As lighting embraces circular economy approaches, new roles and skills are emerging, including that of the ‘remanufacture engineer’. Tom Ruddell explains what it’s for and why it’s a role that will become increasingly important

It is estimated about 40,000 tonnes of lighting equipment is sold in the UK each year (EA, 2023), meaning we can assume a similar amount is removed from the market, almost all sent to be recycled, almost all without any consideration of reuse potential.

As Remanufacture Engineer at EGG Lighting, for the past two and a half years it has been my job to redesign used light fittings, enabling them to be placed back in use in direct competition with new products.

In this article, I want to share some of my experiences and the lessons I’ve learned, and in doing so I hope to inspire ILP members about the huge potential remanufacturing has to help us solve the sustainability and resources challenges facing the lighting industry.

I first became interested in the idea of designing products from waste at university – I imagined and designed a machine that could autonomously repair fabric, which could be used to make new items.

I later went to work at a start-up, where I helped develop a washing-machine filter that catches tiny microplastics before they enter our waterways. From there, I progressed to EGG Lighting.

Before starting at EGG, and probably like many, the idea of ‘remanufacturing’ conjured up visions of small repair shops where adjustable wrench-wielding technicians might crack a light open, fix that pesky loose wire and then presumably hand the fixed item back to a grateful customer.

How wrong I was! Bear in mind the 40,000 tons of waste per year figure I cited at the beginning and the potential and scope of remanufacture quickly becomes clear.

Today, I look at my role as remanufacture engineer in two ways. On one hand, my job is to design a luminaire. On the other, I’m tasked to do so primarily through reusing materials and components.

It’s not quite reuse in the circular economy sense, and it’s also not quite about creating something from a blank-slate design. Remanufacture is unique – it’s an industrial process that creates a new product from used and new products or parts/components.

It can involve returning a product to its original condition but, more often, involves significantly upgrading the product, with a technical, approval and compliance process akin to new product development. Remanufactured products generally come with a full warranty.

However, remanufacturing is still currently quite a niche area of lighting. If it is to grow to play a core role in our industry (and I believe it will), some of the challenges I’ve encountered and lessons learnt along the way will need to become increasingly recognised. The other key message I’d pass is that nothing can be a substitute for hands-on experience that informs the successful design of products for a circular economy.

Understanding reverse logistics

Unless products can be upgraded in situ, remanufacturing always starts with reverse logistics. This is a process where we must treat used luminaires like they have value and the potential to become new luminaires.

It can mean simply de-installing them, putting them back in a cardboard box and returning them for remanufacturing. However, in my experience it’s often more complex than that and there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to reverse logistics.

To my mind, there are four main elements to consider: site downtime, de-installation, and packing and transport; all the while ensuring damage is minimised. Let’s look at each one by one.

1. Site downtime. We’ve found that site downtime is one of the first things we need to discuss with customers. What are the client’s requirements for disruption and how can these be met while ensuring a circular project outcome?

   For example, when we remanufactured lighting fixtures for Edinburgh Leisure's busy sports centers, we conducted all the work outside of business hours to avoid downtime and minimize disruptions.

   We installed new lighting at one site, then remanufactured the displaced fixtures at our facility. This allowed us to install the remanufactured fixtures at a similar sports hall. This approach illustrates the benefits of managing lighting assets across an estate and highlights the advantages of adopting circular lighting practices.

   Alternatively, it's possible to make a case for planned downtime or to work with clients to support the removal of luminaires for quick-turnaround remanufacturing. In some cases, spares or temporary luminaires can be used to replace fixtures in batches while they are being remanufactured. It's also worth noting that sometimes luminaires can be upgraded in situ, eliminating the need for reverse logistics altogether.

2. De-installation. What we call ‘de-installation’ is very different to simply removing luminaires for recycling. It’s important overseers and operators alike understand that damaged products impact costs and the ability to reuse products.

   At EGG Lighting we have a team of operatives who very much understand this. In the future, I hope to see some form of industry-wide training and/or certification scheme for individuals and/or organisations to show expertise in minimising damage while de-installing and packing products. I am convinced this is going to be an area of growing interest as the prominence of reuse and remanufacture grows.

3. Packaging and transport. Packaging is crucial in preventing damage to used lighting during transport. We’ve taken two main approaches so far: reusable packaging solutions (such as stacking containers) or correctly sized cardboard boxes.

   I can illustrate a great success in this area when we were remanufacturing luminaires for Aberdeenshire Council.

   When we delivered remanufactured luminaires in double-wall cardboard boxes the on-site team simply installed those and placed the displaced luminaires back into the same boxes for collection.

   That meant we reused cardboard boxes several times over the course of the project, reducing costs and waste while ensuring no damage was made to the luminaires! But, clearly, there can be an education and communication process that needs to go on around this. On which note….

Importance of communication and collaboration

Most, if not every, customer and stakeholder that we have worked with has started with gaps in their understanding about how a circular lighting project will differ from their past experiences.

Those gaps can often be difficult to identify but can have significant consequences if not addressed. In fact, the same goes for all stakeholders – internally and externally – where a ‘business as usual’ approach can cause confusion or issues.

For example, currently I hear the word ‘remanufacture’ being used interchangeably with a long list of words. Refurb, relamp, repair, reuse, rework, rebuilt, upgrade. Yet each has different associations and implied meanings.

I’ve found it’s important to dedicate time to clearly communicate what remanufacturing is, what it will mean for the project and what the expected benefits are, as well as the challenges.

Our most successful projects have involved a stakeholder who takes a genuine interest in the circular economy and has reciprocated our efforts. In contrast, while surveying a promising remanufacturing project, our electrical manager was once refused collection of a sample product (as had been agreed), meaning we couldn’t confirm the work involved and costs.

Though it did knock that project on the head, that sort of confusion is not uncommon and is illustrative of the education required as we come to remanufacture more complex LED products or fluorescent-to-LED where lamp replacements are no longer appropriate.

As well as educating others, we must be much more open to learning and sharing ideas, both within and outside lighting. Other sectors are far more advanced in their circularity journey and while they may not totally match our challenges, we can certainly learn a lot from their mistakes and successes.

Understanding compliance

Compliance shouldn’t be a barrier to reuse and remanufacture – but it is a core consideration that will be present throughout all work on a project.

Of course, remanufacturing brings with it some unique and potentially thorny compliance challenges. This sometimes requires different testing approaches than you might use for new products but, generally, these are challenges can be overcome.

In fact, one of the reasons I’m convinced that remanufacturing is the best technique for circular lighting is the emphasis it places on testing and approval.

The upcoming Code of Practice for the Remanufacture of Luminaires makes some very helpful comments on compliance (GLA, 2022)

Remanufacturers must take legal responsibility for their products – just like a new product – to ensure there are no grey areas. This means standard labelling requirements apply. However, do note that retaining integral markings, such as those cast or embossed, is generally acceptable provided it don’t result in confusion.

To include a UKCA mark on the luminaire, the remanufacturer will need to assess the product for conformity with relevant standards and legislation and produce associated documentation. The way this is done and documented will, as with new products, vary from operator to operator but will still be subject to audits by professional bodies such as the LIA.

Remanufactured products can and must be fully compliant, thoroughly documented and supplied with necessary documentation. More important than reducing waste and emissions is ensuring products are safe and fit for purpose.

n that note, remanufacturing can be a force for improving safety. Many products I assess before beginning the remanufacturing process do not satisfy current standards (whether because of their age or poor design). A common example is having damaged wiring or aged and brittle terminal blocks.

Clearly, these aged components are not worthwhile retaining given the challenges in determining their safety and compliance. Remanufacturing is an opportunity to remedy these non-conformities and it’s satisfying to see those examples where the safety of the product is dramatically improved through remanufacturing.

Measuring environmental impact

As lighting manufacturers increasingly advertise their products’ environmental ‘wins’, be that relating to efficiency, longevity, material selection, upgradeability, or embodied carbon, it’s important that we normalise providing evidence that backs up these claims.

A relatively new metric that we are hearing a lot about (not least within Lighting Journal) is ‘embodied carbon’. This is the estimated emissions that result from manufacturing a product, taking into account, for example, the mining or production of materials, processing, transportation and manufacturing operations.

This is where remanufacturing can really help us tackle the climate crisis by allowing components in good condition to be reused rather than recycled and made again.

Our 2022 remanufacturing projects, for example, all achieved embodied carbon reductions of between 40%-70% compared to the same product being made new again. However, we can’t assume these benefits and for both new and remanufactured products it’s essential that we calculate these outcomes using a recognised methodology.

Providing embodied carbon metrics allows retrofit or construction stakeholders to consider lifecycle cost, quality and environmental impact together in a meaningful way and allows lighting designers to visualise the embodied and operational carbon outcomes of different lighting design options.

Additionally, measuring embodied carbon enables product designers to identify ‘hotspot’ components or techniques and to look for better solutions.

However, in my experience patience is required, as many stakeholders (both in our supply chain and those purchasing from us) are currently uncertain about embodied carbon. Education and net-zero programmes are yet to become a core facet to purchasing.

It is also important to view carbon in tandem with reviewing product quality and design. I get a feeling of missed opportunity when I inspect a luminaire from a ‘net zero’ manufacturer yet have to advise the client that we won’t be able to remanufacture it. Again, on which note…

Understanding when you can and can't remanufacture

Most of the luminaires I’ve seen remanufactured weren’t designed for circularity. Remanufacture is a new intervention, a refusal to let products go to scrap.

This type of product makes up the majority of those currently in use and makes my job both interesting and challenging. Many simply cannot be remanufactured – they may be glued, riveted or snap-fit together, or are too susceptible to denting or mechanical damage.

Myself and the EGG team are working on a ‘designed for remanufacture’ new product range, taking into account all our hard-won lessons. Encouragingly, many larger manufacturers are now recognising that luminaires need to be purposefully designed for remanufacture and I’m incredibly excited to see the designs that will be produced with circularity in mind. Perhaps the next step will be when products are designed in collaboration with or endorsement of the operators who are or will be involved with remanufacturing them.

Faced with the challenges that remanufacturing poses, it would be tempting to prioritise designing new upgradeable lighting products that can be remanufactured at the end of their first lifecycle.

However, while that task is urgent, I think remanufacturing used products, regardless of their design intent, remains an imperative – for three reasons.

First, we will not start to see luminaires designed for circularity being remanufactured for five to 10 years. I am confident they will not make up a significant portion of the market for far longer.

Therefore, without intervention, luminaires not designed for remanufacture are going to be filling skips for the next decade and then some.

Second, technology, market demands and use cases continue to change and designers can only forecast these up to a point. This means that at some point or another the ‘designed for remanufacture’ luminaire will need to be altered in a way (essentially remanufactured) that it was not planned to be – or it will become obsolete.

Therefore, as an industry we need to focus on developing circular economy capabilities alongside product design, an approach which will be mutually beneficial.

The development of remanufacturing operations is a challenge and involves new thinking, job roles, training and processes. Therefore, I think we need to start in earnest today so we as an industry can tackle our waste problem as it stands, and be in a really strong position when the next generation of well-designed products need to be remanufactured. We can turn waste into an opportunity, not a problem.

Conclusion

As a remanufacturing engineer, I'm aware that my role is not yet commonplace in the lighting industry. However, I'm optimistic that with the increasing need to address the climate crisis and design circular products, we will witness a surge in new skills and roles within our sector.

I’ve been fortunate to connect with so many inspiring people in lighting already, from a whole range of backgrounds and roles, and all in agreement on the urgent need to tackle waste and prioritise sustainable business models.

These people fill me with confidence that, together, with collaboration and a generous dose of determination, we can make a huge change.

Remanufacturing contains lots of challenges and variation. But I truly believe it’s the approach that can best help our industry move past the paradigm of single-use products.

Yes, there is still a huge amount of used and unwanted lighting out there that can be remanufactured to today’s specifications and shouldn’t be left to waste. A thought I keep coming back to is that a good-quality ‘designed for circularity’ product sold today will probably see the world pass our 2°C warming target before it’s remanufactured.

So we need both short- and long-term solutions. My final thought is that, if we’re going to reach our net zero goals and if lighting is going to truly contribute, we will need to bring a new round of thinking into the design of lighting equipment.

To truly face up to that 40,000 tonnes of new lighting equipment being sold each year, we need to redesign (remanufacture?) not just the lighting and the luminaire but also the very way we think about and circulate lighting equipment.

Tom Ruddell is lead remanufacture engineer at EGG lighting in Glasgow

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