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Introduction
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This spreadsheet contains The Restart Project's Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data: information about the weight and CO2e emissions generated through the production and distribution of a wide range of common consumer products. We use this data to estimate the environmental impact of repairs on the Fixometer, part of our community repair platform restarters.net. You can find the data in the tabs along the bottom.
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Basic methodology
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We focused on CO2e prevented by successful repairs. We calculate this using the following formula:
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CO2e emissions prevented by repair (kg) =
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CO2e emissions prior to usage (kg) x (rate of "displacement" of a new purchase)
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1) We prioritised the "most relevant" device categories, based on those defined in the Open Repair Data Standard (ORDS), with the addition of a few unpowered product categories.
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2) We collaboratively sourced AS MUCH data as possible on pre-use CO2e footprint (i.e. in manufacture & distribution) for these priority categories
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3) Each piece of data has a source (link, year) or as a last resort, results from a proxy assumption (indicated)
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4) Finally, we rated data based on a data quality matrix: representativeness, age, reliability - see DQI tab for more
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Assumptions:
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- consumption of materials during repair insignificant
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- gains by upgrade to "energy efficient" device insignificant (especially as large appliances such as washing machines are out of the scope of this work)
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- variations in distribution impacts between Europe and North America insignificant (especially because distribution tends to represent a tiny proportion of the total footprint for all products covered)
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- average rate of displacement
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Definitions:
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Displacement rate: the rate by which we prevent a new manufacture. Our biggest – and most necessary – assumption is that a fix at a repair event extends an existing device’s life, which will prevent carbon emissions from the manufacture of a new gadget. We assume each successful repair displaces a new manufacture by 50%. That is, that a repaired device will live on for 50% longer than its intended life.
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CO2e: Carbon dioxide equivalent or CO2e means the number of metric tons of a greenhouse gas with the same global warming potential (GWP) as one metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) over 100 years. It is the standard way of allowing comparison between emissions of different types of greenhouse gas (such as methane). Click here for a more detailed explanation.
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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): a methodology to calculate a range of environmental impacts of a product at each stage of its life (typically: production/manufacture, distribution/transportation, use and end of life). This tends to include global warming potential (GWP) expressed as CO2e as well as other measures.
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Limitations:
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LCA reporting is complex. LCA data for any given product can be calculated in a number of different ways depending on its purpose and tends not to be designed for comparison with other products. For these reasons, the data in this document should be understood as giving approximate CO2e values. Rather than provide exact measurements and calculations, the main aim of this data is to be an educational tool to demonstrate that the embodied impact of the products we buy (and repair) is significant.
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Licensing & alternative formats
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This data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International license.
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You can download this data in PDF, csv, Excel (xlsx), ods, tsv and html formats using the 'File > download' menu at the top of this webpage. For csv and tsv formats, you must download each sheet seperately.
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Background
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This is the second version of our LCA reference data. It was produced in 2021 by a group of volunteers as part of a project to investigate the embodied carbon of common consumer products we see at community repair events. You can learn more about this work here.

If you have any questions about this data, please get in touch with us at: community@therestartproject.org
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About The Restart Project
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The Restart Project is a people-powered social enterprise that aims to fix our relationship with electronics. We run regular Restart Parties where people teach each other how to repair their broken and slow devices – from tablets to toasters, from iPhones to headphones. We work with schools and organisations to help them value and use their electronics for longer. And we use the data and stories we collect to help demand better, more sustainable electronics for all.

Learn more about us on our website
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Join our online community platform
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We are hugely grateful to to The ACTION (Participatory science toolkit against pollution) Project for funding this work and for their support.
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824603. This document reflects the author’s views. The European Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
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