Plans of the traffic light government: Where the right to repairs gets stuck

Away from the throwaway society: The federal government wants to strengthen the right to repairs. What regulations are already in place? What is planned? And what does it actually do for climate protection?

From smartphones to kettles to refrigerators: if something breaks, it is often simply thrown away and a new product bought. This wastes money and resources and harms the climate. Politicians therefore want to strengthen the right to repairs.

What is the right to repair?

The right to repair is not covered by a single law, it is a bundle of measures and legal regulations. The idea here: Repairs to electrical and electronic equipment should become easier and more attractive so that the products can be used longer and not thrown away so quickly.

Repairs are currently often lengthy and expensive, and sometimes not even possible. According to the Federal Environment Agency, around one million tons of electronic waste are disposed of in Germany every year, plus devices that simply end up in household waste or, above all, mobile phones, in drawers.

Which regulations already exist?

As part of an EU directive, manufacturers have been obliged since 2021 to offer spare parts for certain devices for a period of up to ten years. The specification refers, for example, to refrigerators, dishwashers, washing machines and televisions. Manufacturers must provide repair instructions. And the devices must be built in such a way that they can be dismantled with conventional tools.

A similar regulation for smartphones and tablets is planned. Batteries should be easier to replace, and security updates should also be mandatory for older models.

What ideas are there abroad?

Example France: There has been a “repair index” since 2021. A rating traffic light, similar to the energy label, shows how easy it is to repair a device – from red (hard to repair) to green (well repairable). The index was initially introduced for washing machines, smartphones, televisions, notebooks and lawn mowers. The evaluation includes how easily the devices can be dismantled, how quickly spare parts are delivered and what they cost.

Example Austria: If you have broken electrical and electronic equipment repaired, you get 50 percent of the repair costs back from the state, up to a maximum of 200 euros per repair. Consumers can apply for repair vouchers online, which are then redeemed in the repair workshops. The so-called “repair bonus” is a funding campaign by the Austrian Ministry of Climate Protection. Similar pilot projects have also been started in Germany, for example in Thuringia.

Both the repair index and the repair bonus not only have a specific use, but are also intended to draw more attention to the topic.

What are the politicians planning?

In its coalition agreement, the traffic light government promises to extend the right to repairs. She explains that the goal is to extend the useful life of products and to move away from the throwaway society. Specifically, the federal government wants to work for more EU-wide guidelines. If that takes too long, there should be national rules, for example with a repair index based on the French model. The Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection also promises to strengthen independent repair initiatives, such as the existing repair cafés. They should be easier to get spare parts.

The EU Commission has announced a legislative proposal on the “right to repair” for 2023. Repair options and the costs for spare parts should become more transparent. Manufacturers would then have to ensure that spare parts are standardized and are mandatory for a certain period of time.

What does the right to repair do for climate protection?

Concrete calculations are complicated. However, in a study for the EU Commission, the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration came to the conclusion that the useful life of smartphones could increase from three to four years on average if the cell phones were built to be more durable and easier to repair. Applied to other devices, the amount of electronic waste and the CO2 footprint could be reduced by a quarter, estimates Karsten Schischke, an engineer at the Fraunhofer Institute, im daily News-Future Podcast times accepted.

When it comes to the eco-balance, you always have to weigh up what makes more sense: Have an old device that uses a lot of energy repaired and continue to use it? Or buy a new, more economical device? The environmental sociologist Tamina Hipp from the Center for Technology and Society at the TU Berlin has the rule of thumb: A kettle or toaster should always be repaired, and washing machines or refrigerators should be looked at more closely.