The Restart Project Podcast

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.

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.

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:

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

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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. 

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. 

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:

[Feature image courtesy of University of Leeds]

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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:

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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. 

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. 

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. 

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:

[Graphics courtesy of Keep Britain Tidy]

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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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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:

[Feature image by Mark A Phillips, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0]

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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.

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.

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:

[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]

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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. 

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.”

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.

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!

Links:

(Feature image by Mark A Phillips, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)

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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. 

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). 

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.

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:

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

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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.

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.

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.

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 is being shredded constantly.

As it didn’t make it into the book, Oliver takes a chance to talk about his experience attending a Hackney Fixers Restart Party, praising the positivity and energy. He speaks about the sentimental value of repair and the way it strengthens our connections with our stuff, and unites people across the world.

Links:

[Feature images courtesy of Oliver Franklin-Wallis]

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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. 

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.

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:

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

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