International Repair Day 2025 is almost here! And a lot of our focus this year has been on software obsolescence. It’s been top of mind due to the unprecedented impact that the end of Windows 10 will have on around half of all Windows users.
In early October, with the end of 10 on the horizon, we sat down with Nathan Proctor from US PIRG, Monique Szpak, seasoned laptop tinkerer and volunteer with Community TechAid and Repair Cafe Lambeth, and our own Tech Lead, Neil Mather to get the lowdown on what the resistance has been to this huge obsolescence event that is now upon us. 
The Windows 10 issue is out of this world
On October 14th — ironically on International E-Waste Day and only four days before International Repair Day — Microsoft will end free and automatic support for Windows 10. Nathan and Neil both share the shocking statistics of what the fallout will be. The stand out figure is a potential “1.6 billion pounds of e-waste” generated — if all the laptops impacted by the end of 10 were stacked on top of each other, it would reach beyond the moon. 
So, this issue is huge, but repairers around the world have been trying to do something about it. We mark the small gains that we’ve made and Microsoft’s concessions, but it isn’t enough to solve the problem. Nathan tells us about the open letter that US PIRG recently sent to the company, which was signed by over 500 organisations around the world. Campaigners in Europe are also urging the European Commission to introduce Ecodesign legislation that would require software updates of at least 15 years for laptops, and more. Campaigning can and has worked in the past and Nathan tells us about one of their previous campaigns which ultimately contributed to Google promising 10 years of minimum support for Chromebooks as a requirement. 
Our ‘End of 10’ toolkit
Apart from campaigning, we’re also taking action on the ground. We speak to Neil about the toolkit that Restart put together to help repair groups tackle the end of Windows 10 within their local communities. It’s a resource that was developed with 20 different groups around the world, drawing on the collective experience of our amazing community. 
Neil and Monique both volunteer at their local repair cafes and share with us how tackling Windows 10 has been going so far. They point out that the end of 10 actually isn’t widely common knowledge yet, meaning that sometimes people come in with a laptop that they think is broken but it’s actually Windows 10 or 11 that’s the problem. While fixing up these machines, they’re also having to educate and raise awareness. And they expect that once October 14th passes, and more and more software starts to become out of date, there will be an uptick in the number of people bringing in these machines. 

Is Linux the solution?
There are a few solutions to the end of 10 that the repair community particularly love, one of these is to replace the Windows OS with Linux. But while Linux is popular with “techies”, as Monique says, the average person isn’t too familiar. So this wonderful solution does require more than just installing it on a laptop. Neil and Monique both take us through their working style for helping people who come into their repair cafes move over to Linux. The key, they point out, is communication and time. Our toolkit supports fixers in talking through attendees’ options and needs. Then, it takes time,

After a bit of a hiatus, our podcast is back and we were honoured to be joined by Mark Miodownik for a chat about researching and communicating around repair. Mark is not only an author, engineer, Professor of Materials and Society at UCL, and a director of the Institute of Making but also the newly appointed Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement with Science — meaning that he’s really good at turning people who think they are apathetic about the material things (less in the Madonna sense and more like Aluminium honeycombs and Nano Fibres, to name a couple) in our world, into enthusiasts. 
We need to talk about engineering
Mark shares with us how he got into public engagement around engineering and repair. It turns out that it’s out of love and a personal passion for the subject! He believes that engineering should be as revered as much as art, music, and movies because it is, and has long been, a really integral part of human culture. We learn that a key part of effectively communicating about repair,  in Mark’s opinion, is to play on your own enthusiasm about the subject, finding commonality, and an in-road to make the topic just as exciting to them — one of the ways that he does this is by talking about his bike. An example of this is the Materials Library at the IoM, making it a tactile and real experience that people can engage with.

And as much as it’s important to get the general public interested in repair, we need to also be communicating its impact to funders and the government. One way that we can do that, Mark says, is by talking about its social value and the impact it has to strengthen our communities, and on our mental and physical health. 
Big findings from the Big Repair Project
Recently, Mark was part of a team that undertook a wide-spanning piece of research called the Big Repair Project, where they looked into repair habits in the UK, what influences them, and most importantly what is stopping people from repairing their stuff. When it came to barriers to repair, some of the main ones included cost, how long repair takes, the societal norms of consumer culture, apathy of the general public towards saving their stuff, and discouragement from manufacturers. 
“By and large people don’t enjoy throwing things away. It’s not something that gives them a kick, mostly people just want it to work and they actually appreciate the objects…we found that they felt like they had no choice, because buying new is the cheapest option in many cases.”
He shares some other major findings from the study, including what surprised him. It turns out that people expect their small electricals to last an average of five years and bigger white goods to last for ten — and this simply isn’t happening. So next they thought, how can we make this the reality? That’s what their next study is about. 
A washing machine for life?
Mark shares his vision of a world where a washing machine was so repairable, so long-lasting that it could be passed down from generation to generation. So in the upcoming study, they’re going to find out what would be needed to make that happen. Part of it, he says, comes from utilising the technology that is now starting to be built-in to our white goods — technology that to most of us currently seems a bit unnecessary. But they are wondering if solutions like prompts for maintenance could prolong the life of these machines significantly. 
“They’re making a machine that starts out as rocks in one part of the world, gets made into steel, gets made into all sorts of copper windings for the motor, adds plastics and rubbers, and then it ends up in your hands. And they do all of that for 250 quid. That’s quite a remarkable engineering achievement. But the truth is…by having it so finely attuned to the price point, they’re prone to failure.”
It’s a difficult balance. Under our current system,

Spring has sprung in London and so have new repair initiatives! We sat down with Shelini and Fiona to have a chat about two exciting projects that have just kicked off in the capital.
Another high street gets treated to a Fixing Factory
First, Shelini told us about the launch of the brand new Hackney Fixing Factory that happened in April. As we waved goodbye to the historic Hackney Fixers group, a more permanent space has taken root right off the high street. Friends and project partners joined us to cut the ribbon and celebrate our third Fixing Factory.
We spoke about some of the fresh ideas that we’re bringing to this space and the activities that are going on including: community repair events (à la Restart Parties), Fixperience Workshops, a Future Fixers course, and a Repair Club. We’re also planning to open two more sites in the near future, one in Haringey and one somewhere else in London. If you have a suggestion for where we should go next or want to get involved as a volunteer – get in touch!
The first repair voucher scheme in the UK
Then, Fiona introduced us to the repair voucher scheme that we are running across North London, in partnership with North London Waste Authority, ReLondon and FixFirst. The trial follows examples in Austria, France and Germany and is the first of it’s kind in the UK. In practice, it means that residents in North London can register for a voucher which gets them 50% (up to £50) off a repair at a participating repair business.
Repair vouchers totally resonate with what we’re asking for in the Repair and Reuse Declaration. Fiona talks us through how we hope that the scheme will help push for policy change on a big scale in the UK. And the public are in support of it too! Our initial data shows that ~48% of those that signed up for a voucher would not have considered repairing their item otherwise, signalling that this could have huge ripple effects on reducing e-waste.
We also spoke about the challenges to repair businesses and how this scheme could hopefully help bolster the repair economy in London. We’re still looking for repair businesses to participate in this trial, so if this sounds interesting you can learn more here.
Links:

* See what’s going on at Hackney and Camden Fixing Factories
* Sign up for our repair voucher scheme

[Feature image courtesy of Mark A Phillips]

We can’t believe that we’ve already reached episode 100 of The Restart Podcast! We launched this show a decade ago to explore the world of repair, connect with others in the space, and think about how our work fits into the wider world of sustainability and circularity, autonomy and ownership, and education and accessibility. And we’re so proud of what we’ve managed to produce and the conversations that we’ve had over the years. 
To mark the occasion, we wanted to speak to a few notable people that haven’t featured on the podcast yet. These are people who you might have thought would’ve been in the first handful of episodes. But right now, is actually a perfect time to reflect together and think about what comes next for the repair movement. In this episode, Ugo got back behind the mic to connect with contemporaries and old friends. He spoke to Martine Postma, Kyle Wiens, Cristina Ganapini, and Mathew Lubari about their unique takes on repair. 
A pioneer of community repair
Martine shares with us her memories of setting up the first repair cafe back in Amsterdam in 2009 and how community repair has blossomed since then. From those humble beginnings, there are now over 2,500 repair cafes around the world. And that number doesn’t even include other community repair initiatives like Restart Parties, Fixit Clinics and more – showing just how far the roots of her idea have spread over time. We reflected on their 15 year anniversary event last autumn and what the future holds – or at least Martine hopes – for community repair. 
From a broken laptop to the destination for DIY repair
Kyle had some interesting takeaways from last year’s Open Repair Alliance report that Ugo was eager to dive into. What resulted were some recommendations for how community repair events can really thrive as solutions to people’s everyday needs and integrate into our existing ways of living. They also speak about the end of iFixit! But don’t worry, it’s not happening anytime soon. Rather, as we continue to make gains towards achieving the Right to Repair, they ponder where iFixit would sit in a world where manufacturers make repair manuals and spare parts readily available. It turns out, there will always be a place for conveners of experience and knowledge – something that we know a lot about!
Gaining Right to Repair the visibility it needs
Next, Ugo catches up with Cristina about Right to Repair policy, mainly in Europe, over the last decade. She shares her feelings as someone who is campaigning day in day out for a real Right to Repair. One thing to be particularly proud of, she says, is the Right to Repair Directive and she’s also hopeful about new changes to battery regulation coming into force in 2027. They discuss how although we have a long way to go and new legislation doesn’t include all electricals yet, it’s a clear sign that repair is on agenda and has new visibility that was not the case a decade – or even five years – ago. 
Repair under challenging circumstances
Finally, Ugo speaks to our only return guest of the episode, Mathew from Community Creativity 4 Development. He shares with us how their work has evolved over the last few years and the work that they are doing to involve new communities and improve real people’s lives on the ground through repair. It’s inspiring work that has not only caught our eye but the eye of those in surrounding countries. Mathew shares his recent collaborations with repairers in Kenya and posits a new idea for a Right to Repair convening...

A transcript of this podcast is available
Sitting nestled in the mountains of France sits a small building buzzing with activity. Backdropped by the snowy Alps, signs on the building read “where borders meet”, “welcome” and “repair station”, a perfect summary of the Low-tech & Refugees project run by EKO!. In this episode, we speak to Marjolaine Bert, founder of EKO! about how repair and ingenuity can give vulnerable people life saving solutions, learning from each other, and building empathy between communities. 
The Low-tech & Refugees project aims to help refugees, migrants and exiled people with low-tech solutions to basic needs like food, water, shelter, communication materials and so on. Through a combination of trainings and workshops, volunteers and beneficiaries work together to repair, upcycle and share skills. Marjolaine has brought this work to hotspots like the Mória refugee camp in Lesbos, Marseilles, and now her hometown of Briançon where she is helping those making the treacherous crossing across the French-Italian border. 
So why low-tech?
We asked Marjolaine about the reasoning behind the low-tech approach that they take. She says that low-tech solutions come with the territory for their work. For the most part, the people who arrive at EKO! have very little means and from this, springs creativity and a make-do-and-mend attitude. Marjolaine shares some examples of ingenious inventions that they have made over the years. This includes hand warmers made out of discarded baby food pouches, portable lamps made from empty disposable water bottles, and tent insulation made from life jackets. 
And while this approach is a necessity when you have such little means and materials to work with, it doesn’t mean that it should only be used in these scenarios. We talk about the need for those who have the power to choose a more sustainable way of life to do so. Especially, as the reason many displaced people are in this position is due to our changing climate. 

A place for collaboration and building empathy
Marjolaine runs us through the impressive number of activities going on every week at EKO! including bike fixing, clothes mending, woodworking and beekeeping! In their workshops, EKO! have an approach to teaching that hits close to home for those of us familiar with Restart Parties. Marjolaine explains that these sessions don’t have a ‘teacher’ per say but rely on everyone in the room sharing their own unique experiences and knowledge so that they can work out solutions together. She shares that for some migrants this can be an incredibly grounding experience, allowing them to reconnect with the life that they may have left behind and their autonomy as people. 
“And it’s really interesting because then people that are usually just learning, in the position of the one that doesn’t know, can be in the position of the one that knows the best. Maybe he knows how to use a sewing machine because before in his life, he was a tailor…
And that’s really interesting to see self-confidence and dignity coming through that kind of relationship where everyone’s equal and we all have something to learn from each other. Maybe the one that knows how to sew doesn’t know how to speak the local language. So, everyone has to learn something in the meeting.”
EKO! also run repair cafes every week where refugees and migrants, locals and even tourists come to fix together. It’s a unique opportunity for collaboration between groups that have much working against them. Especially, Marjolaine points out, with the way that the media portrays migrants in France. 
All in all, the project has a far-reaching impact on not only the beneficiaries but the local community and volunteers as well.

Have you ever binned or recycled something that was still working, or could have been repaired? Our new report says that the answer is likely, yes. Did you want to do so? Our polling suggests, no!
Last year, we conducted a small study on rates of reuse and repair at a waste and recycling centre in London and found that almost half of the small electricals that went to scrap, could have been either repaired or directly reused. We had our suspicions that this wasn’t a stand alone occurrence, so we set our sights on something bigger. In this episode, we talk to Restart’s own James Pickstone about our new BREW (Beyond Recycling of E-Waste) report into reuse at UK waste facilities, and Sarah Ottoway, Sustainability and Social Value Lead at SUEZ about their new report into uptake of reuse options at their own facilities.
The Headlines
The main – unfortunate but compelling – takeaway from the BREW report shows that there is nowhere near enough of this activity happening. In fact, we found that only around half of waste facilities in the UK have any kind of reuse stream and only around a fifth offer reuse for small electricals. It’s a shockingly low statistic that desperately needs to change. If you want to dive deeper, you’re in luck. James takes us on a journey through our findings and what they mean. Including an even more appalling figure on repair at waste facilities.
For SUEZ, their findings are looking a bit brighter. They found that the majority of visitors to the HWRCs were already users of the on-site reuse shop and regularly so. Furthermore, those who weren’t using the shop were already engaging in similar activities eg. charity shopping and buying second hand. It’s a welcome insight into people’s mindsets and a positive sign that more people are picking up sustainable habits.
The art of what could be
James and Sarah run us through what reuse options really look like at these facilities. One of the most impressive perhaps, is Suez’s 6,000² foot ‘renew hub’ in Manchester which caters for upcycling and repair for everything from bicycles, to fabric and upholstery, to woodworking. She is clearly immensely proud of what they have built there and recounts to us the inspiration that she feels just by walking through its entrance. It’s the kind of facility that we want to have in every area of the UK and its the kind of inspiration that we need to make it happen.
As well as the reuse initiatives at council run sites, James points out that there are also many grassroots initiatives spread out around the UK. These are a more than worthy alternative but they also still need funding.
So what’s stopping us?
Our polling showed that 85% of the British public think items brought to waste facilities should be kept in use through being repaired/refurbished or donated/sold. And the same percentage support government-set targets for reuse. So what’s stopping that from happening? We talk to both of our guests about the barriers and solutions to encourage more reuse options. Sarah says that a lot of the time, the barriers are actually quite practical. Issues of too little space, too little time and too little funding are preventing more options like reuse hubs or refurbish and repair programmes from popping up. These are problems that occur on a case by case basis and while reuse could use more funding as a general rule, its a tricky issue to solve.
But there is action that policymakers can be taking. Sarah and James both run us through some of these potential options including new reuse targets, removal of VAT on repairs and spare parts, and financial incentives for manufacturers to provide longer repair support for products. It’s exactly the kind of thing that we’re asking for in the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration – which has already proven popular with citizens and MPs ali...

For our August episode, we spoke to professor and writer, Shannon Mattern about her writing on the history of repair and repair manuals. It’s a theme that she has almost unknowingly been pursuing in her work for many years, bringing it to areas of thought that we haven’t yet explored on the show. 
The repair manual brings into play lots of elements that fascinate Mattern including graphic design and instructional media but perhaps what stands out most is her belief that the genre isn’t always so straight forward in its pedagogical nature. In fact, in classes she often encourages students to use the repair manual as a lens through which to reinvent objects in a more considered way.
From stewardship to sealed devices
The modern repair manual – the one that Right to Repair activists across the world are fighting against – commonly tells us not to even open our devices instead of to repair them. But how did we get here? Mattern takes us through a brief history of the repair manual in its various iterations. From handwritten and drawn examples centuries ago, to the first printed manuals, and then the boom of private goods (and the means to repair them) in the 1950s. She points out that repair manuals have always had a complicated relationship with their reader and this approach is not wholly new. Thats why collectives like Videofreex found a need to produce their own literature on repairing equipment, just one example of the many responses to the genre.
We also touch on the need for oral histories and manuals, rather than the published ones that we are used to seeing from manufacturers. Its a practice particularly common in places like Cuba where getting your hands on a written manual can be prohibitively expensive, if they exist at all. But this also rings very true when considering Restart’s own network of community repairers today.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Bending the rules of the manual
As has become clear, the repair manual will never be the be all end all of repairing an object – or our world. Mattern shares some more inventive ways that repair manuals have been used as a ‘boundary object’ in order to encourage conversation and cooperation, especially in the community action space. Rather than being only used as instructive pieces, the manual can actually be a tool in itself. And in fact, this resonates deeply with us, as Restart would not be what it is today if not for the wonderful community of people sharing their skills, their knowledge, and collaborating to make a change.
 
 
 
 
 
Links:

Maintenance and Care by Shannon Mattern
Step by Step from ‘Repair Manual’ by Shannon Mattern
‘The pandemic is a portal’ by Arundhati Roy
Repair Culture: Reparación “the never-ending life of Cuban things …” by Mark A Phillips

[Photos courtesy of Internet Archive,  London Community Video Archive and the Experimental Television Centre]

We spoke to Restart’s own Pascale Hall and James Pickstone, and Dr Kersty Hobson from Cardiff University about the Student Repair Revolution project and their learnings and hopes for the future of student repair initiatives. 
Unique and familiar challenges
We know that engaging young people in repair is no easy task which is partly why the Student Repair Revolution project was set up in the first place. So, we discuss the main challenges that were found when trying to set up initiatives in universities. Kersty stresses that it really is dependent on the unique situation of each institution. Campus layout, student extracurricular culture, and the types of courses offered can all affect how easy it is to establish repair groups at a university. Students are also time poor, which means that accessibility and visibility of these repair activities is vital. 
But as Pascale and James point out, not all the barriers that they found are unique to university students. There are also the all too recognisable challenges of obtaining insurance for events and finding the volunteers to run them – issues that any repair group organiser will recognise. What seems to be clear is that the ‘traditional’ repair cafe model does not suit universities… especially when it falls on a hungover Sunday morning. 
Collaboration is key
Pascale says that one of the most exciting parts of working on this project has been seeing the knowledge and experience sharing between student groups. With such a daunting task, it’s clear that we need to be fostering collaboration between those who are really motivated to establish repair on campuses. And working with local groups is important also. Not only because community repairers can share their experiences in organising events, but they can also pass on their fixing skills which are sadly being lost between generations. 
Kersty stresses throughout our conversation that students also need encouragement to get involved in repair. 
“I don’t think we can assume that we’ve got a young generation of repairers waiting in the wings. I think we need to be part of the change to facilitate and empower them to be able to do repair.”
While young people are interested in repair – whether for environmental or financial reasons – it’s not enough to expect them to become leaders of the movement on their own. There is a wealth of knowledge on technical skills, Right to Repair policy, and community organising that is just waiting to be shared with the next generation of repair rebels.
Links:

Get involved: Be Part of the Student Repair Revolution!
Read: What is the university for these days? Rethinking the foundations of the ‘circular campus’
Listen: Restart Podcast Ep. 83: Meet the students Fixing Things for the Future

[Feature image courtesy of University of Leeds]

This month, we spoke to Libby Peake, Head of Resource Policy at Green Alliance about their work on waste and resources, and how we can get the UK government to act urgently to tackle these issues. 
Libby begins by giving us a rundown on government resources policy over the last decade and how it stacks up to the measures that have been put in place in European countries. As she says, ‘bits and bobs’ have been done including on resource and energy efficiency, but it’s not what we need to make a major difference.
“The UN has been raising alarms about the amount of resources that are extracted from the earth. It’s nearly quadrupled since the 1970s and the UN has estimated that that’s driving 50% of global emissions and 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress. So, the planet cannot handle it if we keep extracting resources to this extent.”
We also touch on the UK’s shocking production of electrical waste (e-waste):  The 2024 Global E-Waste Monitor was published soon after our interview and the UK are still number 2 on the leaderboard of the world’s highest producers of e-waste per person. It’s a leaderboard that we’re not happy to be near the top of, but there are things that we can do to change this. 
One way we’re going about this is with the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration. We talk to Libby about Green Alliance’s involvement in shaping and promoting the declaration and how it could be used as a political tool in the future – including at our joint parliamentary event in May!
Now, while recent movement on Right to Repair and waste reduction policy has been slow, Libby is far from pessimistic about the future. She believes that momentum on these issues is ramping up, and as long as we – along with our amazing community and partners in the space – keep putting on pressure, changes will be coming soon. It’s the type of insight and optimism that reminds us why community repair culture is so important.
Links:

Green Alliance
Ask your MP to sign the Repair and Reuse Declaration
Find out more about what’s happening in Europe
The Global E-Waste Monitor 2024
Material Focus: Is FastTech the new Fast Fashion?
Donate to us and Big Give will double it!

Do you know the most effective way to reduce our waste? If you’re a regular listener, then probably yes. But it may  surprise you to find out just how many people believe that recycling is the answer to our climate crisis. 
This February, Keep Britain Tidy released a report on how to talk about  avoiding waste more effectively with the general public. We spoke to Anna Scott about their main findings and how we can better explain the waste hierarchy. 
The social conundrums of buying less
Before we dive into the research, we caught up about how the recent Buy Nothing New Month campaign went. For the last two Januarys, KBT has encouraged people to challenge themselves to a month of not buying anything new. This means participating in activities like reuse, repair, and buying second hand. Anna shared some of her own experiences participating in the challenge and navigating the ways that overconsumption has been ingrained into our societal norms. 
What do people actually think of waste prevention?
From KBT’s research, it turns out that the majority of people don’t quite understand the best ways to minimise waste. Anna shares that only 4 in 10 people were able to identify that reduce and reuse should come before recycling. This means that it’s important to be as specific as possible when talking about ways to cut waste.
“It feels like people don’t really seem to understand waste prevention. It feels like the ‘reduce, reuse’ part of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ has got lost along the way somewhere. People don’t seem to understand that reduce and reuse are better than recycling.”
Other communication tips that Anna shared include: giving people practical solutions; explaining why these behaviours are beneficial; and using more active and specific terms such as, repair, mend, share, rather than words like reuse and reduce. They also found that these communications need to be tailored depending on who you’re trying to reach and at what point in their waste prevention journey they are at. 

Upping the profile of repair
A statistic from the report that shocked us is that only 30% of people surveyed by KBT have heard of renting initiatives like lending libraries, and even less at 27% have heard of repair cafes. While in our own communities, community repair is always top of mind, it’s important to remember that it is still quite a novel concept to most of the British public. 
Anna says that in order to really get waste prevention in the public consciousness and cut through the barrage of advertising people see every day, we need major collaboration between organisations to get these messages amplified. It also turns out people are more likely to listen to charities than the government on these issues – so I guess it’s our job to get this done! 
Links:

Keep Britain Tidy’s report and social pack
Learn about Buy Nothing New Month

[Graphics courtesy of Keep Britain Tidy]

For our final episode of the season, Ugo and Fiona sat down for a chat about the year that was 2023. From launching the Repair and Reuse Declaration to the biggest Repair Day ever to some major wins for Right to Repair across the world. It’s been an amazing year and we couldn’t have done it without our community here in London and further afield.
What has been the progress on Right to Repair?
Gains in Europe
Ugo talks us through the long list of upcoming legislation that is set to be up to bat next year. This includes new rules surrounding smartphones and tablets; consumer rights; and a repairability index for vacuum cleaners. He notes that its going to be a busy year as campaigners try their best to get legislation passed before the elections shake everything up.
How are we learning from this in the UK?
While progress on legislation is slow in the UK, Fiona points a few opportunities in the next year for action. This feels especially possible because of the strength our movement has gained in the UK this year. We’ve spent the year connecting and brainstorming with stakeholders and organisers to develop the Repair and Reuse Declaration which now has over 240 signatories!
More developments in the US
Our allies in the US have been making major waves this year – especially when it comes to state-specific legislation in California and Minnesota. Ugo also covers some developments backed by our friends at U.S. PIRG. They’ve been facing up to huge names like Google and Microsoft. Despite all this success, we’ve got plenty more to do!
What are we up to locally?
In London, our network continues to grow with new groups popping up all the time. Fiona shares some examples of unique events that have happened this year. We also look back on the Fixing Factory project which we continued to learn from and hope to develop even further.
Our Fixing Factory work in Brent also allowed us to undertake some exciting research. We worked with West London Waste Authority to investigate the e-waste that was brought to a recycling centre. The results were shocking but also inspired us to find solutions.
Our vision for 2024
Fiona and Ugo share their hopes for the future and our work next year. We foresee some ripe opportunities for campaigning in the UK, with the looming general election. Further afield, Ugo is especially excited to see the repair movement grow across the world – with developments already happening in Taiwan, Columbia, and more.
Links:

Why Google announced Chromebooks will last for 10 years
Microsoft offers extended Windows 10 support, with added cost
* What happened on Repair Day 2023?
* The Repair and Reuse Declaration
* What a waste: our study shows almost half of electricals sent for recycling could be reused
* Open repair reaches a major milestone: over 100,000 records of repair
* We won the European Union Prize for Citizen Science—Digital Communities Award!
* Discover the Community Repair Network
* Read about what happened at Fixfest UK 2023

We’re going on a repair road trip this month as we talk to Simon Frémineur and Jinny Uppington about their respective mobile repair initiatives. Travelling repair cafes are a popular idea in our community, with quite a few iterations popping up across the UK and abroad. We speak to our guests about the benefits of a mobile unit, including being able to reach communities who cannot access repair as easily.
The Repair Café Mobile takes Wallonia
Simon talks us through the origins of the Repair Café Mobile and the excitement that has surrounded it ever since he first pitched it to Repair Together back in 2017. What started as an idea for his final thesis project is now a popular mobile repair site that we loved seeing in person at Fixfest 2022. He talks us through the four stations of the trailer and how he adapted it to best replicate community repair events – which he’s now been able to take to around 100 events across Wallonia.

The trailer boasts a whole range of equipment including tools, spare parts, and even a 3D printer! He also tells us about the ways he is considering expanding and altering the trailer such as, a bicycle version for use in more built-up urban areas.

Reaching rural communities with the Fixy Bus
Next, we speak to Jinny Uppington, Fixy Lead at Resource Futures. The Fixy van has been travelling all over Somerset to reach those in more rural areas and spread the word of community repair. Jinny tells us about the overwhelming popularity of the Fixy van, with its recognisable graffiti exterior that regularly gets spotted when out and about.
Not only are they amplifying repair, Jinny tells us about the work that Resource Futures have been doing with Donate IT to tackle digital exclusion. Their tech amnesty initiatives have helped many residents in need, with the over 1,500 devices donated! She stresses the importance of partnerships for this project and it sounds like they have formed a thriving repair ecosystem in Somerset.

Links:

* The Repair Café Mobile
* Watch: See the Repair Café Mobile in action
* The Fixy Project
* Watch: Learn more about Fixy

[Feature image courtesy of Repair Together; Diagrams courtesy of Simon Frémineur; Le Repair Café Mobile by Repair Together / Simon Frémineur is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0]

On 30th September, over 100 fixers, organisers, researchers, and more from around the UK came together for Fixfest UK 2023! This year’s edition was held in Cardiff and co-organised with our friends at Repair Cafe Wales.
We spent the day sharing our experiences and expertise on how to build the movement and bring repair to the fore both locally and nationally. It was an incredibly supportive atmosphere, including a session on how to take care of yourself as a repair facilitator.
In this episode, we wanted to share a taste of the conversations going on on the day. We spoke to 8 Fixfest attendees about how they’ve been uplifting repair in their communities, what they hope for the future, and how we can get repair on the government’s agenda.
You’ll hear a host of different voices including: Clare Seek from Repair Cafe Portsmouth, and Nicole Barton from Cambridge Carbon Footprint from England; Elaine Brown from Edinburgh Remakery, and Jane Dixon from Share & Repair Network from Scotland; Phoebe Brown from Repair Cafe Wales, and Hayley Roberts from RE:MAKE Newport from Wales; and Chris McCartney from Repair Café Belfast, and Caroline McGuiness-Brooks from Repair Café Foyle in Northern Ireland. 
Repair for Everyone
On October 21st, we’re marking the seventh International Repair Day. The theme for 2023 is ‘Repair for Everyone’, we wanted to know what this phrase meant to UK organisers. It’s clear that accessibility is key to the answer to this question. We need repair to be affordable and abundant. This includes making an effort to start repair cafés in more hard to reach areas, and also making sure that we considering the global community in this movement.
“They can come in, watch repair, get the confidence to do it and then make that a part of their lifestyle. So repair cafes are the future, as far as I’m concerned.”
Hopes for the future
We hear all about how the different organisations and initiatives are championing repair in their local areas but we also want to know what they hope will happen in the next five years. It turns out, our community has big aspirations. Many say that their main goal is simply to do even more of what they’re already doing – bringing repair to as many people as possible.
We want to increase the reach of repair projects across the UK. And importantly, Chris emphasises the need to do this in a sustainable way, by finding new partners who can offer support and make repair cafés self-sustaining. Some want to use repair cafés as a vehicle to educate people and spread the message of climate action. What is probably the biggest shared aspiration is that of finding a permanent space for repair projects so the group took great inspiration from a visit to RE:MAKE Newport at the beginning of the weekend and a session on dedicated repair spaces. Almost everyone also wants to grow aspects of their operations, especially by incorporating borrowing libraries into their work.
How can we engage politicians?
Another exciting event at Fixfest UK was the unveiling of the new Repair and Reuse Declaration. It’s one of the ways we are taking action to make repair for everyone and demanding that the UK government support repair. Our guests share a host of ways that they’ve engaged their local politicians but what seems to work best is inviting them to an event, repairing something for them and really demonstrating the value of repair.
“Befriend your local [politicians], get them in so that they can see what you do because once they see your repair cafés and they see what difference it makes to the community and to the environment, they’re going to be blown away.”
If you want the UK government to take action on repair please sign the declaration as a group or organisation and encourage your local MP to do the same!

Pinball machines are whirring and circuitboards buzz as we talk to ‘super-fixers’ Rob Howard and Matt Marchant from the TV show Retro Electro Workshop, about the experience of making a show about retro repair and how to encourage more people to repair their things. Retro Electro Workshop features Rob, Matt, and Shamil (who you will remember from our episode about Armstrong Audio) as we watch them dig out broken treasures and repair them to their former glory. 
The ‘warm buzz’ of repair
It’s hard not to want to dive into repairing your stuff when you hear Matt and Rob talk about it. From the satisfaction of making an antique radio sing again, to the sensory experience of hearing clicking contacts and smelling electrical components firing, it’s clear that they live and breathe repair. The hosts share their favourite repairs from the show including an old pinball machine, wartime radios, and a very sentimental Pinnochio toy. But more than anything, Matt and Rob say it’s the process of repairing they love – no matter the final outcome (though the pinball machine did sound fun to play with). 
The older, the better
New isn’t always better according to Rob and Matt (and us). While they recognise the limits of old cassette players for example, a lot of older devices were built to last unlike more contemporary gadgets. They tell us about the time when receiving a service manual with your device was the default, and things were designed to be taken apart and repaired. 
“I think people have sort of forgotten that a little bit. We talk about circular economy, we talk about sustainability. But there’s still a lot of people who just think the first thing that happens if their appliance breaks is just to bin it, rather than actually, well maybe there is a repair thats sort of cost effective and sustainable for it.”
Nowadays, a lack of repair guides and the abundance of glued and teeny tiny parts means that the average person will have a very difficult time repairing their gadgets. Perhaps, having a go at fixing an older item thats been sitting in your attic is a good place to start.

Why not give it a go?
An important lesson for any budding repairers is just give it a go – your device is already broken anyway! Of course don’t go sticking your hands into the back of a radiator, says Rob, but if you take the proper precautions, there’s nothing to be afraid of with repair. Both Rob and Matt believe that repair education should be built into the curriculum in schools so that people can keep repair in mind as a solution from an early age. They’ve already received many letters from viewers who either were inspired to dig out an old toy and fix it up to working condition, and hope that Retro Electro Workshop will inspire you as well. 
Links:

All episodes of Retro Electro Workshop are available to stream for free on UKTV Play
Fix It Workshop
Restart Podcast Ep. 52: Combining nostalgia with the new at Armstrong Audio

[Images and video courtesy of UKTV’s Retro Electro Workshop]

In the final episode of our summer season, we talked to author and journalist, Oliver Franklin-Wallis about his new book entitled, Wasteland: The Dirty Truth about What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters. Oliver spent four years researching waste of all kinds, the people that handle it, and its effect on our planet. Having just conducted our own research into e-waste at a recycling centre, we were excited to learn about a more expansive view of the issue.
The reality of recycling
Oliver has been reporting on and thinking about waste for many years, from writing about Project Sword in China to the pollution of our rivers here in the UK. He’s passionate about making the massive issue of human-produced waste more visible to us. Off the bat, he shares some shocking statistics about the amount of waste that we, as a society, throw away each year. In the UK alone, this is ~1.3kg per person, per day. In the US, the number is even higher.
Perhaps, more shocking than these figures is what Oliver calls “the foundational lie” of our recycling rate as a country. He is far from anti-recycling, sharing compelling figures with us like “an aluminum can that’s recycled, has a 95% lower carbon footprint than one that’s made of virgin materials.” But he points out that the way recycling rates are calculated in the UK is unhelpful in significantly reducing our waste output, substantially overestimating the amount of materials actually recycled.
“In some cases, half of what we’re saying is recycled is not being recycled at all. A lot of the times we don’t know what’s happening to it when we get there.
So, it’s insane to me that the government can be slapping us on the wrist for recycling the wrong yogurt pots or putting things in the wrong bins, when the reality is we don’t actually know what’s happening to this stuff.”
We need more transparency in these processes and to better understand the value of our stuff and as such, put more thought into where it goes if we discard it. Oliver tells us about some ways that the government could more productively tackle recycling such as Deposit Return Schemes.
What happens to our exported waste?
While researching, Oliver travelled across the UK and the world including to Accra, New Delhi, and Fresno. He was struck by the differences between Global North and South in resources for treating waste safely and the role it played in each place.
“Economic inequality, is at the heart of a lot of what we’re talking about when we’re dealing with waste, right? Rich people get to deal with it in an environmentally safe and fair manner, and the Global South overwhelmingly doesn’t.”
It’s imperative that if we are to continue exporting waste to the Global South, that we ensure it is not harming the people that live there and the exporting of waste is done in a more responsible way.
Positively, we also discuss how exporting what we call “waste” can often benefit those in countries like Ghana and India. The market for second-hand goods and the efforts put into repairing items means that much of the waste is reused. By looking at how clothing is resold in markets like Kantamanto, or electronics harvested by ‘burner boys’ in the now non-existent Agbogbloshie, and repaired in Accra. We could learn how to think about waste differently and in a more productive way.
Repairing to reduce waste
Oliver points out the way that Right to Repair uniquely benefits electronics users in places like Ghana. Here it is even more important that software updates and such are ensured for many years, as the lives of these electronics are being extended beyond their first user. We also discuss the huge issue that is ‘must-shred’ contracts and how an appalling amount of brand-new and usable tech i...

Have you ever binned or recycled something that was still working, or could have been repaired? The answer is likely, yes. Based on the results of our recent Waste Composition Analysis, conducted with West London Waste Authority (WLWA), it’s a habit that is even more common than we thought. 
This March, we spent a week looking at small electrical products brought to the Abbey Road Household Waste and Recycling Centre, and analysed what could have been reused and repaired. In this episode, we tell you more about the results of this study. Ugo also spoke to Emma Beal, Managing Director at WLWA, about the state of recycling and reuse in the UK and what she hopes we can do to improve the e-waste issue. 
From novel to normal
When thinking about how to shift public attitudes to waste, Emma points out that once we work as a whole, change comes quite easily. She cites the non-existent practice of recycling three decades ago compared to how common it is now. As our waste problem grows, she believes that a shift to reuse is inevitable. And when people look back in decades to come, they will be incredulous to the fact that it was not always the norm.
But how do we make it commonplace now? We need to rethink the definition of waste, as Emma states:
“Waste is defined by the person who is not wanting it anymore…the regulation flows from the fact that it has been defined as waste. And it’s only wasted because it’s not wanted, it doesn’t mean it’s not useful, it doesn’t mean it’s not valuable.”
We need to see our stuff as valuable, even once we don’t want it anymore. And this doesn’t just need to be done at council level but also within our communities.
What’s happening in reuse?
While we’d love to, we recognise it’s not possible to reuse everything. Repairing, and even just testing products takes time and money, and we also know that there isn’t the demand to reuse everything. For those at the receiving end, though, reuse is incredibly beneficial. We’ve seen this through our work donating laptops and running the Brent Fixing Factory with WLWA. And there are of course also huge environmental benefits.
Emma tells us about their work monitoring the costs and logistics of reuse, in a hope to be able to scale it in a reasonable way.  She tells us about some of the other projects that are working to increase reuse such as, Manchester Renew Hub, reuse shops on waste sites, and our very own Fixing Factory. These initiatives are important not only in developing and testing ways to keep things in use, but also to make reuse more visible to the public. This visibility and communication is what Emma believes will really push reuse to become more popular with the public. Once people see how important it is, there’s no stopping it.
Links:

Read more about our case study: What a waste: our study shows almost half of electricals sent for recycling could be reused
Fixing Factory
West London Waste

[Feature image by Mark A Phillips, licensed under CC BY 4.0.]

This month, we take a deep-dive into a local repair and reuse ecosystem. Brighton seemed like a great case study for this so we spoke to Victoria Jackson and Sam Jarman from Brighton Repair Café and Dr David Greenfield from Tech-Takeback, two of the amazing projects working together to reduce waste in the city. 
A decade of repair with Brighton Repair Café
Brighton Repair Café is one of the longest-running repair cafés in the UK, holding their first event all the way back in 2013. Victoria and Sam were both studying sustainable design at the time and were interested in the journeys that we take with our things, from their design inception, to when they break, to how we can reconnect through repair. They were inspired by the Dutch repair café model to hold their first repair session and since then, have been steadily running events around the city. They’ve also served as inspiration for more repair cafés popping up in Brighton and Hove and the surrounding area, and are part of the Community Repair Network. 
Victoria and Sam share what they have learned from running repair events for so long, from de-gendering repair to making sure that its a fun and rewarding activity. They believe that repair is so rewarding that once someone has a positive experience, that’s all they need for it to snowball into something bigger.
“It is quite experiential. So as soon as someone experiences that opportunity, we don’t have to do too much work in that respect because they understand how good they feel when they fix that object with the support of somebody else. They also understand how important those communities are.”
It’s their hope that in the future, repair will become so popular that there will be a repair cafe in every town, university, and school. They believe that the knock-on effect of teaching young people about repair would be huge, especially with how many skills have been lost over recent decades. And they’ve already started this mission, working with a local university to set up a student-led repair café. 
Give and take with Tech-Takeback
We then talk to David from Tech-Takeback, who were recent collaborators with Brighton Repair Café as part of Brighton council’s Circular Saturday scheme. Tech-Takeback began in 2016 as pop-up events in Brighton and London, expanding in 2020 into the organisation that they are now. They run RevaluElectricals, collecting unwanted and broken electrical devices from Brighton residents to hopefully give them a new life. David gives as a breakdown of some of their data including, the most collected devices and the massive amount of e-waste that has been saved since they started. 25,000 items have already gone on to have a second life!
He explains their processes for reusing tech, it’s an elaborate process but worth it. Much of the collected items end up going to charities, being sold in the Revaluit shop, or being given away on Freegle. And while some items do end up being recycled, they are first stripped for useful parts and materials.
“We need the government to start thinking about the metrics for reuse. Everything at the moment is focused on recycling…above recycling, we should be having refurbishment, repair, remanufacturing, reuse, and we should be having prevention.”
Not only do Tech-Takeback reduce e-waste and provide affordable tech to those who need it, the data that they have gathered during their work has been incredibly informative for our own research and for the larger repair ecosystem. 
Brighton Repair Café and Tech-Takeback, are examples of projects that we need to have in every part of the UK. These aspirations though, need a lot of support, especially from the government and local councils. All of our guests agree that not enough is currently being done, pointing to Wales as an example of a truly bolstered repair culture.

This month we talked to author and communicator, Katie Treggiden about her recent book entitled, Broken: Mending & Repair in a Throwaway World. Katie has put decades of thought into helping creatives and makers become more sustainable but also forgive themselves when they can’t be. 
Back to her roots
Having grown up surrounded by nature in Cornwall, Katie tells us about her surprising origin story. She spent over a decade working in advertising before pivoting towards her life-long love of writing. With this, she also folded in a new interest – purpose-driven craft and design. Since then, she has explored what this actually means through writing dissertations, books, and hosting a podcast on the topic. With all this experience under her belt, she decided that she wanted to help makers develop their working practices to fit the circular future that we need to build.
How craftspeople are using repair
Katie has previously written about waste and reuse, and her new book Broken puts the focus on repair. She shares some standout case studies from the book of artists and craftspeople who are incorporating repair into their work. These include Celia Pym, Bridget Harvey, Ekta Kaul – all artists who explore repair in entirely different ways. 
Katie notes her interest in the different ways repair can be used for example, as a tool to restore practical value, or to add artistic value, or even for self-care. We talk about where repair and hacking fits into the larger culture of craft, and more specifically the ‘craft of use’. She notes how much more difficult electronic repair often is compared to more traditional craft and making. This is especially true now that manufacturers make an effort to conceal the craftsmanship that goes into making (and therefore taking apart and repairing) our devices. 
Letting go of guilt in order to move forward
While individual action is of course important, system change is essential for the scale of the problem we are dealing with. When running her courses for creatives, Katie really focuses on this point as key to forward movement. Instead of being weighed down by the personal guilt of climate breakdown, makers need to be led by curiosity and experimentation instead of sustainability perfectionism. We all have a part to play in helping the planet, but it is not our responsibility alone. 
“I think really until companies are responsible for the things they sell for their whole lifetime, repair is not going to be the norm.”
Additionally, she stresses the need to be compassionate. There are so many reasons why people may not repair. These include social stigma, a lack of time or resources, or that their stuff is simply not designed to be repaired. Knocking down these barriers is not something anyone can do on their own, rather, we need collective action to change the system.
Practising ‘defiant hope’
It’s difficult to stay optimistic about our power to enact change but Katie believes hope is one of the most important tools we have. There isn’t a one size fits all solution to being sustainable, but what can join us all together in our efforts is our common goal.
“One of the most important parts of my job is staying hopeful and and helping to keep other people hopeful.”
Links:

Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure by Katie Treggiden
Broken: Mending & Repair in a Throwaway World by Katie Treggiden
Cultivating Hope in the Face of the Climate Crisis – a free three-part mini-course
The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac

[Photos courtesy of Katie Treggiden]

This week we’ve been celebrating London Repair Week by highlighting the heroic repair businesses all over the city. Our directory of repair shops, LondonRepairs.org, was recently relaunched with a new dedicated website. Here you can find over 300 reliable businesses to fix your stuff. In this month’s podcast, we spoke to two of these repairers about their passion for fixing, the barriers to their work and what could revitalise the repair economy. 
Meet the businesses
Junaid Syed is one half of the team of brothers that run Holborn-based Saras Fix. Having grown up repairing and fixing computers in their mother’s school, they have a lifetime of experience to draw on when fixing customers’ electronics. He recounts a very memorable repair that he performed during the lockdown, when he had to take a risk that absolutely paid off and helped someone in need. 
Xenis Stylianou has been in the electronics repair trade for over 30 years and runs his business, Zen’s Electronics Workshop near Finsbury Park. Having learned his trade through training schemes and skilling up with different engineers, he explains how difficult it is to gain experience this way nowadays. He believes that a lot more support for professional repair is needed, especially in terms of training paths and apprenticeships, otherwise we risk losing these essential skills to time. 
The state of repair today
With so many decades of fixing experience, Xenis can give us a first hand account of how things have changed. Speaking on his area of expertise of audio-visual equipment, he tells us that not only has everything become harder to open, and therefore repair, but also products are being produced at much lower quality than in decades past. 
“It’s a top down thing…over time manufacturers have actually reduced their build quality to come in line with the cheaper brands. And because now everything’s built to cost, the engineer at the other end repairing the equipment is not taken into consideration anymore.”
Both Junaid and Xenis agree that the various barriers that manufacturers put on repair are not only affecting the operation of repair businesses but also the customer’s autonomy to make choices about their device. 
Keeping repair alive
So, if being a professional repairer is so challenging, how do they find the drive to keep it up? Xenis and Junaid care about their customers and reducing electronic waste.
Junaid describes it as “giving back a second life to the broken devices which would’ve ended up in a landfill” and it’s an aspect of repair that he’s incredibly passionate about. He also regularly volunteers at repair events, donating his time and years of experience to help people learn to repair their own stuff. No matter if people want to try to repair their stuff at home or bring it straight to a professional, he stresses that London’s repair businesses are here to help. 
Links:

* London Repairs
* Saras Fix
* Zen’s Electronics Workshop

[Photo courtesy of Saras Fix and Zen’s Electronics Workshop]

This month, join us for an expert panel on community-led high street repair! We gathered together Katie Bellaris from Re:Make Newport, Elaine Brown from Edinburgh Remakery, Sue Briggs from The General Store Selkirk, and Lorna Montgomery from Share and Repair Bath to talk about their experiences setting up high street repair projects in their area. We’re hoping that by hearing about their different operating models, approaches, and tips and tricks it will inspire some of you to support repair and reuse on your local high street. 
The money question
All of these ventures run with slightly different business models and approaches to funding their work. What they all agree on is the central role of generous donations from their local communities. Whether it’s financial donations, volunteering or donations in cake form, it all helps to keep them running. Sue also taught us a new term, referring to The General Store as a ‘repairmongers’, steadfastly placing themselves as a community institution.
Reaching out
We ruminate on how the location and demographics of each project’s local area affects the way that they operate. Whether it is the difference in affluence between Bath and Newport, or the remoteness of Selkirk in comparison to Edinburgh Remakery’s shopping centre location. What Katie loves about Re:Make Newport – echoed by everyone else – is the way that their shop brings people together. 
“The essence of what we do is all about community, it’s about bringing people together. And I love being in the shop and the atmosphere there is electric. You’ve got people of all generations, all ages talking about repair and sharing tips and knowledge and the way that they look at repair and reuse.”
What about you?
So what if you want to start a project like this? Our panel say ask others for help. They’ve found that other people in the repair space are more than happy to share their expertise and experience. After all, we are all working towards the same goal of more accessible repair and reuse for all. We want a repair and reuse hub in every town across the UK. In London we’re starting with Fixing Factories and can’t wait to see where they take us.
And in case you’re wondering about the cryptic comment in her introduction, in a previous life Sue played a murder victim on the TV show Taggart!
Links:

* Re:Make Newport
* Edinburgh Remakery
* The General Store Selkirk
* Share and Repair Bath
* Restart Podcast Ep. 81: Launching the new Fixing Factory

[Feature collage images courtesy of Mark A Phillips, The General Store Selkirk, Edinburgh Remakery]
[Image by Mark A Phillips, licensed under CC BY 2.0.]