Kyle Testifies at USITC Hearing on E-Waste

Kyle spoke this week at a U.S. International Trade Commission hearing on used electronics exports. The hearing will be an important source for a USITC study for the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. In his testimony, Kyle stressed the importance of repair worldwide:

As electronics have become more intricate, they have also become more difficult to repair. And getting the information necessary to repair is tough. Electronics manufacturers often use intellectual property laws to keep repair information proprietary. But manufacturers do have the detailed repair and disassembly instructions that would be invaluable to refurbishers: the repair manuals they write for their own technicians. Keeping this information secret costs jobs in America, costs jobs overseas, and contributes to the growing tons of toxic e-waste worldwide.

Stay tuned—we learned a lot at the hearing, and we’ll be sharing it with you here soon.