Read the given passage and answer the questions that follow.
The French capital, Paris, hosts a dozen ‘repair cafes’ – free, monthly initiatives that allow
local residents to fix household objects and electronics with the help and advice of
enthusiastic volunteers. Pioneered by journalist Martine Postma in Amsterdam in 2009,
hundreds of similar workshops take place across Europe. Nearly two-thirds of Europeans
would rather repair their products than buy new ones.
"We're a society of waste and overconsumption," says Emmanuel Vallée, organiser of the
Repair Café Paris, which typically sees around 25 people attending per event, including some
online, since it launched in May 2019. "We throw things away that we don't need to and buy
new gadgets before exploring the possibility of repair. The cycle continues. It's a vicious
circle."
For Vallée and repairers like him, there's a lot of work to be done. The world produced nearly
45 million tonnes of e-waste in 2016 as consumers and businesses threw out their old
smartphones, computers and household appliances – material worth an estimated $62.5bn.
Only 20% was properly recycled. In Europe, where the problem is particularly acute,
researchers estimate that only 12% to 15% of mobile phones are properly recycled – despite
around 90% of the population owning one.
E-waste, which is often shipped illegally from the West to sprawling, toxic dumpsites in
countries like the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria and China, is expected to grow to more than 52
million tonnes by the end of 2021, and to double by 2050 – making it the fastest growing type
of domestic waste in the world. The environmental impact ranges from huge carbon
emissions to pollution of water sources and food supply chains.
But significant amounts of that waste could be avoided through repairs. According to a study,
only 40% of electronics breakdowns in France are repaired. But surveys have found nearly
two-thirds of Europeans would rather repair their products than buy new ones. French officials
truly believe the current system is broken and needs to be fixed.
In an effort to defuse this vast amount of avoidable waste, France's National Assembly last
year voted to introduce an index of "reparability" ratings for appliances such as washing
machines, lawnmowers, televisions and smartphones. In doing so, the French government
hopes to increase the electronics repair rate to 60% within five years.
Repair Cafés were started in Paris in: