It will come as no surprise that the number of consumer products being returned has exploded in recent years. This can be attributed to a range of factors, including the growing popularity of home delivery, liberal returns policies, and the prevalence of low-quality products which do not align with consumer expectations. Together, these have encouraged the emergence of a so-called ‘returns culture’ and led to product destruction practices. By some estimates, the sum of returned textile and electronic products being destroyed in the EU is expected to reach a staggering €21.74 billion in 2022, a figure higher in value than the entire GDP of Cyprus for 2020.
New research from Lund University reveals what happens to our returns and offers policies to address the growing problem of product destruction.
Read the research article here.
