Environment Oregon supports Right to Repair bill

Below is an excerpt from Environment Oregon state director Celeste Meiffren-Swango’s testimony in support of Senate Bill 542.

Electronic waste is a growing problem. Americans purchase 161 million new smartphones each year, and our cell phone habit takes 23.7 million tons of raw material to satisfy. That’s like consuming an Empire State Building equivalent in material every six days.

There’s a simple solution: let us fix our stuff and use it for longer. The dominant business model of buy, use, and throw away is unsustainable. We need to build a future in which we maintain, salvage, and rebuild our stuff. Instead of throwing things away, we need to create a circular economy that stewards and respects the resources and labor that went into making them. 

Senate Bill 542 would require makers of household electronics to provide fair and reasonable access to replacement parts, specialty tools, manuals, and other resources that are critical to making basic repairs. The bill would ensure that consumers, independent repair shops, and tech refurbishers can fix our devices and extend their lifespans, keeping them out of the landfill and slowing the need to make more and more.

Giving Oregonians the right to repair our household electronic devices is the easiest and cheapest way to address our e-waste problem. By passing Senate Bill 542, you will make Oregon a national leader in Right to Repair and will help to build a cleaner, greener future for all Oregonians.