Right to Repair

I’ve seen an increasing amount of chatter and even had a few messages lately about Right to Repair - but what is it exactly? The right to Repair is a legislative initiative that recognises the need for consumers to have the necessary means to repair products. It’s a godsend to engineers and has the added benefit of reducing the amount of e-waste that ends up damaging our planet. That’s why I decided that it was a good point to explore a little further.   

Which products are covered by the Right to Repair?

Currently, the Right to Repair Law covers loads of appliances, like household electronics, kitchen appliances, and cars. The law ensures that consumers have the means to repair products they have purchased instead of disposing of them, and that the necessary spare parts and tools are made available within two years of the product going on the market. 

It also ensures that manufacturers are required to make the necessary repairs for products that are still under warranty, and cannot force the customer to accept a new product in lieu of one that is repairable.

However, the Right to Repair Law does not cover some of the most common devices, such as smartphones and laptops. This is a major limitation of the legislation, and it needs to be improved in order to include these devices. Additionally, and more to the point, the law does not cover network equipment, which is a major component of modern technology.

Why is the Right to Repair so important?

One of the obvious advantages of keeping kit in service is that it means less e-waste going to landfill. I recently asked my team to do a little ‘digging’ around the subject to see just how much waste is produced by electronic products and the results really surprised me. According to theroundup.org, there are 347 million metric tons of e-waste polluting the Earth right now, and that figure is steadily increasing as I write. It’s estimated that just this year, a further 61.3 million metric tons will be produced globally. That’s an astronomically high amount of waste, and it is important that consumers are given the means to repair and reuse these products rather than throw them away. This is what the Right to Repair law aims to achieve, but while the legislation is a fantastic step in the right direction, it needs a wider movement to have the kind of impact needed.

In the coming years, we can expect to see more organisations such as The Restart Project working to foster a more sustainable relationship between consumers and electronics. 

The Restart Project is a people-powered social enterprise that seeks to change our linear relationship with electronics and promote the reuse and repair of products by offering repair workshops and training courses to help consumers learn how to repair their own electronics. This organisation is leading the way in the Right to Repair movement and is making great progress in reducing e-waste.

How does GoCommunications contribute to Right to Repair?

An important part of the Right to Repair movement is the promotion of refurbished electronics. Call me biased, but refurbished products, like our wide range of network equipment, provide a great way for consumers to save money and reduce e-waste. 

If you’ve been following me for any amount of time, you’ll know how passionate I am about fostering a circular economy in the networking industry and giving a second lease of life to kit that may have been destined for the scrap heap. As the Right to Repair movement gains traction, I am even more committed to making refurbished network equipment the standard, not just an option.

Using refurbished network equipment is the most environmentally sustainable route in a few different ways. Firstly, it keeps functioning kit from going to waste. Sure, some of the kit we get through the door is beyond repair. But many refurbished network equipment items are discarded due to aesthetic wear and tear or minor faults that could easily have been rectified. Selling equipment to Go Communications means that instead of throwing away perfectly usable equipment, it can be repaired, tested, and resold at a lower cost.

Secondly, refurbished network equipment provides an affordable alternative to buying new, which can help to reduce the amount of new equipment that needs to be purchased. This drives down the amount of energy and resources that go into creating and shipping new equipment, which of course has a positive impact on the environment.

Finally, refurbished network equipment is a great way to support the Right to Repair movement where it has the most impact - at the level of the manufacturer. By purchasing refurbished equipment, you are helping to create a market for repairable items, which encourages manufacturers to make their products easier to repair and reduce the amount of electronic waste they produce.

How can you contribute to Right to Repair?

The first step is to challenge your own attitude towards electronics, and stop seeing them as disposable. Repairing your electronics instead of replacing them where possible is the most obvious way to use your right to repair, and this can often involve reconsidering how you think about these products, particularly mobile phones. 

But as I’ve talked about above, choosing refurbished network equipment is also a great way to minimise your contribution to the growing mountains of e-waste, support the Right to Repair movement, and save money.

So, if you’re considering throwing away your old or unwanted kit, I urge you to think again. We can buy it from you, and even come to pick it up, so there’s very little time or effort needed from you - all you need to do is pack it up safely, hand it off to our driver or courier, then sit back and wait for the payment to arrive in 2-3 working days. 

And as always, if you have any questions, drop me a line and I’d be happy to help!