environment
Against the throwaway society
Electronic waste in a hall of a recycling company. Photo: Marcel Kusch/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Smartphones, laptops, televisions – many devices allow the mountain of electronic waste to continue to grow after only a short period of use. In order to change that, the government is also relying on new information for consumers.
According to plans by the federal government, consumers in Germany should be able to have defective mobile phones or other products repaired more easily in the future.
“With the right to repairs, we will take an important step out of the throwaway society,” said Federal Consumer Protection Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) of the German Press Agency in Berlin. “It makes sense to have a repairability index that shows how easy it is to repair a product,” says Lemke.
Repairability Index
SPD, Greens and FDP had announced a “right to repair” in their coalition agreement. According to the coalition plans, the service life and repairability of a product should become “a recognizable feature of the product’s properties”. Lemke pointed out that France had already set a repairability index. An index was introduced here at the beginning of last year, which uses various criteria to provide information on how easy it is to repair smartphones, laptops, televisions, lawnmowers or other devices. Lemke said: “I would like to develop this in a European context and introduce it in Germany.”
At the turn of the year, the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations called on the federal government to initiate the planned right to repairs by mid-March. Lemke now said: “I want to initiate a broad social debate that will give us a new understanding of how to deal with consumer goods. Consumers should be able to use products for as long as possible.”
More than ten kilos of electronic waste per capita
There are already repair specifications at EU level. For example, manufacturers of washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators and other large household appliances must ensure that spare parts are available for seven to ten years. The aim is to reduce the enormous amounts of electronic waste that accumulate in Europe every year. On average, every German citizen produces more than ten kilograms of electronic waste every year. According to the European Parliament, only 42 percent of the e-waste generated in the EU is recycled.
Lemke outlined what a “right to repair” should bring in concrete terms from her point of view. “In concrete terms, this means, for example: Smartphones and tablets must be built in such a way that their battery and individual parts – as far as technically feasible – can be easily removed and replaced.” The Green politician said: “In the future, nobody should have to throw away a working mobile phone just because the battery is no longer working.”
In principle, the industry reacted openly to the plans – but called for differentiated solutions depending on the product. In the case of large household appliances, it could make more ecological sense to buy new, energy-efficient products than to repair old ones, the industry association BDI noted. The digital association Bitkom had warned that if all spare parts were to be produced and stored in the stockpile in the future, the environmental balance could become negative.
The coalition agreement also provides consumers with access to spare parts and repair instructions. Manufacturers should also have to provide updates during normal usage times.