Our goals for proposed legislation are:

• Requiring cell phones to be made with user replaceable batteries: In the past, all cell phones (ex. flip phones) had batteries that were easily user replaceable. This is no longer true, and with the substantially high price of getting a cell phone serviced, plus the inconvenience of finding a service provider, many people opt to buy new phones. Therefore, the old cell phone becomes electronic waste even though it may be in perfect condition and the user would be happy to keep using it if a new battery could be installed more easily.

• Following the EU example of standardizing charging ports: The EU recently passed legislation requiring all electronics sold there to have USB-C charging ports. By having charger compatibility, EU users no longer have to buy different chargers and cables when they change their models or brands. The lack of such legislation in the US forces US consumers to buy different or new accessories, due to unstandardized charging/headphone jacks and cables, which promotes wasteful electronic usage that often creates e-waste.

• Requiring new versions of operating systems, such as Windows, iOS, Android, to be backwards compatible with older devices/models, and for older operating systems to be maintained: Many operating system updates effectively abandon older devices/models, and old apps or programs often no longer work with new operating systems. These changes can make older devices/models perform worse (e.g. much slower) or make new operating systems incompatible with older devices/models all together, a tactic that forces users to buy new electronics and causes huge amounts of electronic waste to be created. Practical measures may be incorporated in this mandate such as specific limits in how many versions or how many years operating systems or devices should be maintained.