Right to repair movement sees progress but advocates say it’s no easy fix

A massaging hair brush that won't vibrate and a gramophone that stopped spinning were no match for the fix-it extraordinaires at Repair Café Toronto.

A toy turtle struggling to crawl, a massaging hair brush that won’t vibrate and a gramophone that stopped spinning were no match for the fix-it extraordinaires at Repair Café Toronto.

Over the last 12 years, the volunteer group has mended a plethora of such oddities along with phones, bikes and torn clothing. Kettles and toasters, though, often make for the peskiest repairs, they say.

“You have to take the whole thing apart,” said the group’s co-founder Paul Magder. “(The manufacturers) know where the problems are, but they don’t make it easy to fix.”

A growing movement is looking to change that. Right-to-repair advocates want to make items in our homes easier to fix and thus less prone to wind up in a landfill.

For many, it’s a matter of principle; if you own something they think you should be able to repair it yourself or take it to someone who can. Others see the right to repair as a way to save money or boost sustainability.

No matter the motivation, the reality is that “our ability to fix things is impeded in all kinds of different ways,” said Alissa Centivany, an assistant professor of information and media studies at Western University in London, Ont.

In many instances, manufacturers have made products difficult to open or built them with components that won’t stand the test of time.

For example, Magder has noticed the electromagnets manufacturers install in toasters to hold the lever down once bread is inserted are particularly weak and become even more feeble as grease builds around them.