As an American I learned a lot from this article. The idea of encouraging product design that is specifically repairable with the same parts that went into it d

As an American I learned a lot from this article. The idea of encouraging product design that is specifically repairable with the same parts that went into it during the initial manufacturing seems like an obviously great idea, but I know enough about planned obsolescence to know why that isn't the world we live in. The examples here about irreversible disassembly (breaking things) was also eye opening. It makes perfect sense but I had never considered or really noticed this phenomenon. Of course it should be possible to take an electric toothbrush completely apart and recycle the components, but that's often so difficult that the entire thing gets thrown away, wasting all the components, recyclable or not. I am sensitive to environmental problems but hadn't ever really thought about it at the level of these products, thinking such waste was just an inevitable feature of Capitalism. I'm very heartened to learn that there is a legislative effort in the EU, however nascent, to try and change these patterns and create a better future through design. I will never think about "right to repair" the same way again.