The EU Right to Repair Directive takes effect on July 31, 2026. Starting that day, manufacturers selling into the EU must repair covered products within reasonable timeframes and at reasonable prices. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, servers, and household appliances are all in scope. Independent repairers get access to spare parts and technical documentation. Software locks that obstruct third-party repair are prohibited.
This is sound policy. Electronics lasting longer means less manufacturing demand, less resource extraction, and less waste heading to landfill. Australia’s Productivity Commission recommended similar measures in 2021, and consumer advocacy groups are pushing hard for Australia to follow the EU’s lead. Longer device lifespans are coming, one way or another.
But here is what gets lost in most right-to-repair coverage: extending device lifespans creates new challenges at the other end of the lifecycle. When that laptop retires after eight years and three repair cycles, it carries data from every stage of its life. And in Victoria, it still cannot go to landfill.
More Hands, More Data Risk
A device that has been repaired and refurbished multiple times has a more complex data history than one retired after three years on a single user’s desk. It may have passed through a repair technician, a second owner, and a hardware refresh program before landing in your IT room. Each transfer is a potential point of incomplete data removal.
The i-SIGMA industry conference in April 2026 flagged this as an emerging compliance risk. As device lifecycles lengthen, ITAD programs built around predictable 3-to-5-year refresh cycles need to adapt. The volume of sensitive hardware moving through decommissioning pipelines is growing, and so is the complexity of what those devices carry when they finally arrive.
NIST 800-88 Rev. 1 provides the benchmark for media sanitisation. For devices that can be sanitised and remarketed, the standard specifies clear, purge, and destroy methods based on media type. For devices that cannot be reliably sanitised due to age, hardware condition, or drive type, physical destruction is the correct outcome. The standard applies regardless of how long the device has been in service or how many hands it has passed through.
The Victorian Landfill Ban Does Not Distinguish by Device Age
Since July 2019, disposing of e-waste in general landfill in Victoria has been illegal. That applies to a phone repaired twice and a laptop in its eighth year of service just as much as it applies to equipment replaced on a two-year cycle. Right to repair extends device life. It does not change what happens when that life ends.
When a device reaches end-of-life, the disposal obligation is the same as it has always been: compliant recycling under AS/NZS 5377, verified data destruction, and documented chain of custody.
Four Things to Check in Your ITAD Program
If your organisation is extending device lifespans as part of a sustainability strategy, review your ITAD process alongside it.
- Confirm your disposal partner follows NIST 800-88 Rev. 1 and AS/NZS 5377 regardless of device age or repair history.
- Ensure chain of custody documentation covers devices that have had multiple previous owners or repair cycles.
- Request certificates of data destruction for every device class. Tablets and mobile phones are in scope under the EU directive and will see longer service lives as right-to-repair standards spread.
- Check that CO2e reporting from your disposal provider captures the full environmental benefit of diversion from landfill, not just the disposal event itself.
Australia will move on right to repair. The EU has already moved. Either way, the endpoint is the same: every device eventually retires. In Victoria, what happens at that point is regulated.
Electronic Waste Victoria provides ITAD services aligned to AS/NZS 5377, NIST 800-88 Rev. 1, ISO 14001, and ISO 27001. Every device receives a certificate of data destruction and full chain of custody documentation. To review your ITAD program as your device lifecycle strategy evolves, visit ewastevictoria.net.au.