Program on the Environment

Environmental policies like the Right to Repair (RtR) look to incentivize sustainability through product longevity. Repairing products used to be a prominent circular economy (CE) strategy. However, as products become increasingly difficult to repair due to things such as design, market, and legal barriers (e.g. intellectual property, planned obsolescence, and supply), throwaway culture has instead, become the norm. The focus of this project is to better understand the individual perceptions on repair and offer a new understanding of perceived value in product longevity. As demand for products where non-renewable resources like mineral stocks for critical applications, not only do mineral deposits decrease in quantity, but the energy expended for its extraction increases as well, driving prices high. RtR would drive manufacturers to develop products where product lifespan management is a necessary component of their output. Subsequently, consumer participation in a repair-centric CE is vital. In some cases, consumers have been made aware of this importance through community efforts such as repair cafes. Increasing awareness of such services may help consumers better understand what freedoms they have for repair. Disfavor of repair is fueled by fast product cycles and social pressures to appear as “up-to-date”. This limitation is a simple matter of perception. It would then make sense that if steps were taken to improve perceptions on repairability and repair skill development, then consumer awareness is a crucial part to encouraging repair in an effort to alter perceptions of the actual lifespan of products.