It’s been 3 weeks since we launched the #LongLiveMyPhone campaign. As a reminder, we’re asking the EU to commit in the new Circular Economy Action Plan and the Ecodesign Work Plan to regulate smartphones, so they can become more easily repairable, last longer and avoid prematurely joining the 50 million tons of e-waste we discard every year. Read more about our demands.
And last week has been our biggest so far! From media coverage to stunts and animated video, here’s how the campaign has been progressing in the last few days.
The petition reached 14,000 signatures!
If you’ve signed it already, we are very grateful for your support! The campaign is already having an impact, as Right to Repair is prominently mentioned in a published draft of the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan. But we’ve seen before that such documents can change up to the last minute, so we need to put more pressure onto policymakers. Help us put further pressure on Europe by sharing it today.
And if you haven’t yet, please add your voice to the campaign by signing the petition below.
We published a video on why we need the Right to repair our smartphones
The time to put an end to the throw-away economy in Europe is NOW! Help us spread the message as widely as possible, by sharing the video on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Groups in Germany, Belgium and the UK organised protests
Despite the cold and the rain, German repair activists drew a crime scene on Alexander Platz to raise awareness about the fate of many smartphones in Europe that last on average 3 short years. From cracked screens to broken charging ports and lack of software updates, their lives are cut short and they prematurely join the pile of e-waste discarded every year.
Belgian activists did a similar action in Brussels on Thursday when they gathered in front of the European Parliament to call the European Commission to include smartphones in its Ecodesign Work Plan and enshrine this commitment in the soon to be published Circular Economy Action Plan. They were joined by Green MEP Anna Cavazini and supported by French Green MEP David Cormand.
Just a few days earlier activists from Repair Cafe Portsmouth in the UK had organised a similar action, as part of a local climate strike.
«Our disposable culture must end. We need the ‘right to repair’ not recycle our smartphones»
Last but not least, we published an op-ed in Euronews explaining the issues related to the short lifespan of smartphones and outlining the type of requirements we hope policy makers will set. As smartphones are extremely political, we know we need to keep pushing until the last minute to avoid seeing some of our demands being watered down in favour of take back schemes for instance.
«We’re asking the European Commission to set minimum manufacturing requirements that would force companies like Samsung, Huawei and Apple to design smartphones that can be disassembled with readily available tools»
EEB’s Jean-Pierre Schweitzer in Euronews