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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

It’s been an ongoing question in our community of how to get young people involved in repair culture. In this month’s podcast, we were delighted to talk to students, Carl Mau and Beat Schneiderhan, and their teachers, Felix Lossin and Walter Kraus, who have a plan. Based at the Rudolf Steiner School in Munich, not only do they have a weekly repair cafe led by students but lessons on repairing are also integrated into their curriculum. And they have created a guidebook on how to start a...

We’re officially in the holiday season now and like many, we have presents and toys on the mind. For our December episode, we spoke to Anaïs Engelmann and Megan Hale from Team Repair.  They run a 12-month fixing programme that could be a perfect gift for any young person in your life.  Starting fixers young The team of Team Repair is composed of five design engineering graduates who are linked by their passion for reducing e-waste. Their company aims to introduce and teach children about...

This month, we spoke to Restart’s Shelini Kotecha and Possible’s Dermot Jones about Fixing Factories. We’ve been working with Possible to open up two Fixing Factories this year, gathering lots of interest along the way. The Brent Factory, based in the Abbey Road waste facility opened in April this year and has been a hub for laptop repair and reuse. At the end of October, we were excited to finally open the Camden site, on Queen’s Crescent high street. Queens Crescent Fixing Factory will fix...

From 30th September – 2nd October, members of the repair community from all over the world gathered together to share their ideas and passion at Fixfest 2022. From fixers and tinkerers, to academics and activists we all had something to teach and learn from each other. It was a chance to explore new ideas, hear different perspectives, and – perhaps most importantly – interact in person for the first time in a while.  In this episode, we wanted to make the most of this rare opportunity. We...

This month, we had a very handy conversation with some friends from our sponsor eSpares. Eleanor Cochrane and Mariya Peynova are the Brand Manager and Social Media Manager for eSpares, respectively. We took this opportunity to properly introduce our listeners to their work and also answer a few questions about household repair and maintenance. In the process, we learned that there is probably a lot more regular maintenance that we should all be doing. This advice came at a perfect time, as...

To wrap up our summer season, we’re giving listeners a proper introduction to Restart’s new(ish) Co-Director, Fiona Dear. You will have heard Fiona’s voice a couple times on Restart Radio in the last few months, and her fingerprints are all over the new projects that we’re working on. Dave spoke to Fiona when she had just joined Restart to have a conversation about how she became the perfect fit for her new role. A journey through repair Starting out as a student of repair, Fiona tells us...

It’s a bumper episode this month but how could it not be when we’re celebrating the 10 year anniversary of our first Restart Party! This episode is an auditory snapshot of Restart as we head into our second decade as an organisation. Earlier in the month, we got together with volunteers, allies, longtime collaborators and supporters to celebrate the last 10 years. While we were there, Dave caught up with some of our guests for a moment of conversation and reflection.  Back to the...

This month, we were super excited to talk to Ben Wood. Ben is Chief Analyst at CCS Insight and also the founder of the Mobile Phone Museum. All this to say, Ben is an expert in the field of mobile phone design and history. We talked to him about some of the coolest phone design trends of the past and what innovation is still happening. He also shared some very encouraging statistics from consumer studies that CCS Insight have conducted. These show that repairability and long-lasting devices...

We’ve had a busy month here at Restart. On April 23rd, we launched the first Fixing Factory site in the Abbey Road Reuse and Recycling Centre, Brent. It’s a project that we are ecstatic has finally become a reality and we can’t wait to see how it blossoms. For this episode of Restart Radio, Ugo Vallauri is joined by our Co-Director, Fiona Dear and London Network Coordinator, Shelini Kotecha. They have been working closely on the project and shared with us the experience so far.  Self-repair...