Shaping a circular industrial ecosystem and supporting life-cycle thinking
Sharingtool (By Pwiic Coop)
SharingTool – A Circular Economy Platform for Tool Rental Between Providers and Neighbors
SharingTool is an integrated solution within Pwiic.com (a sharing economy platform and certified cooperative), enabling our 20,000 service providers across Belgium to share tools, complete more jobs, reduce costs, and promote the circular economy. Recognized for its innovative impact, SharingTool was selected as a BeCircular award winner.
=> http://pwiic.com/en-be
=> https://sharingtool.pwiic.com/en-be
=> https://www.circulareconomy.brussels/pwiic
=> http://pwiic.com/en-be
=> https://sharingtool.pwiic.com/en-be
=> https://www.circulareconomy.brussels/pwiic
Belgium
National
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
2024-09-02
No
No
No
As a representative of an organisation
SharingTool is a tool-sharing platform for neighbors, individuals, and professionals, launched by Pwiic.com, a cooperative service exchange platform with 200,000 members in Belgium. First introduced in Brussels in September 2024, it quickly expanded across Belgium, with 20,000 service providers offering their tools for rent.
Overall Aim
SharingTool facilitates tool access without purchase, extends their lifespan, and reduces ecological impact by limiting production and waste. By promoting renting over buying, it aligns with circular economy principles.
Target Groups
SharingTool serves individuals, artisans, professionals, and businesses who need tools but prefer not to buy them. It is particularly useful for service providers in precarious situations who have the skills but lack the tools to offer their services.
Specific Objectives
✔ Promote usage over ownership to lower environmental impact.
✔ Provide an affordable, eco-friendly alternative to buying tools.
✔ Help service providers increase income and escape precariousness.
✔ Encourage knowledge sharing via a rental + training option.
✔ Reduce waste by maximizing tool use.
Achieved Outcomes
✔ 20,000 providers have listed tools, enabling rentals without purchase costs.
✔ Nearly 200 monthly rental requests, with growing adoption.
✔ Brico.be, a major Belgian DIY retailer and Pwiic partner, has integrated SharingTool into its community, testing a rental model as a step toward the circular economy.
✔ BeCircular award winner, recognized for its sustainability impact.
✔ 2.7 tons of metal saved and 3.36 tons of CO₂ avoided by reducing unnecessary travel for tool pickup
By enabling resource pooling, SharingTool fosters a sustainable, accessible model. By extending tool lifespan and promoting responsible equipment use, it fully supports the transition to a circular economy while addressing economic and environmental challenges.
Overall Aim
SharingTool facilitates tool access without purchase, extends their lifespan, and reduces ecological impact by limiting production and waste. By promoting renting over buying, it aligns with circular economy principles.
Target Groups
SharingTool serves individuals, artisans, professionals, and businesses who need tools but prefer not to buy them. It is particularly useful for service providers in precarious situations who have the skills but lack the tools to offer their services.
Specific Objectives
✔ Promote usage over ownership to lower environmental impact.
✔ Provide an affordable, eco-friendly alternative to buying tools.
✔ Help service providers increase income and escape precariousness.
✔ Encourage knowledge sharing via a rental + training option.
✔ Reduce waste by maximizing tool use.
Achieved Outcomes
✔ 20,000 providers have listed tools, enabling rentals without purchase costs.
✔ Nearly 200 monthly rental requests, with growing adoption.
✔ Brico.be, a major Belgian DIY retailer and Pwiic partner, has integrated SharingTool into its community, testing a rental model as a step toward the circular economy.
✔ BeCircular award winner, recognized for its sustainability impact.
✔ 2.7 tons of metal saved and 3.36 tons of CO₂ avoided by reducing unnecessary travel for tool pickup
By enabling resource pooling, SharingTool fosters a sustainable, accessible model. By extending tool lifespan and promoting responsible equipment use, it fully supports the transition to a circular economy while addressing economic and environmental challenges.
Circular economy
Sharing economy
Cooperative organization
Reducing precariousness
Local communities
Sustainability Objectives & Scalability
SharingTool promotes sustainability by combining circular and collaborative economy principles. Its core mission is to reduce overconsumption, extend tool lifespan, and minimize environmental impact through resource pooling among individuals and professionals. The project also reduces externalities by optimizing travel distances, promoting tool recycling and repair, and ensuring affordable access to equipment.
Scalability & Expansion Strategy
Designed to be modular and integrable, SharingTool can be replicated across sectors, partners, and regions. To achieve its three-year sustainability objectives, SharingTool will:
✔ Leverage Pwiic’s 200,000-member network, ensuring rapid adoption and scaling without extensive new infrastructure.
✔ Engage users through cooperative governance—as a cooperative, Pwiic actively involves its members in decision-making, ensuring SharingTool evolves to benefit its community.
✔ Expand beyond DIY tools, integrating sports equipment, children's toys, and professional tools to maximize reuse.
✔ Develop new partnerships, following the Brico.be collaboration, to scale rental-based models and encourage more businesses to embrace the circular economy.
✔ Scale across new territories, starting with Benelux, leveraging Pwiic's existing infrastructure.
✔ Enhance AI-powered optimization, keeping tool-sharing efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable, by suggesting the nearest available tools to reduce travel and CO₂ emissions.
Three-Year Sustainability Targets (BeCircular)
✔ 19,581 tools rented instead of purchased.
✔ At least 15.1 tons of metal repurposed through extended tool lifespan.
✔ At least 15 tons of CO₂ avoided by reducing travel distances.
🔹 By making tool-sharing flexible, modular, and replicable, SharingTool serves as a scalable, sustainable model for community-driven resource management across industries.
SharingTool promotes sustainability by combining circular and collaborative economy principles. Its core mission is to reduce overconsumption, extend tool lifespan, and minimize environmental impact through resource pooling among individuals and professionals. The project also reduces externalities by optimizing travel distances, promoting tool recycling and repair, and ensuring affordable access to equipment.
Scalability & Expansion Strategy
Designed to be modular and integrable, SharingTool can be replicated across sectors, partners, and regions. To achieve its three-year sustainability objectives, SharingTool will:
✔ Leverage Pwiic’s 200,000-member network, ensuring rapid adoption and scaling without extensive new infrastructure.
✔ Engage users through cooperative governance—as a cooperative, Pwiic actively involves its members in decision-making, ensuring SharingTool evolves to benefit its community.
✔ Expand beyond DIY tools, integrating sports equipment, children's toys, and professional tools to maximize reuse.
✔ Develop new partnerships, following the Brico.be collaboration, to scale rental-based models and encourage more businesses to embrace the circular economy.
✔ Scale across new territories, starting with Benelux, leveraging Pwiic's existing infrastructure.
✔ Enhance AI-powered optimization, keeping tool-sharing efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable, by suggesting the nearest available tools to reduce travel and CO₂ emissions.
Three-Year Sustainability Targets (BeCircular)
✔ 19,581 tools rented instead of purchased.
✔ At least 15.1 tons of metal repurposed through extended tool lifespan.
✔ At least 15 tons of CO₂ avoided by reducing travel distances.
🔹 By making tool-sharing flexible, modular, and replicable, SharingTool serves as a scalable, sustainable model for community-driven resource management across industries.
🔹 Aesthetics & Quality of User Experience
SharingTool enhances the user experience by focusing on intuitive design, accessibility, and cultural values of collaboration and sharing. It ensures a seamless, inclusive, and engaging experience where users can find, rent, or lend tools effortlessly, while fostering a new consumption model centered around community and sustainability.
🔹Design & Quality of Experience
✅ AI-Powered & User-Centric Interface
📌 Objective: Ensure effortless access to tools by automating the rental process.
🎯 Result: AI instantly suggests necessary tools when a service is posted, removing friction and simplifying rentals.
✅ Encouraging Social & Local Connections
📌 Objective: Build a strong local sharing culture by fostering trust and collaboration.
🎯 Result: Users engage in local networks, creating social ties and reinforcing community bonds.
✅ Blending Tool-Sharing & Skill Development
📌 Objective: Go beyond rentals by encouraging skill-sharing and hands-on learning.
🎯 Result: The rental + training feature allows users to develop new skills, expanding craftsmanship within the community.
✅ Cultural Shift: From Ownership to Access
📌 Objective: Redefine consumption habits by promoting usage over ownership.
🎯 Result: Users adopt a sharing mindset, reinforcing sustainable consumption patterns.
🔹 Innovation & Collaboration
SharingTool stands out by integrating AI-driven design with a deep cultural impact. It also bridges two worlds—a startup (Pwiic) and a major retailer (Brico)—proving that traditional businesses can transition towards circular models.
🔹 By redefining accessibility, social engagement, and user interaction, SharingTool is not just a platform—it’s a catalyst for behavioral change, making tool-sharing an easy, rewarding, and mainstream practice.
SharingTool enhances the user experience by focusing on intuitive design, accessibility, and cultural values of collaboration and sharing. It ensures a seamless, inclusive, and engaging experience where users can find, rent, or lend tools effortlessly, while fostering a new consumption model centered around community and sustainability.
🔹Design & Quality of Experience
✅ AI-Powered & User-Centric Interface
📌 Objective: Ensure effortless access to tools by automating the rental process.
🎯 Result: AI instantly suggests necessary tools when a service is posted, removing friction and simplifying rentals.
✅ Encouraging Social & Local Connections
📌 Objective: Build a strong local sharing culture by fostering trust and collaboration.
🎯 Result: Users engage in local networks, creating social ties and reinforcing community bonds.
✅ Blending Tool-Sharing & Skill Development
📌 Objective: Go beyond rentals by encouraging skill-sharing and hands-on learning.
🎯 Result: The rental + training feature allows users to develop new skills, expanding craftsmanship within the community.
✅ Cultural Shift: From Ownership to Access
📌 Objective: Redefine consumption habits by promoting usage over ownership.
🎯 Result: Users adopt a sharing mindset, reinforcing sustainable consumption patterns.
🔹 Innovation & Collaboration
SharingTool stands out by integrating AI-driven design with a deep cultural impact. It also bridges two worlds—a startup (Pwiic) and a major retailer (Brico)—proving that traditional businesses can transition towards circular models.
🔹 By redefining accessibility, social engagement, and user interaction, SharingTool is not just a platform—it’s a catalyst for behavioral change, making tool-sharing an easy, rewarding, and mainstream practice.
SharingTool promotes social and economic inclusion by making tool access more affordable and accessible. It helps service providers in precarious situations who have the skills but lack the tools to offer their services.
Inclusion Objectives and Achieved Outcomes
Economic and financial accessibility
📌 Objective: Enable workers to access tools without financial constraints.
✅ Result: 20,000 service providers have made tools available, reducing purchase and rental costs.
Local access, skill development, and income growth
📌 Objective: Build a local rental network to improve access and job opportunities.
✅ Result: 200 tools rented per month, reducing travel distances. Providers who lacked tools can now accept more jobs and increase income. Training by tool owners helps renters develop new skills.
Inclusive and participatory governance
📌 Objective: Involve users and businesses in decision-making.
✅ Result: Pwiic is a cooperative company, allowing providers to become shareholders for €25.
✅ Brico.be integrated SharingTool, proving that startups and large retailers can drive an inclusive economy.
Inclusive design and AI integration
📌 Objective: Ensure an intuitive and accessible platform.
✅ Result: AI suggests tools when a service is posted, making rentals easier.
An Exemplary and Scalable Model
By combining collaborative economy, financial accessibility, and shared governance, SharingTool proves that a fairer and more sustainable model is possible. It can be replicated in other regions and with new partners, reducing economic and territorial inequalities.
Inclusion Objectives and Achieved Outcomes
Economic and financial accessibility
📌 Objective: Enable workers to access tools without financial constraints.
✅ Result: 20,000 service providers have made tools available, reducing purchase and rental costs.
Local access, skill development, and income growth
📌 Objective: Build a local rental network to improve access and job opportunities.
✅ Result: 200 tools rented per month, reducing travel distances. Providers who lacked tools can now accept more jobs and increase income. Training by tool owners helps renters develop new skills.
Inclusive and participatory governance
📌 Objective: Involve users and businesses in decision-making.
✅ Result: Pwiic is a cooperative company, allowing providers to become shareholders for €25.
✅ Brico.be integrated SharingTool, proving that startups and large retailers can drive an inclusive economy.
Inclusive design and AI integration
📌 Objective: Ensure an intuitive and accessible platform.
✅ Result: AI suggests tools when a service is posted, making rentals easier.
An Exemplary and Scalable Model
By combining collaborative economy, financial accessibility, and shared governance, SharingTool proves that a fairer and more sustainable model is possible. It can be replicated in other regions and with new partners, reducing economic and territorial inequalities.
SharingTool follows a participatory, inclusive, and sustainable approach, involving citizens, service providers, businesses, and public authorities in its development and operation.
Citizen Involvement and Impact
Full involvement of service providers from the start
📌 Role: Service providers were engaged from the project’s conception, identifying needs and improving the platform.
✅ Impact: Their input created a solution tailored to real-world needs. Today, 20,000 providers rent out tools, helping other workers access equipment at lower costs and increase their income.
A cooperative model and participatory governance
📌 Role: Pwiic is a cooperative, allowing providers to become shareholders for €25 and take part in decisions.
✅ Impact: This ensures shared governance, where users influence the project’s direction, making it more equitable and sustainable.
Local communities and skill development
📌 Role: SharingTool promotes peer-to-peer learning and tool-sharing.
✅ Impact: The rental + training option enables users to learn new skills, improving their employability and autonomy.
Support from the Brussels-Capital Region
📌 Role: Winner of BeCircular and funded by the Brussels-Capital Region, SharingTool benefits from public support.
✅ Impact: This backing accelerated the project’s rollout, proving that public-private collaboration fosters circular and social innovation.
Collaboration between a startup and a major retailer
📌 Role: Brico.be integrated SharingTool into its community.
✅ Impact: This inspires large companies to transition towards circular models, proving sustainability can align with business goals.
An Exemplary and Scalable Model
By involving citizens, businesses, and institutions, SharingTool proves that a collaborative model can create a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Its shared governance, local impact, and scalability make it a concrete example of the New European Bauhaus principles.
Citizen Involvement and Impact
Full involvement of service providers from the start
📌 Role: Service providers were engaged from the project’s conception, identifying needs and improving the platform.
✅ Impact: Their input created a solution tailored to real-world needs. Today, 20,000 providers rent out tools, helping other workers access equipment at lower costs and increase their income.
A cooperative model and participatory governance
📌 Role: Pwiic is a cooperative, allowing providers to become shareholders for €25 and take part in decisions.
✅ Impact: This ensures shared governance, where users influence the project’s direction, making it more equitable and sustainable.
Local communities and skill development
📌 Role: SharingTool promotes peer-to-peer learning and tool-sharing.
✅ Impact: The rental + training option enables users to learn new skills, improving their employability and autonomy.
Support from the Brussels-Capital Region
📌 Role: Winner of BeCircular and funded by the Brussels-Capital Region, SharingTool benefits from public support.
✅ Impact: This backing accelerated the project’s rollout, proving that public-private collaboration fosters circular and social innovation.
Collaboration between a startup and a major retailer
📌 Role: Brico.be integrated SharingTool into its community.
✅ Impact: This inspires large companies to transition towards circular models, proving sustainability can align with business goals.
An Exemplary and Scalable Model
By involving citizens, businesses, and institutions, SharingTool proves that a collaborative model can create a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Its shared governance, local impact, and scalability make it a concrete example of the New European Bauhaus principles.
SharingTool is the result of a multi-level collaboration, involving local, regional, national, and European stakeholders in its design and implementation. Each level played a key role, bringing essential added value to the project.
1. Local Level: Service Providers and Citizens
📌 Role: Service providers were involved from the start, helping define needs and refine the platform. Through Pwiic’s cooperative model, they can become shareholders for €25, giving them a say in decision-making.
✅ Added Value: Ensures a solution adapted to real needs, strong user engagement, and a fair, participatory governance model.
2. Regional Level: Brussels-Capital Region (BeCircular)
📌 Role: The Brussels-Capital Region financially supported SharingTool via BeCircular, recognizing its positive impact on the circular economy.
✅ Added Value: Funding accelerated the project’s growth, proving that public support can drive sustainable innovation.
3. National Level: Business Partnerships
📌 Role: Brico.be integrated SharingTool into its community, testing a rental-based model instead of direct sales.
✅ Added Value: Demonstrates that major retailers can transition to circular economy models, encouraging more businesses to follow.
4. European Level: Scalability and Replication
📌 Role: SharingTool is a replicable model at the European level, attracting interest from other stakeholders.
✅ Added Value: Its success in Belgium can inspire similar initiatives across Europe, proving the value of local, collaborative circular solutions.
A Multi-Level Approach for a Lasting Impact
The engagement of diverse stakeholders has structured SharingTool into a sustainable, collaborative, and scalable model, with a strong impact on employment, social inclusion, and ecological transition.
1. Local Level: Service Providers and Citizens
📌 Role: Service providers were involved from the start, helping define needs and refine the platform. Through Pwiic’s cooperative model, they can become shareholders for €25, giving them a say in decision-making.
✅ Added Value: Ensures a solution adapted to real needs, strong user engagement, and a fair, participatory governance model.
2. Regional Level: Brussels-Capital Region (BeCircular)
📌 Role: The Brussels-Capital Region financially supported SharingTool via BeCircular, recognizing its positive impact on the circular economy.
✅ Added Value: Funding accelerated the project’s growth, proving that public support can drive sustainable innovation.
3. National Level: Business Partnerships
📌 Role: Brico.be integrated SharingTool into its community, testing a rental-based model instead of direct sales.
✅ Added Value: Demonstrates that major retailers can transition to circular economy models, encouraging more businesses to follow.
4. European Level: Scalability and Replication
📌 Role: SharingTool is a replicable model at the European level, attracting interest from other stakeholders.
✅ Added Value: Its success in Belgium can inspire similar initiatives across Europe, proving the value of local, collaborative circular solutions.
A Multi-Level Approach for a Lasting Impact
The engagement of diverse stakeholders has structured SharingTool into a sustainable, collaborative, and scalable model, with a strong impact on employment, social inclusion, and ecological transition.
SharingTool was developed through a multidisciplinary collaboration, integrating technology, circular economy, cooperative governance, and business strategy.
The startup Pwiic led the technological development, designing the platform and integrating artificial intelligence to optimize tool sharing.
The Brussels-Capital Region, through BeCircular, provided support in economic and environmental sustainability, offering funding, strategic coaching, and an advisory committee to ensure the project aligned with circular economy principles.
Users & Service providers contributed with hands-on expertise, shaping the platform based on real user needs and ensuring practical usability.
Brico.be, representing the business and retail sector, tested a rental model into its Pwiic community, exploring a transition to a more circular and service-based economy.
These fields interacted by combining technological expertise, environmental policy guidance, real-world experience, and commercial strategy, resulting in a functional, scalable, and impactful solution. The added value of this process was a balanced approach, where innovation, sustainability, and business viability were integrated, making SharingTool a replicable and inclusive model for the circular economy.
The startup Pwiic led the technological development, designing the platform and integrating artificial intelligence to optimize tool sharing.
The Brussels-Capital Region, through BeCircular, provided support in economic and environmental sustainability, offering funding, strategic coaching, and an advisory committee to ensure the project aligned with circular economy principles.
Users & Service providers contributed with hands-on expertise, shaping the platform based on real user needs and ensuring practical usability.
Brico.be, representing the business and retail sector, tested a rental model into its Pwiic community, exploring a transition to a more circular and service-based economy.
These fields interacted by combining technological expertise, environmental policy guidance, real-world experience, and commercial strategy, resulting in a functional, scalable, and impactful solution. The added value of this process was a balanced approach, where innovation, sustainability, and business viability were integrated, making SharingTool a replicable and inclusive model for the circular economy.
SharingTool innovates by combining collaborative and circular economies to address the limits of traditional tool rental and purchase models. Unlike conventional rental platforms, which are costly and centralized, SharingTool relies on a network of local providers who make tools available, making access more affordable and inclusive. Artificial intelligence automatically suggests required tools when a service is posted, optimizing resource use. Additionally, Pwiic operates as a cooperative, allowing providers to become shareholders, ensuring participatory governance and direct user involvement.
Unlike traditional rental companies, SharingTool considers environmental impact in its design. The platform minimizes its footprint by reducing travel distances to collect tools. With its local provider network, users find tools nearby, cutting CO₂ emissions. A geolocation system optimizes exchanges, encouraging short-distance rentals. The model extends tool lifespan, promoting reuse over new purchases, reducing waste and resource consumption.
The model is scalable, allowing partners to create a Pwiic community and integrate SharingTool. Applications go beyond tool sharing: companies can let employees share work equipment, schools can create tool libraries, local governments can facilitate gardening tool exchanges, and sports clubs can support gear sharing.
Through its collaboration with Brico.be, SharingTool proves that major retailers can adopt circular models. By enabling everyday object sharing and fostering new exchange communities, SharingTool transforms consumption habits, setting itself apart from conventional practices and paving the way for a more sustainable economy.
Unlike traditional rental companies, SharingTool considers environmental impact in its design. The platform minimizes its footprint by reducing travel distances to collect tools. With its local provider network, users find tools nearby, cutting CO₂ emissions. A geolocation system optimizes exchanges, encouraging short-distance rentals. The model extends tool lifespan, promoting reuse over new purchases, reducing waste and resource consumption.
The model is scalable, allowing partners to create a Pwiic community and integrate SharingTool. Applications go beyond tool sharing: companies can let employees share work equipment, schools can create tool libraries, local governments can facilitate gardening tool exchanges, and sports clubs can support gear sharing.
Through its collaboration with Brico.be, SharingTool proves that major retailers can adopt circular models. By enabling everyday object sharing and fostering new exchange communities, SharingTool transforms consumption habits, setting itself apart from conventional practices and paving the way for a more sustainable economy.
Methodology and Approach of the Project
🔍 Needs Analysis and Co-Design
✅ Interviews and surveys with service providers to identify barriers to tool access.
✅ Workshops with experts in circular economy and digital solutions to define a viable model and assess potential environmental impact.
🛠 Development and Real-World Testing
✅ Deployment of a pilot version in Brussels with continuous user feedback.
✅ Progressive integration of artificial intelligence to automate tool recommendations based on posted services.
✅ Externality calculations to measure environmental impact: reduced travel distances, CO₂ emissions avoided, and tool reuse impact.
🤝 Optimization and Validation with Strategic Partners
✅ Testing of the rental model with Brico.be to validate its applicability in the DIY sector.
✅ Support from the Brussels-Capital Region via BeCircular, providing methodological guidance and impact assessment.
✅ Environmental impact tracking:
✅ Clear and mesurable three-year objectives: 19,581 tools rented, 15.1 tons of metal reused, 15 tons of CO₂ emissions avoided by reducing travel distances.
🚀 Scaling and Continuous Improvement
✅ Expansion across Belgium with data-driven optimizations and technical adjustments.
✅ Exploration of new applications (e.g., sharing sports equipment, professional tools, or gardening tools).
✅ Ongoing improvement of impact calculations to ensure the model meets environmental and social goals.
This co-creation, experimentation, iteration, and impact measurement approach ensures that SharingTool is effective, sustainable, and scalable.
🔍 Needs Analysis and Co-Design
✅ Interviews and surveys with service providers to identify barriers to tool access.
✅ Workshops with experts in circular economy and digital solutions to define a viable model and assess potential environmental impact.
🛠 Development and Real-World Testing
✅ Deployment of a pilot version in Brussels with continuous user feedback.
✅ Progressive integration of artificial intelligence to automate tool recommendations based on posted services.
✅ Externality calculations to measure environmental impact: reduced travel distances, CO₂ emissions avoided, and tool reuse impact.
🤝 Optimization and Validation with Strategic Partners
✅ Testing of the rental model with Brico.be to validate its applicability in the DIY sector.
✅ Support from the Brussels-Capital Region via BeCircular, providing methodological guidance and impact assessment.
✅ Environmental impact tracking:
✅ Clear and mesurable three-year objectives: 19,581 tools rented, 15.1 tons of metal reused, 15 tons of CO₂ emissions avoided by reducing travel distances.
🚀 Scaling and Continuous Improvement
✅ Expansion across Belgium with data-driven optimizations and technical adjustments.
✅ Exploration of new applications (e.g., sharing sports equipment, professional tools, or gardening tools).
✅ Ongoing improvement of impact calculations to ensure the model meets environmental and social goals.
This co-creation, experimentation, iteration, and impact measurement approach ensures that SharingTool is effective, sustainable, and scalable.
🔄 Scalable & Adaptable Model
SharingTool’s core concept of tool sharing and collaborative consumption can be applied to various sectors beyond DIY tools, including sports equipment, gardening tools, professional tools, educational resources, and medical equipment.
🌍 Geographical Replicability
The technology, methodology, and governance model can be replicated in any region by adapting to local needs and stakeholders. Any city, region, or country can adopt this approach to encourage sustainable consumption and resource efficiency.
⚙ Technology and Processes
The AI-powered matching system that suggests tools based on posted services is a universal solution applicable to other sharing platforms.
The platform’s geolocation and optimization tools can be reused to reduce travel distances and environmental impact in other industries.
🤝 Cooperative and Community-Based Approach
The Pwiic cooperative model allows service providers to become stakeholders, ensuring democratic governance and active user participation. This approach can be transferred to other collaborative economy projects.
🏢 Business and Institutional Transferability
Large corporations, SMEs, and public institutions can integrate SharingTool into their own communities, enabling employees, members, or citizens to mutualize resources (e.g., companies allowing staff to share work tools, municipalities promoting community-based rental networks).
Brico.be’s involvement demonstrates that major retailers can transition towards circular business models, which can inspire other companies in various industries.
📈 Sustainability and Environmental Impact
The methodology for assessing externalities (CO₂ emissions avoided, material reuse, and waste reduction) can inspire other initiatives to evaluate and enhance their circular impact over time.
🚀 Conclusion
SharingTool is designed for scalability and replication, flexible, adaptable & high-impact.
SharingTool’s core concept of tool sharing and collaborative consumption can be applied to various sectors beyond DIY tools, including sports equipment, gardening tools, professional tools, educational resources, and medical equipment.
🌍 Geographical Replicability
The technology, methodology, and governance model can be replicated in any region by adapting to local needs and stakeholders. Any city, region, or country can adopt this approach to encourage sustainable consumption and resource efficiency.
⚙ Technology and Processes
The AI-powered matching system that suggests tools based on posted services is a universal solution applicable to other sharing platforms.
The platform’s geolocation and optimization tools can be reused to reduce travel distances and environmental impact in other industries.
🤝 Cooperative and Community-Based Approach
The Pwiic cooperative model allows service providers to become stakeholders, ensuring democratic governance and active user participation. This approach can be transferred to other collaborative economy projects.
🏢 Business and Institutional Transferability
Large corporations, SMEs, and public institutions can integrate SharingTool into their own communities, enabling employees, members, or citizens to mutualize resources (e.g., companies allowing staff to share work tools, municipalities promoting community-based rental networks).
Brico.be’s involvement demonstrates that major retailers can transition towards circular business models, which can inspire other companies in various industries.
📈 Sustainability and Environmental Impact
The methodology for assessing externalities (CO₂ emissions avoided, material reuse, and waste reduction) can inspire other initiatives to evaluate and enhance their circular impact over time.
🚀 Conclusion
SharingTool is designed for scalability and replication, flexible, adaptable & high-impact.
1. Tackling Overconsumption and Resource Management
✅ Overconsumption of resources and waste are major global challenges. SharingTool provides a local solution by enabling tool sharing, reducing unnecessary purchases and resource consumption. This promotes the transition to a circular economy.
2. Reducing CO₂ Emissions Linked to Mobility
✅ Transportation is a significant contributor to global CO₂ emissions. SharingTool minimizes travel distances by connecting local tool providers, reducing CO₂ emissions and travel impacts.
3. Ensuring Equitable Access to Resources
✅ A global issue is unequal access to tools and resources. SharingTool allows individuals in precarious situations to access quality tools without buying them, helping them increase their income while reducing economic barriers.
4. Transforming Traditional Economic Models
✅ Pwiic’s cooperative model offers an alternative to traditional capitalist startups. By allowing service providers to become shareholders, it fosters participatory governance and a more inclusive, sustainable model where users actively contribute to company decisions.
5. Involving Traditional Actors in the Transition
✅ Brico.be, a major traditional player, integrated SharingTool to test a rental model instead of sales, supporting the transition to a circular economy. By collaborating with companies like Brico, SharingTool helps traditional actors adopt sustainable, circular practices.
Conclusion
✅ SharingTool addresses global challenges such as overconsumption, CO₂ emissions, and economic inclusion by providing local, scalable solutions. Through its cooperative model and engagement with traditional actors, it drives a more sustainable, equitable, and circular economy.
✅ Overconsumption of resources and waste are major global challenges. SharingTool provides a local solution by enabling tool sharing, reducing unnecessary purchases and resource consumption. This promotes the transition to a circular economy.
2. Reducing CO₂ Emissions Linked to Mobility
✅ Transportation is a significant contributor to global CO₂ emissions. SharingTool minimizes travel distances by connecting local tool providers, reducing CO₂ emissions and travel impacts.
3. Ensuring Equitable Access to Resources
✅ A global issue is unequal access to tools and resources. SharingTool allows individuals in precarious situations to access quality tools without buying them, helping them increase their income while reducing economic barriers.
4. Transforming Traditional Economic Models
✅ Pwiic’s cooperative model offers an alternative to traditional capitalist startups. By allowing service providers to become shareholders, it fosters participatory governance and a more inclusive, sustainable model where users actively contribute to company decisions.
5. Involving Traditional Actors in the Transition
✅ Brico.be, a major traditional player, integrated SharingTool to test a rental model instead of sales, supporting the transition to a circular economy. By collaborating with companies like Brico, SharingTool helps traditional actors adopt sustainable, circular practices.
Conclusion
✅ SharingTool addresses global challenges such as overconsumption, CO₂ emissions, and economic inclusion by providing local, scalable solutions. Through its cooperative model and engagement with traditional actors, it drives a more sustainable, equitable, and circular economy.
Results, Outcomes, and Impacts of the Project
1. Achieved Results in Tool Sharing and Environmental Impact Reduction
✅ 20,000 service providers have made their tools available on the platform, enabling other users to access them without purchasing. This directly contributes to reducing overconsumption by extending the lifespan of existing tools and minimizing the demand for new products.
✅ Nearly 200 tools are rented monthly, leading to reduced waste and more responsible resource use.
2. Measurable Environmental Impacts
✅ Three-year objectives: 19,581 tools rented, 15.1 tons of metal reused, and 15 tons of CO₂ avoided by reducing travel distances.
✅ In 2024, 2.7 tons of metal saved and 3.36 tons of CO₂ emissions avoided through reduced travel distances.
3. Benefits for Service Providers
✅ Service providers who previously lacked access to expensive tools were able to increase their income by accepting more jobs due to the access provided by the platform. Additionally, the training offered by service providers allows users to acquire new skills, fostering greater professional autonomy.
4. Benefits for Partners and Society
✅ Brico.be, by testing a rental model in its Pwiic community, has integrated circular partnership and promoted a more sustainable economy.
✅ The Brussels-Capital Region, through BeCircular funding, contributed to the validation of the model, supporting the growth of new circular initiatives.
5. Social and Economic Impact
✅ The project contributes to economic inclusion by enabling individuals in precarious situations to generate income through access to tools, while also lowering financial barriers to entrepreneurship.
Conclusion
✅ SharingTool has demonstrated measurable impacts on the environment, circular economy, and social inclusion, proving its effectiveness in creating benefits for both direct and indirect beneficiaries.
1. Achieved Results in Tool Sharing and Environmental Impact Reduction
✅ 20,000 service providers have made their tools available on the platform, enabling other users to access them without purchasing. This directly contributes to reducing overconsumption by extending the lifespan of existing tools and minimizing the demand for new products.
✅ Nearly 200 tools are rented monthly, leading to reduced waste and more responsible resource use.
2. Measurable Environmental Impacts
✅ Three-year objectives: 19,581 tools rented, 15.1 tons of metal reused, and 15 tons of CO₂ avoided by reducing travel distances.
✅ In 2024, 2.7 tons of metal saved and 3.36 tons of CO₂ emissions avoided through reduced travel distances.
3. Benefits for Service Providers
✅ Service providers who previously lacked access to expensive tools were able to increase their income by accepting more jobs due to the access provided by the platform. Additionally, the training offered by service providers allows users to acquire new skills, fostering greater professional autonomy.
4. Benefits for Partners and Society
✅ Brico.be, by testing a rental model in its Pwiic community, has integrated circular partnership and promoted a more sustainable economy.
✅ The Brussels-Capital Region, through BeCircular funding, contributed to the validation of the model, supporting the growth of new circular initiatives.
5. Social and Economic Impact
✅ The project contributes to economic inclusion by enabling individuals in precarious situations to generate income through access to tools, while also lowering financial barriers to entrepreneurship.
Conclusion
✅ SharingTool has demonstrated measurable impacts on the environment, circular economy, and social inclusion, proving its effectiveness in creating benefits for both direct and indirect beneficiaries.
