Earlier this month, Sharepair Practices had the opportunity to present preliminary findings from Work Package 1 (WP1) at the SCORAI – Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative conference in Lund, Sweden. The findings were presented by Jordan Young and Job van der Linden, both working within working package 1 and 2 (WUR) (Research area 1). The conference brought together researchers and practitioners focused on reshaping systems of consumption and production. It gave us the opportunity to share insights from our work on emerging sharing and repairing initiatives.

WP1 of the Sharepair Practices project is dedicated to mapping the diversity of sharing and repairing initiatives in two study areas. These grassroots initiatives are not only central to how sharing and repairing are evolving in practice, but also provide a window into the emergence of a circular society—one that rethinks ownership, resource use, and the value of goods.

So far, we have identified and mapped 88 repairing initiatives and 28 sharing initiatives, uncovering a broad range of formats with different motivations. These initiatives vary significantly in their ambition to scale, their organizational capacity, and their embeddedness in existing consumption systems. Some are tightly integrated with formal institutions, while others operate more informally or as community-led experiments.

To make sense of this variety, we are developing a typology of sharing and repairing initiatives. This framework will help us understand what distinguishes different initiatives, what kinds of support they require, and how they might contribute to broader systemic change.

During our presentation at SCORAI, we presented in a session on sufficiency—a concept that calls for consuming less, differently, and more mindfully. While sharing and repairing are often seen as tools for circular consumption, they haven’t yet been deeply examined through a sufficiency lens. Our research aims to contribute to this gap by asking: To what extent do these practices embody or promote sufficiency in everyday life?

The discussion following our presentation raised important questions, particularly around the potential for scaling up, and the barriers these initiatives face in doing so. It was valuable to hear feedback and perspectives from other researchers working on similar themes, especially those approaching these topics from different disciplines

In the coming months, we will continue conducting interviews with initiatives to better understand their dynamics, challenges, and needs. Our next presentation will take place at the ShaRepair Practices Network and Learning event in the fall, where further insights will be shared and discussed.