Massachusetts lawmakers have adopted an aggressive approach to reducing carbon emissions as part of a suite of changes geared toward addressing climate change, but authors of a new report say lawmakers are also tolerating huge amounts of avoidable electronic waste while simultaneously leaving consumers on the hook for added costs.
The report, released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, examined commonly encountered repair problems and concluded that each American family disposes an average of 176 pounds of electronic waste a year, and much of that waste could be avoided if a bill governing access to digital repair information were passed.
Authors blame “monopolies on repair and relentless marketing of new products” for limiting repair options and forcing consumers to buy new products when they run into problems with appliances and eletronic devices.
“Because of barriers to repair, we waste a staggering amount of materials and money, which can have devastating repercussions for both our planet and our family finances,” said Janet Domenitz, executive director of MASSPIRG.
Researchers assessed data from iFixit, a repair site visited by more than 2 million unique users from Massachusetts in 2020. The top devices that visitors attempted to fix were cellphones, laptops, automobiles, gaming consoles, tablets, vacuums, desktop computers, smart watches, appliances, and gaming controllers.
The report, “What Bay Staters are Fixing,” said seven of the top 10 most popular manufacturers of devices that Bay Staters were trying to fix restrict access to parts and service information, listing those manufacturers as Apple, Samsung, Google, Sony, Microsoft, SharkNinja, and Nintendo.
Digital right to repair bills (H 341 / S 166), which have attracted more than 75 cosponsors, were filed at the start of 2021 but have not emerged for a public hearing yet before the Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, which is co-chaired by Rep. Tackey Chan of Quincy and Sen. Susan Moran of Falmouth.
“Repair restrictions can affect communities in many ways, especially those in low-income areas,” Alex Castillo, owner of DigiTech Electronic Solutions in Roslindale, said in a statement. “In my eight-plus years serving my community, I’ve seen the number of devices we can prevent from going to landfills by extending their life cycle, as well as the amount of money our community can save. But restrictions are limiting the amount of devices we can save and are forcing people to replace expensive devices.”
