BERLIN (AP) – Companies selling refrigerators, washers, hairdryers or TVs in the European Union will need to ensure that these appliances can be repaired for up to 10 years, to help reduce the vast mountain of electrical waste that accumulates each year. on the continent.
The “right to repair”, as it is sometimes called, goes into effect across the 27-nation bloc on Monday. It is part of a broader effort to reduce the environmental footprint of manufactured products, making them more durable and energy efficient.
“This is a big step in the right direction,” said Daniel Affelt, of the environmental group BUND-Berlin, which runs several “repair cafes” where people can bring their broken appliances and get help to fix them again.
Modern devices are often glued or riveted, he said. “If you need specialized tools or have to break the device, you can’t fix it.”
The lack of spare parts is another problem, activists say. Sometimes, a single broken tooth on a tiny plastic sprocket can cause a proverbial screwdriver.
“People want to fix their appliances,” said Affelt. “When you tell them that there are no spare parts for a device that is only a few years old, they are obviously very frustrated by it.”
According to the new EU rules, manufacturers will have to ensure that parts are available for up to a decade, although some are only provided to professional repair companies to ensure they are installed correctly.
New devices will also have to come with repair manuals and be made in such a way that they can be disassembled with conventional tools when they can no longer be repaired, to improve recycling.
Each year, Europeans produce more than 16 kg (35 pounds) of electrical waste per person. About half of that waste is due to broken appliances, and the EU recycles only about 40% of it, leaving behind large quantities of potentially dangerous material.
German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said that in a next step, manufacturers should declare how long a product should work for and repair it if it breaks sooner. This would encourage companies to manufacture more durable products, she said.
“In repair cafes, we see many devices that broke shortly after the warranty expired,” said Affelt – a phenomenon that has led some environmentalists to accuse manufacturers of designing their devices with planned obsolescence.
Knowing that an appliance will actually last a decade can lead consumers to choose products that are more durable or easy to repair, he said.
“For the vast majority of devices, repair is the right choice,” said Affelt, adding that the exception may be old, inefficient refrigerators that can contain powerful greenhouse gases that fuel climate change.
In a next step, environmentalists and consumer rights groups want the “right to fix” to be expanded to include smartphones, laptops and other small electrical devices.
Responding to growing demand, Apple announced last year that it would start providing training and replacement parts for repairing certified independent Mac computers, not just iPhones.
Laws on the right to reparations have been presented in several US state legislatures, attracting bipartisan support, although there is still no national measure in place.
Sweden has gone further than most of the EU, subjecting repairs and spare parts to a lower value added tax.
The block’s eco-design guideline – of which the right to the repair requirement is part – will also review existing energy labels that describe how much power washers and other household devices consume. The new seven-step scale from A to G will be complemented by a QR code that provides consumers with more information, such as the volume of the devices.