Matches made in... Turntoo

• Clever sales models are reshaping the producer-consumer relationship with energy and resource benefits
• Intermediaries can design match-ups that yield good results for businesses, consumers and the environment

The Dutch company Turntoo shapes business models based on new lease-return-sharing concepts, including where products are not sold in the traditional way to the consumer, but remain the property of the producer throughout their lifecycle.

Turntoo acts as an intermediary that implements such models by matching suppliers and customers in clever ways. For example, the company organised an agreement between Bosch and Eigen Haard, an Amsterdam social housing group, to provide tenants with washing machine services for € 10 per month (including energy and water). Tenants then pay per wash.

Key benefits

There are several benefits to arrangements like Bosch and Eigen Haard's. Tenants receive top-end washing machines with the highest energy efficiency ratings. Eigen Haard has to deal with fewer tenants struggling to meet rising energy costs on top of the rent.

As well as energy and water savings, using late-generation technology also helps to reduce greenhouse gases compared to low-end washing machines that tenants might otherwise use. The scheme is also resource-efficient: washing machine parts, and the raw materials that go into them, can ultimately be reused by the manufacturer.