European Activists Fight for Right to Repair Electronics

At a table scattered with tools and wires, volunteer repairers sit across from the owners of an assortment of inoperable electronics. The volunteers at a free “repair cafe” in Copenhagen disassemble and diagnose gadgets while the customers watch, each doing their part for the environment - one broken blender, radio or laptop at a time.

In Denmark, workshops where nonprofessionals with a bug for fixing things can share equipment and technical know-how with each other as well as the less handy are held on a regular basis. The non-profit Repair Café Denmark stages up to 15 weekly events in public libraries and community centers across the Scandinavian country.

“I didn’t want to replace it with a new one because it was such a tiny little problem,” said Ann Lisbeth Dam, who recently brought a digital radio her daughter gave her four years ago into a Copenhagen community center where restorers also worked on a nonfunctioning music speaker and a digital photo frame. In exchange, people were asked to chip in money to cover the cost of coffee.

The Danish events represent activism in its most direct, local form, but they also are part of an international movement calling for the “right to repair.” The movement, which has branches elsewhere in Europe and in the United States, is a response to the expense and environmental cost of personal electronics and appliances becoming obsolete within a few years because manufacturers make them expensive or difficult to fix.

“We have to take care of the planet. We can’t afford to live like we used to live, so we have to make a movement about not throwing things out when they’re still working,” Repair Café Denmark chairman Stig Bomholt said.

Chloe Mikolajczak, a campaigner for Right to Repair Europe, an advocacy network of 80 organizations across 17 European countries, says consumers face a number of built-in obstacles when they are deciding whether to fix or to junk a device.