Collaborative Fund is a do-goody VC company that has among its aims ‘collaborative consumption’–getting people to consume efficiently by sharing and renting rather than purchasing new products all the time.  Rentcycle is one of the companies that it invests in.

Seems like there is a lot of potential in web companies reducing search costs for reusing products.  eBay is largely a market for second-hand goods, which means people can throw out less.

I wonder if there are limits to the potential of these kinds of services.  Is there a maximal market efficiency for product reuse that we are headed for?