Publicly available data suggest the EU’s electronics repair sector reduces carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) by 3-10 million tonnes over new manufactures. Also, the same data show micro- and small-enterprises play a HUGE role in the sector. Micro (single employee shops) make up a minimum of 75% of total enterprises and employ 44% of people working in the sector. Unfortunately the data cannot tell us anything about the demographics of these micro-enterprises e.g., gender, age, ethnicity, citizenship status — more research needed!
The full report is available here (pdf):
Suggested citation:
Wang, Xiaowei and Lepawsky, Josh. 2021. Where is Repair? Computer repair in the European Union. The WIRE Journal.
Related publications include:
2020 Lepawsky, Josh. Towards a World of Fixers Examining barriers and enablers of widely deployed third-party repair for computing within limits. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on ICT for Sustainability. June, 314-320.
2020 Lepawsky, Josh. Planet of fixers? Mapping the middle grounds of independent and do‐it‐yourself information and communication technology maintenance and repair. Geo: Geography and Environment.
Electronic Planet Research Lab 