Rent and repair, two options for responsible consumption

Is it always necessary to buy something that is rarely used, a car, a party dress or a drill, for example? Well thought out, perhaps the financial expense is not worth it. And, is that “it costs less to buy a new one than to fix it” really?

In environmental terms, neither of the two options, overconsuming and throwing away, is responsible nor does it fit with the idea of ​​sustainability. On the contrary: the more responsible consumption is practiced and the more reuse, repair and, finally, recycling are encouraged, the better.

For this reason, rental or sharing services for so many products have been flourishing in recent years. And those for repairs and repairs of the most diverse things, which had not completely disappeared, are expanding.

The two options, rental and repair, are proposals that Leroy Merlin has promoted as part of its Positive Impact and Sustainability strategy. For the director in Spain of the area, Cristina Sánchez, «as a company focused on the home, we have the opportunity to promote more circular consumption through new alternative services to traditional consumption that help us prolong the useful life of products, such as repair or rental. Therefore, during 2024 we have made progress in these axes within our circular economy strategy.

Rent, use and return

The company understands that the relationship with customers does not end with the sale, but rather they know “that there are tools and products that are used occasionally. Hence the boost we are giving to the rental service, which has been operating for two years. The rental of tools and equipment for occasional use is an alternative for responsible consumption that can cover those needs,” highlights José María Gil, director of Leroy Merlin Spain services.

Thus, in 33 physical and online stores throughout Spain, you can rent everything from barbecues to parasols, portable heating and air conditioning units or garden care items. Furthermore, this year Christmas trees have entered the catalog of rentable products, in a commitment “to a more collaborative and circular economy, instead of a linear one,” emphasizes Sánchez. The most popular products to rent so far are garden and pool cleaning machines, rotary hammers, floor polishers and stoneware cutters.

Repaired and reconditioned

In the same line of providing responsible and sustainable alternatives, with the Almost Perfect initiative the company recovers items from logistics centers that may have slight aesthetic damage and puts them on sale with attractive discounts. With this, more than 30,000 products, worth more than two million euros, have been recovered and sent to stores in 2023. The idea for 2025 is for the project to evolve and also incorporate reconditioned electrical or plug-in devices for sale.

Along these lines and in need of repair, the WeCare service (we care, in English) also affects this culture of repairability. This is centralized after-sales support that includes product repair. Through it, during 2023, 140,400 orders have been managed, which has also saved customer waiting time in the store.

Tool repairLeroy Merlin