I know EU has the Right to Repair initiative and that’s a step to the right direction. Still I’m left to wonder, how did we end up in a situation where it’s often cheaper to just buy a new item than fix the old?
What can individuals, communities, countries and organizations do to encourage people to repair rather than replace with a new?
Exploitation.
People in rich countries have stuff manufactured in countries with a lower living standard, less regulation, nor work safety, no unions, lower wages etc. Same goes for the raw materials all stuff is built out of. If you don’t have to care about anything, you can make everything so much cheaper. As long as this exploitative relationship between rich and poor countries exists, the rich will have access to cheap stuff that doesn’t need to be fixed.
Repairing broken appliances and electronics has different dynamic though. You’re paying a trained professional in a rich country to work for you. That doesn’t come cheap. Even though the parts may be cheap, labor costs a lot. That’s the exact reason why everything is manufactured in poor countries where labor is cheap. See also: planned obsolescence
We’ve been doing this for centuries already. It’s a tradition by now. Global inequality fueled the Dutch East India company, Made England rich etc. Oh, and American cotton plantations too. We’re just getting started with this can of worms.