Consumer electronics: EU and Global Repairability Mandates

Every year, the world generates over 62 million tonnes of electronic and consumer goods waste — a figure growing faster than any recycling system can handle. Behind every discarded appliance lies a web of regulatory failures, design decisions, and missed economic opportunities that this course unpacks with clarity and urgency.

This course goes beyond electronics to cover all product categories now falling under repairability mandates — from white goods and power tools to furniture, textiles, and batteries. You will explore why products break prematurely, who benefits from that breakage, and how governments worldwide are legislating change. You will gain a working understanding of the EU Right to Repair Directive, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), and parallel frameworks emerging in India, the UK, Australia, Canada, and the United States.

Crucially, this course bridges policy and practice. It examines the consumer’s evolving role as a rights-holder, a market force, and a sustainability actor. It closes with a forward-looking session on transformative business models — Product-as-a-Service, design for disassembly, buyback and refurbishment ecosystems — that redefine what ownership means in a resource-constrained world. Whether you are a compliance professional, product manager, sustainability lead, or an informed citizen, this course equips you with the knowledge to navigate — and shape — the repairability revolution.