Apple, the Right to Repair and the Growing Mountain of E-waste
Written by Anthea Bicakcioglu
Posted on December 4 2020
Apple’s Repair Policy
In a nutshell, Apple only provides authorized service providers with genuine apple replacement parts. This implies that regular repair shops and individuals are not able to get hold of spare parts to repair Apple products. On top of that, no information is shared by the megacorporation on how to conduct repair work on their products. As a justification, Apple claims that they are merely protecting their products from intellectual property theft and preventing wrongly conducted repairs.
Right to Repair Movement
Importance of the Right to Repair
The Consequences of E-waste
First and foremost, overconsumption has always been the enemy of a balanced and climate-friendly society. The production and use of electronic and electrical devices are responsible for large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
Secondly, e-waste poses a lot of risks for the populations exposed to it and the planet in general. As most e-waste is dumped in ‘developing countries’, ‘developed countries’ shift the responsibility of the treatment of e-waste onto countries that often lack the facilities to cope with the amount of e-waste received. Once e-waste has been dumped in ‘developing countries’, locals begin to dissect the electronic and electrical devices in search of valuable materials that can be resold. Lacking measures and means to protect themselves, accidents are common. Sometimes, locals burn the e-waste in order to have better access to valuable materials. E-waste contains hazardous materials, such as mercury, lead ,and GHG such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which are being released into the atmosphere and soil when being burned. This process is not only highly dangerous for humans, but it also contributed extensively to climate change. CFSs, for instance, cause the disappearance of the ozone layer, which is indispensable for blocking solar radiation, making life potentially impossible for many species on earth.
Conclusion
- If you want to be up to date, regarding the tight to repair in the EU, check out this link: https://repair.eu/
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A consortium of useful tutorials and tips on how to repair your defective electrical devices: https://www.ifixit.com/
Sources
[2] https://repair.org/history
[3] https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/publikationen/einfluss-der-nutzungsdauer-von-produkten-auf-ihre-1
[4] https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Environment/Pages/Spotlight/Global-Ewaste-Monitor-2020.asp