Open Repair Alliance founding member Repair Café Foundation recently published an initial report analysing repair data they collected in 2017. While bikes are the most common item repaired at their events in the Netherlands, the report provides interesting insights on community repair of electrical and consumer electronics as well. Key findings include:
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Their success rate with electrical appliance repairs (55%) is lower than with non-electrical (90%)
- Repair information is rarely available: when searching for repair manuals, they could only find them in 16% of cases
- Electricals (especially kettles and printers) account for three-quarters of all products brought to Repair Cafes within 3 years of purchase
The report encourages consumers to pay attention to what products they buy and to not underestimate the importance of maintenance. It also suggests that the Dutch government should provide incentives to promote repairability, such as:
- tax incentives to make repair more compatible than buying a new product
- set requirements for the design of new products, promoting repairability and ease of disassembly
- support the dissemination of repair skills
Read the full report (in Dutch) and its summary (in English) on the Repair Café Foundation’s website