74 REAL-LEADERS.COM / SPRING 2022 LEADING LEADERS 76 MONEY 77 CLIMATE ACTION 78 SOCIAL IMPACT 74 INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY 79 INVESTING Innovation & Technology Consumers’ Right-toRepair Revolution Is on the Rise Making it easier to repair consumer goods would cut waste, lower emissions, and help consumers. Designing products with repairs in mind and allowing your customers to become technicians can further endear them to your brand. James Sampson runs a tech repair shop in suburban Washington, DC, fixing wayward phones and lagging laptops. He sees his tiny store as one part of a brave, new consumer rights revolution that can protect the planet too. Increasingly concerned about electronic waste and planetwarming emissions, European and U.S. lawmakers want manufacturers to make it easier for people like Sampson to repair the gadgets that are now so intrinsic to daily life. “This is what we need more of in our society because we throw away too many things,” says Sampson, who recently opened two additional Wireless Rxx branches in Arlington, Virginia, and plans more to meet growing demand. His typical customer is “a mom with a broken iPad or a teenager from a local school,” many of whom balk at the lost time and cost of authorized repairs, if they can get one at all. Often, that means the alternative is dumping the faulty device. Critics say many manufacturers try to make their products difficult to repair by denying customer access to parts or schematics, or simply by designing devices that break if opened. Some companies have pushed back, highlighting product integrity and user safety, but regulatory pressure for change is building. In March last year, Europe required manufacturers of washing machines, dishwashers, fridges, and TV screens to make parts available to professional repairers for at least 10 years after retiring a product. Officials are now turning to phones and other digital devices. What’s-next economies,getting future-ready,and visionary thinking In July last year, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission unanimously voted to work toward restoring the “right to repair” after a study found “scant evidence to support manufacturers’ justifications for repair restrictions.” Software and the spread of computerization into products that were once purely mechanical have enabled companies to resist repairs, says Nathan Proctor, director of the nonprofit US PIRG Campaign for the Right to Repair. “One result ... is people don’t expect things to be fixed. And as those expectations have gone away, companies have put less and less into design that facilitates repairs,” he says. New laws promoting repair could prompt a rebirth of small, independent fix-it shops, he points out, reminding consumers that a broken device need not be trashed. The world dumped a record 53.6 million tons of e-waste in 2019, according to the United Nations, with just 17.4% being recycled. The UN says the trend is “unsustainable.” The amount of electronic waste, or e-waste, produced globally is increasing by up to 4% a year, according to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum. Recycling helps reduce e-waste and the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the manufacture of replacement goods. “Every ton of WEEE recycled avoids around 2 tons of CO2 emissions,” says Pascal Leroy, head of the organization. “Last year, 27 U.S. states introduced repair bills, though none has yet passed,” says Kyle Wiens, chief executive of iFixit, the largest online archive of repair
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