16 billion Swiss francs in unused items in Swiss households

The Swiss online second-hand market has become an important driver of sustainable consumption and climate protection in recent years. In 2024, an estimated 166,368 tons of CO₂e emissions were avoided as a result of online second-hand trade in Switzerland. This corresponds to 1.8 percent of the annual consumption footprint of Swiss households.

This is confirmed by a recent analysis carried out by the SMG Swiss Marketplace Group in collaboration with Vaayu. The analysis is based on a study published by McKinsey & Company in July 2025, publications by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office and a study prepared by Vaayu, which, together with SMG, calculated the potentially avoided greenhouse gas emissions of the SMG marketplaces Ricardo, tutti.ch and anibis.ch in the "Avoided Emissions Report 2024".

17 times higher savings possible

The analysis shows that there is still considerable potential in this area: Around CHF 16 billion worth of unused items are said to be lying dormant in Swiss households. According to the McKinsey study, every Swiss household contains unused goods worth an average of CHF 4,000.

If all unused items in Swiss households were resold and reused, the potential emissions avoided could be around 17 times higher than today. This would correspond to 30.6 percent of the annual consumption footprint - the equivalent of 2.8 million tons of CO₂e.

To calculate the potential avoided greenhouse gas emissions, the transaction volume of nine leading Swiss second-hand platforms was analyzed. The study focused on consumer goods categories such as children & babies, electronics, fashion & accessories, household & living, leisure, sport & hobbies.

Growth forecast until 2029

The online marketplace study by McKinsey & Company assumes sustained annual growth of three percent in the transaction volume of Swiss online second-hand marketplaces. Based on this, an estimated 183,209 tons of CO₂e emissions could potentially be avoided through online second-hand consumption in Switzerland in 2029 - an increase of ten percent compared to 2024.

In addition to the purely estimated market growth, Vaayu's analysis also adds possible sustainable changes in consumer behavior: if the proportion of second-hand purchases that actually replace new products (replacement rate) gradually increases from 53% to 60% by 2029, 23% more greenhouse gas emissions could be avoided. Every one percentage point increase in the replacement rate would lead to over three percent more avoided emissions.

Involvement in Secondhand Day

The analysis was carried out as part of the national Secondhand Day on Saturday, November 8, 2025. "The results of the current analysis are impressive and motivate us to further increase the hidden second-hand market and climate potential in Switzerland with our online marketplaces Ricardo, tutti.ch and anibis.ch," says Jessica List, Chief Corporate Officer of SMG.

As a partner of this year's Secondhand Day, SMG is supporting this annual day of action, which was launched in 2020 by Ricardo, myclimate and Circular Economy Switzerland. SMG strives to lower the barriers to resale and reuse by developing new technologies such as "Ricardo AI" and constantly increasing the security of its platforms.

Vaayu's methodology for calculating avoided emissions follows a consistent life cycle assessment approach in accordance with the guidelines of the World Resources Institute. Vaayu compares a reference scenario - the entire life cycle of a new product up to the consumer - with a second-hand scenario.