Right-to-Repair Milestone Is a Win for Tech Owners Everywhere — and the Planet

The US has just hit a major milestone at the intersection of consumer rights and sustainability. As of last week, all 50 states have introduced right-to-repair legislation — that is, laws designed to give people a legal right to fix their own tech, or take it to someone of their own choosing to have it repaired.

New York was the first state to sign right-to-repair legislation into law back in 2022, followed by California, Minnesota, Oregon and Colorado. The final state to introduce legislation was Wisconsin. Not every state has passed legislation at this stage, but the fact that there’s no state in the US where it isn’t being seriously discussed can be read as a victory for all of us owners of tech everywhere – as well as for the planet. 

The milestone “isn’t just a legislative achievement – it’s a cultural revolution,” Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, an online community, advocacy group and parts retailer, told me over email.

I’ve been covering consumer technology and climate change for years, and nowhere do the two topics intersect more closely than the problems caused by e-waste and the potential solutions created by accessible repair. The boom in right-to-repair legislation “reflects the growing concerns over the sheer volume of e-waste derived from consumer electronics products,” says Ben Wood, chief analyst at CCS Insight.

The amount of electronic waste humans produce annually hit 62 million tons in 2022, according to last year’s UN E-waste monitor — that’s enough to fill a convoy of 40-ton trucks to stretch around the Equator. This increases pollution risks, as well as creating more emissions through the energy needed to produce replacement devices for the ones we discard. Both factors feed into the climate crisis, which is causing more extreme weather events across our increasingly hotter planet.

A small but mighty part of the solution is to ensure we’re maximizing the lifespan of any tech we do buy, keeping it out of landfill for as long as possible. Unfortunately, tech companies don’t always want us to do this — it benefits their profit margins more if we buy replacements, rather than fix what we already have. 

In the past decade or so, we’ve seen tech companies including Apple and Samsung take important steps to improve the lifespan of devices by introducing refurbishment programs and even allowing you to do your own repairs, at least to some degree. But that doesn’t mean they’re perfect — far from it.

The planned obsolescence of technology tracks back to auto companies in the early 20th century, and the short lifecycle of expensive products is still a widespread problem today. Tech companies still want you to always be thinking about their next upgrade.

It’s easy to forget when you buy a new phone you’ve been excited for, that some day in the not-too-distant future, it’s going to slow down to the point of becoming unusable, or simply break. 

“Consumers have developed a love affair with gadgets but seldom consider what happens to them when they stop working,” said Wood over email. “Any efforts to make it easier to repair products and extend their lives has to be applauded.”

The driving force behind the slew of right-to-repair legislation popping up across the US — and Europe as well — is a movement formed of public interest groups, farmers, professionals and tech owners just like you. A grassroots effort has had an impact at a national, if not federal, scale. 

“We’re witnessing the rebirth of a repair economy that values sustainability over planned obsolescence and empowers individuals over corporate gatekeepers,” said Wiens.

It’s not a partisan issue, he adds, aligning farmers in rural areas, who want to be able to fix their high-tech tractors, with urban tech nerds on the need to have true ownership over their tech. 

“Each state that introduces legislation is another community recognizing that when you ‘own’ something you can’t understand, maintain, or modify, you’re not an owner at all — just a perpetual renter with an upfront fee,” Wiens said.

And so, next time you’re replacing your giant but janky TV, or wondering whether the declining battery life of your smartwatch means you’ll have to replace it, just remember that you might have another option. And soon, if not already (depending on where you live), that option may in fact be a right enshrined in law — in which case, no tech company should make it impossible for you to do whatever you please to your tech to ensure it lives its fullest and longest possible life.