Below the Fold - a whopper of a reduced repair cost

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Happy Friday, Below the Fold!

In February, we talked about how right to repair laws were sweeping the United States in an effort to reduce waste. Today, we’re spotlighting the topic through Austria’s impressive strides to encourage fixing over buying.

Austria leads the way on fixing our stuff
Tue Mar 22

Everyone hates when their old iPhone suddenly stops working eerily in sync with the release of a newer one. Turns out, this is a problem with many products including phones, gaming consoles, farming equipment, refrigerators, cars, and even hospital ventilators. In the U.S. alone, each family generates 176 pounds of electronic waste a year.

Globally, e-waste is growing 3-5% annually as a result. Europe found that extending the service life of washing machines, notebooks, vacuum cleaners, and smartphones in the E.U. by just one year would save 4M tons of carbon dioxide.

Austria’s reaction to these findings is making them a trailblazer for right-to-repair, seeking to reduce the country’s CO2 emissions. Here’s what’s happened so far:

In 2020, the city of Vienna launched a pilot subsidizing 50% of repair costs. Not only were 35,000 items repaired — saving 850 tons of CO2 emissions — but repair shops also saw an increase in business and, in response, a better quality of service from technicians.
Last year, the country as a whole reduced the tax for repair services related to bikes, shoes, leather goods, clothing, or household linen. This reduction made it more appealing to fix rather than replace items — for example, the cost to repair a laptop used to be $900, but a reduced tax and subsidies lowers that by over $200 making a repair a lot cheaper than a $1,300 replacement.
Now in 2022, Austria will launch a national program adopting Vienna’s approach. Financed by the E.U.’s pandemic recovery fund, the program is expected to subsidize 400,000 repairs through 2026.

Still, some are concerned the country doesn’t have enough skilled repair professionals to meet this increase in demand. A separate pilot program has already begun to address the concern through a training model that can ultimately expand beyond Austria and encourage repairs in more countries.

BELOW THE FOLD BYTES

Stressin’, How A-Bayou?

The most stressed state in the U.S? According to WalletHub, it’s Louisiana, known usually for Mardi Gras, Cajun cuisine, and its many beautiful bayous. Less advertised is that Louisiana has the country’s second highest poverty rate, among other issues across the four categories measured in the study. The least stressed state was Utah, which surprised some of us as it beat out laid-back places like Hawai’i (45th) and California (14th, yikes). The ranking was based on scores from four categories: work, money, family, and health/safety.

>> Read More

Amazon Denied Prime HQ

The Khoi and San First Nation Peoples of South Africa have successfully blocked Amazon from building their HQ on a site of immense cultural and spiritual significance. The ruling follows a hard fought campaign by Indigenous groups who were advised to get security and protection orders after being targeted and harassed with intimidation tactics, disinformation, and smear campaigns. If Amazon still wants to build, the courts have ruled it would only be possible with “proper and meaningful consultation” with the affected indigenous groups.

>> Read More

Catfished by Burger King?

It’s called a Whopper and the photos live up to that name — but the actual orders? Not so much. As in, 35% not-so-much. Burger King is being sued for false advertising with claims that the advertised product shows a burger over a third larger with twice as much meat as the actual product received by the same name.

>> Read More

First Animal Legal Rights

12 years after being the first to recognize the inherent rights of nature, Ecuador is now first to grant legal status to nonhuman animals and require new legislation to protect their rights. This major ruling was the result of a lawsuit on behalf of a woolly monkey taken from her home and relocated to a zoo, where she died within a month.

>> Read More

🎬 Action of the Week

Austria isn’t the only country pushing for the right to repair. In the U.S., action is still required at a state-by-state level. Check out Repair.org’s free map to not only see what the status of right to repair legislation is in your state, but to click and quickly contact your representatives to make your voice heard.

THIS WEEK'S SOURCES

Reasons to be Cheerful:
Austria’s right to repair
17 days old | 4 minutes long

Repair.eu:

Making repairs affordable
1.5 years old | 5 minutes long

The Recycler:

Impact of repairs in E.U.
1 year old | 6 minutes long

New York Times:

Right to repair movement
1.5 years old | 16 minutes long

ASCII-ING ABOUT THE NEWS

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 / `''-----.................-----''` \
 \___________________________________/
   \~`-`.__.`-~`._.~`-`~.-~.__.~`-`/
jgs \                             /
     `-._______________________.-'

The burgers advertised in the ads truly must be bun in a million.

Art Credit: Joan G. Stark

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Below the Fold - a whopper of a reduced repair cost

Stressin’, How A-Bayou?

Amazon Denied Prime HQ

Catfished by Burger King?

First Animal Legal Rights

🎬 Action of the Week

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