OPINION: Alaska needs to protect our right to repair

My iPhone 12 battery is on the fritz. Several years ago, when I had a battery go bad on me, I took it to an Apple Store and was quoted a price for a replacement that was just a couple of hundred dollars less than a new phone. After I balked at that absurdity, the sales rep predictably talked me into the new phone. This time around, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to visit a local repair shop and avoid my phone becoming one of the 416,000 that Americans throw away every day. Why? Progress on the Right to Repair. However, we repair advocates still have work to do.

What is the Right to Repair? Manufacturers of everything from phones and laptops to dishwashers and tractors limit or monopolize repair of their products. They withhold spare parts, unique tools and schematics. A recent survey found that only seven out of 50 common appliance manufacturers made service manuals available. Some manufacturers will forgo time-tested Phillips-head or flathead screws for a unique shape totally incompatible with any tool in your average screwdriver kit. Other manufacturers design devices that need software to detect problems and only give their dealers that software. Sometimes, they’ll virtually lock devices if they are repaired by anyone beside a dealer who has a special code. Even worse, manufacturers glue batteries and parts together, so disassembly for repair has a high chance of breaking a device.

These limits on repair are bad for consumers. People like being able to fix the stuff they own. People also like to have the option to patronize local businesses rather than rely on dealers from giant companies that charge prohibitively expensive costs. When good repair options aren’t available, we’re coerced into throwing electronics away and purchasing anew. Another recent report found that the average family could save $382 per year if it had good repair access.

These limits on repair are also bad for the environment. E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. It’s responsible for 70% of the toxic materials in the waste stream, including lead, mercury and other substances known to cause cancer, reduce fertility and cause developmental problems. In rural Alaska, that’s of special concern because most landfills are unlined and many burn their trash. It’s estimated that less than 15% of electronics are successfully recycled because the process is dangerous and difficult. The production of new electronics to replace our broken ones also produces greenhouse gas pollution and requires destructive mining for rare minerals.

The Right to Repair movement tries to ensure that individuals and independent repair shops can access the tools, parts and information necessary to fix our stuff. Here in Alaska, state Sen. Forrest Dunbar has introduced a Digital Right to Repair Act, SB 112, with bipartisan co-sponsorship from Sens. Cathy Giessel, Jesse Bjorkman and Elvi Gray-Jackson that would require manufacturers release the spare parts, tools and schematics necessary for repair at a fair and reasonable price to individuals and independent businesses.

Our legislators have some recent examples to emulate. Colorado has passed bills for the repair of wheelchairs and agricultural equipment. Minnesota passed a strong bill covering a wide array of products. At the national level, Congress will hold a committee hearing on repair access this week. Companies including Apple and John Deere are making concessions and promising greater repair access. Momentum is building on a campaign asking Google to extend software support for the Chromebooks that have become so ubiquitous in schools so those devices don’t functionally turn into useless bricks.

For the sake of our pocketbooks and the environment, we need to regain access to repair and then rebuild a culture of repair. You can help by asking your state legislators to support SB 112, asking the Alaska delegation in Congress to support national Right to Repair bills and, on a more personal level, seeking out repair before replacement when your stuff breaks.

Dyani Chapman lives in Anchorage and is the state director of Alaska Environment, a state environmental nonprofit group working to pass Right to Repair legislation.

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