Remanufacturers do serve a valuable purpose in the world of recycling and environment, yet it doesn’t seem that they always get the respect they deserve.
Remanufacturing is a simple process to understand. A worker replaces the worn out of broken part of an item and makes sure it’s ready to be used once again. It’s an important part of the “reduce - reuse - recycle” campaign so prevalent in the world today. In addition to conserving valuable resources and diverting waste from landfills, it’s simply an economically sound process since it’s much cheaper to repair than build from scratch. Think of it this way. You have a great car that has a broken CD player. Do you get the player fixed or toss out the whole car?
There is a stigma attached to “used” products, even if they are as good as the new and less expensive. Many believe that “used” means inferior which in most cases is not true at all.
According to a report on edie.net, Centre for Remanufacturing and Reuse technical consultant Ben Walsh said: “This is one of the big obstacles that we have - there’s an issue that second hand is seen as second best.
“We try to differentiate between remanufacturing and all the other terms that are bandied about like refurbishing and refitting.
“We have a formal definition - bringing end of life products back to as good as new with a warranty to match.”
The CRR has been attempting to straighten out this line of thinking by joining efforts with the British Standards Institution (BSI) to develop an industry standard that will clearly define remanufacturing, its purpose, and processes.
To learn more, visit remanufacturing.org.uk
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