This week, I was travelling on the S-Bahn at Hackescher Markt in Berlin. The capacity utilisation of individual S-Bahn carriages is displayed there as a test. Cars with low capacity utilisation are displayed in green, while cars with high capacity utilisation appear in red. This allows passengers to board where there is more space.

 

What would such a display look like for all the things we own? According to estimates, there are more than 10,000 things in a typical household. From forks and socks to board games and hair clips. What about the utilisation of these utensils? I admit that most of the things in my family’s household are underutilised.

At the same time, it takes resources and energy to produce all these things. Wouldn’t it then be in the interests of resource efficiency if we lent, shared, donated or sold many things?

 

It’s not quite that simple. Of course, I don’t want to use the tap, our plates, my shower towel or the ceiling lamp all day – but is that why I lend them out? Of course, I don’t use my swimming trunks daily – but is that why I share them? Of course, I only need my gloves in winter – do I sell them in spring?

 

We don’t use many things around the clock, but it still seems reasonable to keep them. We already share some things with our neighbours: the cake tin, the big hammer, the wheelbarrow, the children’s scooter. Their utilisation is therefore higher than if we were the only ones using them.

 

We also sell the things we no longer need on second-hand platforms or in neighbourhood communities. And we donate clothes that we no longer want to wear.
Economically, we are not boosting the linear economy. One shared children’s scooter means one less children’s scooter sold.

 

Nevertheless, the higher utilisation of products creates further business potential:

• Community sharing platforms such as Peerby
• Car-sharing providers like ShareNow
• Short-term rentals like Outzip
• Long-term rental of office equipment like Lendis
• Repair services such as Bosch
• Second-hand platforms such as Sellpy from H&M Group
• Take-back services such as recyclehero

 

They all have in common the endeavour to intensify or extend the use of an individual item. This does not necessarily happen with fewer resources, but it does have the potential to do so. After all, for resource-conserving management, we need what we tend to avoid as passengers on the train: fully utilised capacity.