A longer and more intensive use of consumer goods is an important strategy for implementing sustainable development. Through shared use, leasing and recycling, resources are to be conserved and waste avoided. But are these approaches economically viable and achievable with the present economic system?

Representatives from economics and sustainability research discuss this with the aid of regional use strategies. Their considerations take in resource-economic and decision-theory ideas as well as cultural-science and socio-economic perspectives. Specific opportunities and limitations of the existing economic framework conditions for new use strategies are discussed, as is the status of social capital.  The authors address the question of how consumer acceptance can be developed.

The book highlights ways in which sustainable use strategies can be profitably implemented for the people and companies in our social system and thus makes a contribution to the sustainable restructuring of Germany.