Dusseldorf The end is announced weeks in advance. At first the electric toothbrush only lasts a good minute, soon only a few seconds, and at some point nothing moves at all, despite being charged for hours. The device, bought a few years ago on the recommendation of the dentist for more than 100 euros, is a waste of time.
This model cannot be repaired. At least not officially. The motor should still work, but manufacturer Philips explains that the battery cannot be replaced. If you dispose of the device, you can take it out for recycling, it says on the website.
The small device thus contributes to a gigantic problem: As new and often short-lived products keep coming onto the market, the mountain of electronic waste is growing inexorably. If the current development is extrapolated into the future, it could be around 74 million tons per year worldwide by 2030.
There is increasing resistance to this throwaway economy. The “Right to Repair” movement aims to make it easier to repair electrical appliances and thus extend their useful life. At the same time, legislators all over the world are planning legal requirements. And for many consumers, sustainability is now a decision criterion when making a purchase, even if only one of many.
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The pressure is having an effect. Apple has announced that it will also sell spare parts and tools for some models to end customers. Repairs could be cheaper if you dare to open the iPhone. However, this is not intended for many other products. A repair attempt shows what has been lacking so far – and which measures could help.
Philips battery is hidden behind wires
When developing the electric toothbrush – Sonicare brand – the Philips engineers apparently did not plan on repairs from the outset. The housing shows that: the lid that closes the white plastic cylinder can only be opened with a special tool. Anyone who tries with a screwdriver will scratch the soft plastic.
The battery, on the other hand, is hidden in a construction made of plastic and copper wires that can only be opened with a lot of effort and skill. The contacts are also firmly soldered to the cables. If you don’t have a soldering iron, you can tear out the power storage unit, but you will fail here at the latest with the installation of a new one.
Philips justified the design by saying that they wanted to ensure safety, durability and “the best performance”. Indeed: the electronics inside, which in modern models contain chips, switches and LEDs in addition to the motor, must not get wet. However, there are workshops that change the battery, albeit at the expense of the warranty. So it is possible.
The toothbrush is exemplary for the electronics industry. Whether televisions or DVD players, smartphones or tablets, computer clocks or pedometers, networked kitchen appliances or smart doorbells: “In our high-tech industrial society, the life and usage time of many products and devices is falling,” writes the Öko-Institut.
Battery replacement in a self-experiment
“The factors for the rapid device wear are extremely complex,” explains the independent organization. The failure of individual components plays a role, especially if the repair is not economical. Most modern smartphones, for example, are glued in such a way that consumers cannot replace the battery themselves.
However, products such as PCs are also taken out of service if they are not compatible with new software. The new Windows 11 operating system does not run on many functioning PCs because it requires a security chip that was not previously standard. Millions of computers will therefore no longer receive updates from 2025, when support for the previous version ends.
In addition, there is further development in design and technology: If devices no longer correspond to fashion or do not have the latest features, they are often replaced. “A very rapid change can be observed here, especially in the entertainment electronics sector,” writes the independent organization, for example in the case of game consoles and televisions.
It is in the nature of modern capitalism to constantly arouse new needs: growth is based on consumption. However, this economic model has long since reached its limits. This can be seen in a number: every year, mankind extracts more than 100 billion tons of raw materials such as oil, gas and metals from the earth.
According to this year’s “Circularity Gap Report”, only 8.6 percent of this is reused, less than a tenth. The rest is burned or thrown away, at the expense of the climate and the environment. The circular economy is a crucial element in getting countries back on the path to the two-degree target: According to calculations by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, it has the potential to reduce CO2 consumption by 45 percent.
Handicraft instructions on Youtube
While Philips sees the electric toothbrush as junk, some hobbyists show how you might still be able to fix it. The iFixit portal has instructions for changing batteries for several Sonicare models. However, depending on the device, the action is rated as difficult or very difficult.
Probably the greatest difficulty for the hobby craftsman: The cables have to be soldered to the battery. Instructions for this can also be found on YouTube, but it is still not easy. After a few attempts, however, the construction seems to hold up.
Even if one does not assume any bad intentions from Philips, one thing is clear: sustainable product design that makes repairs easier has apparently not played a role so far. It is similar with what is arguably the most popular electronic product: Most smartphones are designed in such a way that they are difficult to take apart.
Which makes repairs easier
It looks particularly bad for models with a folding screen, which, according to iFixit, have many fragile parts. Only Fairphone received a top rating for the possibility of repairs for the modular cell phones.
Meanwhile, the pressure on the economy is growing. The “Right to Repair” movement aims to rethink politics, companies and consumers. Originally founded in the USA, there is now an offshoot in Europe that advocates the “right to repair” and has started a campaign for the “ten-year smartphone”.
Environmental protection organizations such as Germanwatch, the “Repair Café” initiative, the iFixit project and start-ups such as Refurbed and Fairphone have joined the alliance. What they all have in common is the idea that the owner of a product should have the right to repair their product – something that is now often made unnecessarily difficult.
Something is happening in politics too. US President Joe Biden has instructed the FTC to develop a set of rules for the right to repair that ranges from harvesters to smartphones. The EU Commission wants to work out a legislative proposal that is to be published in 2022. And in France, since the beginning of 2021, an index has been providing information on how easy it is to repair devices such as smartphones, laptops and lawnmowers.
Spare parts for Apple devices
More and more companies are acting now. Take Apple, for example: The iPhone manufacturer has long fought the “Right to Repair” movement – after all, the hardware manufacturer earns money on every single device. Now the group wants to enable users to repair at least certain models themselves by providing instructions and spare parts. Many details, such as prices, are still open.
“On the one hand, companies are reacting to increasing pressure from civil society and politics,” observes cycle expert Henning Wilts from the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. “On the other hand, many such major players have set themselves very ambitious climate and environmental goals – and such measures pay off.”
For some companies, durable electronic products are even a business. Via the Refurbed platform, users can buy used, but refurbished computers, smartphones and other devices – the start-up establishes contact between dealers and buyers.
According to the supplier, this reduces the environmental impact by 70 percent compared to buying a new device. It cannot be that a television is thrown away just because the cable no longer works, ”says Refurbed co-founder Peter Windischhofer in an interview with Handelsblatt. “Our consumption must become more sustainable.”
Used electronics is still a niche business, Refurbed has sold just one million devices since it was founded in 2017. “But our society is developing in the right direction,” the 32-year-old is convinced – you can see that in the growing demand. The range is also growing: there are large manufacturers who should now sell their devices on the platform, he says, without revealing the names.
A professional reconditioning might also have been a good idea for the electric toothbrush, despite instructions on Youtube and battery from Ebay classifieds. Although the device starts up again after installation using the “do-it-yourself” method, the soldered connection seems to be wobbly after a few weeks – and at some point nothing happens.
There may be hope for future models. They are researching solutions “for reconditioning as well as safe and robust repairs, including for our electric toothbrushes,” says Philips. Maybe you can simply use a new battery yourself for the next generation or the next but one.
More: Smartphone with a five-year guarantee – Fairphone wants to be greener than Apple and Samsung