The "Fixit" Economy: What does it mean for project & product professionals?

Recycling or has been in vogue for the last two or three decades to save the environment and various organizations, communities and countries have embraced it as a priority. But, what is being done as 'recycling'? Are there efforts to do Repairs / Refurbish or Reuse / Repurpose before the materials are finally disposed as trash or sent to the landfill? Increasing quantities of waste in the landfill create environmental and health hazards apart from posing a challenge of managing its disposal. The 'Fix it' process is nothing new. This is how we started off during the industrial revolution, but over time, "use and throw" became the norm. Now, we have acute problems with environment and resource utilization, and focus on repairs and maintenance can be a very useful step in the circular economy chain. In the coming years, the 'Fix it' economy can be become substantially large, considering that many of the advanced countries did not give it the needed priority and moved to a product development strategy focusing on quicker obsolescence and near monopolistic facilities for repair or replacement. The developing nations continued with the repair and maintenance processes more easily because of their lack of affordability, purchasing power for high-cost products, and, to some extent, their culture and way of life. Activities involving Repairing / Refurbishing and Reusing / Re-purposing are all examples of projects. Timeline, risk or uncertainty of success and scoping are variable in individual cases and become candidates where project management can be gainfully deployed. There is also a need to incorporate a mindset of Preparing or Designing to 'Fixit' at the stage of product development itself. This activity would be a 'project' and product management will be required to consider the marketing and economic aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]