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.

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!

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.

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[Feature image courtesy of Mark A Phillips]

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