October 19 was the international repair day in SETEM. This year the ORA has also presented the main conclusions of its last report based on the data from community repair initiatives. Data collected from around 208,000 reported repair attempts of electronic devices has been used. Since the arrival of the first Repair Cafes in 2009, the initiatives have continued to grow: in the last year, the ORA has recorded almost 70,000 repair attempts, which shows that people are willing to extend the useful life of their products when given the necessary spaces and means to do so.
The data: What do people repair?
Among the most repaired products are vacuum cleaners (16,056), lamps (13,782), and coffee machines (12,426). Lamps also have the highest success rate, with 70% of successful repairs, followed by sewing machines and hair dryers. On the other hand, devices such as video cameras and monitors have the lowest repair rates. Their success rates stand below 40%, which shows that many electronic devices are designed without thinking about their repair.
Obstacles: design, spare pieces, and their unreasonable price.
According to the collected data, a successful repair was possible in only 53% of cases. This figure shows the main obstacle of repairs: spare parts. In 25% of cases, repairs are not possible due to a lack of spare parts, and in 18% it is due to the high price of these parts. Many companies sell spare parts at exorbitant prices, discouraging repairs by making it more expensive than buying a new product. Another 16% of products have a design that makes them practically irreparable, since they cannot be opened or disassembled. The ORA report proves the need for a more robust legislation that forces the market to encourage repairs instead of making them more difficult. To tackle this problem, a legislative framework is needed that protects consumers’ repair rights.
Among the over 208,000 attempts registered at Repair Cafés so far, only 40 products (0.0002%) are covered by the new European Directive of 2024. This is because the product categories covered so far only involve televisions and household appliances. Besides, the only products on the European market that are already sold under the reparability requirements of the ecodesign legislation are models introduced on the market from the 1st of March 2021.
Regarding smartphones and tablets, the new regulations to improve their repairability will not be introduced until June 2025, and they will only involve the new models. This leaves a significant gap in the repairability of most everyday electronic devices, especially those purchased before the law takes effect.
People have the will to repair
However, the ORA report also reveals that people involved in voluntary repair activities do everything in their power to keep products in use for as long as possible. While smartphones, the main victims of planned obsolescence, arrive at repair events with an average of less than 5 years, other devices last longer than expected. Laptops, tablets and headphones are usually used for up to 10 years, hair dryers and consoles reach up to 15 years, and some sewing machines and watches exceed the 25-year mark. This implies that most products are used for much longer than the 10 years of repair support that current European regulations include, which underlines the need to extend the availability of affordable spare parts beyond the current period in order to meet the existing demand.
Community repair is not just about fixing broken devices, it involves changing our relationship with the devices themselves. We need to normalize repair, and make it accessible and affordable, so that it becomes the first choice for consumers, and we must also change our perspective as citizens to promote a culture of responsibility and sustainability. This report reveals that many people are already willing to repair: what we need now is to make it possible.
