Oral submission in support of the Right to Repair legislation
We support the right to repair
One of the great ironies of our current economy is that we have generated a highly materialistic culture that does not seem able to actually value materials.
How we can better conserve resources and work towards a more regenerative, circular economy? This was the main point in WEAll Aotearoa Director Gareth Hughes’ submission to the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee on the Consumer Guarantees (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill.
Every year we throw out 600kgs of waste per person, 100,000 tonnes of e-waste, and 180,000 tonnes of clothing and textile waste - that’s 34kgs per person in New Zealand alone.
This all adds up. In 2020, the World Economic Forum estimated the amount of anthropogenic mass exceeded, for the first time, the dry weight of all life on earth. Just plastics alone is greater than all land and sea animals!
Source: Elements Visual Capitalist
Our current approach is not only unsustainable, it is also, just a little bit, well… dumb.
But we can fix this. Our economy is a product of design and can be redesigned to be more circular and regenerative. We can have an economy where all resources are valued and waste is minimised close to zero by mimicking nature. Right to Repair legislation is one step in the right direction.
The status quo is not delivering for consumers, let alone the planet
We all will have examples in our daily life of how frustrating it is when something relatively new breaks. Or how ridiculous it is when it is cheaper to buy a new item than it is to repair a broken one.
It is disrespectful that companies make their products that unreliable and irreparable to increase future sales and hurt consumers. But if we’re clever, we can see that this is a symptom of a wider economic system that profits by causing problems.
To paraphrase Oxford Professor Colin Mayer, we believe the purpose of business should be to solve problems profitably, not to profit from causing or exploiting problems.
WEAll supports this bill
WEAll views this bill as a positive step towards a more circular economy.
There are many pragmatic reasons to support this bill. The first is that kiwis are going to do it anyway, so we might as well make it safer and more effective. It will also be good for local businesses, and it is important for our economy. Aotearoa is not going to get rich selling cheap stuff that breaks. We are known for our quality goods and our reliability.
New Zealand is not going out on a limb.
New Zealand is not going out on a limb with this legislation. In fact, we are actually playing catch up. New York, Minnesota and California have passed Right to Repair laws at a state level. The UK, EU, United States, Canada and India have all made steps to progress their right to repair systems.
You can read our full written submission here.
