Environment
Petition: Alliance demands repair bonus for electrical appliances
In the fight against too much electronic waste, an action alliance is calling for financial incentives for repairs of electronic devices. photo
© Lisa Ducret/dpa
Around 20 kilos of electronic waste is generated per capita in Germany every year. This not only puts a considerable strain on the climate. An action alliance is now sending a petition to Environment Minister Lemke.
In the fight against electronic waste, an action alliance is calling for a nationwide repair bonus of up to 200 euros. “Our consumption of metallic raw materials contributes massively to the climate crisis and leads to human rights violations in the Global South,” said Julius Neu, raw materials expert at the development policy network Inkota on Monday. In order to use metals sustainably, it is important that they finally become cheaper to repair.
According to the alliance, anyone who wants to repair their old laptop in the future should receive half of the costs as a subsidy from the state, up to a maximum of 200 euros. According to its own information, the alliance has collected 70,000 signatures, which it presented to the Federal Environment Minister on Tuesday Steffi Lemke (Greens) wants to present. In addition to Inkota and Nabu, 24 organizations are behind the call.
According to the announcement, Austria has already introduced a corresponding subsidy, and repairs are also being funded in this way in several federal states such as Thuringia or are being considered. Every person in Germany produces around 20 kilograms of electronic waste every year, it said. Less than a quarter of all defective electrical devices are repaired. However, surveys have shown that many consumers would like to do more repairs.