Environment Washington supports the “Right to Repair”
On January 18, 2022, Environment Washington Advocate Pam Clough submitted written testimony in support of House Bill 1810, a proposed bill that would ensure that Washingtonians have "right to repair" their own belongings, which in turn would help extend the life of electronics, conserve precious resources, mitigate climate pollution and prevent waste. Read our full testimony below:
January 26, 2022
Representative Timm Ormsby, Chair
House Appropriations Committee
Washington Legislature
Re: Environment Washington supports House Bill 1810
Chair Ormsby and Members of the Committee,
Environment Washington is a statewide, citizen-based environmental advocacy organization working for clean air, clean water and open space. We support House Bill 1810 because the right to repair is critical to protecting precious natural resources, mitigating climate change pollution and preventing waste.
We generate way too much waste, and companies use their power in the marketplace to make things harder to repair. Preventing repair reinforces the linear economic cycle of buying, using and discarding at the fastest possible speed, eating up precious natural resources on the front end and creating a mountain of preventable waste at the back end, all the while exacerbating climate change. The environmental impact of having electronic products with a short life is significant.
For example, 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. On average, Americans use their phones for 24.7 months before discarding them. Every day in the United States 416,000 cell phones are discarded.
Studies show that if we held onto our phones for one more year on average, the climate emissions reductions would be equivalent to taking 636,000 cars off the road. But in order to extend the life of these products, individuals and small businesses need access to the tools and resources to fix them, which they often don’t have.
By giving Washingtonians the “right to repair,” House Bill 1810 would help extend the life of electronics and as a result will help to conserve precious resources, mitigate climate pollution and prevent waste, and we urge its swift passage.
Sincerely,
Pam Clough
Advocate, Environment Washington
Authors
Pam Clough
Advocate, Environment Washington
As an advocate with Environment Washington, Pam develops and runs campaigns to protect Washington's air, water, and special places. She has worked on issues ranging from clean energy climate solutions, preventing plastic pollution, defending clean water, and protecting our special natural spaces. Pam lives in Steilacoom, Washington, where she enjoys kayaking on the Puget Sound, gardening and hiking in the surrounding mountains.
