For more durable and repairable goods

When we look at an item in our hands, we only see the tip of the iceberg of all the resources that were needed to produce it.

The current overexploitation of resources, combined with increasingly short life cycles for many products, is unsustainable. To produce a cell phone, it takes 600 times its weight in resources!

We know that we need to make our products more durable and last longer, especially considering the current waste crisis.

Équiterre's studies on obsolescence and on access to repair point to many possible solutions. Now we need to take action!

Équiterre is working to make consumer practices that focus on reduction at the source, reuse, repair and sharing more accessible.

Since 2018, Équiterre has been creating awareness among governments about the importance of the reparability and durability of goods.

Several solutions exist to make our objects last longer. Access to repair is a priority action area.

Équiterre has conducted two pan-Canadian studies to create a portrait of the current situation. The first, in 2018, analyzed the reality of consumers in terms of obsolescence of household appliances and electronics.

The obsolescence report gave us the impetus to go further, by looking at access to repair. Why don't people repair anymore? Why do our appliances break so easily and what can we do about it? In 2022 Équiterre conducted a vast Canadian study to find answers to these questions.

In order to better understand the reality in Quebec, further research was conducted with consumers and with the repair community in the province.