Laying Competition to Waste: The Economics of Resale, Recycling, and Upcycling

This chapter analyzes upcycling through an economic lens. First, it discusses the similarities and differences between resale, recycling, and upcycling from an economic perspective. Next, it analyzes the incentives for producers in the primary market to engage with these markets further down the lifecycle of a product. The author argues that companies with sufficient market power in their primary market often have an incentive to try to control such aftermarkets, particularly in the case of resale or upcycling, in order to price discriminate in the primary market or to reduce competition in their primary market. Subsequently, the chapter discusses the role of IPRs in this and analyzes from a normative economic perspective (incentive rationale for IPRs), whether IPRs should grant producers control over resale and upcycling.