On 28 September 2026, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil launched LESTARI: Sustainability Framework and Roadmap 2030 (SFR2030), the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's plan for the telecoms, broadcasting and postal and courier sectors. According to MCMC's press release, usable devices will be refurbished and reused, older equipment will be upgraded or replaced with more energy-efficient technology, and the rest will be recycled responsibly. The headline targets are 15 million devices managed sustainably by 2030 and benefits for 5 million people through social-impact programmes.
The framework is a sensible start. But it does not yet contain the enabling rules that make device reuse economically real, and that gap is the story.
The case for LESTARI's approach
The strongest argument for state-led action is the scale of the problem. The UN-backed Global E-waste Monitor 2024 found that the world generated 62 billion kg of e-waste in 2022, and that only 22.3 percent was formally collected and recycled. It also found that generation is outpacing formal recycling by almost a factor of five. The Star reported that Malaysians generate about 12.2 kg of e-waste per person, the third highest in ASEAN and well above the 7.8 kg global average.
Markets alone will not fix that. Disposal costs fall on the public, not on whoever sold the device, and lower-income households are often locked out of the second-hand market because refurbishment is patchy. A regulator that convenes industry, sets a measurable target and links refurbished devices to people who cannot afford new ones is doing something useful. LESTARI says explicitly that reuse should lower ownership costs for lower-income groups.
What the roadmap actually commits to
The published material is a coordination framework, not a rulebook. It rests on three pillars: climate and environmental sustainability, social impact and inclusion, and technology and innovation. It was built through consultation with 116 participants from 47 organisations. MCMC also launched the Net Zero & Circularity Alliance, and 15 organisations signed support pledges. They include Maxis, CelcomDigi, Telekom Malaysia, U Mobile, Time dotCom, Astro, Media Prima and Pos Malaysia, alongside recyclers and refurbishers such as 3Cat, APR Electronics Services and Blue Bee Technologies.
That is a voluntary, industry-led model, and for a first step it is the right one. It avoids imposing mandates before anyone knows what a workable collection and refurbishment pipeline costs. Implementation will be monitored against targets and indicators set with industry, but the press release does not say who verifies them or what happens if a target is missed. Nor does the release define what counts as a device being 'managed sustainably'. Without that definition, 15 million could mean 15 million phones handed in at a telco counter or 15 million units that were verifiably refurbished and put back into use. Those are very different outcomes.
The missing piece: the right to repair
A reuse target depends on devices being repairable by someone other than the manufacturer. Refurbishers need spare parts, diagnostic tools, repair documentation and the ability to replace a battery or screen without the software rejecting the new part. None of this appears in the LESTARI release.
Malaysia's right-to-repair work is happening in a different ministry and, so far, a different sector. In July 2026, KPDN's deputy minister Fuziah Salleh said the ministry is studying a framework that would give vehicle owners access to technical information and the freedom to use independent workshops, as paultan.org reported. The study would consider new regulations under the Consumer Protection Act 1999 and benchmark models in Europe, the UK, Canada, the US and Australia. Manufacturers' intellectual property and safety concerns are part of the brief, and they are legitimate ones. But the reporting describes the scope as vehicles, and neither it nor MCMC's release extends it to phones, laptops or network equipment.
That leaves a seam between the two. One agency is promising to keep 15 million devices in use. Another is studying whether owners may fix a car outside the dealer network. Nobody has committed to asking whether a Malaysian can get a replacement phone battery or a laptop schematic from the manufacturer.
A proportionate path
We do not argue for heavy mandates. Prescriptive design rules can freeze product choices, raise costs for smaller importers and push compliant products out of a small market. A lighter sequence would serve Malaysia better:
- Define the metric. Publish what 'managed sustainably' means and report refurbished-and-redeployed units separately from recycled units, since reuse delivers most of the cost and access benefit.
- Fold devices into the KPDN study. Extend the right-to-repair benchmarking to consumer electronics, and compare the EU's approach with lighter options such as parts-availability disclosure.
- Protect independent refurbishers. Require that manufacturers do not use software locks or contract terms to block third-party repair of out-of-warranty devices, while allowing safety-critical exceptions.
- Keep it evidence-based. Use the first two years of NZCA data to see where devices actually leak out of the reuse chain before deciding whether any rule is needed.
Malaysia has chosen to start with convening rather than compelling, and that deserves credit. But a 2030 target for 15 million devices will be met only if repair is legal, affordable and practical. If the sector ministries keep working in parallel, LESTARI risks being measured by how many devices were collected rather than how many were repaired and used again.