At this stage, the promises are not kept. UFC-Que Choisir pin, in a report published Tuesday, December 14, the relevance of the repairability index, supposed to fight against waste by encouraging the purchase of more repairable products.
The index, set up in January 2021, sins by its method of calculation, as in its lack of distribution by distributors, estimates the UFC, which “Ring the alarm bell” and “Calls for reform” of this instrument “So that it can be a useful tool” for buyers. “Yet welcome, it is, as it stands, far from constituting relevant information”, points to the association.
The UFC analyzed 330 products and nine online shopping sites: a large majority of sellers do not meet their obligation to display the index, and only 42% of products have the logo visible near the price. More precisely, Leroy-Merlin is at 100% or Boulanger at 95%, while others like Amazon are at 22% or even 0% for Carrefour.
The index, in the form of a score from 1 to 10, must be affixed to five types of equipment, chosen by the public authorities as pilot products:
- Washing machine
- TV
- Smartphone
- Laptop computers
- Lawn mower.
The objective is to encourage manufacturers to eco-design by manufacturing products that are easily repairable. Except that “The index thus seems to have been built to give manufacturers an artificial satisfaction”, criticizes the UFC: the score is based on criteria each weighing the same weight (documentation, ease of dismantling, availability of spare parts, price, etc.), to the detriment of decisive criteria such as the availability of spare parts.
The purchase of a new product remains the majority option
What “Results in nonsense”, with for example smartphones and televisions very well rated when they are nevertheless below average in terms of availability of parts, further notes the UFC. The association asks the public authorities to review the method of construction of this rating and to impose display on sellers (with the rating grid directly accessible to consumers).
The stakes are high: today, only a third of the 16 million large household appliances broken down each year are repaired, and the purchase of a new product remains the majority option, notes the UFC. This rate is similar for all electrical and electronic devices.
The State’s objective, with this index, is to achieve a 60% repair rate for electrical and electronic products. The tool must then be extended to other products, and even become a “Sustainability index” from 2024.