The Consumer Guarantees Act allows manufacturers to get away with not offering repairs to products, but there is an emerging drive to change that.
Karl Reynolds has been fixing computers for more than a decade.
He started his computer repair shop Clean Green Computers in Auckland with one mission: to stop people throwing things away.
“Most of the people who walk in here think they need to throw away their computers and get a new one and don't realise it could be repaired. I cannibalise all the parts and reuse them.”
Reynolds says most things can be repaired, but fixing things has become harder.
Parts are getting harder to find, gadgets are getting smaller, and are made to be replaced by slightly newer versions with slightly better functions, he says.
The fast fashion style business model is also being used in the manufacturing of electronics, but climate conscious consumers are trying their best to fight this.
Consumer NZ head of testing Paul Smith says the right to repair fringe movement is gaining momentum in the mainstream with countries taking action to both limit e-waste from piling up at landfills, but also giving back consumers their rights.
The right to repair movement gained prominence a few years ago in the United States when farmers found they couldn’t repair their John Deere tractors without using the manufacturer’s own repair services at significantly higher cost.
Since then, lawsuits to uphold consumers’ right to repair have been filed against companies like John Deere and Apple only to be quashed by the giants.
Reynolds says fixing new Apple computers has become increasingly hard because even if legitimate Apple-owned parts are changed by a third party repair firm, there is a software lock that only the manufacturer can disable.
In 2018 the Australian Federal Court fined Apple AU$9 million for breaching consumer law, by doing just that. Apple displayed an “error 53” message on devices with screens that had been repaired with third-party products making them unusable.
Reynolds says tech companies are making appliances and gadgets smaller, gluing parts together, making it next to impossible to take apart and repair.
If this continues, third party repairers like him will go out of business, he says.
"The idea of repairing something before throwing it out is a much better end of life outcome than just to tossing it into your favourite landfill.” – Jeff Seadon, AUT
The arguments tech giants use are that locking out third party repair firms protects their intellectual property and also ensures safety.
Under New Zealand’s Consumer Guarantees Act, goods have to be of acceptable quality and that includes being durable.
If appliances fail before their time – and you haven’t caused the failure – the retailer has to fix the problem, offer a refund, replace it or repair the product.
However there is a loophole in the Act that allows manufacturers from getting away without repairing the product, and Consumer NZ wants this fixed.
Smith says the caveat is manufacturers don’t have to provide spare parts or repair services if consumers are told they aren’t available at the time of purchase.
“This means a product with only a minor fault could end up being dumped because there are no parts to fix it.”
Smith reckons giving consumers their right to repair goes against tech companies’ business models.
When a product breaks, the consumer weighs up the life of the product and whether it is worth fixing or spending a little more for a replacement.
It currently costs $1055 to repair the latest iPhone 12 through Apple and $1899 to buy a new one.
And Smith says, it’s the manufacturer’s job to ensure this equation is always tipped in its favour.
“It's all part of this bigger end game to ensure consumers are more likely to upgrading their devices than keep the thing they have got.”
Reynolds says fixing an old computer’s hard drive may cost around $600, a fraction of the $2000 it would cost for the brand new version.
He says older models of tech and appliances that cost more than they do now had sturdier materials that could be repaired.
“Things lasted longer in the old days. When someone comes in with a 15 year old laptop, the hard drive with all the data on it is still working. If you go to Noel Leeming and buy a cheap laptop now you'll be lucky if that same hard drive lasts a year."
On average New Zealand produces 20 kilograms of e-waste per person per year.
There is a loophole in the Consumer Guarantees Act that allows manufacturers from getting away without repairing the product, and Consumer NZ wants this fixed.
AUT waste management expert Jeff Seadon says of the 80,000 or so tonnes of e-waste we produce each year, most ends up in landfills.
“We’re throwing away very precious and rare heavy metals used in electronics that we have a finite supply of and need to keep in circulation. They're difficult to mine and often are in dangerous conditions,” Seadon says.
“This doesn't fit with the idea of the circular economy where we're trying to keep things going around. The idea of repairing something before throwing it out is a much better end of life outcome than just to tossing it into your favourite landfill.”
He says if e-waste isn’t dismantled correctly, heavy metals and toxins could spill into the environment. This can be picked up in the soil, water, and back into the food chain.
New Zealand is still sorting out an e-waste management scheme.
But it’s getting there.
The government’s plan to create the product stewardship schemes that will hold manufacturers responsible to recover their products at the end of their lives, diverting them ending up in landfills.
Smith says it will be a “game changer”.
“That certainly says to all these manufacturers and retailers you can't just make and sell stuff, and then pretend it's not your responsibility anymore.”
Last year France introduced laws requiring manufacturers to have repairability ratings – similar to the energy ratings system. Companies that don’t comply with this rating system may face a fine of up to 15,000 euros.
Smith says while the movement is still in its early days in New Zealand, he says the pandemic has made consumers more conscious about the supply chain and a product’s end of life.
“We got hit with supply chain issues because of Covid. If your dishwasher was broken, you didn’t know when your replacement would be shipped in. Raw materials are in shortage, everyone is short of everything in this pandemic.
“It makes you think ‘do I need something new? Or is it just a matter of getting it fixed?”
Consumer NZ's survey found last year more consumers were getting goods repaired rather than replacing them – 47 percent said they “always” or “usually” opted for repair.
Reynolds agrees.
He says he has seen a small, but noticeable uptick in more consumers coming in for repairs at his shop post-Pandemic.
“I think consumers have to stop and realise what they’re doing when they just chuck things away without giving it another thought. The impact that has. And then we can reduce the waste.”
