The sharing economy: make it sustainable

Abstract

Reselling, giving, swapping, short-term renting and lending—with or without monetary exchange and whether practiced between individu-als or through companies or associations—are all models that can help to increase the usage duration of resource-consuming goods. They are part of a real sharing economy that is undergoing regeneration due to the development of digital technologies. " Shareable " goods account for about a quarter of household expenditure and a third of household waste. If sharing models could be operated under the most favourable conditions, savings of up to 7% in the household budget and 20% in terms of waste could be achieved. The environmental balance sheet of sharing depends on several condi-tions that are highly specific to each model. In general, we can see the emergence of the following issues: the sustainability of shared goods, e.g. renting may enable a reduction in the number of goods produced pro-vided that the rented good does not wear out much faster; the optimiza-tion of the transport of goods, because the long distance transport of goods is reduced while transport over shorter distances increases; and consump-tion patterns, sharing models can be the vector of sustainable consump-tion but also a driver of hyperconsumption.