Did you know that it’s impossible to replace displays and batteries in the iPhone 15 without losing features, all because of built-in software locks? Today, repairs of electronic devices are made artificially harder and more expensive by companies preventing the repair of devices by third parties. This is commonly done through proprietary screws to open the device, adhesives that make it impossible to remove components manually, and serialized software locks that prevent non-original components from functioning. For newer items such as iPhones and MacBooks, repair prices are almost as high as new devices themselves. By enforcing comprehensive right-to-repair laws for consumer electronics, state lawmakers would endow repairmen and consumers with the ability to fix their devices more easily. This would lead to cost savings for consumers and an e-waste reduction.
Since the pandemic, I have been immersed in technology, such as phones, consoles, PCs, and laptops. The virtual aspect of my education during the pandemic only made it more obvious how crucial technology is to people. During that time, technology was my form of socialization, education, and communication; it was my portal to the outside world. Since then, I have paid more attention and care to the health of the important electronic devices in our lives. I have done repairs and modifications to various electronics in my household. I’ve also experienced my share of tech problems, possible repairs, and how they were made unfeasible by marked-up expensive components and impossible-to-replace screens and batteries.
The irreparability of electronics makes consumers buy products more frequently. This increases the cost of owning electronics and encourages the disposal of electronics. The disposal of electronics is environmentally harmful due to disposed electronics leeching dangerous chemicals and rare minerals into the environment (Cooper). One key point from the news site WBUR is that Americans throw away nearly 151.8 million phones in a single year (Proctor). If you account for the average price of a smartphone being $790, that is nearly 120 billion dollars total spent if every disposed of cell phone was replaced. This huge number of phones shows that there’s a massive production of e-waste. Consumers are throwing away millions of old phones to buy new ones, costing exorbitant amounts of money, which wastes the many precious and volatile materials that go into the production of a phone. The difficulty in repairing phones encourages the trashing of broken electronics instead of repair. According to a survey by the tech news site SlashGear, “55.47% of people chose to upgrade their phones once every two to three years” (White). The article cites slowdowns and breakdowns of components such as batteries and screens as reasons for the replacement, all issues prompted by electronics’ irreparability (White). In conclusion, the lack of repairability for crucial components such as batteries and screens for phones prompts the replacement and disposal of old phones, costing consumers more money in buying entirely new products and creating toxic environmental waste.
By enforcing comprehensive ‘right-to-repair’ laws for consumer electronics, state lawmakers would endow repairmen and consumers with the ability to fix their devices easily, leading to cost savings for consumers and an e-waste reduction. Wider adoption of right-to-repair legislation in multiple states would influence companies to universally create more repairable devices nationally due to a lack of widespread, thorough legislation. An article in The OC Register remarked, “If Californians used their smartphones for just one year longer on average, it would have the same benefits to climate as taking 75,800 cars off the road” (Miller). Right-to-repair legislation could facilitate the easy repairs of phones, allowing them to last longer to achieve those climate savings. The same article reported that “opting for repair over replacement could save California families $4.3 billion per year … That’s an average of $330 per family” (Miller). Right-to-repair legislation advocates for easier device repairability, allowing hundreds of dollars to be saved in households. In addition to reducing environmental harm, the right-to-repair saves people money by extending the lives of their electronic devices.
Some people may argue that the right-to-repair may hurt the Consumer Electronics Market by forcing companies to allow repairs and sell fewer products, hurting their bottom line and encouraging the use of older products that are less environmentally friendly (Harvard Business). However, opponents of right-to-repair don’t recognize that comprehensive right-to-repair laws would invigorate parts and repair companies, negating any total economic loss from the legislation. While older devices tend to be less energy efficient, the use and repair of older devices have the environmental benefit of preventing further toxic e-waste (Cooper). Right-to-repair has both economic and environmental benefits that outweigh any potential drawbacks.
State legislators enacting right-to-repair laws would positively affect the environment and save money for consumers by allowing easier repair of tech devices. By advocating for right-to-repair, you are also advocating for a sustainable future, one where technology can last affordably and is as easy on the environment as it is on our wallets.
References
Cooper, Liz. “How Right-to-repair Can Help Reduce E-Waste – Human-i-T.” Human-i-t, 21 July 2023, www.human-i-t.org/right-to-repair-e-waste/#:~:text=A%20study%20published%20in%20Waste,materials%20and%20energy%20for%20production.
Miller, Nathaniel, and Sander Kushen. “The Legislature Should Approve the Right-to-repair Act to Help Ordinary Consumers Save Money.” Orange County Register, Orange County Register, 24 Aug. 2023, www.ocregister.com/2023/08/24/the-legislature-should-approve-the-right-to-repair-act-to-help-ordinary-consumers-save-money/.
Proctor, Nathan. “Americans Toss 151 Million Phones a Year. What If We Could Repair Them Instead?” Cognoscenti, WBUR, 11 Dec. 2018, www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2018/12/11/right-to-repair-nathan-proctor.
“Research: The Unintended Consequences of Right-to-Repair Laws.” Harvard Business Review, 20 Jan. 2023, hbr.org/2023/01/research-the-unintended-consequences-of-right-to-repair-laws.
White, Monica J. “A Surprising Number of People We Polled Said They Upgrade Their Phone Every Year.” SlashGear, SlashGear, 18 Aug. 2022, www.slashgear.com/970484/a-surprising-number-of-people-we-polled-said-they-upgrade-their-phone-every-year/.
