This week Ugo returns from Brussels where he’s been investigating the policy conversations that are happening around products and their durability.

Eva van Velzen from the Netwerk Bewust Verbruiken (or Network for Sustainable Consumption) joins us on the show to talk about the repair cafés popping up all over Flanders. People can bring in anything to be fixed, from electronics to clothes and furniture.

The network also held a political repair café in Ghent, where five politicians were invited to learn practical repair skills.

We talk about our own Restart event held in parliament last week, where UK MPs were invited to experience hands-on some of the problems with disassembly and repair.

In our ‘post-truth society’, there’s a lot of false information flying around. We investigate the (false) UKIP allegation that EU-regulated toasters were not producing proper British toast. Ugo clarifies exactly what categories of appliances come under EU “ecodesign” regulations as part of the Circular Economy Package, and we discuss how we can move towards policy for more durable and repairable household appliances.

What tips and policies can we take away from Brussels to help fix Britain’s throwaway economy?

Links to things we discussed:

[Feature image “Burnt Toast” by Flickr user Treacy is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0]

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