A long-standing demand of R.U.S.Z is finally implemented: 2022 comes the nationwide repair bonus!
On May 21, the National Council unanimously approved the nationwide repair bonus, financed with EUR 130 million from the EU reconstruction fund. Following the resounding success of the Vienna repair voucher, repairs of up to EUR 200 are to be subsidized at 50% throughout the country from January 2022.
"With the repair bonus for electrical and electronic appliances, we are taking the next step away from a throwaway society toward a sustainable and future-oriented community. It is better to repair than to throw away and thus protect the environment, promote small repair entrepreneurs and thus create additional jobs. When we repair things and use them longer instead of throwing them away, both people and nature benefit."
Ulrike Fischer, spokeswoman for consumer protection for the Green Party, is pleased to report at the on-site inspection of R.U.S.Z in Penzing, the pioneering company in terms of repair and recycling management in Austria.
However, the repair bonus is only a first step. In order to reduce the mountains of waste from 83,000 tons of Austrian e-waste per year, smarter and more efficient product design is particularly necessary, keyword: early obsolescence. This also requires the appropriate promotion of research and development in the interest of longer product use and strengthening the circular economy.
The R.U.S.Z shows, among other things, with its participation in the research project Prompt - Premature Obsolescence Multi-Stakeholder Product Testing - how this works.
Further reading (in german):
Repanet.at: Bundesweiter Reparaturbonus kommt ab 2022
Wiener Zeitung: Bis zu 200 EUR Reparaturbonus für Elektrogeräte