From the text: An efficient and sustainable use of resources is considered a crucial step towards sustainable lifestyles, implying sustainable production and consumption patterns. In fact, the transition towards sustainable production and consumption is recognized as one of the major challenges for sustainability, entailing waste prevention and reduction. E.g. by 2020, the OECD estimates, we could be generating 45% more waste than Europe did in 1995. And many of the items are often discarded when much of their potential lifetime is left and there is a reuse potential.
Worldwide, through volunteer efforts, for-profit businesses and charities, several forms of reuse exist including: thrift stores and charitable drop-off centers; reuse centers, equipment and materials; "drop & swap" stations at landfills; used equipment stores and salvage yards; local and regional material exchanges. In the priority of the intervention for waste prevention and reduction, the re-use is considered crucial but usually neglected in term of methodologies for assessing the environmental benefit of its implementation.

Contribution to the 3rd International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity in Venice in 2012.