The Restart Project Podcast The Restart Project Podcast

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]