Helmut Jahnert took a look at an old grain mill today: “It’s probably 30 years old, the mill no longer works,” he says. “But the owner is attached to her.” So the former mechanical engineer does everything he can to get the mill running again.
Meanwhile, his colleagues from the Repair Café have taken on an old waffle iron, an ancient mixer and a fairly new high-pressure cleaner. The men are all pensioners and do the work on a voluntary basis.
Coffee, cake and tools
Her repair café is open once a month in the physics room of a former school. Then people come by with their broken devices and not only get a free repair in the café, but also coffee and cake, which the repairmen’s wives serve.
The men have already repaired around 1,500 items so far, and they are proud of it: “Even really expensive devices often end up in the trash far too quickly, and we want to avoid that,” says co-initiator Thomas Ebert. But the manufacturers often ensure that the devices are almost impossible to repair. “They are glued together and break when you open them,” says Ebert.
“Right to repair” is well received
He and his colleagues are all the more pleased about the Strasbourg decision. Because the rights of customers are significantly strengthened. For example, if the battery in a smartphone cannot be changed, customers can contact the manufacturer – even after the warranty has expired. The warranty is extended, spare parts should no longer be more expensive than the entire device, but should have reasonable prices.
“It could make work easier for us if spare parts are available at all,” say the men from the repair café. They are now waiting for the new Strasbourg regulations to be put into practice. The EU states have two years to transpose the new repair regulations into national law.
By the way, the grain mill is working again and repairer Helmut Jahnert is happy: “It’s just a nice feeling when you can say at the end, I’ve done that.” In any case, there is one less thing in the trash.
Sources:
European ParliamentReporter on site