Europe's Remanufacturing Industry: How Does It Compare Globally?
As sustainability takes center stage, remanufacturing has emerged as a pivotal player in reducing the environmental impact and driving economic growth. This article compares the European Union's (EU) remanufacturing sector with those of the USA, Japan, and China, using the EU as a benchmark.
According to European Remanufacturing Network, the EU’s remanufacturing industry generates a turnover of €29.8 billion and employs around 190,000 people. The sector includes key industries such as aerospace, automotive, and heavy-duty off-road (HDOR). Nations like the UK, Ireland, France, and Italy dominate, with Germany excelling due to its robust aerospace and automotive sectors. However, challenges such as low consumer recognition and limited access to quality core materials persist.
Remanufacturing within the EU still limited
Despite its efforts, the EU's remanufacturing sector represents only 1.9% of the total production value. According to data available, it saves 2.3 million tonnes of landfill material and reduces CO2 emissions by 8.3 million tonnes annually, these achievements highlight the potential for significant growth rather than current dominance.
Alessandro Di Maggio of Lumibird, one of rEUman project partners sees a strategic opportunity for the optoelectronic industry in EU: “In the optoelectronics market, Europe is expected to reach a revenue of €4.01 billion by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of 1.96% from 2025 to 2029 based on the Statistas report. This growth reflects a rising demand for advanced, energy-efficient technologies. Remanufacturing can help meet this demand while reducing waste and preserving critical raw materials, which are mainly imported from non-European country. Beyond technological challenges, remanufacturing represents a strategic opportunity for Europe’s optoelectronics industry, promoting economic growth, job creation, and environmental sustainability. Collaborative efforts between policymakers, industry stakeholders, and research institutions will be pivotal in realizing this potential,” concludes Di Maggio.
Looking at the competitors – United Staes of America
The USA’s remanufacturing sector is valued at approximately €45.6 billion, employing around 180,000 people according to StartUs Insights report on United States Remanufacturing Market. The US leads in technological adoption, including AI-driven inspections and additive manufacturing, which enhances efficiency and product quality. Government support through tax incentives and grants further bolsters the sector. However, the US places less emphasis on environmental goals, focusing more on energy savings.
Comparing Home appliances sector, Hakan Amaç from BEKO, a rEUman partner observes:
“Remanufacturing of washing machines is not very common, but there are some companies in the USA that remanufacture old washing machines of different producers. They replace the neccessary parts, check the main functions and clean them before selling them again with some service support warranty.”
This way to remanufacture the washing machines is still not very common in the EU. There are a few factories, and they sell those limited number of remanufactured products only to their employees,” continues Amaç. “If remanufactured professionally by producers, the remanufactured washing machine looks almost as new as a brand new one, plus with some producer’s warranty. Because cores have been checked, even the smallest defects have been repaired or replaced and all main functions and safety tests are applied, remanufactured products are ready to use for a long time. It is a great added value for the environment and the regeneration of natural resources.“
What about Asian competitors?
Based on the information form Statista and researches that are dealing with the diffusion of remanufacturing policies in Asia and analysis of remanufacturing practices in Japan published in Journal of Automation technology and Journal of remanufacturing respectively.
Japan’s remanufacturing industry is valued at around €11.5 billion and employs about 100,000 workers. The Japanese government actively promotes remanufacturing through initiatives like the Law for the Promotion of Effective Utilization of Resources. Japan excels in resource efficiency, reducing consumption by up to 80%. Nonetheless, the sector struggles with consumer education and acceptance, similar to the EU.
A study conducted by Yuan and colleagues in 2020 reviewed how China can transition to a circular economy through remanufacturing. They discovered that China’s remanufacturing sector is valued at approximately €26 billion and employs 300,000 workers, growing at an impressive 10% annually. Supported by extensive national policies, China focuses on resource conservation and achieving significant energy savings. However, the sector faces challenges such as unclear institutional responsibilities and gaps in the legal and standards system, which hinder its growth.
Lorenzo Gaspari from BORG, a rEUman partner comments on these latest trends:
“From an automotive perspective, the US market has been observed for many decades as a very mature one with several established independent and OES (Original Equipment Supplier) remanufacturers. Europe follows on this path of maturity. On the other hand, the impression is that China is developing rapidly in the last years, with an increased focus on remanufacturing as before. While we don’t see companies serving one continent from another one, due to the reverse logistic cost, it is increasingly common that some have been establishing their production presence across continents through M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) and JV (Joint Ventures)”
Overall, the EU is firmly positioned with its robust regulatory framework, environmental impact, and focus on innovation. However, it lags behind the USA in market size and technological adoption, and behind Japan in resource efficiency. By addressing challenges related to consumer acceptance and learning from global leaders, the EU can enhance its position in the global remanufacturing market.
Sources:
The European remanufacturing sector. (2015). Remanufacturing Market Study. Retrieved from https://www.remanufacturing.eu/assets/pdfs/remanufacturing-market-study.pdf
https://www.statista.com/outlook/tmo/semiconductors/optoelectronics/europe
StartUs Insights. (2025). Remanufacturing Market Report 2025. Retrieved from https://www.startus-insights.com/innovators-guide/remanufacturing-market-report/.
Kojima, M. (2022). The diffusion of remanufacturing policies in Asia. International Journal of Automation Technology, 16(6), 824-830. https://doi.org/10.20965/ijat.2022.p0824
Matsumoto, M., & Umeda, Y. (2006). An analysis of remanufacturing practices in Japan. Journal of Remanufacturing, 1(1), 1-12. DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2006.05.004. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226590751_An_analysis_of_remanufacturing_practices_in_Japan
Yuan, X., Liu, M., Yuan, Q., Fan, X., Teng, Y., Fu, J., Ma, Q., Wang, Q., & Zuo, J. (2020). Transitioning China to a circular economy through remanufacturing: A comprehensive review of the management institutions and policy system. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 156.
Lorenzo Gaspari speaks about BORG's challenges in remanufacturing
In the second half of March 2025, rEUman organised a second live consortium meeting in the Czech Republic and Poland. Participants had the opportunity to visit one of Europe's largest independent remanufacturers, BORG. Lorenzo Gaspari, Head of New Business Development at BORG, presented their role in the project and key challenges in remanufacturing they were facing at the time.
To find out more about it, watch the video below.
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rEUman partners visit Knorr Bremse and BORG facilities in Liberec and Zduńska Wola to explore further remanufacturing potential in the automotive sector
rEUman partners gather in the Czech Republic and Poland on a discovery expedition visiting Knorr Bremse and BORG remanufacturing facilities, respectively, in Liberec and Zduńska Wola. A deep dive into the first two use cases both related to the automotive sector facilitated knowledge sharing about the pilots in Borg and Knorr Bremse and spun brainstorming sessions centred on potential solutions to demonstrate the potential of enabling tecnnologies of rEUman.
The rEUman participants set up procedures to collect specifications and requirements at both sites for the rEUmans’ enabling technologies to be properly applied. An intensive, three-day road trip at the same time kick-started the activities in the remaining work packages of rEUman’s ambitious workflow in an interactive mode in which the participants could identify useful links between tasks within various WPs and proceed with their tasks in a coordinated manner.
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In early 2025 rEUman had initiated the implementation of its communication and dissemination plan announcing its first shared seminar and a workshop taking place at Rematec Fair in Amstedam on 9th April starting at 2 p. m., only to assert multiple participation of its partners at this important gathering.
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The project workflow foresees two further meeting in 2025 dedicated to site visits of partners’ premises including the opto-electronics industry represented by Lumibird’s remanufacturing challenges of high-power multiemitter laser modules, two use cases in the home appliances industry, respectively Beko’s remanufacturing of washing machines and the remanufacturing of heat pumps of Olimpia Splendid.​
rEUman initiative launches to reinforce the competitiveness of the European industries through remanufacturing for circularity
Milan, October 2024
rEUman launches in Milan
Remanufacturing is an indispensable component on the European industrial landscape aiming to boost the competitiveness of the European industry. This can be made possible thanks to the deepening of the EU common market both at the B2B and B2C level and seize opportunities arising from circularity, supported by state-of-the-art digitalisation and AI. rEUman, an exciting initiative aimed at revolutionising the remanufacturing industry in Europe through the introduction of innovative digitalised approaches launched on the 1st and 2nd of October in Milan. rEUman partners have been developing solutions to demonstrate a novel paradigm of human-centred remanufacturing at a factory and value chain level to increase resource regeneration rates and optimal traceability of materials incurred in manufacturing, logistics and use.
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A consortium coordinated by Politecnico di Milano, brings together 19 partners from academia, research and industry. The initiative funded by the European Union by a grant of 6.7 million euro has a four-year time span and will conclude in the end of August 2028.
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rEUman aims and expected impacts
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The initiative is set to transform the European remanufacturing industry by addressing its current limitations and setting new standards for human-centric innovation. It aims to develop and demonstrate a novel remanufacturing paradigm which is inherently safe for humans, target-driven in regeneration and certification, flexible in handling post-use parts variability, and robust for replication in new circular business cases. To achieve these objectives, rEUman partners will develop cutting-edge remanufacturing approaches and integrate them into the value chains. The initiative will demonstrate functional resources retention in automotive, home appliances, and optoelectronics sector. Additionally, it will introduce traceability in remanufacturing through the first remanufacturing-centred Digital Product Passport (DPP) and ensure operational and economic viability by presenting comprehensive business cases along with designed training materials for the future workers.
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Opportunities and challenges of remanufacturing for the European industry​
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The European remanufacturing industry is vital to make the green and sustainable transition work in favour of the increased competitiveness due to its considerable savings in energy, materials, and functionality. Expected socio-economic benefits of rEUman are considerable. They include new job creation, skills development and innovation in technology maturation. However, to ensure a smooth integration of the European remanufacturing industry into the overall industrial landscape, it is crucial to address the challenges faced by workers. Today, established remanufacturing sectors still struggle with limited automation, poor human inclusion, lack of traceability, and restricted use of digitalisation.
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rEUman aims to develop and demonstrate a novel human-centric remanufacturing approach for the European industry. Solutions will be implemented at both factory and value-chain levels. At the factory level, the primary goal is to ensure high regeneration rates of remanufactured products and to achieve full traceability of the remanufacturing process-chain. At the value-chain level, the focus is on ensuring stability in the volume and quality of post-use products.
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​“rEUman addresses all cutting-edge challenges of the remanufacturing industry in Europe today", emphasises prof. Marcello Colledani of Il Politecnico di Milano, the coordinator of the consortium.
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“Within five use cases, focusing on automotive, white goods and optoelectronics sectors, all fundamental for the energy transition and part of the next-zero industry, we can demonstrate a number of factory and value chain level solutions which can be absorbed into the European industries in a relatively short period of time. They can represent a basis for novel business models focused on the recovery and re-use of product functions and materials which will innovate EU industries and contribute to closing the loops of resource flows in the local eco-system. The role of the end-users cannot be emphasised enough. The valorisation of goods and services based on remanufactured products is invaluable for the uptake of novel solutions that rEUman proposes.”
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