Waste Reduction Week & The Right to Repair

It’s Waste Reduction Week in Canada and today’s theme is e-Waste, so that’s what I’m here to talk about!

Waste Reduction Week: eWaste Stats

The Waste Reduction Week Canada website has some great resources and facts on e-waste. First up, a definition: “Electronic waste (e-waste) includes unwanted electronic equipment, such as smart devices and used cables, as well as batteries and fluorescent lights (including compact fluorescent lights). The parts that make up your electronics, such as steel, glass, copper, aluminum, plastics and precious metals, can be recovered and made into new products.“

The facts:

• According to the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling, Canada generated 638,300 tonnes of “e-scrap” — electronic and electrical equipment — in 2017. That amount is expected to climb. By 2025, the BIR estimates that Canada and the U.S. will cumulatively generate 9.25 million metric tons of e-scrap in that year alone.
• E-waste is hazardous material. Over time, electronics can leak toxic elements, like mercury and lead, which can be harmful to the environment and to humans.
• On average, consumers keep cell phones for only two years before they trade them in or throw them out.  

Safe to say, e-waste is a growing problem on our planet and thus, we need options for both mitigating its impact and reducing the flow in the first place.

Setting the Stage

I thought I’d share my personal experience with e-waste and, specifically, the right-to-repair movement because it’s something I feel is super, duper important. As users of digital devices, we should ALL be advocates for this.

This is me and my iPhone 6. I’ve had this phone since 2014 and it was the first smartphone I purchased brand new. Previous to this, I had only ever had secondhand Android devices and for a glorious moment, a used iPhone 4 (those were the good old days…anyone with me on that?). This iPhone 6 is the device I’ve used to capture all of the stuff you’ve seen on my feed and blog over the last 7 years: videos of chickens, relentless over-shares of my garden delights, rants about plastic, and random scenics because I love nature.

Repair vs. Replace

What you can’t see in the above photo are all the ways I’ve hacked this phone apart and put it back together. Rather than purchase a new one when I smashed the screen, or when the battery died, I opted to repair it. And, as anyone who has ever tried to get inside an Apple device will know…they don’t make it easy. This is, I believe, a crime.

Recently, I found out that this device has been officially rendered obsolete. It was a bit of a wild realization for me. Since I’ve only ever had used phones, I’m used to things being a little behind or out-of-date. But this, this is different and interesting. No new emoji updates. Apps are starting to fail. In one way, I get it: it’s hard to constantly update a million different devices and so, eventually, the old ones must kick the bucket. Eventually, our clothes wear out, cars die, appliances break.

But in another way, I really, really dislike this.

Why?

Because why can’t I hold onto my device for as long as I’d like?! It’s a mini-computer I can carry around with me in my pocket, it’s made out of materials that companies literally blow up mountains for…and you’re telling me I’ve only got 3-5 good years with this thing?

Pardon my language, but F*ck. That. Noise.

The Right to Repair

If you talk to anybody who has lived before the technological revolution, chances are good they will wax poetic about the difference in the quality of goods, then vs. now.  “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” and such. Things like furniture, clothing, shoes…even appliances. I mean, metal ice-cube trays are making a comeback!! Similarly, before we advanced to digital devices and computer chips, things like cars and machinery were more “mechanical” and thus, more easily repaired. Now, in the digital age, it’s often cheaper to throw something away than bother trying to repair it.

Back in my iPhone 4 glory days, I ran into a battery issue. I can’t recall how it transpired but someone recommended I try replacing the battery on my own. For some inane reason I agreed, and so, with help, I procured an iPhone 4 battery replacement kit from iFixIt. iFixIt was (and still is) a champion of the “right-to-repair” movement, a movement that says we consumers have a right to fix our own shit (what a novel concept, right?

The kit was AMAZING. It came with tools, hardware, and super clear instructions. The tools, as it turned out, were necessary: Apple created its own proprietary screw to make it hard for people to fix their own devices. So, some geniuses reverse-engineered the screwdriver and voila! Into the phone we went and lo and behold, I fixed the damn battery in my phone!

Repairing is empowering

Why this is a big deal for me: Computers and electronics generally make me a bit trepidatious because I don’t understand them. I always feel like I’m going to destroy something, or blow something up, or electrocute myself. Clearly, I did not play with enough outlets or batteries as a youth. ;D  So when I finally fixed my phone, I felt…elated. Like a badass. It was so liberating and empowering to know how my phone worked and that I was capable of undertaking a project like that.

Fast forward to 2014 and today. As mentioned, I upgraded to (at the time) a new iPhone 6 and everything was hunky-dory. I understood, standing in that store debating between a rose-gold phone backing or silver, why people obsess over these devices and the allure of switching it out every time there’s a new version. Years passed, life was grand. And then the battery started going. And then I dropped the damn thing and smashed the screen (sigh). No worries, I thought. I’ll repair it!

And so, I did. Only this time…it took me twice as long and was way, way more frustrating. All told, I think I spent four painstaking and frustrating hours replacing the battery and screen on this device. Turns out, in the intervening years, Apple made upgrades to its phone guts. In the process of fixing my phone, I ended up mucking up the thumbprint functionality of the home button – beyond repair (irony!). Oops. 

In the end, though, I essentially had a brand new phone (minus the home button): fresh battery, shiny screen. I saved a pretty penny not buying a new device and once again, I felt like a badass.

And I just wonder, why is this not a given? 

Bucking the Trend

I’m writing this post using a MacBook and I’m sharing it on social media using my trusty iPhone 6. Obviously, I don’t hate Apple. On the contrary: I think their products hold a lot of power and possibility. What I do hate is Apple’s outright obstruction to the Right to Repair movement and impact on the planet (and people). At the same time that we’re seeing the environmental (and social) destruction rendered by mining for the metals necessary for these devices, we’re also being told that it’s OK to upgrade our devices if we get bored with them. This is unacceptable, not sustainable, and cannot continue. Full stop.

Not everybody will want to make their own repairs, and that’s fine. Repair shops are popping up left and right to meet that demand, and they are amazing. The second time I broke the screen on my iPhone 6 (yes, I’m a klutz) I took it to a repair shop in town and was blown away by how fast they got the job done. (They complimented me on my repair job, btw. Teehee) Just as we don’t all have to be farmers to have access to good food, we don’t also all have to fix our own shit. But we should have the right to decide that for ourselves and not have it dictated to us by a corporation.

I want to hear from you: have you ever undertaken a repair job on your own devices? What do you think about planned obsolescence and the Right to Repair movement?