What is Value Retention?

The term value retention was coined by the International Resource Panel following a global study looking at business processes that are designed to keep products in use for the most valuable amount of time. Oakdene Hollins was involved in the research and has been delivering research into the different approaches since the early 2000’s.

With the circular economy now a crucial part of business and policy decision making, the value retention impact acts as a metric to combine economic and environmental goals. There are seven key factors that are encompassed within a value retention metric:

-          New material offset (avoided) (kg);

-          Embodied material energy (MJ);

-          Embodied material emissions (kgCO2- eq.);

-          Process energy (MJ);

-          Process emissions (kgCO2 – eq.);

-          Cost advantage ($ USD); and

-          Employment opportunity (full-time equivalent worker).


These factors cover direct and indirect environmental impact and economic drivers. Since applying this to a range of businesses and sectors, we have acknowledged that value retention can be applied at both a product and a material level. The difference between the two levels is defined when diagnostics are carried out: Is the product at the end of use (EoU) phase and therefore suitable for product value retention processes? Or, is the product at the end of life (EoL) where material value retention strategies are most efficient?

If we view the product life cycle from manufacturing through to EoL we can see that there is a flow of products going through product value-retention processes at their EoU with components and parts deemed at their EoL being removed and replaced. Following this, when diagnostics show that the product has become obsolescent (emotional, technical, commercial, functional), then it is directed to material value-retention processes i.e. recycling.

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What should not be underestimated is that, at the point at which a product or its parts/components hit their end of life, the available material value processes are not equal. Advanced Retention Technologies (ART) are those which enable the greatest yield possible from the product.

There are three stages:

-          Diagnostics

-          Disassembly (product, sub-assembly, component, material)

-          Reprocessing

The purpose of material value retention is to select the most effective strategy for retaining the highest value from the available materials utilising available technology.

When a whole system approach is considered that combines remanufacturing at the product level and ART deployment at the material level, the potential for increased value can be:

-          Product x 3-10

-          Material x 2-4

In essence, this gives the producer of products an overall potential increase of between 5-14x the value.

As policy drives towards net zero, and businesses look to report on improved carbon impact and find new sustainable growth strategies, value retention offers a framework which can effectively combine traditional revenue targets with carbon savings.

Want to learn more? Check out our ‘Value’ page newly updated for 2023. For more information on value retention, including its potential application in your business and how Oakdene Hollins might support you in maximising the benefits of product and material value retention processes – contact us via admin@oakdenehollins.com, or call us on 01296 423915.

Oakdene Hollins