> User-replaceable battery means that entire product categories like wireless earbuds e.g. Airpods cannot exist.

Acceptable, why turn an entire device into ewaste for a single component dying, especially one with a known limited service life, like a battery.

10 year warranties minimum on all electronics. Regardless of size and fragility. Any electronic device that can't last 10 years in service is unnecessarily contributing to ewaste and should not be allowed.

User replaceable batteries to avoid using battery life decay as a means to drive sells of "new" versions, something that causes e-waste.

To be honest, don't stop at batteries. Any component in a device that can not last 10 years while retaining atleast 75% of its "ability" must be user serviceable, no exceptions.

User serviceable is defined as any service a user can perform where the OEM will replace the device at no charge (not even shipping) if the device breaks during or because of the user servicing it during normal warranty.

Replacing a device under warranty resets the 10 year timer. To discourage OEMs halfassing it for 5 years and hoping for low warranty claims.

We can not allow companies to treat the earth like a garbage can.

The amount of ewaste in something tiny like a pair of Airpods is... tiny. Because they are physically small.

Probably Airpods thrown away every 2 years for 50 years is less ewaste than a single laptop, and those don't last 50 years.

So does banning Airpod-like devices really make sense as a policy to minimise total ewaste?

So basically, drive the cost of all products up to the point that only rich people can afford them, and disenfranchise an entire slice of the population.

If you want to have the ability to purchase ten year warrantied devices, that is a separate issue. And no one, no one, is going to 'reset' your ten year warranty at the time of repair/replacement. Never going to happen.

Wealth inequality existing is not a valid reason to pollute the earth with disposable products, and both issues can be tackled simultaneously.

How long do the batteries in those things last? If it makes it to 2 years then they're doing much better than any of my wired ear buds where the wire's or contacts usually break and are probably responsible for less waste.

Mine are about four years old, I got them not long after they came out. I’ve upgraded my iPhone but I’m still using the AirPods. Battery capacity is probably about 60% of new.

They’re easily the longest lasting in ear headphones I’ve used.

Thank you for demonstrating why smartphones and computers should be exempt from the right to repair

It would take some legislative creativity but why not put in some exceptions for tiny, or waterproof products etc. There are always exceptions in the real world. I fix all my phones but am fully willing to accept that I might not be able to cleanly install a gasket like the factory and lose some protection after I open it.

Creating an agency to flexibly interpret the laws thru regulations is the typical solution for legislative creativity.

'Cannot exist' or 'must be just a little bit bulkier'?

I miss my bulky motorola cell phone that weighed less and had decent plastic because weight and glass became luxurious.

Specify a minimum 'size' of battery that must be replaceable. Size might be physical dimensions but I have don't know enough to specify a meaningful metric.

There definitely ways it could work.