REPAIR EVERYTHING INSTEAD OF SCRAPPING.

From the largest item say a building to the smallest say a phone all can be repaired if the environment is taken into account. Today, however, many manufacturers deliberately discourage mending by making their products hard or confusing to tinker with. This inevitably means more rubbish, with the UN estimating that the volume of electronic waste is rising five times faster than recycling rates. Though on paper, the UK government has set ambitious targets to halve the amount of waste Britons produce by 2042, in practice less mending means more demand for more new products, stimulating consumption and fuelling economic growth. For politicians more anxious about growing GDP than wellbeing, repair has simply not been a priority. But that could be about to change – at least in the EU. Earlier this month the European parliament adopted new rules that will force manufacturers to make it easier for consumers to repair their products. The directive will initially only cover household goods like phones, washing machines and vacuum cleaners, but it is estimated that it will save customers €176.5bn over 15 years and prevent the emission of 18.4m tonnes of CO2. Advocates hope that, over time, the “right to repair” will expand to cover more products, gradually re-writing the conventions of throwaway consumerism. British planners and housing developers, take note. It is not just plastic consumer goods that can be refurbished and repaired, but bricks and mortar too. Of the 222m tonnes of waste the UK typically produces annually, about 62% is from the construction sector. Though the severe ecological impact of demolition-led construction is becoming better known, Britain is still addicted to the wrecking ball, knocking down tens of thousands of decent buildings every year rather than refurbishing them. Pensioners in Bexley in south-east London for instance, recently resorted to occupying the Lesnes Estate in an attempt to persuade the landlord, Peabody, to fix their homes instead of flattening them. From iPads to tower blocks, mending more and destroying less is critical to making western economies sustainable, but while the EU’s new rules could force Apple to make its devices more repairable, architecture faces a far bigger challenge. Britain’s dysfunctional relationship with building maintenance has created a ticking timebomb in the housing sector that could plunge thousands of homeowners into destitution when it explodes. New flats in large blocks are often sold on 125-year leases, but many depend on hard-to-repair components like lifts, windows and cladding that will fail decades sooner, potentially bankrupting residents with eye-watering replacement charges.