Would knowing how long a mobile phone lasts change your mind about buying it?
South Australia's Greens party thinks it will.
The party is introducing legislation making it mandatory for retailers to display a minimum product "life span" for electrical items. It would apply to any appliance with a non-removable battery or an electrical plug.
"What this legislation would do is provide a best-before date for electrical products, which I think consumers would welcome," Greens MLC Robert Simms told the ABC.
"Consumers have a right to that information. If an item has got a life span of only one or two years, then that should be disclosed to the purchaser at the time of the purchase."
Mr Simms said the legislation would encourage people to buy more durable products, reduce waste and prevent companies using so-called "planned obsolescence" to drive sales.
He said manufacturers would be expected to supply the life span information about their products.
"The manufacturers know how long their products are likely to last. They should make that information available to retailers," he said.
The retail industry doesn't like the idea. The Australian Retailers Association said it already has a retail road map to net-zero emissions and a national strategy to reduce waste.
"SA having its own labelling provisions will increase the cost of doing business for SA retailers and for national retailers operating in multiple states," ARA chief executive officer Paul Zahra said in a statement.
Experts said the Greens' proposal only addressed part of the problem of electrical waste.
"Consumers do have a challenge figuring out how long will a product last as well as what can you do if it breaks," Consumer Policy Research Centre chief executive officer Erin Turner said.
"We need to develop a way of presenting this information that's really meaningful for consumers and helps them put products side by side."
Ms Turner said part of the problem was that Australian consumer law does not provide strong remedies for people trying to assert their rights. "Our laws also have some gaps when it comes to getting a repair, refund or replacement.
"Businesses don't face penalties if they don't follow that law, which I think is absurd," she said.
"A law without penalties is just a wish.
"If we want people to be able to have longer-lasting products, we need our consumer law to have all the teeth it needs."
The Greens cited various laws and proposal in Europe which mandate that items must be able to be repaired, must not be designed with a finite life span and which make it mandatory to display the product's expected life.
Last year, Australia's Productivity Commission published an extensive report on the "Right to Repair", which recommended the government introduce guarantees for manufacturers to provide ongoing software updates for reasonable time periods.
It also recommended improving the ways consumers can assert their rights to have items repaired or replaced and suggesting copyright laws be amended to make it easier to access repair information.
It said specific markets, such as mobile phones and tablets, needed more investigation to see if additional regulation is needed.
Importantly, it recommended a labelling scheme be introduced that: "provides repairability and/or durability information for consumers. A pilot scheme should target a limited number of white goods and consumer electronics products."
Consumers embrace electronic upgrades
Electrical repairer Max Hawker, who has become prominent on social media for fixing complicated devices that would otherwise be thrown away, said big electronics manufacturers were not entirely to blame for the problem of e-waste and obsolescence.
"I don't think it's just big, bad (tech) and they're forcing people to upgrade," he said.
"We are such (keen) consumers and the idea is to upgrade and replace and keep up with the Joneses."
But he would welcome companies to making repairs easier.
"Just have parts available. If you buy something, you shouldn't be forced to just replace it at the end of the day, you should have options to actually do the repairs," he said.
