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 extrac ..read more

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 less Before we dive into the research, we caught up about how the recent Buy Nothing New Mont ..read more

For our final episode of the season, Ugo and Fiona sat down for a chat about the year that was 2023. From launching the Repair and Reuse Declaration to the biggest Repair Day ever to some major wins for Right to Repair across the world. It’s been an amazing year and we couldn’t have done it without our community here in London and further afield. What has been the progress on Right to Repair? Gains in Europe Ugo talks us through the long list of upcoming legislation that is set to be up to bat next year. This includes new rules surrounding smartphones and tablets; consumer rights; and a repair ..read more

We’re going on a repair road trip this month as we talk to Simon Frémineur and Jinny Uppington about their respective mobile repair initiatives. Travelling repair cafes are a popular idea in our community, with quite a few iterations popping up across the UK and abroad. We speak to our guests about the benefits of a mobile unit, including being able to reach communities who cannot access repair as easily. The Repair Café Mobile takes Wallonia Simon talks us through the origins of the Repair Café Mobile and the excitement that has surrounded it ever since he first pitched it to Repair Together ..read more

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 ..read more

Pinball machines are whirring and circuitboards buzz as we talk to ‘super-fixers’ Rob Howard and Matt Marchant from the TV show Retro Electro Workshop, about the experience of making a show about retro repair and how to encourage more people to repair their things. Retro Electro Workshop features Rob, Matt, and Shamil (who you will remember from our episode about Armstrong Audio) as we watch them dig out broken treasures and repair them to their former glory.  The ‘warm buzz’ of repair It’s hard not to want to dive into repairing your stuff when you hear Matt and Rob talk about ..read more

In the final episode of our summer season, we talked to author and journalist, Oliver Franklin-Wallis about his new book entitled, Wasteland: The Dirty Truth about What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, and Why It Matters. Oliver spent four years researching waste of all kinds, the people that handle it, and its effect on our planet. Having just conducted our own research into e-waste at a recycling centre, we were excited to learn about a more expansive view of the issue. The reality of recycling Oliver has been reporting on and thinking about waste for many years, from writing about Project ..read more

Have you ever binned or recycled something that was still working, or could have been repaired? The answer is likely, yes. Based on the results of our recent Waste Composition Analysis, conducted with West London Waste Authority (WLWA), it’s a habit that is even more common than we thought.  This March, we spent a week looking at small electrical products brought to the Abbey Road Household Waste and Recycling Centre, and analysed what could have been reused and repaired. In this episode, we tell you more about the results of this study. Ugo also spoke to Emma Beal, Managing Director at W ..read more

This month, we take a deep-dive into a local repair and reuse ecosystem. Brighton seemed like a great case study for this so we spoke to Victoria Jackson and Sam Jarman from Brighton Repair Café and Dr David Greenfield from Tech-Takeback, two of the amazing projects working together to reduce waste in the city.  A decade of repair with Brighton Repair Café Brighton Repair Café is one of the longest-running repair cafés in the UK, holding their first event all the way back in 2013. Victoria and Sam were both studying sustainable design at the time and were interested in the journeys that w ..read more

This month we talked to author and communicator, Katie Treggiden about her recent book entitled, Broken: Mending & Repair in a Throwaway World. Katie has put decades of thought into helping creatives and makers become more sustainable but also forgive themselves when they can’t be.  Back to her roots Having grown up surrounded by nature in Cornwall, Katie tells us about her surprising origin story. She spent over a decade working in advertising before pivoting towards her life-long love of writing. With this, she also folded in a new interest – purpose-driven craft and design. Since t ..read more