Report

The environmental benefit of Marktplaats trading

The second-hand trading that Marktplaats facilitates can reduce the amount of products that end up in incinerators and reduce the demand for new products, resulting into lower costs for consumers, but also lower demand for resources and lower CO2 emissions. By extending the life span of consumer products, trading on Marktplaats can play a role in meeting the Netherlands’ environmental policy targets on climate change and the circular economy.

The goal of this study is to derive a first-order estimate of the climate change impact reduction realised by consumer trading on Marktplaats in 2018. This is done by assessing the life span extension that Marktplaats enables, and by comparing the current situation (with Marktplaats) to a situation in which no life span extension takes place and more newly manufactured products would be purchased and more discarded products would be sent to waste treatment.

Authors