Calls for 'right to repair' electronics laws grow louder across Europe
Found on The Register on Tuesday, 01 December 2020
The paper, called Electronic Waste and the Circular Economy, cites UN statistics stating the UK produces the second-highest amount of e-waste per capita globally, after Norway. At 23.9kg per person, this vastly exceeds the world average of 7.3kg per capita, as well as European averages, at 16.2kg.
The paper references design practices where previously easy-to-remove components, such as hard drives and memory, are now soldered to circuit boards, or affixed to the chassis with intractable dollops of glue.
It's about time. If you buy a product, you should have the right to do everything with it you want, and that includes repairs. If you take a look at old electronics, you'll notice how they were designed to be repairable.