Goal-Oriented Way to Promote and Facilitate Changes in How Products are Used

What if everyday items didn’t end up unused in closets, but were shared, passed on, or repaired? What if smartphones, furniture, or clothing weren’t replaced after just a few years, but were consciously used longer and cherished? This is exactly where LebensLänger comes in: the project is set to turn extended product use into a concrete opportunity for consumers, businesses, municipalities, and policymakers.

What’s the focus of LebensLänger?

The project focuses on three key product categories: electrical appliances, furniture, and textiles, looking into ways to maintain, share, repair, reuse, and refurbish them more often. It will support networking and collaboration between companies, municipalities, and multipliers, offer educational programmes, and launch a nationwide behaviour change campaign.

Connecting actors to drive positive change

The CSCP brings 20 years of experience in enabling collaborations to the project by actively connecting companies, trade associations, and relevant stakeholders across the three sectors. It will facilitate networking and collaboration, create spaces for cross-sector dialogue, and support companies in building practical expertise on durability, repairability, product return and refurbishment systems, and circular business models.

Why does it matter?

Many companies recognise that circular value creation and repairability are becoming increasingly important due to new political and regulatory developments. At the same time, there are practical questions: How can a product be designed to last longer? How can spare parts, repair manuals, or product return systems be organised economically? How can a business model work if the focus is on long-term use rather than quick replacement purchases?

The CSCP project team led by Marc Böker and Dr. Britta Holzberg will focus on creating a constructive space for learning and dialogue, where companies can openly identify obstacles, learn from one another, and develop solutions together with other stakeholders.

What does this look like in practice?

Here’s a concrete example: A furniture manufacturer wants to focus more on modular products but isn’t sure whether customers would actually use replacement parts. Through the project, the company can discuss with other businesses, academic partners, and stakeholders from repair and sharing infrastructures what requirements this will place on design, communication, and service.

Or a supplier of electrical appliances wants to explore how repairability, product return and refurbishment can be better integrated into its own product portfolio. The CSCP will support such learning processes through structured exchange formats, practical knowledge resources, and by connecting business perspectives with scientific insights and societal needs.

LebensLänger is coordinated by WWF Germany and implemented together with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy, the University of Bamberg, Runder Tisch Reparatur e.V., and the CSCP.

The LebensLänger project is funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) as part of the National Climate Protection Initiative (NKI).