Nathan Proctor, Right To Repair Advocate on Bloomberg TV

We need to stand up to companies that profit when we throw stuff away


When I buy something, I think I own it. I don’t want to have to ask anyone’s permission to open it up and try to fix it. We have a throwaway culture that treats almost everything as disposable. Even though e-waste is a small part of our waste stream by volume, it’s 70% of the toxic waste going into landfills right now. And a lot of this waste ends up in parts of the world where people do not have the infrastructure to deal with it – it poisons their water and it causes really harmful health problems and children. I’m not okay with my old cell phone poisoning some kid just because Apple thought it was better that I not be able to fix it. If we want to solve a burgeoning e-waste crisis, we need to stand up to the companies that profit more when we throw more away.