Apple must investigate Zhengzhou's Foxconn factory

Foxconn workers in China flee the factory en masse

This past October there was an outbreak of COVID-19 at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou in China, the largest complex that produces iPhones for Apple, which houses different production plants. At the time, a spokesperson for Apple’s supplier said the impact was manageable and conditions at the factory were stable. However, the company prioritized maintaining production, rather than protecting workers from the outbreak. This unleashed further contagion, to which the … Read More

How to take care of your cell phone this summer

80% of the carbon footprint of our electronic devices is produced in the production phase, during the extraction of raw materials, transportation, manufacturing of the different parts, assembly, and distribution to points of sale. In addition, the manufacture of each device requires raw materials, many of which are extracted through mining. Mining has strong environmental impacts, such as loss of biodiversity, soil contamination, deforestation; and also social impacts, such as … Read More

We need an ambitious Catalan waste law!

SETEM Catalunya has joined forces with more than 20 organisations, trade unions and others to demand an ambitious waste law. We need the future waste law of Catalonia to go radically against the current model that makes natural resources disappear and generates a great deal of pollution. We have been in front of the Government of the Generalitat to support the demand for waste reduction, liquid toxic products, an economy … Read More

New York passes Digital Right to Repair Act

Original article by Alex Kamczyc – Recycling Today. Picture: Thilo Parg. CC licensed. The New York State Senate has passed the Digital Fair Repair Act, which will expand consumer access to tools and information to repair personal electronics. The bill passed on 3 June by a near-unanimous vote of 145 to 1. The bill requires original equipment manufacturers to make diagnostic information, replacement parts, schematics, special tools and firmware available … Read More

Austria funds repair of electronic devices

Original article (Markus Piringer and Orla Butler) The Austrian government launched a new bonus to promote the repair of electronic devices. The national scheme allows consumers to recover half the cost of repairing an old electrical device. Climate Minister Leonore Gewessler launched the scheme with the intention of “making repair attractive again”. Up to €200 of the cost of a repair is refunded, which means cheaper repairs, less e-waste and … Read More

The European Parliament calls for removable and replaceable batteries

Chloé Mikolajczak Campaigner, Right to Repair Europe   This week, the European Parliament voted in favor of making batteries more sustainable, including making them removable and replaceable. MEPs were voting in plenary on their report on  the battery regulation proposed by the European Commission in 2020. They adopted an ambitious position on the issue of removability and replaceability of batteries, a key aspect to extend the lifetime of electronic products … Read More

Serbia: Wave of protests achieves victories against lithium mining

Summary of the article written by Francisco Norega in guilhotina.info To foster economic growth, the Serbian government has recently made mineral resources available to foreign investors such as Rio Tinto and the Chinese mining group Zijin. Rio Tinto intends to open a 400-hectare lithium mine in an agricultural area along the Jadar River, 14 km from Loznica, a city of 20,000 inhabitants in western Serbia. The company assures that it … Read More

Non-replaceable batteries are bad news for the environment and consumers

Writen by Chloé Mikolajczak – Campaigner, Right to Repair Europe Most batteries cannot be easily removed, replaced or repaired, resulting in shorter device lifetimes. Planning to buy a smartphone, an e-bike or any other product that includes a rechargeable battery for Christmas? This new research, carried out by the Right to Repair campaign in collaboration with the EEB and the University of Lund shows that most batteries in today’s products … Read More

Union win for Turkish workers producing smart phones

When Salcomp Turkey, who produces smart phones for Chinese Xiaomi, the second largest smartphone maker in the world, fired 170 workers for joining a union, the union members took action. After six days, Salcomp agreed to reinstate all dismissed workers. Last month, workers at Salcomp decided to join IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Turk Metal. In return, company management launched a union busting campaign; workers were intimidated, threatened and 170 union … Read More

“Delivering Due Diligence” – A Timely Educational Series

Electronics Watch, IndustriAll Global Union, the Fair Trade Advocacy Office and Rethinking Value Chains come together to deliver an educational series on human rights and environmental due diligence. The new webinar series, with simultaneous translation to/from French, will develop an understanding of due diligence that can benefit workers and communities in a meaningful, measurable and transparent way. We will show how public buyers can apply and demand such a due diligence in their procurement process. Public … Read More

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