I came across the EU's new Right to Repair rules recently and ended up going down a bit of a rabbit hole with this one. And I have to say, I really like the thinking behind it. How many times does something break and our first reaction is:
“It will probably be cheaper just to replace it.”
- A washing machine.
- A laptop.
- A printer.
- A piece of equipment at work.
- Sometimes replacing it absolutely is the right answer.
But sometimes most of the thing is perfectly fine. One part has broken and, because repairing it is difficult, expensive or you can't easily get the spare part, the whole thing gets replaced.
That costs us money.
It creates waste.
And then another product has to be made, packaged and transported to replace it.
So what has the EU actually done?
From 31 July 2026, new Right to Repair rules started to apply across the EU.
They cover certain household and electronic products that can be repaired under EU rules, including things like washing machines, vacuum cleaners, mobile phones and tablets.
Amongst other things, consumers can ask manufacturers to repair covered products. Repairs have to be available free of charge or at a reasonable price and within a reasonable time.
Manufacturers also have to make information about their repair services easier to find and make spare parts available at a reasonable price.
There is another part I really like.
If somebody chooses to repair a faulty product rather than replace it during the legal guarantee period, the guarantee is extended by at least another 12 months.
Basically, the rules are trying to make repairing something a more realistic option than simply throwing it away and buying another one.
And I think that makes a lot of sense.
Do we have anything like this in the UK?
We do, but we haven't gone as far as the EU. Consumers in the UK already have rights under the Consumer Rights Act when something they have bought is faulty.
We also have repairability requirements for certain products under our ecodesign rules.
For example, manufacturers and importers of some electrical products have to make certain spare parts available for a number of years. There are also requirements around repair information and making some parts replaceable using commonly available tools.
So I don't want to give the impression that the UK has nothing around Right to Repair because that wouldn't be correct.
But we don't currently have the same wider consumer Right to Repair system that the EU has just introduced. And I would actually like to see us go further with this.
But this got me thinking about businesses too
The EU rules are mainly about consumer products and consumer rights. But I think there is a really simple lesson here for businesses as well. Think about a small business.
You might have laptops, monitors, printers, phones, kitchen equipment, air conditioning, tools or machinery. Something breaks. How often does the conversation immediately become:
“How much is a new one?”
Maybe there should be another question before that.
“Can we keep this one going?”
That might mean repairing it. It might mean replacing one part. It might mean upgrading it. It might mean getting something refurbished instead. And sometimes you will look at all of that and still decide that buying new is the better option.
That's fine. The important bit for me is that we actually thought about it.
This is where ISO 14001:2026 comes in
This is also why I think this story fits really nicely with the new ISO 14001:2026. When people think about environmental management, it can very quickly become:
- Recycling.
- Waste.
- Electricity.
- Turning lights off.
All of those things matter. But ISO 14001 asks businesses to think wider than that.
It asks organisations to look at their environmental impacts while considering the life cycle of the things they use, make or provide.
That life cycle can include the raw materials, design, production, transport, use and eventually what happens when something reaches the end of its life. And I think this is where it starts becoming really practical for an SME.
The guidance in ISO 14001:2026 talks about things such as maintenance, reuse, refurbishing, recycling and disposal when businesses are thinking about environmental impacts across the life cycle.
It also specifically gives moving towards a circular economy, reducing waste and making better use of resources as an example of an environmental opportunity.
So this isn't me trying to squeeze a Right to Repair story into ISO 14001. The thinking really does fit.
And no, ISO 14001 doesn't mean you have to repair everything
I think this is important as well. If a machine is costing a fortune to keep repairing, uses far more energy than a new one or is constantly breaking down, replacing it might be the much better decision.
ISO 14001 isn't telling a small business to keep a 25-year-old printer alive forever in the name of the environment. Businesses still have to consider things like cost, technology and what they actually need operationally.
For me, it is much simpler than that. It is about not automatically jumping from:
Broken = replace it.
Maybe just add one more question
If I was working with an SME on this, I wouldn't suggest creating another massive procedure.
I would probably start by adding a few really simple questions when something is being replaced:
- Can we repair it?
- Are spare parts available?
- Could it be refurbished or upgraded?
- Could somebody else use it if we don't need it anymore?
- If we do replace it, what are we doing with the old one?
That's it.
Those questions could sit in purchasing, equipment replacement or even just become part of how people make decisions.
Environmental management should start before the recycling bin
I think this is probably what I like most about the whole Right to Repair idea. We talk a lot about recycling. But recycling is quite late in the story.
Before something gets anywhere near a recycling bin, we have already made loads of decisions.
- What did we buy in the first place?
- How long did we use it?
- Did we maintain it?
- Could we have repaired it?
- Could somebody else have used it?
- And did it actually need replacing?
For a small business, you don't need a massive circular economy strategy to start thinking like this. Sometimes you just need to change the question.
Instead of:
“What shall we replace it with?”
Maybe ask:
“Do we actually need to replace it yet?”
I really like what the EU has done with the Right to Repair. And although the rules themselves won't apply to every UK business, I think the idea behind them is something any business could learn from.
Because sometimes improving environmental performance isn't about launching another environmental project.
Sometimes it is simply about making a slightly better decision with something you already have.
