Zero Waste by Robin Murray, Greenpeace Environmental Trust 2002

Table 2
Characteristics of the new commodity-service economy
Commodity-based economy
economy
E fficiency
Output
Ve rtical integration of
integration of
p roducer and supplier
customer
Doing things right
thing
Labour productivity
p roductivity: re s o u rce
input per unit of outcome
p roduced
River economy (cradle to grave)
(cradle to cradle)
S e rvice based
S u fficiency
Outcome
Ve rt i c a l
p roducer and
Doing the right
R e s o u rc e
Lake economy
Cost reduction production P e rf o rm a n c e -
based asset
m a n a g e m e n t
management
Flow process and assembly
reverse
manufacturing
Global factories
Commodity as inflexible
s e rvice delivery
mechanised service package
O n e - o f sale
s e rvice contracts and
guarantees/take-back and buyback
P u rchase
Risk borne by consumer
p roducer
(caveat emptor)
Disassembly and
Local workshops
Commodity as
p l a t f o rm
L o n g - t e rm
Lease
Risk borne by
(caveat factor)
P roduct specific components
components
S t a n d a rd i s e d
P roduct-based standards P e rf o rm a n c e -
based standards
Private and public pro p e rty
and collective
responsibility
Material and discard intensive
The expansion of commodity-serv i c e
Rights of access
Z e ro Waste
In 1999-2000 the Product Life Institute undertook a study
of the significance of the new commodity-service economy.
The results were the following. The EU market for
products sold as services in 1998 was 10% of GDP, of
which 6% was accounted for by selling the function of
products (such as fleet management) and 4% by remanufacturing
(principally in the building and
construction sector). The shift to services has gone further
in the USA, with a share of products sold as services up to
15% of GDP, and the re-manufacturing of components
worth an estimated $50 billion.
The survey of leading edge companies in this field, which
was part of the study, reported that they expected to
double or quadruple their share of revenue selling services
instead of products by 2010. The report concludes:
‘If the existing trend continues, we expect to see by 2010 a
European economy with a technically and socially
perfected material recycling system for waste, in
competition with a perfected Japanese “inverse
manufacturing” technology sold on a global level to
companies that drive a “loop economy” e.g. a multiple
reuse of upgradable components and products in a system
context; and many US companies selling performance
instead of goods on a global level, through a generalised
fleet management approach for several product groups
which enables them to reach down to the customer.’ 52
Individual consumption
consumption
S h a re d
78
Zero Waste
79