Dear Colleagues, 

Due to the pace at which natural resources are consumed today, we face the risk of resource scarcity and environmental degradation. This leads companies to have “sustainability” concepts in their products, designs, and logistics. Remanufacturing is an industrial process that restores used products to a like-new functional state. It is a more sustainable mode of manufacturing because it can be profitable and less harmful to the environment than conventional manufacturing. Remanufacturing is also expected to create jobs, stimulate innovation, and increase trade and investment across multiple products, in both industrialized economies and developing and transition economies. However, the practices and acceptances of remanufacturing today are substantially limited, indicating that remanufacturing faces various barriers, whether they are technological, economic, market, cultural, business, or regulatory. Remanufacturing is an indispensable element in sustainable product businesses. In today’s economy, the new normal after the global pandemic, supported by ongoing progresses of digitalization, can bring a more deepened servisized economy. In the structural transformation of modern economies from manufacturing to services, consumers/customers will increasingly be demanding services, functions, and values of products rather than the physical properties of products, which will give more advanced opportunities to remanufacturing. Understanding the features, barriers, and opportunities of remanufacturing is indispensable to see the future of sustainable consumption and production.

This Special Issue calls for research papers that contribute to deepening the understanding of barriers to remanufacturing, particularly market barriers, business barriers, and societal barriers. We also invite research papers that address needs for sustainable consumption and production, as well as challenges for remanufacturing. This Special Issue does not limit the scope to remanufacturing, but also targets other circular manufacturing processes such as product refurbishment, repair, and direct reuse. 

Dr. Mitsutaka Matsumoto
Prof. Dr. Kenichiro Chinen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Remanufacturing, RRRDR (remanufacturing, refurbishment, repair, and direct reuse)
• Products, design, and logistics for remanufacturing
• Market acceptance of remanufactured products
• Business model incorporating remanufacturing
• Policy support for remanufacturing