The Right to Repair Act. A Big Step, or a Small Footprint?

Do you know about the Right to Repair Act?

In July 2017, the European Parliament approved recommendations that member states should pass laws that give consumers the right to repair their electronics

The European Parliament approved recommendations back in 2017 that member states should pass laws that give consumers the right to repair their electronics. The legislation was passed in October 2019, with the aim that after 2021, required manufacturers of electronic appliances should be able to supply replacement parts to professional repairmen for ten years from the date of manufacture. (Read more here)

What does this mean for the technology industry?

As far as smartphones, displays and laptops are concerned – not much, unfortunately. The legislations cover certain appliances, such as dishwashers and washing machines, so that consumers aren’t buying new appliances and disposing of old ones unnecessarily.

Many people, including us here at EET, were confused when the list left out handheld electronic devices. In a political climate, businesses are trying to do all they can to offset their carbon footprints. For example, here at EET you may well know that we partnered with Ecologi to plant a tree for every five outbound deliveries we make. In addition, the focus of our own brand CoreParts is to offer spare parts for digital accessories, so that we can reuse and recycle our devices without adding to the ever-growing amount of electronic waste produced each year.

Although it is a step in the right direction, if you look at the bigger picture, more needs to be done sooner rather than later. The United Nations University estimated that 49.8 million tonnes of e-waste were generated worldwide in 2018. Calculated into just smartphones, this is the equivalent of 9,023 phones being thrown away every second of the entire year!

In the UK for example, the graph below shows a drastic decline in electronic waste between Q1 and Q3 of 2020. However, that number skyrocketed after Q3 of 2020 to above the average amount of waste calculated since 2013.

How can you do your part?

Here at EET, we provide logistic solutions. One of the solutions to e-waste is the services we provide through Server, Computer and Printer Parts. Take Dell for example; did you know we are the exclusive distributor in the EU of Dell spare parts and accessories?

We offer a range of products, including batteries, AC adapters, memory, hard disk drives, displays, docks, internal keyboard and much more. By doing this, we can support repair shop businesses to keep consumer’s devices carrying on for longer. If a laptop acquires a hardware fault, let’s say, a cracked display, more people believe it’s ‘time to get a new laptop’ rather than considering a repair.

The Right to Repair legislation is a good move into a greener world, but it should cover the most common electronic appliances, especially when they make up the larger volume of electronic waste per year.

Help your business and consumers more eco-friendly by urging them to repair, not replace!