BERLIN (AP) – Companies selling refrigerators, washing machines, hair dryers 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 is accumulates every year on the continent.
The “right to reparation”, as it is sometimes called, enters into force on Monday in the entire bloc of the 27 nations. It is part of a wider effort to reduce the environmental footprint of manufactured goods, making them more sustainable and energy efficient.
“This is a really 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 repairing them.
Modern appliances are often glued or riveted together, he said. “If you need specialized tools or need to open the device, then you can’t repair it.”
The lack of spare parts is another problem, say the militants. Sometimes a single broken tooth on a small plastic sprocket can throw a proverbial key into work.
“People want to repair their devices,” Affelt said. “When you tell them that there are no spare parts for a device that is only a few years old, then they are obviously frustrated.”
Under the new EU rules, manufacturers will have to ensure that parts are available for up to a decade, although some will only be provided to professional repair companies to ensure they are installed correctly.
New devices will also need to come with repair manuals and be made in such a way that they can be disassembled using conventional tools when they can no longer be repaired, to improve recycling.
Every year, Europeans produce more than 16 kilograms of electrical waste per person. About half of this waste is due to broken household appliances, and the EU recycles only about 40% of it, leaving behind huge amounts of potentially hazardous materials.
German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said that in a next step, manufacturers should specify how long they expect a product to work and repair it if it fails earlier. This would encourage companies to build more sustainable products, she said.
“In repair shops we see a lot of 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 a planned expiration date.
Knowing that a device will really last for a decade could lead consumers to choose products that are more durable or can be easily repaired, he said.
“For the vast majority of devices, repair is the right choice,” Affelt said, adding that the exception could be old, inefficient refrigerators that can contain strong greenhouse gases that fuel climate change.
In a next step, environmentalists and consumer rights groups want to extend the “right to repair” to include smartphones, laptops and other small electrical devices.
In response to growing demand, Apple announced last year that it will begin providing training and spare parts to certified independent repair shops that repair Mac computers, not just iPhones.
The right to redress bills has been introduced in several US state legislatures, attracting bipartisan support, although there are still no national measures in place.
Sweden has gone further than most of the EU, making repairs and spare parts subject to value added tax lower.
The green building design directive – which includes the right to repair – will also review existing energy labels that describe how much washing machines and other household appliances consume. The new seven-step scale from A to G will be complemented by a QR code that provides consumers with additional information, such as how powerful the devices are.