[teknopaul]

It's pretty easy to track the lifetime of some equipment. (not yogurt cartons, but Internet conneted equipment is trivial) You can empower users to make the right decisions, by collecting and publishing lifetime information at the point of sale.

This enables consumers to see that one phone is, for example, 50% more expensive but if its reusable (right to repair comes in here) and has a life time twice that of the comparable device. Consumers can make the right decision. Its really important to log the miles and age of cars as they get sold so that consumers don't buy cars that end up being replaced too early. Second hand markets will reflect that knowledge once its collated and published and market forces do the rest. You ought to regulate to ensure that facts once known are presented to consumers by suppliers. In theory, with perfect knowledge, and consumers that care, the market regulates itself. Anything you do to improve consumer knowledge and encourage responsibility helps.