The right to repair! 6 reasons to be hopeful

With the fantastic news that the long-awaited ‘right to repair’ law is about to be introduced in both the EU and the UK this summer, the team at Sugru wanted to highlight some reasons to celebrate. We're hopeful that this step in the right direction will impact the wider repair movement. Let's look at what we can expect.

Yes, it may sound obvious, but the companies making the products we buy will be legally obliged to make spare parts available to consumers for the first time! A groundbreaking new legal right for repairs in the EU and the UK.

The new law aims to extend the lifespan of these products by up to 10 years, benefiting consumers financially and the environment. Win, win.

Yes, talking of finances, it's estimated that higher energy efficiency standards will save consumers an average of £75 a year on bills over their lifetimes. Sah-weet!

Built-in obsolescence or premature obsolescence is nothing new, but happily, it’s now a hot topic. Discussions around products with deliberately short lifespans are shining a light on this insidious and wasteful practice. Fixers have always known that repair frees us from such needless upgrades.

When tech manufacturers enable their products to be opened up and repaired, there is a glimmer of hope at tackling the terrifying amounts of electrical waste made.

According to The Global E-waste Monitor 2020, we generated a whopping 53.6 million metric tonnes of the stuff in 2019! It makes sense: if we double the lives of our things, we can halve what goes to landfill.

Confusion could be a thing of the past with the new energy labelling, set to help us all make more informed choices on how to reduce our consumption and bills. Out with the old A+, A++, or A+++ system and in with the new A–G scale. A (green) is for ace products that consume the least energy. G (red) is for greedy products that consume the most energy.