Tell the Senate: We need the right to fair repair

Why can't we get our own stuff fixed?

As tech companies block their customers from repairing their gadgets and push them to buy new, it's a question that's costing consumers and the environment alike. That's why we need legislation guaranteeing our right to repair the things we own.

Tell your U.S. senators today to back right to fair repair legislation.

When manufacturers make items like smartphones, printers and even tractors unnecessarily inconvenient, costly or impossible to repair, they put a strain on everything from our pocketbooks to our planet.

This practice creates vast amounts of unnecessary electronic waste — in 2019, the United States alone contributed 7.6 million tons to our planet’s growing e-waste problem. This e-waste can leach toxic chemicals into our environment, harming people and the environment.

It’s also depleting our planet’s resources. At our current rate, we’re on track to deplete the natural resources for six key components of smartphones in the next century. But if every American held onto their phone for one year longer, we could reduce that raw material consumption by 42.5 million pounds every day.

Finally, it’s making customers pay when they don’t need to. Every year, American consumers could save $40 billion if they could repair their things instead of buying new ones.

We need a change. We need the right to fair repair now.

Manufacturers are ready to spend big to fight right to fair repair legislation — and they have lots to spend. The combined worth of the companies fighting this legislation totals more than $10 trillion.

But across the country, the winds of change are blowing. So far in 2021, more than half the states have introduced legislation supporting our right to fair repair, a similar federal bill was introduced in Congress in June, and in July President Biden issued an executive order that, among other things, encouraged the Federal Trade Commission to push back against anti-competitive repair restrictions.

We can keep this momentum going -- but we’ll need to stand up and speak out. Tell your senators today to support our right to fair repair.