The Restart Project Podcast: Recent Episodes

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Last year, we had the chance to do something we’ve dreamed about for a while and ran the first trial of vouchers for electrical repair in the UK. The trial was delivered by us and ReLondon, with funding from North London Waste Authority and support from Fixfirst and local councils. Over a period of 12 months, we worked with repair businesses in the seven boroughs of North London to make repair more accessible for local residents and boost the local repair economy. Now, we’re ready — and excited — to share our findings from the trial.

Our trial is not the first of its kind around the world, so we were joined by Karin Huber-Heim to talk about the initiatives that paved the way for a scheme like this to happen in London. Karin is president of the Circular Economy Forum Austria and holds the City of Vienna Endowed Professorship Circular Economy & Transformative Business Models — who better to talk to about this?

Charting the origins of repair vouchersKarin guided us through the story of repair vouchers in Austria, from the beginning of the scheme in Graz, to a thriving implementation in Vienna, to the now nationwide Appliance Saver Bonus. The model has proved popular around Europe, with iterations active in Germany and France also.

She shared how in Vienna in particular, they built on existing repair infrastructure. Their repair business network had already been supporting the city for over 20 years by the time repair vouchers came into the picture, meaning that they had an engaged and trusted foundation of businesses to activate. It’s an idea that struck our imagination, as we found that without such a network in place in London, it was a challenge to find businesses that were up for the task and had the capacity to get involved.

The Austrian scheme has undergone many iterations, reacting to fraudulent activity, government changes, and funding difficulties. Karin shared how this affected uptake of the scheme with the public but also the impact that it had on businesses. We were lucky to have seen these different ways of implementation, as well as those in other countries, to inform our own version in London.

So what about the North London trial?We shared some of the key takeaways from the North London trial, including some of the aspects that made it particularly effective. These included the fact that it was:

• Frictionless for customers, meaning that there was a low bar to entry to partake and no financial risk up front.
• We included tech repair businesses, meaning that we had a larger pool of businesses involved. It was striking how few repair businesses existed for small household appliances, despite a demand for these repairs. Our report into the barriers that repair businesses face came out of our work on this scheme and covers why this is and what policy-makers can do to help.
• It had a significant enough discount of 50% off the cost of a repair, which Karin suggests is the threshold that removes the ‘psychological barrier’, encouraging people to use the vouchers. Cost as the main incentive for people to use the vouchers definitely rang true for us as we found that 60% of applicants cited cost saving as their motivation for using the scheme and the same percentage had an annual salary of less than £30,000.

The outlook for repair vouchers in the UK and AustriaRepair vouchers proved popular in our trial. In fact, it received an NPS score of 96%, meaning that the vast majority of customers would recommend it to their friends and family. And in Austria they’re popular too. We discussed how a rise in repair culture in general, thanks to community repair is only leading to more of a demand for these kinds of initiatives.

Karin says though, that repair vouchers alone are not enough for a robust repair economy, governments must support other infrastructure like community repair groups, bring back repair education and channels for budding fixers to become repair technicians, and implement policies like EPR based financing and VAT reform. She highlighted that these interventions must not be tied to any one party’s ideology so as to ensure their longevity. And its true that access to repair is a rare a bipartisan issue, we found that by looking at the popularity of the London trial and the desire for users to return to repair shops again and again.

The reason that Karin is especially interested in longevity, is the impacts she has already witnessed in Austria. The scheme faced multiple interruptions and the unpredictability led to major disruptions for businesses due to dips in demand for repairs. We need continued and secure funding and political support for it to be sustainable. With the Austrian scheme set to end this year, she shared her expectation that there will be an outcry from the public for it to return. With the knowledge that visible support from citizens is essential, we both hope that long term support for repair vouchers will happen and that these kind of schemes can continue to prove their value.

Links:

• Please fill in our podcast listener survey to help us keep improving this show
• Read our full publication on the North London trial
• Read our report on the barriers of running a repair business in North London
• Learn about the Circular Economy Forum Austria

[Feature image by North London Waste Authority]

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With two new locations just launched in London, we catch up with Rhio and Sarah to see how Fixing Factories are thriving on our high streets.

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We’re currently running a survey of our listeners. Please take a few minutes to fill it in so that we can make the content that you want to hear!Off the back of a very wet and dreary start to the year in the UK, we’re bringing memories of sunnier times to all of you. For this episode, we spoke to Clare and Frank about the repair pop-ups that they — with the help of many volunteers — ran at two festivals over the last couple of summers.

Clare Seek is the founder of Share Portsmouth (originally Repair Cafe Portsmouth) and has been running repair events since its inception in 2018. Frank Schoofs founded Marlow Repair Cafe in the same year and has since also set up the Repair Finder. All this to say, that they have plenty of experience running community repair events and in 2024, Frank decided to take one event off the beaten track — to the Cambridge Folk Festival.

When inspiration strikesFrank was pushed to act by the seemingly endless piles of sleeping bags, tents, camping chairs and more that he had been seeing left behind at festivals because he knew that surely more could be done to help this massive waste issue. He did a bit of research and found that the local Cambridge Folk Festival was already doing a fair bit of work around sustainability. So, he pitched the idea of a repair tent at the next edition and that summer, it became a reality!

“I was like, that is a cool idea. Why aren’t we doing more repair out and about because I’m always into taking things out and about and especially focusing on young people as well. I think we need our future generation to be skilled up and excited about repairing things.”

Clare, inspired by Frank’s blog post on the experience, did her own research and connected with Boomtown Fair. She gathered volunteers from around 10 different repair cafes in the Hampshire network and they brought a ‘Reparium’ to the crowd of potentially 80,000 people — a lot of them between the ages of 18 and 26. These huge crowds meant that for both repair events, they saw repair rates much higher than normal. Frank estimates that out of the 14,000 or so people that visited the Cambridge Folk Festival, they managed to help a whopping 10% of them.

Turning broken soles into gateway repairsBoth Frank and Clare pointed out that visibility was key to the success of these repair pop-ups. They made sure to place their sites in areas of the festival with plenty of foot traffic, relying partly on people seeing the tent and then returning at a later date when disaster (aka a broken shoe) struck. Though they were both obviously well-prepared with tools and tape, it was a make do and mend attitude that prevailed for repairs over the weekend. Rather than the usual electricals that come to many regular repair events, they said that overwhelmingly the items being brought in were clothing, airbeds, sunglasses, shoes, tents, chairs, trolleys, and a few liquid damaged phones.

We expected that it might be hard to keep people engaged with repairs with so much else going on at these festivals but what Clare realised is that when there is no other option than to repair, people will really get involved in fixing their stuff. It also helped that a lot of the repairs were really simple, providing an accessible and quick introduction to repair that she hoped would influence people’s future behaviour.

“In our culture, we’re not really told that some repairs are really simple…we’re often talking about electrical repairs and the barriers to repair, but I think in that festival context where it’s less electrical…some of this stuff is really simple and you can learn those skills and then you can keep using them.”

At Restart, and in the repair community at large, we are always trying to find effective ways to reach new audiences — especially younger people. Frank shared that at regular events in Marlow, their attendees are predominantly 50+ years of age. However, at the festival, they helped younger people, families and people from all over the world, including visitors from a repair cafe in Belgium! What is most interesting perhaps is that at both festivals, almost all visitors to the repair pop-ups had not heard of a repair cafe before but absolutely loved the idea.

Clare believes the key to reaching these new audiences is about going to new people not expecting them to come to us. She has taken the same approach by recently bringing community repair events to the University of Portsmouth and connected with younger people on their level. This includes talking to them about campaigning for the Right to Repair and providing them tangible options to take action to tackle one of their biggest concerns, the climate crisis.

Tough tape and trickle down actionIn the same way that Frank originally inspired Clare to take community repair to new places, they both hope that listeners and organisers will be moved to do the same. They share some tips and tricks on how to get booked to repair at a festival, what the essential items are for mending and fixing on site, and how best to organise volunteers for these events. We also talk about what unusual places they might want to take repair next, including schools and workplaces. And the key takeaway for us: the volunteers loved helping out at the events and they’re in high demand. And if anyone at Glastonbury Festival is listening, get in touch!

Before we go, we also wanted to give an exciting announcement. This October will be the 10th edition of International Repair Day and to celebrate, our theme will be all about how repair unites us. We’re encouraging groups worldwide to throw a celebration — a repair festival if you will — to mark the occasion. This could be as big as a multi-day event with musical performances and more while people repair, or simply your regular repair event but run in collaboration with a new community in your area (think Scouts or a lending library). We can’t wait to share more in the coming months!

Links:

• Please fill in our podcast listener survey to help us keep improving this show
• Download Clare and Frank’s toolkit for running repair cafes at a festival
• Read Frank’s original blog post about Cambridge Folk Festival
• BBC: The Boomtown repairers fixing campers’ broken gear
• Share Portsmouth
• The Repair Finder

[Images courtesy of Clare Seek/Share Portsmouth and Frank Schoofs/Marlow Repair Cafe]

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As the year draws to a close, we’re grappling with what a sustainable future really looks like against a backdrop of a more and more technology-based world. We’re told that the tools that we now have at our fingertips are making our lives easier, more streamlined but this convenience comes at a cost. There are organisations thinking differently though, like the Paris-based “Citizen Science Laboratory”, Atelier 21. On this episode, we speak to founder, Cédric Carles about the low-tech, frugal, and more environmentally-friendly innovations of old that they are raising from the buried past.

Cédric had values of sustainability, repairing and shared responsibility ingrained in him from an early age. That’s why, once he started working in the design space, he was less interested in creating new, shiny things to sell people and more interested in creating products that would elevate peoples lives and be built to last. While working to develop sustainable technologies and speaking to older colleagues, he realised that some of the ‘new’ ideas that he was having actually weren’t that new at all. And in fact, there was a whole history of innovation out there that he wasn’t aware already existed.

So, at COP21, he took the opportunity of having environmentally-minded people from all over the world in Paris, at his fingertips, and started having conversations with everyone. In the last ten years, the Paléo-Energétique project has collected ideas around energy, water, transportation and more.

A timeline for changeThis collection became the Paléo-Energétique timeline that is now a partial basis for their RetroFutur Museum in Paris. Cédric shares a few examples with us of some of the forgotten but groundbreaking innovations — the “gold nuggets” — that are included on the timeline. And the timeline is constantly growing, as the RetroFutur Museum has the potential to move to new towns, every time they do so, they work with local schools and archives to augment the exhibition to the innovations that they discover in the local area.

“A lot of innovation was killed by the prices of energy. What we discovered is that a lot of crisis time was a really good time for innovation…during crisis there is no coal, no fuel and it is so expensive. But when the crisis is gone…we just forget all the stuff we have done with solar energy and alternatives…It’s time to not forget anymore.”

The timeline serves as a tool to not only educate but to inspire. Cédric wants participants to have an “experience with the material” and see with their own eyes what is possible. It’s an ethos echoed in other Atelier 21 projects, like Solar Soundsystem where members of the public power a soundsystem by pedalling bikes. Many efforts for change are shot down by voices saying that a sustainable transition isn’t possible but Cédric says their work proves to people that it is possible because it has already been done.

Inside the RetroFutur Museum [Credit: Atelier 21Resurrecting and regeneratingAtelier 21 are not just digging up old patents but are bringing them back from the dead. One of these is the RegenBox, a machine that can recharge alkaline batteries, making them reusable.

It was inspired by the inventor of modern alkaline batteries, Karl Kordesch’s original patents for recharging them. So, they began working on “re-prototyping.” What resulted was their RegenBox and RegenStations which can diagnose the energy level in your battery and then, recharge it. And the best part… they’re repairable, both their software and hardware!

They’re a perfect addition to community initiatives like Fixing Factories, sharing libraries or eco hubs. The alkaline battery is so ubiquitous, that an opportunity to reuse them could attract new visitors who may not yet be interested in repair. Cédric says that there are around 40 RegenStations and 3-4,000 RegenBoxes around Europe, resulting in an estimated 100,000 batteries saved just this year. And next year, with the help of communities like ours, he wants to up that number to one million.

The “treasure trove” continues to growThe timeline contains many, many innovations which you can read about and explore. This also means that there is plenty of knowledge for Atelier 21 to draw on and “re-innovate” on. Right now, they are exploring work extending the lives of solar panels which notoriously get retired before their time, leading to e-waste. And Cédric shares that next year, they are launching Paleo-Water and will be collecting and sharing information on lost patents around water systems.

Do you have a lost invention that you would like to add to the timeline? Let Cédric know!

Links

• Atelier 21
• Explore the Paléo-Energétique timeline
• RetroFutur Museum
• Solar Soundsystem
• RegenBox

Featured image: Karl Kordesch’s patent from 1960 [U.S. patent 2,960,558: Public Domain] Episode uses: Video Game Death Sound Effect by harrietniamh [License: Attribution 4.0] and Power Up 8 Bit.wav by Mrthenoronha [License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0]

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International Repair Day 2025 is almost here! And a lot of our focus this year has been on software obsolescence. It’s been top of mind due to the unprecedented impact that the end of Windows 10 will have on around half of all Windows users.

In early October, with the end of 10 on the horizon, we sat down with Nathan Proctor from US PIRG, Monique Szpak, seasoned laptop tinkerer and volunteer with Community TechAid and Repair Cafe Lambeth, and our own Tech Lead, Neil Mather to get the lowdown on what the resistance has been to this huge obsolescence event that is now upon us.

The Windows 10 issue is out of this worldOn October 14th — ironically on International E-Waste Day and only four days before International Repair Day — Microsoft will end free and automatic support for Windows 10. Nathan and Neil both share the shocking statistics of what the fallout will be. The stand out figure is a potential “1.6 billion pounds of e-waste” generated — if all the laptops impacted by the end of 10 were stacked on top of each other, it would reach beyond the moon.

So, this issue is huge, but repairers around the world have been trying to do something about it. We mark the small gains that we’ve made and Microsoft’s concessions, but it isn’t enough to solve the problem. Nathan tells us about the open letter that US PIRG recently sent to the company, which was signed by over 500 organisations around the world. Campaigners in Europe are also urging the European Commission to introduce Ecodesign legislation that would require software updates of at least 15 years for laptops, and more. Campaigning can and has worked in the past and Nathan tells us about one of their previous campaigns which ultimately contributed to Google promising 10 years of minimum support for Chromebooks as a requirement.

Our ‘End of 10’ toolkitApart from campaigning, we’re also taking action on the ground. We speak to Neil about the toolkit that Restart put together to help repair groups tackle the end of Windows 10 within their local communities. It’s a resource that was developed with 20 different groups around the world, drawing on the collective experience of our amazing community.

Neil and Monique both volunteer at their local repair cafes and share with us how tackling Windows 10 has been going so far. They point out that the end of 10 actually isn’t widely common knowledge yet, meaning that sometimes people come in with a laptop that they think is broken but it’s actually Windows 10 or 11 that’s the problem. While fixing up these machines, they’re also having to educate and raise awareness. And they expect that once October 14th passes, and more and more software starts to become out of date, there will be an uptick in the number of people bringing in these machines.

Is Linux the solution?There are a few solutions to the end of 10 that the repair community particularly love, one of these is to replace the Windows OS with Linux. But while Linux is popular with “techies”, as Monique says, the average person isn’t too familiar. So this wonderful solution does require more than just installing it on a laptop. Neil and Monique both take us through their working style for helping people who come into their repair cafes move over to Linux. The key, they point out, is communication and time. Our toolkit supports fixers in talking through attendees’ options and needs. Then, it takes time, maybe a dummy laptop with Linux already installed, and probably a few sessions to get them comfortable with the OS — only then can be installed on their device. All in all, it’s a great option and we’re lucky that it’s possible to install a different OS on Windows 10 devices. But as Nathan points out, this solution isn’t workable for this vast issue — for the estimated 400 million laptops that will be left unsecure from the end of 10.

We’ll have to work with a combination of all of the solutions we discussed. This means support in local communities to help people better understand their devices. It means infrastructure in place to continue this support through the life of their device. And it means campaigning for legislation that combats premature obsolescence which is especially important for devices that aren’t laptops — for e-bikes, medical devices and more — which cannot have a new OS installed on them.

Links:

• Explore our global map of over 2000 events for Repair Day!
• US PIRG: Our open letter to Microsoft on the end of support for Windows 10
• R2R Europe: EU urged to act on Software Obsolescence as hundreds of organizations demand long-term Windows 10 support
• The Restart Project: The end of Windows 10: A toolkit for community repair groups
• Restarters Wiki: Windows 10 End of Life
• Nathan Proctor: Why the end of support for Windows 10 is uniquely troubling

[Images courtesy of Right to Repair Europe and Mark A Phillips]

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After a bit of a hiatus, our podcast is back and we were honoured to be joined by Mark Miodownik for a chat about researching and communicating around repair. Mark is not only an author, engineer, Professor of Materials and Society at UCL, and a director of the Institute of Making but also the newly appointed Royal Society Professor for Public Engagement with Science — meaning that he’s really good at turning people who think they are apathetic about the material things (less in the Madonna sense and more like Aluminium honeycombs and Nano Fibres, to name a couple) in our world, into enthusiasts.

We need to talk about engineeringMark shares with us how he got into public engagement around engineering and repair. It turns out that it’s out of love and a personal passion for the subject! He believes that engineering should be as revered as much as art, music, and movies because it is, and has long been, a really integral part of human culture. We learn that a key part of effectively communicating about repair, in Mark’s opinion, is to play on your own enthusiasm about the subject, finding commonality, and an in-road to make the topic just as exciting to them — one of the ways that he does this is by talking about his bike. An example of this is the Materials Library at the IoM, making it a tactile and real experience that people can engage with.

And as much as it’s important to get the general public interested in repair, we need to also be communicating its impact to funders and the government. One way that we can do that, Mark says, is by talking about its social value and the impact it has to strengthen our communities, and on our mental and physical health.

Big findings from the Big Repair ProjectRecently, Mark was part of a team that undertook a wide-spanning piece of research called the Big Repair Project, where they looked into repair habits in the UK, what influences them, and most importantly what is stopping people from repairing their stuff. When it came to barriers to repair, some of the main ones included cost, how long repair takes, the societal norms of consumer culture, apathy of the general public towards saving their stuff, and discouragement from manufacturers.

“By and large people don’t enjoy throwing things away. It’s not something that gives them a kick, mostly people just want it to work and they actually appreciate the objects…we found that they felt like they had no choice, because buying new is the cheapest option in many cases.”

He shares some other major findings from the study, including what surprised him. It turns out that people expect their small electricals to last an average of five years and bigger white goods to last for ten — and this simply isn’t happening. So next they thought, how can we make this the reality? That’s what their next study is about.

A washing machine for life?Mark shares his vision of a world where a washing machine was so repairable, so long-lasting that it could be passed down from generation to generation. So in the upcoming study, they’re going to find out what would be needed to make that happen. Part of it, he says, comes from utilising the technology that is now starting to be built-in to our white goods — technology that to most of us currently seems a bit unnecessary. But they are wondering if solutions like prompts for maintenance could prolong the life of these machines significantly.

“They’re making a machine that starts out as rocks in one part of the world, gets made into steel, gets made into all sorts of copper windings for the motor, adds plastics and rubbers, and then it ends up in your hands. And they do all of that for 250 quid. That’s quite a remarkable engineering achievement. But the truth is…by having it so finely attuned to the price point, they’re prone to failure.”

It’s a difficult balance. Under our current system, manufacturers struggle to produce these machines while also hitting profit margins and encouraging new sales. He shares a few possible solutions, ones that would likely be very effective. But ultimately, it’s an issue that is bigger than any one company. Instead, it requires an overhaul of how governments and policy makers think about our economy and more sustainable models.

The self-repairing smartphoneWe couldn’t end our conversation without bringing up the concept of self-repairing materials. So, Mark gives us a run-down of what progress has been made so far including self-repairing cement and paint, that are already being used in our day-to-day lives. The idea, he says, is that these materials will be able to mimic the repair mechanisms inside our own bodies, monitoring for when work is needed and acting on that without our intervention.

It’s a necessary technology to ensure that we become more resilient against the effects of climate change, keeping infrastructure like bridges and roads in good condition. But it’s also a technology that could be applied to our devices. Though at the moment we haven’t quite gotten there, Mark explains how he sees ‘animated’ self-repairing phones could be in our future.

Links:

• Read: Big Repair Project: using citizen science to better understand the factors affecting household maintenance and repair of home appliances and electronics across the UK
• Explore: Institute of Making’s Materials Library

[Photos courtesy of Mark B and Marianne Cornelissen-Kuyt licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0]

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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.

Another high street gets treated to a Fixing FactoryFirst, 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!

Hackney Councillor Sarah Young cuts the ribbon at Hackney Fixing Factory. Photo: Mark A PhillipsThe first repair voucher scheme in the UKThen, 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.

Launching the scheme at Neil Electrics. Photo: North London Waste AuthorityRepair 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.

Links:

• See what’s going on at Hackney and Camden Fixing Factories
• Sign up for our repair voucher scheme

[Feature image courtesy of Mark A Phillips]

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We can’t believe that we’ve already reached episode 100 of The Restart Podcast! We launched this show a decade ago to explore the world of repair, connect with others in the space, and think about how our work fits into the wider world of sustainability and circularity, autonomy and ownership, and education and accessibility. And we’re so proud of what we’ve managed to produce and the conversations that we’ve had over the years.

To mark the occasion, we wanted to speak to a few notable people that haven’t featured on the podcast yet. These are people who you might have thought would’ve been in the first handful of episodes. But right now, is actually a perfect time to reflect together and think about what comes next for the repair movement. In this episode, Ugo got back behind the mic to connect with contemporaries and old friends. He spoke to Martine Postma, Kyle Wiens, Cristina Ganapini, and Mathew Lubari about their unique takes on repair.

A pioneer of community repairMartine shares with us her memories of setting up the first repair cafe back in Amsterdam in 2009 and how community repair has blossomed since then. From those humble beginnings, there are now over 3,500 repair cafes around the world. And that number doesn’t even include other community repair initiatives like Restart Parties, Fixit Clinics and more – showing just how far the roots of her idea have spread over time. We reflected on their 15 year anniversary event last autumn and what the future holds – or at least Martine hopes – for community repair.

From a broken laptop to the destination for DIY repairKyle had some interesting takeaways from last year’s Open Repair Alliance report that Ugo was eager to dive into. What resulted were some recommendations for how community repair events can really thrive as solutions to people’s everyday needs and integrate into our existing ways of living. They also speak about the end of iFixit! But don’t worry, it’s not happening anytime soon. Rather, as we continue to make gains towards achieving the Right to Repair, they ponder where iFixit would sit in a world where manufacturers make repair manuals and spare parts readily available. It turns out, there will always be a place for conveners of experience and knowledge – something that we know a lot about!

Gaining Right to Repair the visibility it needsNext, Ugo catches up with Cristina about Right to Repair policy, mainly in Europe, over the last decade. She shares her feelings as someone who is campaigning day in day out for a real Right to Repair. One thing to be particularly proud of, she says, is the Right to Repair Directive and she’s also hopeful about new changes to battery regulation coming into force in 2027. They discuss how although we have a long way to go and new legislation doesn’t include all electricals yet, it’s a clear sign that repair is on agenda and has new visibility that was not the case a decade – or even five years – ago.

Repair under challenging circumstancesFinally, Ugo speaks to our only return guest of the episode, Mathew from Community Creativity 4 Development. He shares with us how their work has evolved over the last few years and the work that they are doing to involve new communities and improve real people’s lives on the ground through repair. It’s inspiring work that has not only caught our eye but the eye of those in surrounding countries. Mathew shares his recent collaborations with repairers in Kenya and posits a new idea for a Right to Repair convening forum in Africa that will help them spread their love for repair even further.

A big thank youAnd that’s episode 100! We want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in the podcast (and over 140 episodes of Restart Radio) in the last ten years. That includes all of our past guests, Optonoise, Cassini Sound, the team at Resonance FM, all of the Restart volunteers who have hosted radio takeovers, and of course, Dave Pickering who produced this show for many years. We’re excited to see what comes next and hope that you will keep listening and learning with us.

Links:

• Repair Cafe International
• iFixit
• Right to Repair Europe
• Community Creativity 4 Development

[“Screwdriver, Ratchet, A.wav” by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org; Photo of Cristina by Mark A Phillips]

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A transcript of this podcast is available

Sitting nestled in the mountains of France sits a small building buzzing with activity. Backdropped by the snowy Alps, signs on the building read “where borders meet”, “welcome” and “repair station”, a perfect summary of the Low-tech & Refugees project run by EKO!. In this episode, we speak to Marjolaine Bert, founder of EKO! about how repair and ingenuity can give vulnerable people life saving solutions, learning from each other, and building empathy between communities.

The Low-tech & Refugees project aims to help refugees, migrants and exiled people with low-tech solutions to basic needs like food, water, shelter, communication materials and so on. Through a combination of trainings and workshops, volunteers and beneficiaries work together to repair, upcycle and share skills. Marjolaine has brought this work to hotspots like the Mória refugee camp in Lesbos, Marseilles, and now her hometown of Briançon where she is helping those making the treacherous crossing across the French-Italian border.

So why low-tech?We asked Marjolaine about the reasoning behind the low-tech approach that they take. She says that low-tech solutions come with the territory for their work. For the most part, the people who arrive at EKO! have very little means and from this, springs creativity and a make-do-and-mend attitude. Marjolaine shares some examples of ingenious inventions that they have made over the years. This includes hand warmers made out of discarded baby food pouches, portable lamps made from empty disposable water bottles, and tent insulation made from life jackets.

And while this approach is a necessity when you have such little means and materials to work with, it doesn’t mean that it should only be used in these scenarios. We talk about the need for those who have the power to choose a more sustainable way of life to do so. Especially, as the reason many displaced people are in this position is due to our changing climate.

A place for collaboration and building empathyMarjolaine runs us through the impressive number of activities going on every week at EKO! including bike fixing, clothes mending, woodworking and beekeeping! In their workshops, EKO! have an approach to teaching that hits close to home for those of us familiar with Restart Parties. Marjolaine explains that these sessions don’t have a ‘teacher’ per say but rely on everyone in the room sharing their own unique experiences and knowledge so that they can work out solutions together. She shares that for some migrants this can be an incredibly grounding experience, allowing them to reconnect with the life that they may have left behind and their autonomy as people.

“And it’s really interesting because then people that are usually just learning, in the position of the one that doesn’t know, can be in the position of the one that knows the best. Maybe he knows how to use a sewing machine because before in his life, he was a tailor…

And that’s really interesting to see self-confidence and dignity coming through that kind of relationship where everyone’s equal and we all have something to learn from each other. Maybe the one that knows how to sew doesn’t know how to speak the local language. So, everyone has to learn something in the meeting.”

EKO! also run repair cafes every week where refugees and migrants, locals and even tourists come to fix together. It’s a unique opportunity for collaboration between groups that have much working against them. Especially, Marjolaine points out, with the way that the media portrays migrants in France.

All in all, the project has a far-reaching impact on not only the beneficiaries but the local community and volunteers as well. We like to bring this ethos to our own community repair activities, knowing that people from all walks of life have skills and knowledge to share. EKO goal! really take this to an inspiring new level that we can all learn from.

If you’d like to donate or get involved with EKO!’s work, take a look at the following links:

• EKO!’s wiki with low-tech tutorials
• Volunteer with EKO!
• Donate to EKO!

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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, so we set our sights on something bigger. In this episode, we talk to Restart’s own James Pickstone about our new BREW (Beyond Recycling of E-Waste) report into reuse at UK waste facilities, and Sarah Ottoway, Sustainability and Social Value Lead at SUEZ about their new report into uptake of reuse options at their own facilities.

The HeadlinesThe main – unfortunate but compelling – takeaway from the BREW report shows that there is nowhere near enough of this activity happening. In fact, we found that only around half of waste facilities in the UK have any kind of reuse stream and only around a fifth offer reuse for small electricals. It’s a shockingly low statistic that desperately needs to change. If you want to dive deeper, you’re in luck. James takes us on a journey through our findings and what they mean. Including an even more appalling figure on repair at waste facilities.

For SUEZ, their findings are looking a bit brighter. They found that the majority of visitors to the HWRCs were already users of the on-site reuse shop and regularly so. Furthermore, those who weren’t using the shop were already engaging in similar activities eg. charity shopping and buying second hand. It’s a welcome insight into people’s mindsets and a positive sign that more people are picking up sustainable habits.

The art of what could beJames and Sarah run us through what reuse options really look like at these facilities. One of the most impressive perhaps, is Suez’s 6,000² foot ‘renew hub’ in Manchester which caters for upcycling and repair for everything from bicycles, to fabric and upholstery, to woodworking. She is clearly immensely proud of what they have built there and recounts to us the inspiration that she feels just by walking through its entrance. It’s the kind of facility that we want to have in every area of the UK and its the kind of inspiration that we need to make it happen.

As well as the reuse initiatives at council run sites, James points out that there are also many grassroots initiatives spread out around the UK. These are a more than worthy alternative but they also still need funding.

Manchester Renew HubSo what’s stopping us?Our polling showed that 85% of the British public think items brought to waste facilities should be kept in use through being repaired/refurbished or donated/sold. And the same percentage support government-set targets for reuse. So what’s stopping that from happening? We talk to both of our guests about the barriers and solutions to encourage more reuse options. Sarah says that a lot of the time, the barriers are actually quite practical. Issues of too little space, too little time and too little funding are preventing more options like reuse hubs or refurbish and repair programmes from popping up. These are problems that occur on a case by case basis and while reuse could use more funding as a general rule, its a tricky issue to solve.

But there is action that policymakers can be taking. Sarah and James both run us through some of these potential options including new reuse targets, removal of VAT on repairs and spare parts, and financial incentives for manufacturers to provide longer repair support for products. It’s exactly the kind of thing that we’re asking for in the UK Repair and Reuse Declaration – which has already proven popular with citizens and MPs alike.

Links:

• Learn more about our BREW report
• Read the full ORA report
• Read the full SUEZ report
• Read about our 2023 waste study
• Discover and sign the Repair and Reuse Declaration

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

The Beyond Recycling of E-Waste (BREW) project was supported, in part, by IMPETUS.

IMPETUS is funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101058677. Views and opinions expressed are, however, those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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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.

From stewardship to sealed devicesThe 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.

A page from El Libro De La FamiliaA page from Videofreex’s Spaghetti City Video ManualBending the rules of the manualAs 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:

• Maintenance and Care by Shannon Mattern
• Step by Step from ‘Repair Manual’ by Shannon Mattern
• ‘The pandemic is a portal’ by Arundhati Roy
• Repair Culture: Reparación “the never-ending life of Cuban things …” by Mark A Phillips

[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.

Unique and familiar challengesWe 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.

Collaboration is keyPascale 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:

• Get involved: Be Part of the Student Repair Revolution!
• Read: What is the university for these days? Rethinking the foundations of the ‘circular campus’
• Listen: Restart Podcast Ep. 83: Meet the students Fixing Things for the Future

[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:

• 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!

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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.

The social conundrums of buying lessBefore 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 repairA 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]

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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.

What has been the progress on Right to Repair?Gains in EuropeUgo 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!

Makers Cabinet pose with the declaration on Repair DayMore developments in the USOur 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 2024Fiona 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.

Our community celebrate at Fixfest UKLinks:

• 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

[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.

The Repair Café Mobile takes WalloniaSimon 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 BusNext, 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]

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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.

Repair for EveryoneOn 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 futureWe 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!

Links:

• Read more about what happened at Fixfest UK
• Sign the Repair and Reuse Declaration
• What’s happening on Repair Day 2023
• View the global map of Repair Day events

(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.

The ‘warm buzz’ of repairIt’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 betterNew 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.

https://therestartproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Retro-Electro-Workshop-Ep5-Matt-Food-mixer-clip.mp4Why 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]

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We talk to Oliver Franklin-Wallis about his book, Wasteland: The Dirty Truth about What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters. 

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We talk to Emma Beal from West London Waste Authority about how we can promote reuse over recycling, and save working devices from the shredder.

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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 CaféBrighton Repair Café is one of the longest-running repair cafés in the UK, holding their first event all the way back in 2013. Victoria and Sam were both studying sustainable design at the time and were interested in the journeys that we take with our things, from their design inception, to when they break, to how we can reconnect through repair. They were inspired by the Dutch repair café model to hold their first repair session and since then, have been steadily running events around the city. They’ve also served as inspiration for more repair cafés popping up in Brighton and Hove and the surrounding area, and are part of the Community Repair Network.

Victoria and Sam share what they have learned from running repair events for so long, from de-gendering repair to making sure that its a fun and rewarding activity. They believe that repair is so rewarding that once someone has a positive experience, that’s all they need for it to snowball into something bigger.

“It is quite experiential. So as soon as someone experiences that opportunity, we don’t have to do too much work in that respect because they understand how good they feel when they fix that object with the support of somebody else. They also understand how important those communities are.”

It’s their hope that in the future, repair will become so popular that there will be a repair cafe in every town, university, and school. They believe that the knock-on effect of teaching young people about repair would be huge, especially with how many skills have been lost over recent decades. And they’ve already started this mission, working with a local university to set up a student-led repair café.

Repairing at Brighton Repair Café [Photo courtesy of Brighton Repair Café]Give and take with Tech-TakebackWe then talk to David from Tech-Takeback, who were recent collaborators with Brighton Repair Café as part of Brighton council’s Circular Saturday scheme. Tech-Takeback began in 2016 as pop-up events in Brighton and London, expanding in 2020 into the organisation that they are now. They run RevaluElectricals, collecting unwanted and broken electrical devices from Brighton residents to hopefully give them a new life. David gives as a breakdown of some of their data including, the most collected devices and the massive amount of e-waste that has been saved since they started. 25,000 items have already gone on to have a second life!

He explains their processes for reusing tech, it’s an elaborate process but worth it. Much of the collected items end up going to charities, being sold in the Revaluit shop, or being given away on Freegle. And while some items do end up being recycled, they are first stripped for useful parts and materials.

“We need the government to start thinking about the metrics for reuse. Everything at the moment is focused on recycling…above recycling, we should be having refurbishment, repair, remanufacturing, reuse, and we should be having prevention.”

Not only do Tech-Takeback reduce e-waste and provide affordable tech to those who need it, the data that they have gathered during their work has been incredibly informative for our own research and for the larger repair ecosystem.

Repair event at Tech-Takeback [Photo courtesy of Tech-Takeback]Brighton Repair Café and Tech-Takeback, are examples of projects that we need to have in every part of the UK. These aspirations though, need a lot of support, especially from the government and local councils. All of our guests agree that not enough is currently being done, pointing to Wales as an example of a truly bolstered repair culture. We hope to use the connections built and data collected by projects like these to inform our work and campaign for Right to Repair across the whole of the UK – and the world. Links:

• Brighton Repair Café
• Tech-Takeback
• Restart Podcast Ep. 71: Fixing at Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement
• Community Repair Network

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

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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 rootsHaving 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 of writing. With this, she also folded in a new interest – purpose-driven craft and design. Since then, she has explored what this actually means through writing dissertations, books, and hosting a podcast on the topic. With all this experience under her belt, she decided that she wanted to help makers develop their working practices to fit the circular future that we need to build.

How craftspeople are using repairKatie has previously written about waste and reuse, and her new book Broken puts the focus on repair. She shares some standout case studies from the book of artists and craftspeople who are incorporating repair into their work. These include Celia Pym, Bridget Harvey, Ekta Kaul – all artists who explore repair in entirely different ways.

L-R: Work by Celia Pym, Bridget Harvey, and Ekta KaulKatie notes her interest in the different ways repair can be used for example, as a tool to restore practical value, or to add artistic value, or even for self-care. We talk about where repair and hacking fits into the larger culture of craft, and more specifically the ‘craft of use’. She notes how much more difficult electronic repair often is compared to more traditional craft and making. This is especially true now that manufacturers make an effort to conceal the craftsmanship that goes into making (and therefore taking apart and repairing) our devices.

Letting go of guilt in order to move forwardWhile individual action is of course important, system change is essential for the scale of the problem we are dealing with. When running her courses for creatives, Katie really focuses on this point as key to forward movement. Instead of being weighed down by the personal guilt of climate breakdown, makers need to be led by curiosity and experimentation instead of sustainability perfectionism. We all have a part to play in helping the planet, but it is not our responsibility alone.

“I think really until companies are responsible for the things they sell for their whole lifetime, repair is not going to be the norm.”

Additionally, she stresses the need to be compassionate. There are so many reasons why people may not repair. These include social stigma, a lack of time or resources, or that their stuff is simply not designed to be repaired. Knocking down these barriers is not something anyone can do on their own, rather, we need collective action to change the system.

Practising ‘defiant hope’It’s difficult to stay optimistic about our power to enact change but Katie believes hope is one of the most important tools we have. There isn’t a one size fits all solution to being sustainable, but what can join us all together in our efforts is our common goal.

“One of the most important parts of my job is staying hopeful and and helping to keep other people hopeful.”

Links:

• Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure by Katie Treggiden
• Broken: Mending & Repair in a Throwaway World by Katie Treggiden
• Cultivating Hope in the Face of the Climate Crisis – a free three-part mini-course
• The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac

[Photos courtesy of Katie Treggiden]

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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 businessesJunaid Syed is one half of the team of brothers that run Holborn-based Saras Fix. Having grown up repairing and fixing computers in their mother’s school, they have a lifetime of experience to draw on when fixing customers’ electronics. He recounts a very memorable repair that he performed during the lockdown, when he had to take a risk that absolutely paid off and helped someone in need.

Junaid and his brother, Jawad at their shopXenis Stylianou has been in the electronics repair trade for over 30 years and runs his business, Zen’s Electronics Workshop near Finsbury Park. Having learned his trade through training schemes and skilling up with different engineers, he explains how difficult it is to gain experience this way nowadays. He believes that a lot more support for professional repair is needed, especially in terms of training paths and apprenticeships, otherwise we risk losing these essential skills to time.

Xenis and Junaid repairing at their shopsThe state of repair todayWith so many decades of fixing experience, Xenis can give us a first hand account of how things have changed. Speaking on his area of expertise of audio-visual equipment, he tells us that not only has everything become harder to open, and therefore repair, but also products are being produced at much lower quality than in decades past.

“It’s a top down thing…over time manufacturers have actually reduced their build quality to come in line with the cheaper brands. And because now everything’s built to cost, the engineer at the other end repairing the equipment is not taken into consideration anymore.”

Both Junaid and Xenis agree that the various barriers that manufacturers put on repair are not only affecting the operation of repair businesses but also the customer’s autonomy to make choices about their device.

Keeping repair aliveSo, if being a professional repairer is so challenging, how do they find the drive to keep it up? Xenis and Junaid care about their customers and reducing electronic waste.

Junaid describes it as “giving back a second life to the broken devices which would’ve ended up in a landfill” and it’s an aspect of repair that he’s incredibly passionate about. He also regularly volunteers at repair events, donating his time and years of experience to help people learn to repair their own stuff. No matter if people want to try to repair their stuff at home or bring it straight to a professional, he stresses that London’s repair businesses are here to help.

Links:

• London Repairs
• Saras Fix
• Zen’s Electronics Workshop

[Photo courtesy of Saras Fix and Zen’s Electronics Workshop]

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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 and reuse on your local high street.

The money questionAll of these ventures run with slightly different business models and approaches to funding their work. What they all agree on is the central role of generous donations from their local communities. Whether it’s financial donations, volunteering or donations in cake form, it all helps to keep them running. Sue also taught us a new term, referring to The General Store as a ‘repairmongers’, steadfastly placing themselves as a community institution.

Reaching outWe ruminate on how the location and demographics of each project’s local area affects the way that they operate. Whether it is the difference in affluence between Bath and Newport, or the remoteness of Selkirk in comparison to Edinburgh Remakery’s shopping centre location. What Katie loves about Re:Make Newport – echoed by everyone else – is the way that their shop brings people together.

“The essence of what we do is all about community, it’s about bringing people together. And I love being in the shop and the atmosphere there is electric. You’ve got people of all generations, all ages talking about repair and sharing tips and knowledge and the way that they look at repair and reuse.”

What about you?So what if you want to start a project like this? Our panel say ask others for help. They’ve found that other people in the repair space are more than happy to share their expertise and experience. After all, we are all working towards the same goal of more accessible repair and reuse for all. We want a repair and reuse hub in every town across the UK. In London we’re starting with Fixing Factories and can’t wait to see where they take us.

And in case you’re wondering about the cryptic comment in her introduction, in a previous life Sue played a murder victim on the TV show Taggart!

Links:

• Re:Make Newport
• Edinburgh Remakery
• The General Store Selkirk
• Share and Repair Bath
• Restart Podcast Ep. 81: Launching the new Fixing Factory

[Feature collage images courtesy of Mark A Phillips, Shelini Kotecha, and The General Store Selkirk]

[Image by Mark A Phillips, licensed under CC BY 2.0.]

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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 student repair shop at any school. We spoke to them about this innovative idea and how it has been received by students.

Integrating repairCarl and Beat tell us about their experience being students of the repair workshop and how excited they are to share the opportunity with more schools. In addition to their weekly repair cafe, students who opt to study repair have up to four dedicated classes per week. They feel that the skills they are learning in their repair classes will stay with them for the rest of their lives, and in some cases seem much more applicable than more traditional classes.

The ‘learning by doing’ ethosThey describe the teaching method of the repair classes as “learning by doing”, often the students are encouraged to work without the assistance of teachers as much as possible. Carl points out that this has made him more confident to attempt repairs at home and he hopes that this mindset will carry on once he graduates.

“It’s the realisation that the students kind of lose their fear of something so easy. When they see how easy it is they get used to it and will repair for themselves. And every time something is broken, they are ready to try to repair it.”

Fixing Things for the FutureFinally, we discuss their guide called Fixing Things for the Future. It details how to start a student repair workshop from scratch, covering everything from tools to tutorials. Felix points out how important student safety is when operating one of these projects. The guidebook has an extensive section on how to keep students safe and help them confidently deal with electricals.

Beat hopes that in the future there will be a repair workshop at every school, in every country! If this sounds like something you could help set up, they now have an English version of the guide available for download.

Links

• Find the guide here Schueler-reparaturwerkstatt or here Culture of Repair
• Our Fixfest 2022 session with Fixing Things for the Future
• Last month, we spoke to a company introducing repair to even younger children – Restart Podcast Ep. 82: No need for new toys, we have Team Repair

[Photos courtesy of Felix Lossin]

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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 youngThe 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 repair and sustainability, each month sending them a new gadget to fix. These gadgets include hand-held game consoles and remote controlled cars – its such a fresh and engaging approach to capturing children’s minds.

Anaïs and Megan explain to us how they came to repair at different stages of their lives, proving that it is never the wrong time to learn these crucial skills. They believe that getting children interested in repair early is integral to inspiring our next generation of fixers and repair-friendly designers.

Another lovely aspect of the Team Repair model is encouraging generational skill sharing. Whether it is parents helping their children with the repair kits, or Team Repair themselves going into schools. At Restart, we recognise how important this skill sharing is in teaching younger people and also not letting this knowledge be lost to time.

Building in circularityThey tell us how a key feature of their project is building circularity into their work. It is not necessarily a popular approach with investors but Team Repair recognise the importance of this aspect of their work. In an effort to solve the issue of e-waste, it only makes sense to reuse the gadgets that they send out.

Their hope is that by educating children on repair and waste reduction, these skills will come in handy when Right to Repair legislation also moves forwards in the coming years. It’s a hope that we definitely share and are working towards making a reality all the time.

Team Repair’s fixing programme is such a cool concept and we cannot wait to see how it develops and what other toys there are to fix!

Links

• Learn more about Team Repair
• Find them on Instagram and Twitter

[Photos courtesy of Team Repair]

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This month, we have an update from Shelini Kotecha and Dermot Jones about Fixing Factories and what's coming up following the Camden launch.

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In this episode, we spoke to 7 Fixfest 2022 attendees about where repair is now and where they hope to see it in the future.

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This month, we had a handy conversation with some friends from our sponsor eSpares to answer listeners' questions about household repair.

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This month, we had a handy conversation with some friends from our sponsor eSpares to answer listeners' questions about household repair.

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To wrap up our summer season, we’re giving listeners a proper introduction to Restart’s new(ish) Co-Director, Fiona Dear.

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We’re celebrating 10 years of Restart! This episode is an auditory snapshot of Restart, hearing from volunteers, friends, and the team.

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We talked to Ben Wood, Chief Analyst at CCS Insight and Founder of the Mobile Phone Museum about historic phone design, repairability and consumer trends.

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On this episode of Restart Radio, Ugo Vallauri is joined by Fiona Dear and Shelini Kotecha to talk about the launch of Fixing Factories.

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This month, we welcome back Aaron Perzanowski to the show to talk about his new book, The Right to Repair: Reclaiming the Things We Own.

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We spoke to Nikos Souslous, Co-Founder of Ready Tech Go about the importance of digital access, their impact and how RTG is going to evolve.

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Four months after its launch on Repair Day 2021, we spoke to four people involved in the repair network, Repair Café Aotearoa New Zealand.

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As 2022 gets on the road, we spoke to Jenni Gwiazdowski, from London Bike Kitchen about bike repair and inclusion in cycling.

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We spoke to Mathew Lubari, a repairer from the Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement. Lubari is the founder and a team leader at CC4D, an environmental initiative promoting repair skills.

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As 2021 draws to a close, Janet and Ugo reflected on this precarious but successful year. Despite challenges, we have a lot to celebrate.

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This month we talked to author and activist, Alice Bell about her recent book, Our Biggest Experiment: An Epic History of the Climate Crisis.

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In celebration of Repair Day 2021, we held a webinar Q&A exploring consumption emissions, featuring Professor John Barrett.

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We revisit an episode with photographer, Mark Phillips whose exhibition, 'Repair is essential' is showing in London until 17th October!

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This month we spoke to Dr Karen Patel about her work on Craft Expertise, a project researching inequalities in the craft sector.

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We're revisiting some of our past episodes to reflect on how the repair community has been impacted by the events of the pandemic. 

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We're on our summer break from radio this month but we would really appreciate if you can take the time to fill in our listener survey.

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In our final episode of the summer season, we talk to Kate Edwards about building with cob and why it is a really sustainable way forward.

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Despite what the British weather says, summer has come around again and with it comes Restart's summer reading list!

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We talk to Jessa Jones, founder of iPad Rehab about teaching herself logicboard repair, her fight against 'branded' repair, and R2R in the US.

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As businesses and community spaces are able to pick up operations again, we talk to Alys Penfold, Borrower Support Lead at Library of Things.

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We talk to Abby Rose and Jo Barratt from Farmerama - a podcast that aims to share the voices and experiences of regenerative farming.

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Revisiting our conversation with Loubani and Garapick on medical repair and reuse, we learn when intellectual property can be lethal. And we don't just mean for vaccines.

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Robbie Gillet from Possible talks to us about the Badvertising campaign, which seeks to stop harmful adverts contributing to the climate crisis. 

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Following Greenland's election, we’re revisiting our interview with Autogena and Portway about their documentary, ‘Kuannersuit/Kvanefjeld’.

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Bas Flipsen and Julieta Bolaños Arriola from TU Delft tell us how 3D printing can be adapted to help solve the electronic waste crisis. 

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As schools reopen across the country, we revisit the vital work of laptop reuse projects and talk to Mer-IT and Hackney Fixers.

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We discuss opportunities and limits of the new French Repairability together with experts involved in its development and in the European Right to Repair campaign

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On February’s episode, we discuss game consoles, printers, and the virtually useless voluntary agreements for their manufacturers.

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Labour rights abuses did not start with Covid. Omana George from Electronics Watch tells us how she has been working to protect occupational health.

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On our first show of 2021, we revisit the topic of digital inclusion and providing laptops to students in need.

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Interactive artist, presenter and Repair Café volunteer Seb Lee-Delisle talks about his installation Laser Light City. Through it, he allows viewers to control high-powered lasers beaming into the urban night sky. We also talk nerd comedy, open source, and repair.

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It's our final radio show of a year full of bad news, and we have some good news to share. We speak to Jonathan Samuels, a lighting designer who has started a new lighting business. And we talk about positive steps by UK and EU Parliaments.

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John Wackman and Elizabeth Knight are repair organisers and community advocates in the US. We hear how this work informed their new book, Repair Revolution.

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Joined by renowned iPhone repairer, Rico Cerva, we discuss how the serialisation of smartphone components is affecting independent repair.

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In October, the European Right to Repair campaign launched the “Heroes of Repair” series. We talk to Chloé Mikolajczak about the need to put a human face on repair.

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To celebrate Ada Lovelace Day, we're republishing this 2018 interview with Suw Charman-Anderson, founder of the Ada Lovelace Day (ALD), which annually supports and increases the visibility of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) careers.

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To kick off the autumn season, we talked to the founder of the non-profit organisation e Foundation, Gaël Duval. With their OS, /e/, they are prioritising user and data privacy. We find out why a change in our approach to data protection is such a necessity.

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On our first radio show after the summer break, we're joined by James Diamond to discuss Hackney Fixers' new community laptop repair project.

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We talk to Jude Daniel Smith from Teach the Future, which aims to reshape the school curriculum to reflect the urgency of the climate crisis and equip younger generations for its inevitable impact on their future.

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On July's episode of Restart Radio, we share our mini summer reading list and discuss the current Environmental Audit Committee's inquiry into e-waste.

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Discussing Tansy Hoskins' latest book, Foot Work, we learn how shoes can help us explore issues of labour rights, clothing sustainability, and system change.

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We share a talk from Josh Babarinde of Cracked It, who is making repair more accessible as a career for ex-offenders and at-risk youth. He highlights the ever-pressing issue of the lack of diversity in the tech industry, and the dangerous, real-world consequences. 

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We talk to journalist Kris De Decker about how low-tech of the past can serve as inspiration to improve our future. What if our current idea of sustainability and our economic model may be inherently incompatible? And how much is too much?

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We discuss the limitations of reuse with Apple laptop refurbisher John Bumstead, AKA RDKL Inc. Special chips like Apple's T2 chip can control our access to devices. What does this mean for ownership rights after the first owner?

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We talk to Shamil Joomun, the co-owner of London-based vintage audio restoration company and café, Armstrong Audio. Now located in Walthamstow, east London, Armstrong Audio has a long history and a unique approach to repair.

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Dr. Tarek Loubani and Reidun Garapick join us for a discussion about sustainability and repair of medical equipment and PPE during Covid-19. This is also a call to arms for all repairers, makers, and activists: we must push for essential changes to the system that will live on beyond the pandemic.

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Dave is joined by law professor Aaron Perzanowski as we dare to dive into the increasingly complex world of intellectual property law. It shapes our relationship with our physical stuff more than we know.

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For March’s show we take a look at perhaps the most unavoidable topic in our world today, the coronavirus (COVID-19) and how it affects tech supply chains. We also discuss two under-reported issues related to forced labour and chemical hazards.

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Inspired by the Right to Repair campaign, we compiled our best interviews on mobiles - explaining what needs to change about how they are designed, how we use and repair them and more.

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On ‘Safer Internet Day’, Janet and Ugo are joined in the studio by Restarter Ben Skidmore to discuss the developing Sonos scandal, planned device obsolescence, and new proposed UK legislation to increase the security of connected devices.

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Two tinker-travelling retirees from Melbourne, Australia fill our podcast with positive energy and joy this month. Dave talks to Karen and Danny, who spend their weekends travelling and helping new community repair groups get started in their homestate of Victoria.

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We interview Norwegian professional repairer Henrik Huseby about his court battle against Apple, which will reach Norway's Supreme Court next year.

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This month we chat with author Adam Minter on his newest book "Secondhand: Travels In The New Global Garage Sale". It's a very eye-opening and human take on massive flows of stuff and resources that often go overlooked.

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In this episode, Dave interviews Monique Szpak, Community Coordinator for Data for The Restart Project. She takes us on a tour of the data collected at community repair events across the world by The Open Repair Alliance. Through an open data standard, Monique has helped to unify and compare the Alliance's nearly 30,000 repair attempts.

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This podcast is a meditation on the quiet importance of television standards, which ensure sets remain useful as the years pass. We talk with two engineers working in television testing about creating effective standards and testing televisions.

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Earlier this year, we visited Fixfest Italia - the first national community repair gathering in Italy. We now want to share the first ever Restart Radio episode in Italian!

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B4RN is the bold initiative of a community in Lancashire who simply wanted access to the Internet and decided to start their own community-run broadband. It contributes to community cohesion, education and disaster preparedness.

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With Restarters Ben Skidmore and Dave Lukes, Ugo discusses some tech news and then dives into the world of repurposing computers - how can we give them a second life?

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Ravi Agarwal is an artist and activist based in New Delhi, where he founded the NGO Toxics Link. We hear Ravi's reflections on his life between disciplines.

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A climate emergency has been all over the news recently. We talk about the public state of anxiety in the face of climate change and we discuss how our lives might need to change in response to this threat.

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We travel to the northwest of England to meet Dave and Anne Carlos, co-founders of the West Fleetwood Computer Clinic. Set up by the Emmanuel Church, this Computer Clinic serves the community by lowering people's barriers to technology, while making devices last for longer.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 42: A computer clinic for (and by) the community appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We learn from Chloe Fayole from ECOS about the overlooked but fascinating world of product standards, and how they affect our right to repair our devices.

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E-waste doesn’t just exist on earth, it exists in orbit too - and we've created loads in the past couple of decades. We interview Luisa Innocenti from the European Space Agency (ESA) to learn about their Clean Space initiative.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 41 Exploring waste in space appeared first on The Restart Project.

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It's Space Month at Restart Radio. We talk to Jessika Luth Richter, a circular economy researcher at Lund University in Sweden, and we learn about the relationship between materials and space, including the 'iridium anomaly'.

The post Restart Radio: The Iridium anomaly, your mobile and the dinosaurs appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Solar lamps have been envisioned as a groundbreaking innovation for regions with no electricity. But what happens when solar gadgets break down?

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 40: When solar lamps break down appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Tongue-in-cheek, we talk about the upcoming Brexit and the potential of indoor growing to feed us. We are joined by Ande Gregson, founder of Greenlab, and by Halima Koundi, Restart Volunteer Coordinator.

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The design of technology has deep consequences for our use of products and services. We interview Alison Powell, Assistant Professor at LSE, and we discuss links between design, innovation and our right to repair.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 39: Repair and autonomy in a networked world appeared first on The Restart Project.

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After much celebration and fanfare about the new European regulations guaranteeing some "right to repair" for consumers, we needed to chat with Steve the Spindoctor. Our interview with Steve feels like a tour of terrible caveats.

The post Restart Radio: New Right to Repair rules, broken down by a pro appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We are moved by the tenacity of Jane, who is the 'inventor, founder and fixer in Chief” at Sugru, the mouldable glue company. We interview her about design within the throwaway economy and about the role and growth of the repair movement.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 38: Inspiring repair with Jane, inventor and founder of Sugru appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interview Libby Peake, Senior policy adviser at Green Alliance. We talk about the public interest in more repairable products, and we discuss the current policy debates affecting our right to repair in Europe and the UK.

The post Restart Radio: Popular, planet-saving right to repair appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interview Andrew Hatton, Head of IT at Greenpeace UK. We talk about the environmental implications of using the Internet and Greenpeace's campaign on the topic.

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Fixfest UK gathered 59 community repair activists from all across the country, representing 25 different repair groups. This event was all about sharing our love for fixing, as well as common visions and opportunities for collaborations.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 37: Voices of UK fixers appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Mark Phillips tells us about his work photographing the practice, people and communities involved in repair culture - from Cuba to our very own Restart Parties.

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In the spirit of Repair Day, we interview independent fixer Rico Cerva. We talk about the personal stories behind people’s devices, barriers to repair caused by manufacturers and the future of repair work.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 36: Fixing the impossible with Rico Cerva appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Ugo and Restart volunteer Ben chat about upcoming International #RepairDay, and comment on recent issues related to the Right to Repair movement in the United States and Europe.

The post Restart Radio: Celebrating community repair and announcing #RepairDay appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interview researcher Jessika Luth Richter about the 'critical' materials that are found in our electronics. We talk about their global supplies, their mining, their infrequent recycling and their demand for renewable energies.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 35: Exploring the critical materials in our electronics appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Ugo interviews Lauren Crilly and Jon Dawes from Repair Cafe Glasgow. We start discussing summer tech news and then we talk about the community repair movement and how it is spreading across Scotland and the UK.

The post Restart Radio: Welcoming a new Repair Cafe in Glasgow appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Our volunteers Dave, Panda and Andrew run the show, discussing the hype about the Internet of Things (IoT) and 'smart' homes, and related issues of security.

The post Restart Radio Takeover: ‘Smart’ homes – the hype and worries about IoT appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interview technologist and researcher Felipe Fonseca. We discuss the role of improvisation in problem-solving and repair, and we learn from Brazilian approaches to repurposing discarded technology.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 34: Improvisation and collective spirit in Brazilian repair culture appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Ugo interviews Restart volunteer Philip Le Riche about his passion for cameras. We talk about the technological development of these devices, and about their repairability and product lifetime.

The post Restart Radio: Cameras, the eternal and disposable – analog, digital, mobile and GoPros appeared first on The Restart Project.

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As part of a summer tradition, we have compiled a summer reading list. We talk about reads which have inspired us and how they relate to our work at Restart.

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Isabel and Ugo interview Simon Werrett, Lecturer in Science and Technology Studies at UCL. We talk about his upcoming book "Thrifty Science", which discusses historical practices of repair and reuse.

The post Restart Radio: Strong links between thrift and innovation, past and present appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this week's episode, we interview Tim Cooper, professor of Sustainable Design and Consumption at Nottingham Trent University. We discuss the current throwaway culture, and the role of consumers, businesses and regulation in making our products last longer.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 33: The lives of products during our lifetime, with Tim Cooper appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this week's episode, Ugo and Janet interview Nathan Proctor, Director of US PIRG's Right to Repair campaign. We talk about this movement and generally about our right to fix our devices.

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In this week's episode, Isabel and Ugo interview Lara Houston, a visiting researcher at Goldsmiths University. We talk about academic research on repair, and we also play some recordings from Kaja Ahnfelt, who has conducted research at Restart Parties.

The post Restart Radio: Community repair events as sites of social research appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this week's episode, Ugo interviews Susanne Baker, Head of Environment & Compliance at techUK. We discuss their position on the public’s growing interest in our right to repair and the future of product standards beyond Brexit.

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In this month's radio takeover, Restart volunteers Ben Skidmore and Dave Lukes talk about "repair on the edge": how to deal with unsual fixes when one lacks the necessary skills or tools.

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Ellie and Dave interview Restart volunteer Alvin Hardy, who shares his life-long passion for "ham" radio. We discuss the importance of radio and the value of the community that it helps bring together.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 32: Amateur (ham) radio with Alvin Hardy appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this week's episode, Isabel Lopez and Dave Lukes talk about the stuff we use to hack and fix, from the usual tapes and glues to more sophisticated techniques and materials.

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In this week's episode, Ugo and Isabel interview Tarek Loubani, a Palestinian-Canadian doctor who has created low-cost 3D-printed medical devices to help with the lack of supply in Gaza.

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In this week's episode, Janet, Ugo and Dave Lukes discuss our personal data being collected and held elsewhere, focusing on the new EU regulation on data protection, and particularly on its implications for 'connected devices'.

The post Restart Radio: Protecting our personal data in an age of connected devices appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this month's Radio “takeover”, Restart volunteers proclaim "It's MY Device!": we talk about our rights to repair and mantain our gadgets, and about exciting fixing stories at recent repair events in London.

The post Restart Radio Takeover: “It’s MY device!” appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interview Professor Ross Anderson, an expert on Security Engineering at Cambridge University. We discuss the problem of software obsolescence - how devices can stop working due to software, not just their physical components.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 31: Software obsolescence with Ross Anderson appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Ugo interviews Alasdair Davies, a conservation technologist who works on bringing affordable, customisable and repairable open hardware technology to people working on conservation projects.

The post Restart Radio: Wildlife conservation and the role of open, repairable technology appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this episode, Janet and Isabel interview Suw Charman-Anderson, founder of the Ada Lovelace Day (ALD), which annually supports and increases the visibility of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).

The post Restart Radio: Ada Lovelace Day and the stories of women in STEM appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In our monthly Radio "takeover", we have Ben Skidmore, Panda and Steve Cook discussing our relationship with phones. What makes us replace them and how can they last for longer? We discuss repairability and software support looking at the latest smartphones.

The post Restart Radio Takeover: Why we replace our phones appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interview Florence Okoye and Debs Durojaiye, two of the organisers of the Afrotech Fest in London. We talk about the experience and representation of black people in tech and we discuss the meanings of Afrofuturism.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 30: Afrotech Fest and Afrofuturism appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Janet and Ugo talk with Estefania Suquilanda, who is introducing repair into a girls' school in New York. We then discuss Apple's recent claims on being zero waste and the recent 'Right to repair' movement in California.

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Janet and Neil interview Derek Wall about his new book on Elinor Ostrom: "Rules for Radicals". We discuss Ostrom’s view of the "commons" and how people can organise themselves to manage community resources.

The post Restart Radio: Elinor Ostrom and the commons appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this week's episode, we talk to artists Joshua Portway and Lise Autogena about their documentary ‘Kuannersuit; Kvanefjeld’, about a small town in Greenland that is divided over plans for a large, open-pit mine.

The post Restart Radio: Rare-earth minerals in Greenland with Lise Autogena and Josh Portway appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We're trying something new. Our volunteers are a crucial part of our work at Restart, and frequently appear as guests on our show. This week, and once a month from this week onwards, we hand them the reins. It's a takeover.

The post Restart Radio Takeover: Why we repair in the community appeared first on The Restart Project.

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On International World Radio Day, Ugo is joined by Ben Skidmore to discuss the future of FM radio, and the future of electronic manufacturing more broadly in a post-Brexit world.

The post Restart Radio: World Radio Day and electronics in the wake of Brexit appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk to Josh Lepawksy - Associate professor in Geography at the Memorial University of Newfoundland - about his work in the field of 'Discard Studies', examining the way discarded products move through the world.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 29: Tracing global flows of electronic ‘discards’ with Josh Lepawsky appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Medicine has been revolutionized by technology that goes on - and in - our body. In these cases, questions of durability and reliability can become matters of life and death.

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Today on Restart Radio, Ugo and Neil talk to Charlie Bruce and Tom Putnam from Beeline: a smart compass for cycling.

The post Restart Radio: How repair informs design with Beeline appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In our first monthly Restart Podcast of the year, Dave talks to Leyla Acaroglu: self-described designer, systems thinker and sustainability provocateur.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 28: Disruptive design and unlocking wonderment with Leyla Acaroglu appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In our first radio show of 2018, we cover a range of topics: from flatpack electronics, to the recent Apple battery scandal, to the vulnerabilities opened up by the discovery of Spectre and Meltdown.

The post Restart Radio: Flatpack electronics plus battery and CPU failures appeared first on The Restart Project.

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The soaring value of Bitcoin has been all over the media recently. But what is Bitcoin, and what is the environmental impact of 'mining' it?

The post Restart Radio: What does Bitcoin mining mean for the environment? appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Voice-controlled home assistants are being sold in the millions: but they raise questions about privacy issues, product disposability, and machine learning.

The post Restart Radio: Voice-controlled Assistants and “Smart Speakers” appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Are we really willing participants in the Big Data economy?

The post Restart Radio: Exploring personal data at the Glass Room appeared first on The Restart Project.

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If tomorrow we woke up and all the technologies we had come to depend on had ceased to exist, what knowledge would we need to re-build them from scratch?

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 27: How to Restart the World with Lewis Dartnell appeared first on The Restart Project.

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How many products do you need to fix to break a world record? The repair cafe held in Cambridge earlier this month has set the new magic number: 232.

The post Restart Radio: Breaking the world record for community repair appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk to John Bumstead - an artist and laptop refurbisher whose company 'RKDL Inc' (pronounced "Roadkill") gives a new life to old Apple Macbooks.

The post Restart Radio: Glitch art by refurbisher RDKL Inc appeared first on The Restart Project.

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How do Robot pets force us to reconsider the boundaries between the animate and inanimate? And what issues do they raise concerning ownership and DIY repair?

The post Restart Radio: Robot pets appeared first on The Restart Project.

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A world where gadgets can talk to each other brings a whole host of opportunities - but it also throws up unprecedented challenges. 

The post Restart Radio: Open-sourcing the Internet of Things appeared first on The Restart Project.

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On 6-8 of October, we hosted the first International Fixfest in London. It was a chance for repairers, makers, activists, tinkerers and academics from all over the world to meet each other, share tips and stories, and come up with joint strategies for repairing in future.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 26: Fixers united at the first Fixfest appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Most electronic items when they break are repairable. But there are several persistent myths about DIY quick fixes that can do more harm than good.

The post Restart Radio: Tech repair myths appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Today, on World Mental Health Day, we talk about how repair can contribute to greater social cohesion and individual well-being for a wide range of people. 

The post Restart Radio: Community repair, neurodiversity and mental health appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In part 2 of our podcast special with 'activist academic' Jack Qiu, we talk some more about the fight to end contemporary 'iSlavery'.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 25: Goodbye iSlave (Pt.2) appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Many people think of slavery as history. But for Jack Qiu, the present-day treatment of some workers in electronics factories in China needs to be conceived of as slavery. And our own addiction to gadgets is its own, related form of mental "slavery".

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 24: Goodbye iSlave (Pt 1) appeared first on The Restart Project.

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As summer draws to a close, we think about the role of tech in our experience of the 'Great Outdoors'. Taking a look at the useful, the useless, and the DIY, we think about how current consumer trends in camping and outdoor gear reflect the complicated nature of our desire to 'get away from it all'.

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Today, we talk to Rob Kerr from Lovefone - an independent mobile repair store - about the relationship between manufacturers and repairers.

The post Restart Radio: Lovefone’s vision for thriving commercial repair appeared first on The Restart Project.

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This month, to celebrate the Restart's 5th birthday, we're looking back on some of our favourite moments from past podcast episodes and Restart Parties.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 23: 5th Birthday Special appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Skills don't become obsolete the same way gadgets do. Today we discuss what different generations have to teach each other about repair.

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With London's population expected to reach 11 million by 2015 and local recycling rates in decline, we need solutions for increasing amounts of waste.

The post Restart Radio: Can a circular economy be driven by cities? appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Today, Ugo and Dave are joined by Peter Mui from Fixit Clinic, a U.S. based "troubleshooting and discovery workshop" that has much in common with Restart Parties and Repair Cafes.

The post Restart Radio: Repair in the U.S. with Fixit Clinic appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Dave Pickering talks to Data Centre Specialist Sophia Flucker about the forgotten places that store and generate our data, and how we can build a greener internet

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 22: Greening the internet appeared first on The Restart Project.

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This week, Janet is joined by Restart volunteer David Méry to discuss both the opportunities and problems created by new wearable technologies.

The post Restart Radio: A second wave of “wearables” for consumers? appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk with mechanical keyboard enthusiasts about improving our time typing. Not everybody takes such interest, but with care at purchase and maintenance, keyboards can really last

The post Restart Radio: Keyboards and the durability of interfaces appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Trust is key in any relationship, be it with other humans or the gadgets we use. What happens to that trust when those devices evolve beyond our expectations? Talking to Matthew from design studio IF, we explore the role of design in empowering people to trust their devices.

The post Restart Radio: Designing consumer rights and trust appeared first on The Restart Project.

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What's the difference between a prerecorded birdsong and a real one? 3D sound aims to bring audio technology even closer to "real life". If it does really work, will it render all our regular listening devices obsolete?

The post Restart Radio: 3D sound, hardware and software appeared first on The Restart Project.

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The universe of Tim Hunkin is one of whirring gears, flashing lights and strange characters: but underneath the fun and frivolity is an in-depth examination of the history of society’s relationship with technology.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 21: Tim Hunkin and the Secret Life of Machines appeared first on The Restart Project.

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From Citizen Science projects to community-run operating systems, we examine how we can have more of a say in how to keep ourselves safe.

The post Restart Radio: DIY radiation monitoring with Safecast and ransomware attacks appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Janet and Neil are joined by Jim Boulton, ‘digital archaeologist’ and curator of the exhibition 64 Bits, a project that chronicles the history of the World Wide Web.

The post Restart Radio: Digital archaeology with Jim Boulton appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk to Tad Vaas from T-Fix, a repair centre in South London that mixes corporate and consumer repairs with a very interesting twist.

The post Restart Radio: TFix and ‘better than new’ repairs appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Today we talk to Lou and Ed from design studio Friche about what the world of electronics can learn from the world of urban food growing.

The post Restart Radio: The parallel worlds of the tinkerer and the grower appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Today we talk to David Li, founder of Open Innovation Lab, about maker culture in the city of Shenzhen: home to more than 4000 design firms.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 20: Maker culture in Shenzhen and sustainable design appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Consumer organisation Test-Achats in Belgium uses crowdsourcing to identify ‘hot-spots’ of consumer frustration and investigate the gadgets that keep breaking.

The post Restart Radio: Sensing gadget failures and frustrations in Belgium appeared first on The Restart Project.

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A visit to Stratford Computer Fair reveals that face-to-face electronic repair and sales are not yet things of the past.

The post Restart Radio: The Past and Future of London’s Computer Fairs appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Today we head to the US, where a group of high-school students and teachers talk to us about an exciting project that began as a pop-up stall in a library.

The post The Restart Podcast Ep. 19: High school repair and the next generation of Restarters appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Those who make it behind the Genius Bar are under legal obligation to not disclose information about Apple. Today we investigate the tech giant's attitude to repair with the help of some anonymous ex-Geniuses and online forum Reddit.

The post Restart Radio: Behind the Apple Genius Bar appeared first on The Restart Project.

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On the 14th of March, International ‘Pi Day’, Ugo is joined by Restart volunteer Ben Skidmore and Eben Upton, creator of the Raspberry Pi: a tiny and affordable computer that can be used to teach programming to children and adults, and gives new life to old hardware.

The post Restart Radio: The small but powerful Raspberry Pi appeared first on The Restart Project.

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When we grow up, we buy things for sensible reasons, and don’t lose get bored or lose interest with our ‘toys’… or so the story goes. But recent fads for personal mobility devices would suggest otherwise.

The post Restart Radio: Hoverboards and throw-away toys for ‘big kids’ appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We explore the qualities in our gadgets aimed at a particular gender. Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino talks to us about the history of gender-bias in kitchens and more. Technological gadgets, like people, are not always neutral.

The post Restart Podcast ep. 18: Gendered gadgets appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Our devices talk to us all the time. It is easy to forget that these blips, bleeps and bloops are not merely generated by the things themselves: they are designed by people. Today we talk to one of these people: Dougie Brown from Cassini Sound.

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This week, Ugo is joined by Lawrence Carey from the Whitegoods Trade Association to explore solutions to the growing challenges faced by repair businesses.

The post Restart Radio: Saving whitegoods from waste appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Virtual Reality (VR) has been heralded as ‘the next big thing’ for years now. We investigate ways in which consumer VR might feed into our throwaway economy, or alternatively, ways in which VR might help us imagine more sustainable futures.

The post Restart Radio: Sustaining Virtual Reality appeared first on The Restart Project.

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What kind of drone will triumph in the future: will it be the disposable toy that finds its way to dumps or more hackable and repairable models, both buy-and-fly and those emerging from open-source communities?

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 17: Drones aren’t just for Christmas appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We all know how to ease the guilt of throwing something away by telling ourselves it will be recycled. But who is in charge, who pays, and does it work? And why do we struggle to increase recycling rates in London?

The post Restart Radio: Sifting through London’s recycling woes appeared first on The Restart Project.

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A copy of personal data is the prerequisite to repair. We talk about how and where to backup, and discuss the environmental impact of cloud storage.

The post Restart Radio: Backups and ‘the cloud’ appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Our headphones are some of our most-used and best-loved devices. But how do we pick the right pair, and what do we do when they break? And what about the future?

The post Restart Radio: The Future of Personal Listening appeared first on The Restart Project.

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It’s our last radio show of the year, and the weather is getting colder. This week we take a look at Norwegian repair culture, before turning back to the UK, where the growing fuel poverty problem needs some serious attention.

The post Restart Radio: The Challenges of Winter appeared first on The Restart Project.

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The UK toy market is the largest in the world. As we approach Christmas, how can we reduce the number of electronic toys that end up as rubbish?

The post Restart Radio: E-toys and connected toys appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In part two of our two-part series, we join Steve the Spindoctor on another repair trip, and talk to Restarters in Camden about their repair experiences.

The post Restart Podcast Ep. 16: Steve the Spindoctor (part 2/2) appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk to Steve Neil in his repair van and clients' homes about his work ethic, the trials of being self-employed, and why some machines seem to break so often.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 15: Steve the Spindoctor (Part 1/2) appeared first on The Restart Project.

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With Black Friday coming this week, we discuss whether more people buying more shiny new stuff is really an indication of a healthy economy, and what to make of conflicting "consumer confidence" headlines.

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What does Brexit have to do with undercooked toast? Nothing and everything. This week we discuss how policy can help fix our throwaway economy.

The post Restart Radio: Policy tips from Brussels appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Marie Lefebvre and Divya Pujara of the Leicester Fixers have been hosting Restart Parties in Leicester for a year now. Marie is a Phd researcher with a keen interest in sustainability and Divya is an electrical engineer, teacher and member of Leicester Hackspace.

The post Restart Radio: Restarting in Leicester appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Appliances hijacked for cyber attacks, 11-hour cups of tea, hacked Barbie dolls, and angry family members - some dangers of connected, smart homes. Caution is required with "the internet of things"

The post Restart Radio: Connected device horrors appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk about the downside to miniaturised and thin devices, discussing serious trade-offs and how Samsung locked itself into a disastrous design with the now-infamous Note 7

The post Restart Radio: Have we taken thin too far? appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Why do perfectly useable products end up in the shredder, when so many people go without? We interview Cat Fletcher, one of the UK's most articulate and passionate reuse activists.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 14: Boosting reuse appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Some kinds of repair businesses are getting harder to find! We talked to Hackney Fixer James Diamond about mapping he is doing with us, for the East London Waste Authority, on repair businesses in east London.

The post Restart Radio: Revealing our repair economy appeared first on The Restart Project.

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This week a couple of tech stories had us considering the age we live in, and how software can be used to “kill” hardware or enforce obsolescence at scale. We talked about the risks of having many of our gadgets on networks and what "ownership" really means today.

The post Restart Radio: The age of the remote kill switch appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Updates are a necessary, sometimes frustrating, part of our software-powered world. We talk to Fairphone developer Dirk Vogt and PC Pro journalist Darien Graham-Smith about why updates are needed, and what makes a good update.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 13: Updates… the good, the bad and the meh appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Our friend Paul Sohi shared exciting projects he works on with Autodesk, including a prosthetic for a paralympian and preservation for museums. For us, 3D printing also opens up new possibilities in the manufacture and distribution of spare parts.

The post Restart Radio: 3D printing, from prosthetics to blender spare parts appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interviewed environmental journalist Maxine Perella about positive changes announced by the European Commission to "eco-labelling" of laptops and portable computers. The changes start to take into account laptop's full lifecycle, and if adopted, will help in upgrades and repairs.

The post Restart Radio: Eco-labelling of laptops appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Alex Perjescu is co-founder of Lovefone, a London-based mobile phone repair company. We talk to him about their latest project: a repair shop in an iconic London red phone box in Greenwich

The post Restart Radio: A phone box turns repair shop appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Researcher Alex Gnanapragasam focuses on sustainable consumption and product lifetimes - we talked about what consumers say they want and what they do. We perceive things don't last - so how can we help people keep things for longer?

The post Restart Radio: How long our stuff should last appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk about Pokémon GO, a mobile gaming sensation raising fascinating questions about the future of mobile and about the staying-power of games. And trends in retro-gaming proves they can last!

The post Restart Radio: Mobile and retro-gaming (Pokémon GO content warning!) appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Marina, co-founder of Buenos Aires' Club de Reparadores told us all about the state of waste, reuse, and repair in Argentina. Her "repair club" is inspiring hundreds and thousands of people to prevent waste.

The post Restart Radio: A community repair revival in Argentina appeared first on The Restart Project.

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What do we really know about what is inside our gadgets, how they are made, and their afterlives? Goldsmiths researcher Jennifer Gabrys challenges us to understand our gadgets as not separate from nature but instead as "future fossils".

The post Restart Podcast Ep 12: A natural history of our gadgets appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Online information has truly revolutionised electronics repair. Video has proliferated and helps with one-off problems, skills and advanced learning.

The post Restart Radio: A tour of the Youtube repair “ecosystem” appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talked with Monique Szpak and Halima Koundi, software developers and tinkerers who led our "Build Your Own PC" women's skillshare. Building a PC is a great way of demystifying computing and empowering users of computers to fully own and upgrade their machines.

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Restarters Ben and Faraz had a busy week, starting with a session inspiring engineering students and ending with fixing toys with kids in a mini Makerfaire.

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How hard could one screen repair be? When Ugo dropped his (unprotected!) Sony Xperia mobile in April, little did he know, he was about to find out... After disappointments with professionals, a frustrating DIY repair ensued.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 11: A Screen Repair Odyssey appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Our special guest, chef Ian Riley, shared his tips this week on how to select, buy and maintain appliances for the kitchen. He urged us to carefully consider what we need, and if we love to cook, invest and show reverence for the appliances we own.

The post Restart Radio: Keeping a green and quality kitchen appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We go on a sensory journey with Restarter Ben Skidmore, explaining how senses of hearing, smell, touch, sight, and even taste are used in troubleshooting and repairing electronics and electricals.

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Solid state drives are very affordable now, and can make a five year old laptop feel like new again. We discuss the quiet revolution in data storage that can extend the lives of legions of computers, laptops and gadgets with older hard drives.

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We discussed the elaborate repair of an iconic fault in a popular game console, and the online businesses the fault created. Plus other post-brick-and-mortar repair businesses, like a pop-up business in New York.

The post Restart Radio: The “Red Ring of Death” and new repair businesses appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Sometimes the best option, to keep a gadget in use for longer, is to find it a new owner. Or instead of buying new, to buy somebody else's gadget. Yet you won't hear much about this in our upgrade culture.

The post Restart Radio: selling and buying secondhand electronics appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk with Restart Party goers and with designer Joe Macleod about the end, or what he calls "closure experiences". Why does moving on from a mobile sometimes feel like a break up? And then what about stuff we toss with no regrets?

The post Restart Podcast Ep 10: Getting “closure”, saying goodbye to gadgets appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talked about Japanese "decluttering" guru Marie Kondo's best-selling book. While Kondo's approach could provoke people to value and love the things the own more, it also could simply work in service of a throw-away economy.

The post Restart Radio: Unpacking Marie Kondo, reflecting on decluttering appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Restarter Ben talked to us about how musicians often learn to repair, hack and modify guitars and instruments. Then we end the show with a special cloud kill switch and bot bonus!

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We talked about the pressure on libraries, community centres and pub function rooms across London - then gadgets that were (or should have been) pranks

The post Restart Radio: Community spaces, gadgets for (April) fools appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Only one company sits on a mountain of off-shore cash and makes such compelling but expensive products. At their latest event, Apple boasted how green it was, and we examine their claims.

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We talk to Professor Jonathan Chapman (University of Brighton), a designer who has helped many other designers change the way they conceive of quality and good design. His notion "emotionally durable design" goes beyond actual physical durability.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 9: “Emotionally durable design” appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interview Faraz, long time Restarter, maker and now music maker with a group called Opto Noise. Through the London Hackspace, Faraz connected with a handful of people who wanted to make music with lasers, spinning discs and photovoltaic cells

The post Restart Radio: Opto Noise, making music with lasers and e-waste appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Our work has been affected by Europe from day one, so we're concerned about potential effects of a Brexit. We discuss how Europe impacts our electronics and electricals, from design to end-of-life.

The post Restart Radio: Europe, your toaster and your mobile appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We interviewed photographer Greg Jones about his charming photography project called "Still Works" to document abandoned electronics and electricals.

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In this episode, we talk tools - how do we actually get into electrical appliances or miniaturised electronic gadgets, many of which are designed to keep us out? We interview Kyle Wiens, founder of iFixit.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 8: Tools, new and old appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talked with Hackney repair activist and ShareAction campaigner Fidi about how we can influence companies as shareholders or pension members. Our influence in the private sector is not just at the point of purchase.

The post Restart Radio: Beyond petitions and boycotts – influencing companies appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talked with Andrew Sleigh, researcher, maker and pillar of the maker community here in the UK, about how making and fixing meet. Then we discussed anger with Apple over problems with iPhone 6.

The post Restart Radio: Makers and fixers, “Error 53” iPhone scandal appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We invited our friend Max, from Demand Energy Equality, to talk about their inspiring solar workshops, where beginners learn to make a functional personal solar charger out of PV off-cuts. They bring renewable energy closer to people and promote energy literacy.

The post Restart Radio: Getting hands-on with solar appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We discussed our incipient collaboration with Amnesty, Global Witness and Wikirate, which are working to rate companies on their sourcing of minerals. Then about the IKEA executive who caught headlines when he said that in the West, we may have reached "peak stuff" in households.

The post Restart Radio: tracing minerals, and “peak stuff” appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talked with long-time Restarter Dave Lukes about a couple of appliance repairs attempted in Brixton, at our first Restart Party of 2016. Then we discussed non-news from the Consumer Electronics Show, a yearly monster of an event in Vegas - and reaction to rumours about iPhone 7.

The post Restart Radio: Spare parts, consumer hype and a pre-emptive petition appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talk with Restart Party participants - and experts - about different models for ownership and finance of gadgets, such as rental and leasing.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 7: The past, present and future of gadget ownership appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this episode, we share some favourite repairs from 2015, then discussed the implications of the end of Firefox OS for phones; whether we should buy extended warranties for gadgets, and an inspiring story from Bolivia

The post Restart Radio: Firefox OS for phones is over and the Bolivian WALL-E appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Our Top 5 Good News Stories for the year, about design, economics, business, policy, and... the children, our future! From New York to Brussels to Ghana and even Russia. Anywhere there's a yay! (And sometimes a yay-boo).

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In this episode, we explore what happens to all of our e-stuff when we throw it away, on a roadtrip to Kent, to the largest recycling plant of its kind in southern England.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 6: where do our gadgets go when they die? appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We started with Adele's flip phone, but we mostly talked about how music and sound seem to be one area where we continue to have an emotional bond to the electronics we listen with, but also the physical media itself.

The post Restart Radio: Adele and Autechre Special… music, media and audio equipment appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this show, we featured the "Big Fix", Hackney's festival of repair taking place this Saturday and in contrast, the wave of consumerist events leading us to the end of the year.

The post Restart Radio: The Big Fix and the art of glitches appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Do statistics about device ownership, numbers of people online, really mean anything if we are just passively playing catch-up? And what would a truly diverse mobile ecosystem look like?

The post Restart Radio: breaking the mobile mould appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Alison from The Goodlife Centre, a workshop and learning centre in London was our special guest. We talked about DIY skills and how she has built a thriving business teaching people how to change plugs.

The post Restart Radio: from changing plugs to changing the world appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Two Restarters share a passion for fixing and for bicycles, so we discussed the difference between repairing bikes, which use standard, interchangeable spare parts and laptops and mobiles, which rarely do.

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We talked to Orsetta, a long time Restarter talked to us about how she got started tinkering and fixing. She was one of only two girls in her secondary school carpentry course, helping to break barriers.

The post Restart Radio: where are the women fixers? appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We discuss the decline of commercial repair of electronics and appliances. Writer John Thackara says paints a picture of what local, (re)emergent economies of repair might look like.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 5: How repair economies can thrive (again) appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We discussed the allegations that Samsung has been cheating on energy efficiency testing. We talked about transparency, trust for manufacturers, and "brand Germany".

The post Restart Radio: “Volkswagening” by electronics manufacturers? appeared first on The Restart Project.

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We talked about some shiny shiny gadgets - two very game-changing projects in the area of modular, repairable design. The Fairphone 2 and Runcible, an example of "heirloom electronics".

The post Restart Radio: new mobiles we can open, repair appeared first on The Restart Project.

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This week, we talked with Restarter Dave Lukes about a wind-up radio he recently repaired and about the importance of running Restart Parties in shopping malls and Amazon's tablet "six pack"

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In our first weekly (live) radio show, we talked with Restarter Ben Skidmore about some tough mobile and tablet repairs and discussed the mobile upgrade cycle and why we do not recycle.

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Before a smartphone reaches us, most of the greenhouse gas emissions it will ever make have already been made. Our gadgets have significant, hidden impacts.

The post Restart Podcast Ep 4: Climate change and the “shadow impacts” of our gadgets appeared first on The Restart Project.

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In this episode, we go in search of some of the historical roots of grassroots innovation in design, tech and resource management a local level in the UK (and beyond).

The post Restart Podcast Ep 3: Searching for the roots of grassroots innovation appeared first on The Restart Project.

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Our second podcast episode features some frustrating gadgets including an inkjet printer given as a wedding present. Product designer Barry Waddilove explains why these gadgets frustrate and how new thinking could transform our relationship with electronics.

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This is the first in a series produced by brilliant podcaster Dave Pickering, based on real fixes, heartbreaks and wisdom shared at our community repair events - called Restart Parties - here in London. This podcast is for you if you would like to fix your relationship with electronics. Let's rethink, restart.

The post Introducing the Restart Podcast appeared first on The Restart Project.